Wally, the Wizarding Wombat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ruth Park

'The Muddle-Headed Wombat' actually began life as a radio serial originally called 'The Wide-Awake Bunyip', which was commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1942 for the 'Children's Hour' segment After original actor Albert Collins (aka Joe) died, Park changed the name of the serial to 'The Muddle-Headed Wombat', with John Ewart playing the title role. Park later wrote a series of books based on the series.

They feature the titular wombat, his friend Mouse and Tabby, a vain cat. Wombat is kind but dim, and often gets into trouble because of it.

He also has a habit of mixing up his words and using spoonerisms such as 'treely ruly', and underestimating his own strength.

Answer: Fatso

Or, to give him his full name, Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat. The official mascots of the 2000 Sydney Olympics were Olly the kookaburra, Syd the platypus (who was given a rude nickname by Roy and HG) and Millie the echidna, and Lizzie the frill-necked lizard was the official mascot of the 2000 Sydney Paralympics.

In protest against the commercialisation of Olympic mascots, Newell and comedians Greig Pickhaver and John Doyle - who play HG Nelson and Rampaging Roy Slaven respectively in the parody sports talk show 'The Dream with Roy & HG' - came up with Fatso, a lazy, smiling wombat with a big behind.

He appeared in toy form on HG and Roy's desk, and proved to be as popular as the official mascots, if not more so, appearing with gold medal-winning swimmers Susie O'Neill and Grant Hackett on the winners' dais.

The Australian Olympic Committee tried to ban athletes from posing with Fatso, but were forced to step down after a public outcry. The rotund wombat even got a cameo on a commemorative postage stamp of the men's 4x200 metre relay team, being held by Michael Klim. Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes won one of the two Fatsos produced in a charity auction.

Answer: Their poo

Unlike many animals, when a wombat does a poo, it is shaped like a cube. A research team composed of scientists from Australia (of course), New Zealand, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and the USA researched this fascinating topic, with Patricia Yang, David Hu, Scott Carver and Miles Chan presenting a paper titled 'How Do Wombats Make Cubed Poo?' at the 71st Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics in 2018. (Yang and Hu had previously won an Ig Nobel Prize in 2015 for research on the length of time it takes for mammals to empty their bladders.) Some scientists believe the cubic shape is caused by the intestinal walls stretching to different extents. Wombats use their poo to mark territories and attract mates, and the cubic shape makes it easier to stack.

Answer: Brave little digger with no tail

In this particular Tasmanian legend, the wombat was originally known as the Drogerdy. He was a mischievous fellow and liked to play tricks on humans, kicking ash in their faces and warning other animals to stay away from them. One night, a group of men caught the Drogerdy and buried him in the ground.

The next morning, they tried to dig him up but found that he had vanished, and spotted him digging a tunnel. They tried to catch him, but he escaped. The men appealed to the god Moihernee for help, but Moihernee told them off for complaining, saying they should admire the Drogerdy for his cleverness.

The men realised the Drogerdy was only playing and did not mean any harm, and apologised to him, praising his bravery and cunning. The Drogerdy was still a little wary, but realised he could escape if he had to, and the men called him 'Publedina', or 'brave little digger with no tail'.

Answer: Badger

Several places in Australia, such as Badger Creek in Victoria and Badger Corner in Tasmania have 'Badger' in their names because of settlers mistaking wombats for badgers. One settler, John Price, described wombats as 'having very much the appearance of a badger'. Badgers, however, are not native to Australia.

The English explorer Matthew Flinders and his crewmates on the salvage ship Francis also encountered wombats on Clarke Island and captured one as a specimen to be investigated. The word 'wombat' comes from the language of the Darug people, who originally lived in Sydney, and was initially spelled in various ways, from 'wambat' to womback', possibly as a result of dialectal differences among the Darug.

