Australia in the Twentieth Century Quiz

Answer: Lord Hopetoun

John Hope was the 7th Earl of Hopetoun. On July 13th 1900 Queen Victoria approved his appointment as Australia's first Governor General.

Answer: Helen Mitchell

Dame Nellie Melba was the first Australian opera singer to achieve international fame and recognition as a classical soprano.

Answer: Conscription

About his expulsion Hughes said "I did not leave the Labor Party. The Party left me". Most of Hughes's older colleagues followed him out of the ALP. He formed a cabinet from these men, hoping to build a new political party which would maintain social radicalism and Australian nationalism. Hughes misread the political signs and was soon forced to merge with the Opposition in a National 'Win the War' Party.

Answer: 25

The Prime Minister of Australia is appointed by the Governor General under Section 64 of the Australian Constitution.

Answer: Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm

The following year Kingsford Smith as pilot, Charles Ulm as relief pilot, along with the other two crew members, Americans James Warner and Captain Harry Lyon, made one of the greatest flights of the 1920s. The four men took off in their monoplane, The Southern Cross, from Oakland, California to make the first trans-Pacific flight to Australia.

The flight was in three stages. The first to Hawaii, 2,400 miles away, took 27 hours 25 minutes. They then flew to Suva, Fiji another 3,100 miles, taking 34 hours 30 minutes, having to fly through a huge lightning storm near the equator.

They then flew on to Brisbane in 20 hours, where they landed at Eagle Farm Airport, June 9th 1928, after more than 7,400 miles of flying. On arrival, they were met by a huge crowd of 25,000, and were feted as heroes - two of the truly great aviators of history, Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm.

Answer: Jack Lang

Winning a landslide victory in 1930 Premier Lang refused to cut government salaries and spending. He then passed laws restricting the rights of landlords to evict defaulting tenants, and insisted on paying the legal minimum wage to all workers on relief projects.
With the economy deteriorating rapidly in 1931, Lang violently opposed "The Premier's Plan" agreed to by the Federal Labor Government and all other State Premiers, which called for even more stringent cuts to government spending. Instead Lang issued his own programme for economic recovery, the "Lang Plan" the major points being the repudiation of interest payments to overseas creditors until domestic conditions improved, and the abolition of the 'Gold Standard' to be replaced by a 'Goods Standard', where the amount of money in circulation was linked to the amount of goods produced.
Lang refused to pay interest owed by NSW to overseas bondholders, the new UPA Federal Government paid the interest, and then set about extracting the money from NSW by passing the Financial Enforcement Act of 1932.
Lang claimed the act was unlawful and again refused to pay. The Governor, Sir Philip Game, advised Lang that in his view this action was illegal, and that if Lang did not reverse it he would dismiss the government. Lang stood firm, and on 13 May 1932 the Governor withdrew Lang's commission and appointed Stevens (UPA), as premier. Stevens immediately called an election, and Labor was heavily defeated.

Answer: Douglas Jardine

Bodyline bowling, or 'fast leg theory' as the English liked to call it, almost caused "war" between Australia and England. Arguably the World's greatest cricketer, Don Bradman had destroyed England with his batting in the 1930 series in England. The idea of bodyline originated at the Oval Test of 1930.

While Bradman was batting, there was a little rain and for a short time the wicket became difficult to play. Bradman was seen to be uncomfortable facing deliveries which bounced higher than usual at a faster pace, being seen to step back out of the line of the ball.

However Bradman went on to score 232. Former England Captain Percy Fender had noticed Bradmans 'uncomfortable period' at the wicket and the incident was discussed by English cricketers.

But given Bradman's score, it was not generally thought that a way to curb his prodigious run getting had been found. However when Douglas Jardine later saw film footage of the Oval incident and noticed Bradman's discomfort, he shouted, "I've got it! He's yellow!" Bodyline bowling was born.

Answer: Cruiser

Originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Phaeton, the light cruiser was purchased by the Australian Government and renamed HMAS Sydney prior to her launch in 1934, as a replacement for the light cruiser HMAS Brisbane. Sydney's main armament consisted of eight 6-inch guns and four 4-inch guns, plus 12 half inch machine guns; she also had an assortment of other weapons including torpedoes and depth chargers. On November 19th 1941, HMAS Sydney was involved in an engagement with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran: both ships were sunk, all 645 aboard HMAS Sydney perished. Of the 399 on board the Kornoran 318 survived.

The wrecks of both ships were lost until 2008.

Answer: 22

Australia, along with Greece, France, Switzerland and Great Britain are the only countries to have attended all modern Summer Olympic Games. Australia has hosted the Games twice - in Melbourne in 1956, and in Sydney in 2000.

Answer: Maralinga

Between 1952 and 1963 the British Government, with the agreement and support of Australia, carried out nuclear tests in Australia. From 1955 seven major nuclear tests were performed at Maralinga. The site was badly contaminated with radioactive materials.

A cleanup of the site was carried out in 1967. In 1985 The McClelland Royal Commission, recommended another cleanup of the site, as a significant radiation hazards still existed there. The final clean up was completed in 2000 and cost $108 million.

