Australia in Ten Questions Trivia Quiz

Answer: 4

'Division 4' was a police drama set in the fictitious suburb of Yarra Central, Melbourne, and based on the real inner city suburb of St Kilda. Made by Crawford Productions, the show ran from 1969 to 1975. The 300 episodes starred Gerard Kennedy as Frank Banner, Chuck Faulkner as Keith Vickers, and Terence Donovan as Mick Peters, all detectives. Downstairs there was Frank Taylor portraying Sgt Andrew McLeod in charge of the desk and maintaining some discipline amongst the uniformed officers and the characters they brought in. Andrew McFarlane, who later became known as John Sullivan in 'The Sullivans', made his TV breakthrough in 'Division 4' playing the wet behind the ears Constable Roger Wilson.

'Division 4' won several awards, some of them popularity awards voted by the viewing public, some of the them industry awards for the writers and actors.

Answer: 5

Peter Geoffrey Brock was born in 1945 and raised in Hurstbridge just outside of Melbourne, Victoria. He held an interest in cars from an early age, buying his first car, an Austin 7 for the princely sum of five pounds. His racing career was centred on Australia but he did venture overseas to compete in races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Spa 24 Hours, and the Silverstone Britcar 24-Hour.

In Australia his record is legendary. One of the major races every year is the endurance race at Bathurst's Mount Panorama. The race run over 1,000km (originally 500 miles) was won by Brock nine times, earning him the nickname of 'King of the Mountain'. He also won the Sandown 500 nine times, and the Australian Touring Car Championship three times. He is a member of the V8 Supercar Hall of Fame, and was made a Member of The Order of Australia.

Brock's racing cars were numbered 05 from the mid 1970s. An advocate for responsible driving, he took on that number and stayed with it for decades as 0.05 is the legal alcohol limit in Victoria when driving. Peter Brock died in 2006, four days after Steve Irwin. His death came about as a result of speed while competing in the Targa West '06 rally in Western Australia. He was given a state funeral and has a memorial in place at the Sandown race course in Victoria.

Answer: 7

The Snowy Mountains Scheme provides electricity to two states and the ACT, as well as providing irrigation to farmland. In essence, the plan involved turning rivers which flowed out to sea inland and storing their flow for our use, and was based on the work of the Tennessee Valley Authority. It took 25 years to complete this massive project and saw the building of 225km of tunnels with the requisite pipelines and aqueducts, 16 dams, over 1,000km of roads, and seven hydroelectric stations. If you go looking for it though, you'll only find 2% of the entire scheme above ground. The project was completed on time and on budget, and remains a source of pride to many Australians, particularly the families of those who worked on its construction.

The first watt of electricity was delivered from the Guthega Power Station in 1955, six years after building started. The largest dam is Lake Eucumbene which has a shoreline of over 250km and is nine times the size of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour).

The majority of the workers on the scheme came from over thirty countries, mostly from a Europe still suffering from post World War II austerity. Over 100 workers lost their lives during the construction phase. Several towns such as Adaminaby were moved to new locations as their old sites were planned to be under the water levels of the dams.

Answer: 3

Brothers Andrew, Tim, and John Farriss were founding members of INXS from the days when the band was known as The Farriss Brothers. The Farriss boys went to school on Sydney's northern beaches with Michael Hutchence and Kirk Pengilly, who became members of the band, while Garry Beers went to a nearby high school. In 1979 they became INXS and their first hit, 'Just Keep Walking', was released in 1980.

International success followed with INXS becoming one of the biggest bands in the world and the third biggest-selling Australian band in the USA after AC/DC and The Bee Gees. Their hits included 'Need You Tonight', 'Suicide Blonde' and 'By My Side'.

Michael Hutchence died in 1997, causing the band to go through several changes of lead singers. No one could live up to the persona of Hutchence who was such a dynamic figurehead for the band. In 2012, INXS announced at a concert that they were calling it a day after over thirty years and over thirty million record sales.

Answer: 10

Joseph Aloysius Lyons (1879-1939) was born in Tasmania, one of eight children born to his farming parents. A change in financial circumstances meant Lyons leaving school at the age of nine to work. His education resumed thanks to the benevolence of two aunts. He became a teacher, a trade unionist, and later, a politician.

By 1909 he was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, later becoming the Premier of Tasmania, and then became a federal politician in 1929. He was appointed to two ministerial posts immediately. Political ructions due to the Great Depression altered the face of politics in Australia with Lyons resigning from his party and becoming leader of the United Australia Party. Winning government, he became the Australian Prime Minister in 1932. His premiership continued through the Depression until his death in 1939 due to a heart attack.

Enid Lyons, Joseph's wife, was a determined and intelligent woman. She raised their eleven children and in 1943, four years after her husband's passing, she entered parliament. She was the first female Member of Parliament, and later became the first woman to assume a ministerial role. Two of their children followed their parents into politics becoming members of Tasmania's legislature.

