Born in Western Australia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dennis Lillee

When Lillee was bowling from one end, and the super-fast Jeff Thompson was on the other end, there was to place to hide for batsmen. Dennis was a bit of a fiery type, and he was partly responsible for the World Series Cricket breakaway in 1970. He had a healthy disrespect for authority (and batsmen!). He had an onfield confrontation with Javed Miandad, who wanted to hit him over the head with a bat, and his infamous aluminium bat incident in 1979 saw another blow-up from the great man. He was born in Subiaco, in 1949, and retired from cricket in 1984.

John Inverarity was another son of Subiaco, who had a short Test career. His state record, however, is very impressive, both as a batsman and a bowler. A stand in the WACA (Western Australian Cricket Association) ground is named after him.

Jenner was also born in Perth, and was a spin bowler. His career only lasted for nine Tests in five years.

Perth-born Charlesworth was a handy cricketer, but the highest level he reached was playing for his state. He is better known for playing field hockey for Australia. He represented Australia at five Olympiads, and was captain twice. After he retired from playing, he coached the national women's team to two Olympic gold medals. He also managed to serve in the WA Parliament for 10 years.

Answer: Hazel Hawke

Bob and Hazel Hawke were married for almost 40 years, but he was involved in an on again/off again affair with novelist and journalist, Blanche d'Alpuget, who later published his biography. Hazel and Bob divorced in 1995, and he married Blanche later that year. Hazel Masterson was born in Perth in 1929 and died in 2013. She was an accomplished pianist, even performing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She died in 2013.

The wives of former Prime Ministers, John Curtin, Billy McMahon and Robert Menzies were all born in the eastern states.

Answer: INXS

The keyboardist, drummer and guitarist were half of INXS. Add in Garry Gary Beers, Kirk Pengilly, and the charismatic Michael Hutchence, and you have the founding members of one of Australia's best musical exports. 'Original Sin', 'Good Times', 'Need You Tonight', and 'Never Tear Us Apart' are just some of their Top Ten hits.

Answer: Cloudstreet

Winton has an impressive library to his name. His first book, 'An Open Swimmer' won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award, a rich award for new authors. His second book, 'Shallows', won the Miles Franklin Award in 1984, and 'Cloudstreet' completed a hat-trick of awards. Two of his later works, 'The Riders' and 'Dirt Music', were both nominated for the very prestigious Man Booker prize. He was also named as a Australian National Living Treasure in 1997.

Answer: Heath Ledger

Ledger quickly made his mark in Hollywood, appearing in '10 Things I Hate About You', 'The Patriot', 'A Knight's Tale', 'Monster's Ball', 'Lords of Dogtown', and 'Brokeback Mountain', all between 2001 and 2005. However, it was his performance as The Joker in 'The Dark Knight' (2008) that attracted the attention of the Academy. He is buried in Fremantle, just south of Perth.

Peter Finch won a posthumous Best Actor Oscar for 'Network', but although he was acknowledged as Australian, he was actually born in England. Geoffrey Rush won the top gong in 1996 for 'Shine', but was very much alive when he claimed it. Tasmanian-born Errol Flynn was hot property in Hollywood in the 1930s and '40s, but was never nominated for an Oscar.

Answer: Brian Cadd

He has written songs for The Masters Apprentices, The Bootleg Family Band, Ronnie Burns, The Pointer Sisters, Little River Band, John Farnham, and many more. His production company, Bootleg Records, produced some classic songs- 'Ginger Man', 'Kings of the World' and 'Your Mother Don't Dance', 'Wind and Rain', 'Wake Up, Australia' and themes from 'Alvin Purple' and 'Class of '74'.
Cadd has been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and also the Australian Songwriters Association (ASA) Songwriters Hall of Fame.

British-born rocker Billy Thorpe was a superstar in the 1970s, with his best known song probably being 'Most People I Know Think That I'm Crazy'. John Farnham was also born in England and has had a string of hits over the decades. He has a reputation for retiring from the industry, but keeps coming back. Molly Meldrum presented the music program, 'Countdown' for many years. His trademark is a Stetson hat.

Answer: Ross Glendinning

The Eagles won their first game, but finished mid-table with 11 wins and 11 losses. Only five years later, they won their first premiership, defeating Geelong by 28 points.

Glendinning was a brilliant player, and received many accolades. He won the Brownlow Medal for Best and Fairest Player in 1983, and was selected in the All-Australian Team in the same year. He is in several Halls of Fame, and the North Melbourne Team of the Century. In 1987 and 1988, Glendinning topped the goal-kicking list, bringing his playing career to an end on a high note.

Rance, McKenna and Worsfold were the next three captains, and all are Western Australians.

Answer: Slim Newton

The song tells about a redback spider (similar to an American black widow), in a poorly lit toilet. The spider was faced with a rather large piece of bare flesh, and did what spiders do- he bit it. The owner of the bitten bottom faced the indignity of spending time in hospital, where the nursing staff snickered. Slim tells it better than I can...

"I can't lay down, I can't sit up,
And I don't know what to do,
And all the nurses think it's funny,
But that's not my point of view.
I tell you it's embarrassing,
And that's to say the least
That I'm to sick too eat a bite,
While that spider had a feast!"

I can laugh about it now, but the exact same thing happened to me, some years before the song was released. I had to take a special cushion to school...

Answer: Kim Beazley

He was, at various stages, Minister for Aviation, Defence Minister, Minister for Transport and Communications, Minister for Employment and Education, Leader of the House, Minister for Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (under Paul Keating). He retired from Federal Parliament in 2006, and served as Australian Ambassador to the United States for several years. He was appointed as Governor of Western Australia in 2018. A busy boy!

The wrong answers all served as Governor-General of Australia, but none were born in Western Australia.

Answer: Iron ore

Hancock discovered a huge deposit of iron ore, in the remote Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. Later in his life, he was also known for his tumultuous family relationship. He married his third wife, a Filipino cleaner named Rose Porteous. She was 37 and he was was 77.

His daughter, Gina Rinehart, did not like her step-mother at all, and there were numerous court cases, contesting his estate, after he died.