On Top Down Under Trivia Quiz

Answer: Banking

The "Big Four" banks, the Commonwealth Bank, the National Australia Bank, ANZ and the Westpac Banking Corporation, dominate banking in the country and are easily among the largest companies in Australia.

Simply known as the Commonwealth Bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is Australia's largest bank by a significant margin. Founded by the Australian government in 1911, the organization was privatized in 1996 and is now a multinational operation with branches in New Zealand, The United States, Asia and the United Kingdom. Their range of services is extensive, covering retail, business and institutional banking, insurance, travel, investment services, brokerage and funds management among others.

Answer: Banking

Initially styled as the National Commercial Banking Corporation of Australia Limited, the National Australia Bank Limited was formed in October of 1981 as the result of a merger between the National Bank of Australia Limited and Commercial Banking Company of Sydney.

The consequence of this merger was the establishment of a significant asset base that the new entity utilized to expand rapidly overseas. To this end, branches were opened up in China (1982), the United States at Chicago (1982), Dallas (1983), Atlanta (1986) and Houston (1989). Others followed in Malaysia, Thailand, Greece, Germany South Korea and India during the 1980s. NAB also expanded through acquisitions of the Clydesdale Bank in Scotland, the Northern Bank in Northern Ireland, the Yorkshire Bank, the Bank of New Zealand and a large stake in Michigan National Bank. By the early 2020s the NAB was one of the top 25 banks in the world, according to market capitalization.

Answer: Banking

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited is Australia's second largest bank by virtue of asset holdings and fourth largest in terms of market capitalization. Its origins can be traced back to the establishment of three banks; the Bank of Australasia (formed in London in 1835), the Union Bank of Australia (London 1837) and the English, Scottish and Australia (ES&A) Bank (London 1852).

The Bank of Australasia and the Union Bank merged in 1951 and established themselves as the ANZ Bank. In 1970 the ANZ and the ES&A banks merged.

This, at the time, was the largest bank merger in Australia's history, establishing the organization as is seen today.

Answer: Banking

The Westpac Banking Corporation can lay claim to being Australia's oldest bank, having been formed through the 1981 merger of the Commercial Bank of Australia and the Bank of New South Wales. The latter, founded in 1817, was Australia's first bank. The new name, Westpac, is a portmanteau of Western Pacific and it reflected the bank's mission to become the most significant bank within that region.

Another of the "Big Four" banks in Australia, Westpac employs in excess of 35,000 people across the globe, declared assets in excess of $1 trillion in 2024 with an equity in excess of $70 billion.

Answer: Mining

Known colloquially as the "Big Australian", BHP started life as a silver and lead mine in Broken Hill (which represents the first two letters in their name) in New South Wales. The group was floated in August of 1885 and has moved forward to become the world's largest mining company, in terms of market capitalization, by 2024. Specializing in the mining of iron ore, copper and coal, it was also the world's third largest miner in terms of revenue to that point in time.

In 2001, the company merged with the Anglo-Dutch company Billiton plc and became listed on both the Australian and London stock exchanges as BHP Billiton. Some of these assets were demerged in 2015 and are now represented as South 32 while the slimmer BHP Billiton was divided into BHP Group Limited and BHP Group plc.

Answer: Mining

The Fortescue Metals Group, simply known as Fortescue, is missing one item that the rest of the companies in this quiz have... a long history. The operation was founded by Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest who managed to buy back his ancestral farmlands in the Pilbara region. Within a year he discovered Australia's largest bedrock of iron ore... a whopping 2.4 billion tons of it and, FMG was born.

The company's holdings have stretched to encompass more than 87,000 square kilometres of Western Australia's Pilbara region making it the state's largest tenement holder. The operation has grown to be the country's third largest miner, behind BHP and Rio Tinto and is now one of the world's biggest iron ore producers.

Answer: Mining

The company's full name is Woodside Energy Group Limited, having previously been known as Woodside Petroleum Limited. Named after a small town in Victoria the company, which is headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, was established in 1954 and it has risen to become Australia's largest independent, dedicated, oil and gas company.

The company's initial searches were based in the Gippsland Basin area of Victoria, the location of Australia's first oil field, but struggled for success. Their fortunes took a turn for the better when they focused their attention and, correctly, theorized that the North West area of Western Australia was the place to be. In 1962 they applied for exploration licenses across a large area of this region and soon established the North West Shelf venture with Shell and Burmah Oil. BHP would replace Burmah, however, by 1995 they had sold all of their holdings in the venture. Shell, who looked to buyout all of Woodside in 2001, would sell of their shares by 2017.

Answer: Other

Headquartered in Sydney, the QBE Insurance Group Limited is a multinational general insurer that employs in excess of 13,000 people across 27 countries.

The operation was founded by two Scottish migrants, James Burns and Robert Philp, as the North Queensland Insurance Company and its charter, at the time, was to insure ships. The name would change to Queensland Insurance and, after merging with both the Banker's and Traders Insurance Company and the Equitable Life and General Insurance Co, it was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1973. The name, QBE, represents the first initial of all three companies.

The company has continued to grow, in part through strong management, but also with continued acquisitions. It purchased a 50% stake in Mercantile Mutual in 1999 and the rest of it five years later. It has also acquired Seguros Cumbre SA de CV (Mexico) in 2007, followed by General Casualty Insurance and Balboa Insurance (both USA), a few years later.

Answer: Other

Woolworths Group Limited is a multinational retail company, best known for it vast chain of supermarket stores throughout Australia and New Zealand.

The first store, Woolworths Stupendous Bargain Basement, opened in Sydney in 1924 as a variety store. The chain steadily spread to Brisbane, Perth and Wellington (New Zealand) over the next few years. Whilst the Great Depression did little to stunt the company's growth, World War II did. However, by 1960 they were operating in every Australian state. The steady growth saw the company diversifying into other areas such liquor outlets, home improvement, hospitality, insurance, fuel outlets and electronic retailing. The 2010s saw the company once again realigning its operations, shifting to a stronger focus on supermarket retail. The company is Australia's largest in terms of retail revenue.

Answer: Other

Qantas, full name Qantas Airways Limited, was the brainchild of Hudson Fysh, Paul McGinness and Fergus McMaster. They commenced the operation as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service (which provides the acronym for the current name) in Winton Queensland in 1920. They moved the operation to Longreach (Queensland) the following year. In 1934 Qantas and Imperial Airways (which was the forerunner of British Airways) combined forces to form Qantas Empire Airways (QEA), opening their door to international flights.

The Australian government nationalized QEA in 1943. The privatization of the airline would commence in 1993 and was finalized in 1997. However, with Qantas, colloquially known as the "Spirit of Australia", proving to be dear to the hearts of most Australians, the legislation created to privatize Qantas stipulated that the airline must have a 51% Australian shareholding at all times.

By virtue of foundation date, Qantas is the third oldest airline in the world and, currently, it is the only airline in the world that flies to all seven continents... yes, that includes Antarctica.