Answer: A Country Practice

'A Country Practice' was set in a hospital-cum-veterinary practice, filmed in Sydney, and featured a variety of Australian animals, the most iconic of which was Fatso the wombat. Arguably the real star of the show, Fatso was owned by Dr Simon Bowen, then adopted by Shirley and Frank Gilroy when Simon and his wife Vicky moved to the USA. Fatso, like many other animal TV stars, was played by more than one wombat; the original Fatso had to be fired due to 'temperament issues', and was replaced by George (who later had to leave the show due to mange), then Garth. Jeanette Ambrose, who bred wombats for the show, was attacked by one of the wombats on her family's sanctuary in 2020; the beast knocked her over and bit her, and had to be killed by her husband and a neighbour.

Other animals on the show included Cuddles the python, Doris the alcoholic pig (who also had a sizeable fandom), Patrick the ferret, Spike the echidna, and Donavan the goat.

Answer: Liverpool

If I'd said 'the Beatles', that might have made it a little too obvious for many players! The Wombats formed when singer Matthew Murphy, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen and drummer Dan Haggis met at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. Murphy and Haggis are native Scousers, while Knudsen is Norwegian.

They released several EPs, with their debut album 'Girls, Boys & Marsupials' being released in Japan only in 2006; their first international album was 2007's 'A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation'.

Their signature song, 'Let's Dance to Joy Division', was released in 2007, and is about an experience Murphy had in Liverpool club Le Bateau; the 7" version features a hidden track with Knudsen singing the theme to British kids' programme 'Postman Pat' in Norwegian.

In 2008, they opened the opening ceremony at the Liverpool Arena to celebrate Liverpool becoming the European Capital of Culture.

Answer: Cute High Earth Defence Club LOVE!

'Cute High Earth Defence Club LOVE!' (or 'Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-Bu LOVE!' in Japanese) is a parody of magical girl shows, with a difference - the cast are magical BOYS. As Sailor Moon has characters called 'Sailor [insert name here' and the 'Pretty Cure' franchise has 'Cure [insert name here]', so 'Cute High...' has the colour-coded Battle Lovers: Battle Lover Scarlet (red), Battle Lover Cerulean (blue), Battle Lover Epinard (green), Battle Lover Sulphur (yellow) and Battle Lover Vesta (pink). Wombat is a magical pink alien wombat from space who tells the boys to fill the world with love, and brainwashes their form teacher by letting him hold him. Generally, the boys don't take him seriously, except Yumoto (Battle Lover Scarlet). (And yes, 'Lesbian Bear Storm', or 'Yurikuma Arashi', is a real anime - it's about a group of bears who turn into human girls and befriend a girl whose mother was eaten by bears.)

Answer: New South Wales

Yes, there is actually a town in Australia called Wombat, though it's not very big. Its original population consisted of Wiradjuri people, an Aboriginal nation based in New South Wales, but became occupied by settlers when gold was discovered in nearby Young. Several Chinese miners moved there during the gold rush. Today, its highway features a wombat statue made from local material, and is also home to Wombat Heights, an orchard where visitors can pick their own cherries, and which also sells local produce such as jams, pickles and fruit liqueurs. (The kookaburra is the state bird of New South Wales, black opals are its state mineral and the waratah is its state flower.)

Answer: Koala

Yes, believe it or not, koalas and wombats are related! To a lesser extent, so are wallabies and bandicoots as they're also marsupials (but Poppy is left out as she's a monotreme, not a marsupial, and is one of the few mammals capable of laying eggs). Both koalas and wombats belong to Vombatiformes, the suborder of the order Diprotodontia. Diprotodontia also includes kangaroos, wallabies, possums, and other adorable furry Aussie creatures.

In ancient times, another member of the Vombatiformes suborder was the diprotodon, thought to be the inspiration for the notorious bunyip of Aussie legend.

The difference here is that Wally is a member of the Vombatidae family, while Kevin belongs to the Phasocolarctidae family. 'Phascolarctidae', incidentally, means 'pouched bear', as koalas were originally thought to be a type of bear and are still sometimes called 'koala bears', even though they're not actually bears at all.