9 for 10 from Down Under Trivia Quiz

Answer: Acacia

All of these are commonly found in Australia, but Acacia pycnantha, the golden wattle, is Australia's national floral emblem. Wattle Day was first celebrated in colonial times, with the wearing of a sprig of wattle showing a patriotic attitude. The first Wattle Day was celebrated in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in 1910, and in 1992 the first of September was officially declared to be National Wattle Day.

Answer: Upfield

Arthur Upfield was born in England, but moved to Australia in 1910 at the age of 20, and is usually considered an Australian author. His most famous character, known as Bony, was a police officer of mixed European and Indigenous Australian descent. Contemporary eyes read the descriptions of how his Indigenous heritage gives him almost mystical tracking powers with some discomfort, but the books were very popular at the time, and are actually quite good mystery novels as far as plot goes.

Ethel Florence Lindsay Richardson, who used the pen name of Henry Handel Richardson, is best known for writing 'The Fortunes of Richard Mahony', a trilogy about colonial Australia. Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, known as Miles Franklin, wrote 'My Brilliant Career'. In her will, she arranged to have an annual award set up for the best published work depicting Australian life. Henry Lawson is a well known Australian poet from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Answer: Snake

Australia is one of the few countries in the world which has more species of venomous snakes than it does non-venomous snakes. Despite this, the low population density means that deaths from snake bite are relatively low. The rest of the 'Top Ten' are the Inland Taipan, the Coastal Taipan, the Mulga or King Brown snake, the Lowlands Copperhead (which, despite its name, is the only venomous snake found above the snow line), the Small-eyed snake, the Common death adder, and the Red-bellied black snake.

Answer: Tasmania

After a spectacular start in Sydney Cove, the boats sail down the eastern coast of Australia and across Bass Strait to Tasmania, and finish by sailing up the Derwent River to Hobart, in the southeast part of the state. The race was first held in 1945, when the winner took six days, 14 hours and 22 minutes to complete the race.

In 2005, Wild Oats XI set a new race record of 1 day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds (time-keeping precision has increased over the years). The race often encounters severe weather conditions, and it is not uncommon for a large proportion of the fleet to retire as they battle their way down the coast.

Answer: Range of mountains - the Great Dividing Range

The Great Dividing Range is a complex of interconnected mountain ranges that runs from Dauan Island in northeastern Queensland along the eastern coastline of Australia until it turns westwards in Victoria, and terminates in the western part of that state.

Its presence is largely responsible for the fact that Australia was mostly settled by European colonists in a fairly narrow coastal strip - the mountains formed a formidable barrier to early expansion by settlers, and the coastal side was far more fertile due to orographic rainfall.

Answer: Antarctica

The Australian Antarctic Territory, the largest area claimed by any single country in Antarctica, was originally claimed by the British, who transferred the claim to Australia in 1933. While Antarctic claims are not internationally recognized, Australia has a number of research stations (Mawson, Casey and Davis) set up in the region it claims.

Answer: Lichen

About a third of the lichen species found in Australia are endemic, meaning they basically only occur there. A large number of them are found in the island territories, including Christmas Island, Norfolk Island, Heard Island and Macquarie Island, rather than on the mainland.

The algal portion of the partnership produces sugars through photosynthesis; the fungal portion offers environmental protection. (This is a vastly oversimplified description of a complex biological arrangement.)

Answer: Invasive

An invasive species is one which is not native to a region, but which is imported, and then competes successfully against native species for the available resources, giving them a tendency to spread into new areas. The cane toad was originally imported from Hawaii in an attempt to control the cane beetle, which damaged sugar cane crops.

Unfortunately, they don't appear to find the Australian cane beetle tasty, so that problem remains unsolved as the toads, with their toxic skin that poisons animals that eat them, expand to cover most of the eastern part of Australia. Rabbits and red foxes were imported to provide sport hunting for colonists.

Answer: South Australia

The name Coober Pedy is derived from the term kupa-piti, which, in the local indigenous language, means white man's hole. It is a strange place to visit, as there are not nearly enough surface buildings to accommodate all the residents. Most live in caves excavated from the hillsides, or constructed underground.

The surrounding earth helps residents maintain a stable temperature much more easily than is the case on the surface. Temperatures over 40 C (104 F) are quite common in summer months, so it is a challenge to keep your cool!

Answer: Australis

Of course, for those of use who live here in Australia, it's not down under anything. The term derives from a European-centred view of the world, which places the North Pole at the top of a map or globe. That makes Australia appear underneath the rest of the world. In case you're interested, we do not feel as if we are walking on the ceiling and in danger of falling off into space.