Australia of Yesteryear Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dutch

The first recorded sighting of Australia by a European was in 1606 by Willem Janszoon who was captain of the Dutch ship Duyfken. They landed in Cape York but were attacked by Aborigines and left without exploring further. The second sighting was also by the Dutch when Dirk Hartog landed in Western Australia in 1616. Many Dutch ships explored the north coast between 1623 and 1636 and named the area Arnhem Land (which is still used today).

Another Dutchman, Abel Tasman, was the first to sight Tasmania in 1642. He named it Van Diemen's Land and claimed it for the Netherlands. Tasman was also responsible for naming Australia 'Nova Hollandia' (New Holland) and it kept this name for 180 years. The first Englishman to see Australia was William Dampier in 1688. He also explored the north west coast and is the first to report the strange large 'hopping' animals on the land.

Portuguese seafarer Christopher de Mendonca probably led a fleet of four ships into Botany Bay in 1522, according to 16th century hand-drawn maritime maps of the entire east coast, which describes the land as "Terra Java" (believed to have been drawn by Mendonca).

Answer: Botany Bay

Captain James Cook was an English explorer who had been sent to chart the transit of Venus from Tahiti. He first found New Zealand in 1769 and then reached the south east coast of Australia on the 20th of April 1770. He sailed up the east coast, which he named New South Wales, and claimed it for Britain on the 22nd of August 1770. He chose Botany Bay as a good place for a settlement.

When the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay Governor Phillip took a longboat and went to visit the area Cook had called Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) and they landed at Camp Cove, Sydney Cove and Manly Cove. Once back at Botany Bay Phillip decided Sydney Cove was a better settlement choice and moved the fleet down. They landed and established the first colony in Australia on the 26th of January 1788 - the date that became Australia Day.

Answer: Endeavour

The 'Endeavor' was Captain Cook's ship.

The eleven ships that sailed from Britain on 13th May 1787 to establish the first colony are known as the First Fleet. It sailed under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip with approximately 1,305 people aboard: 736 convicts, 211 marines, 17 convicts' children, 27 marines' wives, 14 marines' children and about 300 crew members.

The fleet included:
Two naval escorts - HMS Sirius and HMS Supply.
Six convict ships - Alexander, Charlotte, Friendship, Lady Penrhyn, Prince Of Wales and Scarborough.
Three food ships - Golden Grove, Fishburn and Borrowdale.

Answer: Arthur Phillip

Born in England in 1738, Arthur Philip spent most of his first fifty years at sea. He became an apprentice in the merchant navy when he was 13 and two years later joined the Royal Navy. He served in the Seven Years' War and then joined the Portuguese Navy to fight in the war against Spain.

Before completing his service with Portugal he captained a convoy of convict ships traveling between Portugal and Brazil. This journey was completed with a very low death rate and is the probable reason behind him being chosen to lead the First Fleet. Being the Captain automatically made him the administrator of the colony and he was thus appointed Governor. One of his first acts was to name the settlement after Thomas Townsend, the Home Secretary, who was the 1st Baron Sydney.

Bligh was the fourth Governor of NSW and Macquarie the fifth. Paterson was the first Governor of North Tasmania.

Answer: Swan River Colony

The Swan River Colony was established in 1829 on the Swan River in the west (this area is now Perth). It only officially existed until 1832 when its lands extended to the entire western third of the country and it became Western Australia. A settlement existed at King George Sound (Albany W.A.) from 1826 but this was a NSW military outpost, sent to stop the French making a claim, not a colony.

The order of the colonies being:
- New South Wales was the first, established in 1788, and originally included New Zealand and other islands.
- Van Diemen's Land was claimed for Britain in 1825.
- Charles Fremantle declared Swan River Colony in 1829.
- South Australia was claimed in 1836.
- 1840 had New Zealand claiming its own colony.
- For ten months in 1846 all NSW territory above the 26th parallel was claimed as North Australia.

Answer: Bathurst NSW

Gold was first discovered in 1851 at Bathurst, NSW. The Victorian gold fields at Ballarat were discovered only about six months later. The gold rushes changed the demographics of the country forever. During the 1850's about 2% of the British and Irish population emigrated to Australia. New settlers now outnumbered the convict/ex-convict population and these free settlers wanted a democracy with all its benefits.

