Today was a wonderful day for the bloodnuts of Australia. The sauce-heads have taken ultimate power with Julia Gillard becoming Australia's first red-headed Prime Minister (and red-headed woman, to boot). There were cans of Fanta sprayed across Australia in celebration. There is talk that former Prime Minister Jim Scullin was a redhead but he was a true silver fox by the time he was Prime Minister. No, Julia is the first true Ranga to reside at The Lodge and she has no doubt begun the long and arduous task of redoing the Anti-Discrimination Act to protect gingers as well as filling the Lodge pantry with carrots and assuming the chairwoman's role in convening the next Redheads of Australia meeting.

In honour of Julia and Ranga-ism in Australia, Back Page Lead lists Australia's Top 10 redheaded athletes:

10. Cameron Ling/Alan Tongue

Cameron Ling and Alan Tongue are the same player from different codes. Ling is the workhorse skipper of Geelong in the AFL, Tongue the workhorse skipper of the Canberra Raiders in the NRL. Take the focus from your eyes and mix the footballs around and you couldn't tell them apart.

9. Mark Woodforde

Tennis has been flush with redheads in recent times with the likes of Boris Becker, Jim Courier and Wayne Ferreira all noted ginger champions. Australia's most prominent redheaded tennis player and athlete for much of the 80s and 90s was Mark Woodforde, one half of the fabled doubles outfit known as The Woodies. Woodforde won Olympic gold and 12 Grand Slam titles.

8. Craig Moore

One of Australian soccer's finest, Moore has represented the Socceroos on 52 occasions and scored against Croatia at the 2006 World Cup. Moore was unavailable for Australia's last match in South Africa after receiving two yellow cards in the opening two matches. It is not uncommon for redheads to have anger problems.

7. Gary Neiwand

Neiwand is regarded as one of Australia's greatest cyclists, winning gold medals at the 1986 and 1990 Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the Seoul Olympics. The fiery nature so many redheads are afflicted with took its toll post-career, however, with Neiwand having problems with the constabulary over a former girlfriend.

6. Steve Hooker (pictured)

Known as The Mailman because he always delivers, Hooker is now Australia's best known and most loved track and field star. He is the last Australian redhead to win gold at the Olympics having triumphed in the pole vault at Beijing. He also hold the record for most red hair on a red-haired athlete in the history of red-haired Australian athletics.

5. Emma George

The pole vault has seemingly been a hotbed for rangaism in Australian sport with Emma George the second pusher of the pole to make the list of Australia's greatest athletes. Many scholars believe redheads are attracted to the pole vault as a subconscious fight against the glass ceiling that, for many years, they've been forced to endure. George set 12 world records throughout her career and won gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

4. Craig McDermott

There were few more terrifying sights in world sport than seeing McDermott charge in off the long run, red hair flowing and the spirit of the oppressed ginger in his eyes. He took 291 Test wickets for Australia and was the head of Australia's pace attack for a decade. McDermott has also turned into one of the Ranga's finest breeders with his son Alister, just as red, now a pace bowler for Queensland.

3. Paul "Fatty" Vautin

A premiership winning rugby league star who played 13 Tests for Australia and 22 matches for Queensland, Vautin also coached Queensland to their most memorable series victory and has been the face of red-headedness in Australia for nearly 20 years as host of The Footy Show. The censored version has Vautin getting the nickname Fatty after a famous redheaded comic book character.

2. Phar Lap

Known as "Big Red" and the "Red Terror", Phar Lap paved the way for many of the opportunities now afforded redheads in an era when the colour red was rarely associated with anything positive. Revered as Australia's greatest racehorse, Phar Lap won 37 of his 51 starts including the 1930 Melbourne Cup and the 1930 and 1931 Cox Plates.

1. Rod Laver

Australia's greatest redheaded athlete, Laver is arguably the greatest tennis player to ever finesse a forehand. He won 11 Grand Slam titles including two complete Grand Slams, in 1962 and 1969, a feat not achieved since. He sits among the pantheon of great Ranga athletes worldwide and was a pioneer for the redheaded movement that, in part, led to Julia Gillard becoming Prime Minister.

Nick Tedeschi is an avid rugby league follower and sports fan who has been writing sports for various media outlets for six years.