Australia for Billy Lids Trivia Quiz

Answer: Uluru

Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) is about 450 km by road from the nearest large town of Alice Springs. The rock is sacred ground to the Aboriginal people of the area known as the Anangu. Uluru is a monolith which is a single large rock of stone, similar to Stone Mountain in the USA. Uluru is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mount Augustus is classified as the world's largest monocline which is twice the size of Uluru.

A monocline is an exposed slab of rock belonging to a layer beneath. The Bungle Bungle Range is found in Western Australia and is made up of bee-hive shaped sandstone and rocks.

The Pinnacles are limestone formations also found in Western Australia and it is believed they came from seashells in an earlier era.

Answer: Bass Strait

Bass Strait is a sea strait separating mainland Australia (mainly the state of Victoria) from the island state of Tasmania. The strait is named after George Bass (1771-1803) who was a naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. The Tasman Sea is the sea that separates Australia and New Zealand and is named after Abel Tasman (1603-1659) a Dutch explorer.

He is recognised as the first European to sight Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), New Zealand and Fiji between 1642 and 1644. The Gulf of Carpentaria is bordered by the state of Queensland, the Northern Territory and the Arafura Sea (which separates Australia from Papua New Guinea).

The Great Australian Bight is a large open bay on the southern coast of Australia.

Answer: The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. The reef travels along the north eastern side of Australia and is 2,300 km (1,400 mi) in length and covers an area of 344,400 sq km (133,000 sq mi). The reef is composed of 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands.

The Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is claimed to be one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The Blue Mountains, Uluru and the Murray River are all natural wonders of Australia.

Answer: Canberra

The two largest cities in Australia are Sydney and Melbourne. Both of these cities were rivals and wished to be named the capital city of Australia. After federation in 1901, it was decided to build a planned city as the nation's capital outside of any state, similar to Washington D.C. in the USA.

The design of the city was chosen from blueprints submitted by American architects Walter and Marion Griffin and construction commenced in 1913. Canberra is situated roughly midway between Sydney and Melbourne, although closer to Sydney.

The other cities are capitals of their state, Sydney (New South Wales), Melbourne (Victoria) and Brisbane (Queensland). The term "meeting place" is claimed to come from Ngunnawal, one of the local indigenous languages.

Answer: Murray River

The Murray River is the longest river in Australia being 2,508 kms (1,558 mi) in length. The river rises in the Australian Alps (south-eastern Australia) and flows west and finally empties into the Southern Ocean. The river makes up most of the border between the states of Victoria and New South Wales.

The Yarra River is in the state of Victoria and flows through the city of Melbourne. The locals call it the "upside down river" as the mud is at the top and the water below. The River Torrens flows through Adelaide, the capital city of the state of South Australia.

The Derwent River flows through Hobart, the capital city of the state of Tasmania.

Answer: 6

There are six states (Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales) and ten Federal Territories. The three territories on the mainland are the Australian Capital Territory (similar to Washington D.C.), the Northern Territory and the Jarvis Bay Territory.

The other seven territories are: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and Norfolk Island.

Answer: Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel arch bridge that carries rail, vehicle, bicycle and pedestrians between the North Shore and the Sydney business district (SBD). The Sydney Opera House is just by the bridge which creates an iconic image of Sydney. Construction started in 1923 and the bridge was officially opened on March 19, 1932.

The arch-based design gives it the impression of a coathanger. The West Gate Bridge is a steel box girder bridge in Melbourne (Victoria). The Sea Cliff Bridge is a balanced cantilever bridge south of Sydney (NSW) and the Ross Bridge (Tasmania) is a sandstone bridge constructed by convict labour in 1830 and completed in 1836.

Answer: No country directly borders Australia

Australia is an island continent with no other country on its borders. It is the world's sixth largest country in total area. New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia are neighbouring countries but separated by waterways. The population of Australia is now over 20 million people; however, the country was inhabited for about 50,000 years by indigenous Australians before European settlers in the late 18th century.

Answer: Fraser Island

Fraser Island is a heritage listed island off the south-eastern coast of Queensland. It is 120 km in length and approximately 24 km wide. It has been inhabited by humans for over 5,000 years and is made up of rainforests, woodlands, swamps and sand dunes.

The island is named after a Scottish woman Eliza Fraser, whose ship was shipwrecked off the coast and she was looked after by the aboriginal population in 1836. Melville Island is located in the eastern Timor Sea off the coast of Northern Territory. Kangaroo Island is the third largest island of Australia after Tasmania and Melville Island and is within the state of South Australia.

In 1802 it was named by the British explorer Matthew Flinders due to the abundance of the western grey kangaroo there. Rottnest Island is off the coast of Western Australia and about 18 km from Fremantle. Rottnest is best known for its population of quokkas.

The quokka is a small marsupial related to the kangaroo and wallaby.

Answer: Kakadu National Park

Kakadu National Park covers nearly 20,000 sq. km, which is half the size of Switzerland. It is a protected area and is about 170 km southeast of Darwin. The park has over 100 species of reptiles (including the crocodiles), 25 species of frogs, over 50 species of freshwater fish, over 1,000 species of insects and over 1,700 plant species.

The park includes four major river systems, six major landforms and an incredible number of varieties of wildlife. Purnululu National Park in Western Australia contains the Bungle Bungle Mountain Range.

It was used as a hunting area for thousands of years by aboriginal people and still has many aboriginal artworks and burial sites. Kosciuszko National Park (NSW) contains Australia's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko.

It gives the opportunity to see alpine flora, caves and gorges. Royal National Park was Australia's first proclaimed national park (south of Sydney) in 1879. It was the second such park proclaimed in the world after Yellowstone National Park in the USA (1872).