Australia Through Time 1606 to 1879 Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In what year did the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discover and name Van Dieman's Land (later Tasmania)?

Answer: 1642

1606 The Portuguese explorer Luis Vaez de Torres passed through Torres Straight. In the same year Willem Jansz made landfall along the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, making Jansz the first European to set foot on Australia.

1616 Dirk Harthog commanding the Eendracht landed near Shark Bay. Harthog left behind a pewter plate nailed to a tree with information about his discovery.

1629 The Dutch ship Batavia was wrecked off the Western Australian coast. Some of the crew mutinied and killed the other 129 passengers.

2. In what year did Governor Arthur Phillip return to England?

Answer: 1792

1791 James Ruse an ex-convict was given 12 hectares of land at Parramatta, where he successfully grew the colony's first wheat crop.

1795 John Hunter arrived in Sydney to take up the post of second Governor.

1797 Coal was discovered by three shipwrecked sailors at Coalcliff, just south of Sydney.

3. In what year was the first newspaper in Australia, the "Sydney Gazette" published?

Answer: 1803

1802 Matthew Flinders left Sydney and sailed north in the Investigator on his circumnavigation of the continent.

1804 Irish convicts mutinied at Castle Hill near Sydney, this was the only convict uprising ever in the Colony.

1808 Governor William Bligh was placed under house arrest by officers of the NSW Corps. Martial law was declared. Bligh spent a year under house arrest before returning to England.

4. In what year did Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth make the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney?

Answer: 1813

1810 Governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived in Sydney. In the same year the first offical horse race was conducted in Sydney's Hyde Park by officers of the 73rd Regiment.

1817 John Oxley, the NSW Surveyor-General, explored the area around the Lachlan River in New South Wales. In the same year the first bank in Australia, The Bank of NSW opened for business.

1818 Official celebrations were held in Sydney to mark the settlement's 30th anniversary.

5. In what year did Hamilton Hume and William Hovell set out from Lake George to explore land to the south? They named the Hume River, later renamed the Murray, and reached Port Phillip in December of that year.

Answer: 1824

1825 Van Diemen's Land became a separate colony from New South Wales under Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur.

1827 Eliza Walsh became the first woman to receive a land grant in the Colony of NSW. Alan Cunningham discovered the rich pastoral lands of the Darling Downs.

1828 Charles Sturt led an expedition hoping to find an inland sea; he discovered the Darling River.

6. In what year was 'The Wild Colonial Boy' (Bushranger Jack Donahoe) shot and killed in a shoot out?

Answer: 1830

1836 Charles Darwin visited Australia. South Australia was proclaimed a colony by Governor Captain John Hindmarsh.

1837 The first overland mail service between Sydney and Melbourne began.

1838 Foundation Day (later Australia Day) was celebrated as a public holiday on January 26th for the first time.

7. In what year did the British government declare New Zealand a separate colony from New South Wales?

Answer: 1841

1842 Sydney is incorporated as Australia's first city.

1844 The German explorer Ludwig Leichhart travelled from the Darling Downs across Queensland to Port Essington in the present day Northern Territory.

1847 Australia's very first golf course is established at Flagstaff Gardens in Melbourne.

8. In what year was the colony's first gold rush at Ophir in New South Wales? (In the same year Port Phillip became the separate colony of Victoria)?

Answer: 1851

1853 Cobb & Co established its first coach service between Melbourne and Port Melbourne. In the same year convict transportation to Van Diemen's Land was stopped.

1856 New South Wales won the first inter-colonial cricket match, beating Victoria at Richmond Paddock, Melbourne.

1859 Queensland became a separate colony from New South Wales.

9. In what year did the first Australian cricket team, an Aboriginal team, tour England winning 14 matches, losing 14 and drawing 19?

Answer: 1868

1860 The last known 'First Fleeter', John Harmsworth, died.

1865 Both bushrangers Dan 'Mad Dog' Morgan (April) and Ben Hall (May) were shot dead.

1867 Prince Alfred, the son of Queen Victoria arrived in Australia for the first ever royal visit.

10. In what year was the SS Gothenburg wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef, resulting in the deaths of 102 men, women and children and only 22 survivors?

Answer: 1875

1870 The first pole for the Overland Telegraph between Port Darwin, Northern Territory and Port Augusta, South Australia, was erected in Port Darwin.

1876 South Australia became the first colony to legalise trade unions. The Trade Union Bill was based on the British Act of 1871.

1879 Four members of the notorious 'Kelly Gang' Joe Byrne, Steve Hart, Dan and Ned Kelly, wearing police uniforms the bushrangers crossed the border from Victoria to rob the Bank of NSW at Jerilderie. They escaped with 2,141 pounds.

Source: Author Paul1405

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Given an event, match it to a year. All years in the answers have a matching event, other than question #1 all questions cover a 10 year period.

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