Answer: 9

The Bali Nine were a group of young people, aged 19-28, who were part of a plan to smuggle over eight kilograms of heroin to Indonesia on an aeroplane flight. All were caught and faced harsh punishments under the Indonesian legal system, including life imprisonment and the death penalty dependent on their role in the crime.

Some of the nine had never travelled overseas before this trip. Their naivety led them to accept a few thousand dollars and a free trip to Bali in exchange for carrying drugs upon their bodies.

There were allegations of threats to the members' families if they hadn't carried out their crime, but these weren't proven.

Answer: 1

Bryce Courtenay, AM (1933-2012) was born in South Africa and moved to Australia as a young adult. He successfully worked in the advertising industry for decades, creating several campaigns that linger in the Australia psyche such as 'Louie the Fly' and 'Milky Bar Kid' advertisements. His first novel, 'The Power of One', quickly became a best-seller and was eventually made into a movie.

'The Power of One' was set in Africa, but most of his books were based in Australia including 'The Potato Factory', 'Jessica', and 'Matthew Flinders' Cat'. His book 'April Fool's Day' is the story of his son Damon's battle with AIDS contracted as a result of a blood transfusion needed to control his haemophilia.

Bryce Courtenay died in 2012 due to stomach cancer. He became a Member of the Order of Australia in 1995, and had been awarded a Doctor of Letters (D. Litt) from Newcastle University in 2005.

Answer: 8

The cassowary and chowchilla are both birds with two legs, so 2 x 2 = 4
Multiply the previous answer (4) by the number of legs on a wombat (4) and you get 4x4=16. Take the previous answer (16) and subtract the number of legs on a funnel-web spider (8) and you get 16-8=8.

Both the cassowary and the chowchilla are native Australian birds living in rainforests in the country's north. Standing up to two metres tall, the cassowary tends to be shy, hiding from humans, but they'll put up a good fight if they are challenged. Their middle toe can be up to 125mm (5 in) long with a sharp claw at its end. This claw, on the end of a powerful leg, can be used to disembowel a potential threat to the cassowary's life. These large birds can run quickly, they can swim, but they can't fly.

The chowchilla is a much smaller bird which lives on the floor of the rainforest. They are mainly dark brown, the males having a white front, the females have a red throat and breast, and a white belly.

Wombats are found over much of Australia. They are short but tubby, their barrel-like bodies being carried on four short legs. Despite their non-athletic appearance, they can run quickly, up to 40km/hr (25m/hr), and their rodent-like teeth can create serious injuries if challenged. Mainly crepuscular, they are out and about at night eating the grasses, bark and roots that form the main part of their herbivorous diet.

Funnel-web spiders are indigenous to the east coast of Australia. One of the deadliest spiders on the planet, they are usually black or dark brown in colour. They seem to fear little, coming into houses when their nests in the garden are flooded out. If they sense danger they will raise their front legs and prepare to strike. Interestingly, their venom is only toxic to primates. Dogs, birds, cats and other animals suffer no effects from a funnel web bite. Thankfully, an antivenin has been developed to combat its bite.

Answer: 6

Australia is the sixth largest country on Earth, the larger countries being (in order) Russia, Canada, the USA, China, and Brazil. It has a land area of 7,741,220 sq km (2,988,901 sq ml), with its features ranging from empty deserts to sprawling cities.

Despite all the land, it only had a 2012 population of 22 million people, giving it a low overall population density of 2.8 people per square kilometre. The population has historically been concentrated along the coastline in major cities such as Melbourne and Sydney.

Answer: 2

William James Farrer (1845-1906) was born in England as the son of a farmer. He studied mathematics successfully but decided to move to Australia after contracting tuberculosis, hoping that the warmer climate might suit his medical condition better. He worked as a tutor and tried grape growing, but an interest in wheat cultivation took over. He began developing strains of wheat which were resistant to diseases such as rust which had troubled Australia's wheat industry. The 'Federation' strain of wheat Farrer created was a breakthrough and Farrer became known as the 'father of the Australian wheat industry'.

John Macarthur was born in England in 1767 and came to Australia with his wife Elizabeth on the Second Fleet in 1790. He was an army officer and pioneering farmer in Australia. He worked in his regiment until his farming pursuits took over, developing a breed of sheep that would start Australia's massive wool industry. He developed some very fine quality wool at a time when the UK was crying out for wool. The Napoleonic Wars mean they couldn't get wool from their usual sources and Macarthur's wool filled the bill, the quality being as high as Spanish wool. By 1822 John Macarthur was the richest man in the colony with interests in various sorts of farms and an interest in horse studs. His wife, Elizabeth, would have had much to do with the success of their enterprises. John was a belligerent fellow and had to return to England for an extended period to answer allegations in a military court, leaving Elizabeth behind to deal with the farm. John died in his Camden, NSW, home in 1834.

Designed by Gordon Andrews, Australia's decimal currency came into effect on February 14, 1966. The two dollar note was green, had the portraits of Macarthur on one side along with some sheep, and Farrer on the other side with some ears of wheat behind him. These notes were in use until 1988 when polymer banknotes came into use in Australia.