A Trip Around Australia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gold and Sunshine Coasts

The Gold Coast (which is a city) is 42 kms south-east of Brisbane, and the Sunshine Coast is located 100 kms north of the capital. Both areas are huge tourist attractions and holiday areas. Noosa and Coolangatta are beach resorts north and south of Brisbane respectively.

Fraser and Whitsunday are both islands. Fraser Island is a World Heritage site and the largest sand island in the world being 1,840 sq. kms in area. The Whitsunday Islands are a group of islands about 900 kms north of Brisbane. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef and stretches over 2,300 kms along the coast of Queensland and is also a World Heritage site. Cape York is a peninsula in the far north of the state. It is in this area, around Weipa on the Gulf of Carpentaria, that the Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon was the first European to site the mainland of Australia in 1606.

Answer: The Blue Mountains

The first successful crossing of The Blue Mountains was credited to Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth in 1813. The name comes from the blue tinge the mountain range takes on when viewed from a distance. Dorrigo National Park is 580 kms north of Sydney and you can discover the beauty of the area by driving along the Waterfall Way. Mungo National Park is 875 kms west of Sydney with its unique luna-like landscape.

It is also the home of the "Mungo Man", the oldest human remains discovered in Australia.

He is estimated to have lived 40,000 to 65,000 years ago. The Snowy Mountains contains Australia's highest mountain, Mt. Kosciuszko and is Australia's main ski resort area.

Answer: The Twelve Apostles

Unfortunately, there are only eight stacks left (the ninth dramatically collapsed in 2005) however, the name has remained and is a huge tourist attraction. The Three Sisters are a rock formation in the Blue Mountains (NSW) close to the town of Katoomba. Pine Mountain is a huge monolith 440 kms east of Melbourne and said to be 1.5 times larger than Uluru (Ayers Rock). Bells Beach is one of Australia's most famous surfing beaches in the Great Ocean Road region.

Answer: The Tasmanian devil

The Tasmanian devil is the size of a small, rotund dog, however, it is capable of surprising speed, can climb trees and swim across rivers. The Tasmanian tiger became extinct in Tasmania during the early 20th century due to hunting encouraged by bounties.

Although dog-like, it got the name "tiger" due to the stripes on its lower back. The red kangaroo is the world's largest, living marsupial and is found right across mainland Australia. The wombat is a short-legged muscular marsupial also found in south-eastern regions of the mainland.

Answer: The Barossa Valley

The Barossa Valley has over 150 wineries and cellar doors and is only 60 kms from Adelaide. The name was intended to be "Barrosa" after the Battle of Barrosa and the victory of the British over the French in 1811. Unfortunately, there was a clerical error in the transcription when registering the name.

The Hunter Valley is just two hours drive north of Sydney and is one of Australia's oldest wine growing regions. The Yarra Valley is just outside of Melbourne and known for its pinot noir and sparkling wines.

The Swan Valley is north of Perth (WA) and made up of about 40 small family wine operations.

Answer: The black swan

All of those birds mentioned are indigenous to Australia. The black swan is mainly found in the south-west region of Western Australia and is a large waterbird, a species of the swan. They were hunted to extinction in New Zealand but have been re-introduced with the Australian species.

The black swan symbolises Western Australia, as the major beer from WA is Swan Lager, with a black swan on the logo.

Answer: Kakadu National Park

Kakadu National Park covers an area of nearly 20,000 sq. kms. The name comes from an aboriginal language which was spoken in this area but is the mispronunciation of "Gaagudju". The park includes four major river systems, six major landforms and an incredible number of plant and wildlife species. There are also over 500 recorded art sites of aboriginal culture over many thousands of years.

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is over 1,400 kms south of Darwin where you will find the renowned sandstone monolith, Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), which are 36 large domed rock formations. Nitmiluk National Park (240 kms south-east of Darwin) is made up of a series of gorges along the Katherine and Edith Falls. There are freshwater crocodiles all year-round and if water levels are high in the wet season, you can also see salt water crocodiles. Judbarra/Gregory National Park is over 350 kms south of Darwin and covers an area of 13,000 sq. kms. The area includes many rock shelters and caves with aboriginal art, and many species of birdlife.

Answer: Walter and Marion Griffin

The design submitted by Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937) and his wife Marion Mahony Griffin (1871-1961) from Chicago was selected and construction commenced in 1913. An artificial lake was completed in the centre of Canberra in 1963 and named Lake Burley Griffin.

Jørn Utzon (1918-2008) from Denmark designed the Sydney Opera House. Dorman Long and Co. Ltd from Middlesbrough, England, designed and built the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Ivor Evans (Melbourne), Leslie John Hawkins (Sydney), Egbert John Nuttall (Melbourne), Annie Dorrington (Perth) and William Stevens (Auckland, NZ) were the 5 winners who shared the design of the Australian Flag. After a design competition, their designs were very similar to what the final product became so they shared the £200 prize. In 2009 dollars, that equated to $25,000.

Answer: Norfolk Island

The evergreen Norfolk Island pine is the symbol on the island's flag. The other three external territories (in addition to all the answer options) are Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

The Jervis Bay Territory is not classified as external and is similar to the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory in that they are all on the mainland.

Answer: The golden wattle

In heraldic, terms the "compartment" is the design placed under the shield as a support. This could be a tree, rock formation or a landscape design. In this instance, it is the floral emblem of Australia, the golden wattle. The red kangaroo and emu are known as the supporters.

It is interesting that these two native animals of Australia cannot walk backwards so therefore they can only advance or go forward. The seven-pointed Commonwealth Star is positioned as the crest on the coat of arms. Six points represent the six original states and the seventh point, the territories and any future states.

The shield depicts the badge of each of the six states.