Australia Rocks Trivia Quiz

Answer: Devil's Marbles

The Marbles are situated near Wauchope in the Northern Territory. Though you only see two in the photo, they are a series of large, circular boulders, some of which are perched, rather precariously, on top of each other. They are made of granite that had originally solidified under a layer of sandstone. Over time the sandstone was eroded away leaving the granite boulders exposed and perched on each other.

The area is of great cultural significance to the Alayawarre people, but it is also a place where three other language groups, the Kayteye, Warumunga and Warlpiri, meet. For the Alayawarre this represents an important meeting place. It is one of the few areas where women and men can gather together to collect food and it is the place where the elders pass on the traditions of their people to the new generation. Because the Marbles are believed to be possessed of great power, the removal of any of them is said to produce dire events. Accordingly, when one was removed and taken to Alice Springs and placed on the grave-site of John Flynn, the founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, there was a great outcry from the Alayawarre. It took 45 years to see it returned.

The story that the Alayawarre people believe that the Marbles are the fossilized eggs of the Rainbow Serpent (the Aboriginal creator-god) is a misconception. Many of the stories of the Alayawarre are sacred to them and rarely revealed to outsiders. The one that they do pass on about the rocks is that of Arrange (the Devil Man) who passed through the area making a hair belt. As he walked, he dropped clusters of hair which became the Marbles we see today.

Answer: Mount Augustus

Mount Augustus is situated one thousand kilometres north of Perth and it is two and a half times bigger than Uluru/Ayers Rock. It has frequently been named the world's largest monolith but that is a point that is moot. The reason being is that the term monolith, from the Greek words meaning "single stone", can be a little ambiguous. A geologist is more likely to use the term "inselberg" (or monadnock), which means "island mountain". This identifies the feature as being an isolated mountain rising above the surrounding plain. Mount Augustus, which is often called a monolith, is actually a monocline. A monocline is not a single piece of rock, but an exposed rock that is connected to a layer underneath it. hence the arguments.

Mount Augustus, which was formed when an ancient seabed, predominantly made of sandstone, was pushed up out of the earth, has a central ridge that is approximately eight kilometres long. The age of its rocks are estimated to be over a thousand million years old. The first recorded climbing of the rock, by a non-indigenous person, was that of Francis Gregory in June of 1858. He would name the site after his brother, explorer and surveyor general, Sir Augustus Charles Gregory.

The local Wajarri people gave it the name Burringurrah. Elder Charlie Snowball told this Dreaming story on an ABC documentary: Burringurrah was a boy, a large boy at that, who'd run away from his tribe's initiation into lore and culture ceremony. He'd wondered into other people's territory. The old men from the territory stopped him and speared him in the leg. The old ladies hit him in the head. Burringurrah fell to the ground and died and became the rock that you see today.

Answer: Basalt

The forty metre high wall of pentagonal organ pipes represent the sheered off remains of a basalt lava flow that erupted from the Nandewar Volcano, which was a dominant feature of this landscape, dating back some 21 million years.

This organ piping, which is formed when the molten rock from the eruption is allowed to cool in a slow and even manner, is not a rare phenomenon around the globe, but what makes the Sawn Rocks significant is that the pipes are so perfectly formed and preserved. They are so well formed one would almost think that they were chiseled out by hand.

Sawn Rocks sits inside New South Wales' Mount Kaputar National Park, which is 570 kilometres northwest of Sydney. This area is the home of the Gamilaroi people and it provided them with a rich source of materials for food, medicines and weapons. The area also provides the base for a rich vein of Dreamtime stories and these are highlighted by series of sculptures that are dotted through the park.

Answer: Seashells

Studies of the Pinnacles indicate that they were formed as early as 80,000 years ago. The area that they reside in used to belong to the sea and was rich in marine life. As the ocean receded it left behind a vast number of seashells. These broke down into soil that was rich in lime and became mobile sand dunes. As to the phase of the evolution of the stone spires, that part is being debated by geologists.

