An Aussie's Revenge- By The Numbers #1 Quiz

Answer: 6

Of course, the dominant design is the Southern Cross, the best-known constellation in the Australian night sky. This constitutes five of the stars on our flag, the sixth is under the Union Jack and is explained in Question 2.

Answer: 7

Six of the points represent the six states and the seventh is for our internal and external territories.

Answer: 1

Only one letter was written as one of the shearers wrote back to say no-one quite knew where Clancy had moved to. The writer envies the carefree lifestyle of the drover. In the words of the poet:

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago,
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just on spec, addressed as follows, "Clancy, of The Overflow".

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)
'Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
"Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are."

Answer: 3

"Down came the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three,
Whose's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a waltzin' Matilda with me."

The stories about the origins of the song differ, however what we do know is that Banjo Paterson and his finace Sarah Riley were staying at Dagworth sheep station near Winton in Queensland. A schoolfriend of Sarah's called Christina Macpherson (Christina's brother managed the property) played a version of a song called "Craigeelee" on an autoharp or zither. Some time during the visit Banjo penned the words, Christina wrote down the score and an icon was made. (Thanks to www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/WM/ for this information)

Answer: $10

"Walzing Matilda" may be the most universally known Banjo Paterson poem, but his very prolific writing career produced many other never-to-be-forgotten poems. Some of his better-known poems include "The Man From Snowy River" (which was made into a movie), "A Bush Christening", "Clancy of the Overflow" and "Mulga Bill's Bicycle".

The Australian bush features in most of his poems as he was enarmoured with the bush, despite his living primarily in cities or towns after the age of ten (which is when he moved from the family property to go to boarding school).

Answer: Wollongong

WIN stands for 'Wollongong Illawarra New South Wales' and was originally called WIN-4. It originally aired locally but now operates nationally. It started transmitting in 1962, but encountered some troubles leaving them in a financial mess. However, Rupert Murdoch acquired a stake in the station and its fortunes began to reverse.

Answer: 5

At the time of the 2001 Australian census, the populations were Sydney (3,502,000), Melbourne (3,160,000), Brisbane (1,508,000), Perth (1,176,000) and Adelaide had just topped the million mark in 2001 with 1,002,000. The next largest are Gold Coast (which incidentally runs under a single city council from Beenleigh in the north to Cooloongatta on the NSW border) with a population in 2001 of 421,000 and seventh is Canberra with a population of 339,000.

Answer: 8

The states are Queensland (my home state, first always!), New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia, and the mainland territories are the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Northern Territory. The territories of Australia also include Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, the Cocos (or Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island, Jervis Bay, the McDonald Islands, and Norfolk Island, and Australia has treaty responsibility for part of Antarctica.

Answer: 4

Rugby league is a popular sport in Australia, both in terms of participation and spectators. Players mainly run with the ball and pass between players, passes always having to be backwards from the direction of play. The ball may also be kicked up the field or through the goalposts for a "field goal", but higher scores apply for tries (placing the ball by hand on the ground over the try line). Tries score 4 points, and an extra 2 points if the try is "converted" (to convert, the kick given after the try must go through the goalposts).

Answer: 2

Our national anthem was written by Peter Dodds McCormick (1834?-1916) and became our anthem on 19th April 1984 after an opinion poll. The people chose "Advance Australia Fair" over "Walzing Matilda" and Carl Linger's "Song of Australia". The two commonly sung verses go:

Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea:
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page let every stage
Advance Australia fair,
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands,
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands,
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share,
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia fair.

(Thanks to Fi B and http://www.hamilton.net.au/advance.html for this information)