The West Australian gold rush began in 1892 just as the goldfields in the east coast had been exhausted. Coolgardie was the first town founded and by 1898 it was the third largest in the colony. At one point there were 700 mining companies in Coolgardie that were listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Gold was found in Kalgoorlie in 1893 and is still being mined. The Super Pit, a large open cut gold mine in the town, is expected to remain productive until at least 2017. The pit is 3.6 kilometres long, 1.6 kilometres wide and 512 metres deep.

Answer: Eureka Stockade

This rebellion occurred near Ballarat, Victoria against the mining supervising officials. There had been grievances and civil disobedience for three years prior to the stockade. The main disputes were over the high price of a miner's license, taxation without representation, overpriced items needed for mining and the actions taken by the government against the miners.

The Stockade itself did not last long but the public support it received both during and after and the chain of events it set in motion has led it to be characterised as the 'Birth of Democracy' in Australia.

The Rum Rebellion of 1808 involved Governor William Bligh being deposed by the New South Wales Corps. It is the only successful armed government takeover in Australian history.

Vinegar Hill, in 1804, was a revolt by the Irish convicts against the authorities leading to martial law being declared for over a week.

The Darwin rebellion was not until 1918 and involved the Australian Workers' Union burning an effigy of the Northern Territory administrator and demanding his resignation.

Answer: Melbourne

Australian federation occurred on the 1st of January 1901 after nearly twenty years of negotiations. Originally Western Australia did not wish to join but both New Zealand and Fiji did. When the Constitution of Australia occurred the following six colonies became states of the Commonwealth of Australia: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.

One of the points of contention during negotiations was the location of the capital city, with both Sydney and Melbourne claiming the right. It was decided that a separate capital city would be created in NSW and until that city was established Melbourne would be the temporary capital.

The seat of the Federal government was officially moved to Canberra, located within the Federal Capital Territory, on the 9th of May 1927. The FCT was renamed the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in 1938.

Answer: 1962

Aboriginals were the first human inhabitants of Australia and its islands. Many massacres of the Aboriginal people followed the European settlement as Europeans settled the country and took their land. There are reports of poisoning of food and water supplies, the removal of their children and attempted genocide. Many aspects of this history are debated and known as the 'History Wars' within Australia.

They were given the right to vote throughout Australia in Commonwealth elections in November 1962, and the right to vote in all state elections followed within three years. A federal referendum in 1967 decided to count them as part of the Australian population (they had not been prior to this). I'm glad to say that this was the largest affirmative vote (90.2%) in the history of Australian referendums - although one does wonder about the other 9.8%.

A common belief that they were not allowed to be Australian citizens until 1948 is factually true but is somewhat misleading. Australia passed a 'Nationality and Citizenship Act' in 1948. Until this time they were all British subjects, and Australian citizenship did not exist as such - just as citizenship of the United Kingdom was only created in the same year.

Many male Aborigines aged 21 and over were included in the NSW Electoral rolls back in the mid-late 19th Century. Later on manye male and female Aborigines were also included in the early Federal rolls (including 1904, 1913, etc). It is a very popular myth that 1962 saw Aborigines gain the right to vote. It is also true that there were many who did not know they were eligible to enrol, and when they sought to enrol were then informed that they were not entitled to vote.

Answer: Gough Whitlam

Gough Whitlam came to power in 1972, the first Labor Prime Minister in 23 years. Whitlam made many sweeping reforms in health care and family law but his style alienated some people.

In 1975 a crisis occurred when the Senate blocked the government's (Whitlam's) budget, by refusing to vote. Malcolm Fraser, the leader of the Opposition (head of the Liberal party), warned Whitlam that the bill would not be passed unless he called an early election. Whitlam refused and attempted to "govern without supply" and proposed to borrow money from the banks to run the country. On 11th November the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Whitlam and installed Fraser as the caretaker Prime Minister with the proviso he call an immediate Federal election, which he won; he stayed in power until 1983.

The proclamation dissolving parliament was ended with the traditional "God Save the Queen." Whitlam delivered an impromptu speech from the steps of Parliament house. He dubbed Fraser as "Kerr's cur" and ended with the historical statement: "Ladies and gentlemen, well may we say 'God Save the Queen', because nothing will save the Governor-General."

Robert Menzies was Prime Minister from 1949 to 1966. He has the distinction of being Australia's longest serving prime minister. William McMahon preceded Whitlam (March 71-Dec 72). He is the father of actor Julian McMahon.