Famous Aussies on the World Stage Quiz

Answer: Ian Thorpe

Ian Thorpe, affectionately dubbed 'The Thorpedo' due to his amazing speed through the water, was born in 1982. A large child, and swimming with his head out of the water due to a chlorine allergy, Thorpe won his first race at the age of 7. Although missing Olympic Selection for Atlanta in 1996 at the age of 13, Thorpe was already making a name for himself in Australian swimming. Over the next four years leading up to Sydney 2000, he won numerous national titles with record breaking swims.

He debuted for Australia in the 1997 Pan-Pacific Games.

His career peaked over the period 1998-2004 when he won three gold medals at the Sydney Olympics and another two at Athens in 2004. He also set world records in several events and won 32 Commonwealth Games, Pan-Pacific and World Championship gold medals in his favorite events, the 100, 200, 400 and 800 m freestyle and anchored Australia to many relay gold medals as well.

He retired after Athens. He attempted two comebacks, the first in 2005-6 and then again trying to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. Both were unsuccessful.

Answer: Herbert Vere 'Doc' Evatt

An outstanding legal mind, H.V. 'Doc' Evatt, born in 1894 in NSW, was appointed to the High Court of Australia by the Scullin Government in 1930. After serving for ten years, he sought federal political office with the Labor Party. His talent was already evident and he served as Minister for External Affairs and Attorney-General in the Governments of Curtin and Chifley, before the loss of office in the 1949 rout of the Labor Party by Menzies' Liberal-Country coalition. Evatt then moved to the fledgling United Nations where he was the President of the General Assembly from 1948-49 and was heavily involved in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On Chifley's death in 1951, he returned to lead the Labor Party for the next decade but this was electorally unsuccessful, partly due to enormous internal schisms in the party. He left politics in 1960 and was appointed by New South Wales as their Chief Justice. He died in 1965.

Evatt was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in both 1950 and 1953 but did not receive this award.

Answer: The Aviator

Cate received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in 'The Aviator'.

Cate was born in Ivanhoe, Victoria, Australia in May 1969. Her father was American, her mother Australian and she has two siblings.

Cate graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney in 1992, and hasn't looked back. She has appeared in over fifty films and more than twenty theater productions. Cate has shown her diversity by taking roles in blockbuster films such as the 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, voicing characters in children's movies including 'How to Train Your Dragon 2', and guest starring on Australian television. She has even taken roles in smaller Australian films like 'Little Fish', which she co-produced with her husband, Andrew Upton.

In the mid-2000s Cate and her husband returned to live in Australia to be closer to family and the Australian film industry. Between the years 2008 and 2013 Cate was co-CEO and artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company with Andrew. Their production of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' in 2009, in which Cate starred, was taken to New York and Washington where it was a critical and commercial success.

Cate has won numerous awards for both her stage and screen roles, as well as awards recognising her contribution to performing arts and environmental issues.
A comprehensive list can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Cate_Blanchett

Cate has four children, three boys and an adopted daughter with husband Andrew Upton.

Answer: Sir John Monash

Sir John Monash (1865-1931) was an Australian Army General who was largely responsible for the demise of trench warfare.

His tactics involved the co-ordinated use of armor (tanks), artillery and infantry. He successfully employed these tactics in the Battle of Hamel on 4th July, 1918. He then played a major role in planning for the Battle of Amiens on 8-12 August, 1918. This battle resulted in the Allies' first decisive victory of the war, and Germany signed the Armistice just three months later.

Sir John was knighted, on the battlefield, by King George V on 12th August, 1918. He then returned to Australia and made major contributions to public life. One of Australia's major universities, Monash University, is named in his honor.

Answer: Howard Florey

Howard Florey was a Professor of Pathology at Oxford University. Starting in 1940, Florey and his colleague, Ernst Chain, researched Alexander Fleming's earlier observations of how penicillium mould had killed Staphylococcus. Florey and Chain's findings led to the development of penicillin as a lifesaving antibiotic, which was particularly effective in saving the lives of many Allied troops during World War II. For their work, Florey, Fleming and Chain were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945. Florey's portrait was later used on the Australian $50 banknote. (Bragg, Doherty and Burnet were also famous Australian Nobel-Prize winning scientists.)

Answer: Ballet Dancer

Sir Robert ("Bobby" to his friends) was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia, where his name lives on at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre. He danced with several famous dancers, perhaps the highlight being a world tour with the Sadlers Wells Ballet, playing the lead opposite Dame Margot Fonteyn.

Once he had passed his peak as a dancer, he turned to acting (stage and film), theatre direction and choreography. His 1963 foray into the role of pop singer with the surfing song "Surfer Doll" is usually not mentioned in his CV (wisely, in my opinion.)

He continued his involvement in directing and choreography into his final years, and in 1983 celebrated his 60th year in the theatre. Apart from the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre in Mount Gambier, the Helpmann Academy is named after him, as are the Helpmann Awards which recognise distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in Australia's live performing arts sectors.

Question submitted by McTavish99, whose other half, like Sir Bobby, was born in Mount Gambier.

Answer: Rupert Murdoch

Keith Rupert Murdoch was born in 1931, the second of four children born to newspaper executive Sir Keith Murdoch and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. He inherited News Limited from his father in 1952, which he then converted into News Corporation, the world's second largest media company.

In the late 1960s Murdoch entered the newspaper market in Britain with the purchase of 'The News of the World' and 'The Sun' newspapers. He then expanded into the United States with the purchase of 'The New York Post' and '20th Century Fox'.

In 1985 he became an American citizen to satisfy the requirement that only US citizens could own US television companies.

Answer: Moonee Ponds and gladioli

With her trademark purple hair, cats-eye glasses and 'Hello, possums' welcome, her insightful probes into pompous, pretentious people of all ranks, have been keeping viewers laughing since 1959. She has compered many chat shows on both sides of the Atlantic, interviewing stars like Sean Connery, Joan Rivers, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, Roger Moore and Billy Crystal.

She was the final guest of the UK star, Michael Parkinson. She has had an Australian stamp with her face on it, and a small laneway in Melbourne is named after her. Moonee Ponds is a suburb just to the north of the city of Melbourne and the 'gladdy' (gladiolus), is a flamboyantly colorful member of the lily family, which Edna carried and waved. None of the other suburbs mentioned are in Melbourne. Dame Edna is an alter ego of Australian comic and witty social commentator, Barry Humphries.

Answer: Rabbit

Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew was born in Tweed Heads on the New South Wales north coast in 1954. He quickly made inroads into the pro-surfer ranks with contemporaries including Mark Richards and Shaun Thomson. Wayne rapidly achieved success by winning the 1978 World Professional Surfing Championship. 'Bustin' Down the Door' (2008) is an award-winning documentary that examines the early struggles of Wayne and several colleagues for credibility and success as surfers and originates from the 1996 biography of Wayne by Tim Baker.

He ostensibly got his nickname as a youngster due to prominent front teeth and his foot speed on the sporting field.

Answer: Kylie Minogue

A pop music and style icon, Kylie Ann Minogue (or the mononymous 'Kylie') was born in Melbourne in 1968. She was cast as Charlene in 'Neighbours' in 1986, but had earlier, minor roles in 'The Sullivans', 'Skyways' and 'The Henderson Kids'. Charlene's marriage to Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan) was watched by over 20 Million viewers in the UK. Kylie's first recording, 'The Locomotion' in 1987, was the highest selling single in Australia in the 1980s.

A string of international major hits have followed over several decades. One of her great strengths is the ability to reinvent herself in new styles.

She is also a philanthropist and a champion for cancer research, having herself survived a major battle with breast cancer.