There are three prevailing theories. The first involves karstification (sustained solution weathering) which formed depressions (pipes) in the soil that enlarged over time. Another involves the preservation of tree casts that combined with the soil and water to form a hard calcrete and the third talks of plants absorbing more calcium from the soil than was required. The excess gathered around the roots and turned into calcrete, replacing the root when it died. The feature that they do agree on is that the stones were, initially, under the ground and were exposed over time by the shifting of the sands.

It is believed that the Dutch explorers of the mid 1650s were the first Europeans to sight these magnificent spires and that they took them to be the remains of an ancient city. The land here is the home of Noongar people, notably those of the Yuat and Wajuk language groups. Whilst the area around the Pinnacles is of importance to them, as it represented a site for water and, accordingly, a valuable trade route, they now stay away from the standing stones, believing that they are fossilized ghosts. Legends tell that in ancient times, the paths here were sacred and reserved for women to gather, forage for food, and give birth. Some young warriors defied the lore and the gods chose to destroy them for their insolence. As they were dying they begged for forgiveness and projected their spears into the air. The stone spires are all that remain of them.

Answer: Murphy's Haystacks

Located near Streaky Bay, 700 kilometres northwest of Adelaide in South Australia, the Haystacks are a set of inselbergs made out of wind-worn pink granite, that were formed some 1,500 million years ago. Similar to Wave Rock, near Hyden in Western Australia, the boulders had softer bases that were eroded away faster than the hardened material and leaving behind these wonderfully obscure shapes.

The boulders reside on private property, a farm owned by the Murphy family for generations, and it has only been in recent years that it has been made open to the public. However, the Murphys had little to do with their naming. Legend has it that a Scottish farm expert was touring the region and was a great proponent of harrowing. When he saw the formations from a distance he exclaimed to his friend "That man must harrow, look at all the hay he has saved"... and the nickname stuck.

This area is home to the Wirangu people who, unlike most tribes, have an affinity to the sea, which is nearby, and seafood is a strong part of their diet. The area around the Haystacks is an ancient birthing area of their people and, as such, the rocks are of importance. Their Dreaming story of the Haystacks concerns the mighty eagle Waldya who perched on the rocks and was speared by an ancient warrior. The red streaks you see on the rock are trails of his blood. The eagle survived and flew away toward the Marble Range.

Answer: True

Previously known as Ayers Rock and sometimes referred to as the "Heart of Australia", Uluru is a massive sandstone rock that sits at the southern end of the Northern Territory's "red centre". The rock is sacred to the local indigenous populations and covers an area of 3.3 square kilometres. Uluru is a monolith, which means it is a single rock but don't for one minute think that it's an easy stroll to get around... the distance around its base covers 9.4 kilometres. Whilst the rock rises 345 metres above the surface, this is merely a hint of what lays beneath the surface. If you are keen to climb the rock, I am sorry to advise you, this is now prohibited.

The rock was sighted on 19 July 1873 by the surveyor William Gosse, who christened it Ayers Rock after Sir Henry Ayers, the then Chief Secretary of South Australia. The name Uluru was given to it by the local Pitjantjatjara people. Uluru does not have any specific meaning in their language but it is believed to be the name of a local family. To preserve both names, a dual naming policy was adopted in 1993. At that point it became known as Ayers Rock/Uluru before the order was reversed in November 2002. Most people, nowadays, simply call it Uluru.

The rock has two UNESCO World Heritage listings, one for its cultural significance and one for its unique geology. Whilst Uluru may look red in photographs, the rock is actually grey in colour but has been covered over the years by a red iron oxide.

Answer: Many heads

Situated in the same national park as Uluru/Ayers Rock, the tallest of these domes is Mt. Olga, which stands at 545 metres above the plain. This makes it taller than Uluru, which crests at 345 metres. Uluru is only 25 kilometres to the east of the Olgas and both sites are sacred sites of the local indigenous populations. Both the Olgas and Uluru are central to the Aboriginal Dreamtime myths and represent powerful totems and songlines to the local population.

The rocks cover an area of 21 square kilometres and are made up of a mix of sandstone, granite and ironstone, held together by muddy sediment. It is believed that the rocks were formed by the erosion of a large mountain that had been pushed up during the Cambrian earth movements.

