As is known to all...as a mater of fact

[joham]

As is known to all, Australia was as a mater of fact what used to be a nation of prisoners.

This sentence comes from a test paper set by a Chinese teacher of English. I should think this sentence sounds odd with the two phrases in red put together. What do you native speakers think of the sentence?

Thank you in advance.

[gabber]

It's somewhat awkward, but grammatical.