The ASX20 holds Australia's 20 largest publicly traded corporations. Of these 20 corporations, US investors are likely only familiar with RIO Tinto Limited (RIO), BHP Billiton (BHP), and Westpac Banking (WBK in US markets). The Full List of companies in the ASX20 is below, including years of dividend payments without a reduction (excluding effects of spin-offs and special dividends).

The top 20 Australian stocks by market cap show the Australian economy is dependent on the basic materials and financial industries. Of the 20 stocks analyzed above, only 4 have dividend streaks longer than 10 years:  BHP Billiton, Origin Energy, Telstra, and Woolworths.  These 4 businesses are discussed further below.

BHP Billiton

BHP Billiton is the only Australian company in the ASX20 that passes the first rule of The 8 Rules of Dividend investing: A company must have 25 or more years of dividend payments without a reduction. BHP Billiton's stability over the last two and a half decades shows the company can grow under a wide variety of economic conditions.

BHP Billiton is a natural resource producer. The company produces oil, gas, iron, nickel, copper, diamonds, coal, and other minerals. The company can trace its history back over 160 years, to 1851 when the company was set up as a tin mining operation on Billiton island in Indonesia.

BHP Billiton's stock is deeply undervalued at this time due to weakness in oil and metal prices. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 5.2% and a P/E ratio of just 11.4. BHP has plans to spin-off its Aluminum, Silver, Nickel, and Coal divisions into a new company called South32 in 2015. The move will benefit shareholders by focusing BHP Billiton on its most profitable divisions while separating itself from underperofming divisions.  South32 could be worth up to $15 billion; the divisions that will make up South32 were responsible for just 4% of operating income for BHP Billiton in its last full fiscal year.