Answer: Tulloch

Trained by the legendary T.J. Smith, Tulloch was foaled in New Zealand in 1954. Racing from 1956 to 1958, in 53 starts Tulloch recorded 35 victories, ridden by two of the greats of the Australian turf, George Moore and Neville Sellwood. Tulloch scored outstanding wins in some of Australia's major races. Tulloch was one of the five inaugural horses inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, alongside the other turf immortals Carbine, Phar Lap, Bernborough and Kingston Town.

Answer: Phuoc Tuy

Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War lasted for over 10 years from 1962 to 1972, the longest war in Australia's history. Starting with 30 advisers in 1962 it rose to a peak force of 7,672 personnel. The war involved over 60,000 Australians and resulted in the deaths of 521 with over 3,000 wounded.

There was growing disillusionment with the war, and with the election of the Whitlam Labor Government in 1972 Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War ceased.

Answer: 6

Queen Victoria, January 1st 1901 to January 22nd 1901, Edward VII to May 6th 1910, George V to January 20th 1936, Edward VIII to December 12th 1936, George VI to February 6th 1952 and Queen Elizabeth II to December 31st 2000 onwards.

Australia's Head of State is the Monarch of Australia (King or Queen of the United Kingdom). Under the Australian Constitution, the executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the monarch and is exercised by the Governor-General as the monarch's representative. The Governor-General is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister of Australia. The prime minister is head of government.

In the twentieth century there were 22 Governors General of Australia. Starting with Lord Hopetoun in 1901 and concluding with Sir William Deane in 2000.

Answer: The Government not having control of the Senate.

Following the 'Loans Affair' in 1974 Whitlam had removed three ministers: Lionel Murphy was appointed to the High Court, Rex Conner and Jim Cairns were sacked. In October 1975, the Opposition used its control of the Senate to block supply, (government finance) which had been passed by the House of Representatives.

The Opposition stated that they would continue to do so unless the Government called an election for the Lower House. Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser urged Kerr to dismiss Whitlam unless he agreed to the demand. Without informing Whitlam, Kerr had taken secret advice from the Chief Justice Sir Garfield Barwick. Whitlam believed that Kerr would not dismiss him, and Kerr did nothing to make Whitlam think otherwise.

After dismissing Whitlam, Kerr appointed Fraser as Prime Minister, Fraser called an election which resulted in Fraser winning in a landslide.

Answer: 93 to 67

The cricket series between Australia and England is called 'The Ashes', so named after a satirical 'obituary' published in the "Sporting Times" in 1882 after a match at The Oval in which Australia beat England on England's home turf for the first time.

The 'obituary' stated that "English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia." The English team that toured Australia in 1882-83 were said to be going to "bring back the ashes". During the tour the English team captain Ivo Bligh was presented with a small terracotta urn by a group of Melbourne women.

The urn reputedly contains the ashes of a cricket ball, but this is only hearsay and the actual contents are not known. The urn is seen to be the trophy of the series, but it has never been formally adopted as such and Ivo Bligh always considered it to be a personal gift to him.

Answer: Rodney Ansell

Rodney Ansell became famous in 1977. His story become World news when he was stranded in remote country in the Northern Territory, and was able to survive for two months with very few resources. Ansell wrote a book and produced a documentary about his exploits called "To Fight the Wild". Showing interest in Ansell's story Paul Hogan, along with co-writers Ken Shadie and John Cornell, based the character Crocodile Dundee on Ansell.

In 1999 Ansell was shot dead by police after fleeing a domestic dispute in which he threatened to kill his children.

Answer: Pat Cash

Pat Cash was a World ranked junior player, ranked number one junior in 1981. In 1982 Pat Cash won the junior titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He turned professional in 1982 and won his first top level singles event in Melbourne in that year. In 1983 Cash reached the final of the Davis Cup, up until then being the youngest player to do so.

The climax of his career came at Wimbledon in 1987. Beating Mats Wilander in the quarter-finals and Jimmy Connors in the semifinals, Pat Cash defeated the World number one Ivan Lendl, in the final 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-5. Pat Cash retired from tennis in 1996.

Answer: Helen Garner

Helen Garner is an award winning Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Born in Geelong in 1942 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Melbourne. From 1966 until her sacking in 1972, for "giving an unscheduled sex-education lesson to her 13-year old students", Garner worked as a Victorian high-school teacher.

In 1967, she travelled overseas and met Bill Garner, whom she married in 1968. They had one child, the actor, musician and writer Alice Garner in 1969, her marriage ended in 1971. Her first novel, "Monkey Grip" (1977), was most successful, winning the National Book Council Award in 1978 and being made into a film in 1982.

Helen Garner has been nominated for, and won many literary awards in Australia.

Answer: 1995

Uluru is the homeland of the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal peoples. Ayers Rock as Uluru, was returned to Aboriginal care and ownership in 1985. The area contains carvings and paintings by Aboriginal people. The area also contains a number of sacred sites. Uluru, situated in Kata Tjuta National Park, is the world's largest monolith, rising 348 metres above the desert floor. It has a circumference of 9.4km.

Answer: Andrew Gaze

Also called the Millennium Games. Sydney hosted one of the finest Olympiads of the twenthith century. The Games proved most rewarding for Australia with 632 competitors winning 58 medals, including 16 gold.