The first European to sight Kata Tjuta was the explorer, Ernest Giles. Whilst he was able to see them, he was barred from reaching them by a large lake in his path. He took the opportunity to name the rocks after Spanish royalty; King Amadeus of Spain and Queen Olga of Wurttemberg.

Answer: Wave

You will find Wave Rock at Hyden, a small wheatbelt town about 300 kilometres east-southeast of Perth, Western Australia. In the Noongar language it is known as Katter Kich and it is of immense importance to the Ballardong people of this area. This is their keniny (or dancing) ground. Not far from the site are camping grounds located near a gnamma hole (watering hole). Gnamma holes are important as they form part of the Noongar trade route.

Geologists will tell you that the rock, which is 15 metres tall and 110 metres long, was formed by the erosive actions of both wind and water over millions of years. What you see is the north face of Hyden rock, and its base was undercut by a lot of softer rock. This is the part that was eroded, leaving the distinctive shape of the wave. Wave Rock is an inselberg made up of porphyritic granite i.e. it is embedded with crystals, which was tested in 1960 and estimated to be over 2,700 million years old. There's a vast number of vertical stains of red, brown, grey and yellow hues running down the face of the rock. They almost look like they've been hand painted but, in reality, it was the rain, washing various iron oxides and carbonates down the side.

The Dreaming story will tell you that the rock was formed by the Rainbow Serpent when it dragged its bloated body across the earth, after draining all the water from the land.

Answer: The Three Sisters

The Three Sisters are approximately 100 kilometres northwest of Sydney in the Blue Mountains National Park and evidence exists that the indigenous people were there as far back as 14,000 years ago. European exploration didn't commence in the area until 1813, when Wentworth, Blaxland and Lawson crossed the Blue Mountains in search of more grazing land.

The entire region where the Sisters are, originally existed under a shallow sea. Large amounts of sediment drifted to the floor where they formed rock beds. These were pushed out by volcanic eruptions and then shaped through erosion by the rivers and the wind. The rocks below the Sisters are believed to be over 470 million years old, however the formations themselves appear to have been created during the Triassic Period, making them between 170 and 250 million years old.

The area is important to the Aboriginal peoples of the Gundangurra, Wiradjuri, Tharawal and Darug nations and, whilst they may tell an alternative tale, the Dreamtime story of the Sisters is just as fascinating as the evolutionary one. The maidens, as named above, belonged to the Katoomba tribe and were stunningly beautiful. They fell in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, however, tribal law prevented them from marrying into another tribe. The three brothers tried to steal the ladies, and this triggered a war between the tribes. To protect the ladies the Katoomba witch doctor turned them into stone, however, the witch doctor was killed during the battle and no one else had the power to return the women to their former state.

Answer: Beehives

These striking banded domes are amongst the finest examples of cone karsts in the world. Made of sandstone that was deposited here over 360 million years ago it was then eroded by a combination of weather, rivers and creeks over the past 20 million years. The domes of the Bungles have a distinctive orange and grey banding which is caused by cyanobacteria. This thrives on the sandstone where the moisture accumulates and accounts for the grey bands. The orange bands are created by oxidized iron compounds and these have dried out quickly, too quick for the cyanobacteria to obtain a foothold.

For many years this marvel remained hidden to the wider world and was known only to the local indigenous people and station owners. It was spotted by chance in the 1980s when a film crew flew over it while making a documentary of the area. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The traditional owners of this land are the Gija people and their tale of the landform's creation deals with an echidna (spiny anteater) fleeing from a wild cockatoo that was tormenting it. It found a crack in a rock and, as it tried to crawl in, it magically expanded to provide it with shelter.

There is also a charming story that the chasm got its name from an aboriginal word for a specie of cockroach (with similar banding) that urinates on other life forms it considers a threat, called the Banggul banggul. Whilst there is such a cockroach and there is such a name, the name is not of the Gija people nor of any tribes within the region. In an article published by Tourism WA a local elder advised that the name is of white man origin and also the name of a nearby station, who'd misinterpreted the name of a local grass known as bundle bundle.