Australian-American Culture Trivia Quiz

Answer: baseball

Obviously, he wasn't very successful. "The first recorded Australian baseball match was here on 21 February 1857. The account tells of the 'Melbourne Base Ball Club' having a series of three matches between Collingwood and Richmond. The scores were astronomical - with Collingwood winning the ssecond [sic] match 350 - 230! These early Australian baseball players were probably playing a variation of rounders and the New York Game."-- Joe Clark.
http://www.australianbaseballhistory.webcentral.com.au/ABH/Baseball%20Web%20Pages/early%20history.htm

Answer: Detroit

Considering that Detroit hasn't made the play-offs since 1999, I'd say Brisbane's team is currently the more successful of the two. Of course, the Brisbane Lions' history is relatively short, as the club was formed in 1996 from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy Lions clubs. It didn't take the merged club very long to win its first league premiership in 2001.

Answer: Florida

Both are Sunshine States.

Answer: General Motors

The Holden was launched in 1948. You can see some images of those early models on the company's website at
http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/action/gallery?navid=5&catid=1011

Answer: John Curtin

The statement in question was written, not as is sometimes believed made in a speech. Curtin was the first Australian Prime Minister to broadcast a speech to the American public.

Answer: Crocodile Dundee

"Crocodile Dundee" grossed US$174,803,506 at US box offices and was the highest grossing film in the world in 1986. "Crocodile Dundee II" had the second highest US gross for Australian films with the IMAX documentary "Antarctica" coming third.

Answer: Mel Gibson

Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand. Jackman and LaPaglia were both born in Australia, respectively in Sydney and Adelaide.

Answer: San Antonio Express-News

Although now an American citizen, Murdoch was born in Adelaide. His first paper was the Adelaide News which he inherited from his father. He bought the American San Antonio News in 1973, followed by the New York Post in 1976.

Answer: Harry Houdini

Houdini was an aviation pioneer along with his other accomplishments. On March 18, 1910 he made a short flight in a Voisin biplane at Digger's Rest, Victoria.

Answer: Third

According the article I found, she said "Some 5,000 Australians are studying at American universities, and 4,300 Americans are studying in Australian universities. There are more than 500 formal agreements between American and Australian universities, and over a thousand more informal agreements. The Australian Fulbright Commission has sponsored over 5,000 scholarships for Australians to study and live in the United States."-- The University of Sydney News, 20 April 2000.

Of course, studying in a country does necessarily make you a full-time resident, and other countries such as India and China had larger numbers of permanent "migrants".

Answer: five

After the American colonies revolted England wanted new colonies for her convicts. Newfoundland turned convicts away, and an attempt to ship convicts to Africa had unacceptable mortality rates. Although the British surrender at Yorktown was October 1781, there was some fighting, often between the Americans and Britain's Native American allies, until November 1782. England officially declared an end to hostilities in February 1783.

The First Fleet left Portsmouth in May 1787 and arrived at Botany Bay January 1788. You can see why I used round numbers for the question.

The main thing is that the events were both related and close together in time.

Answer: Tasmanian Devil

I seem to remember something about a baby kangaroo that used to beat up a cat as well. Warner Brothers cartoonists must have had the impression that Australian fauna was awfully tough.

Answer: Labo(u)r Day

The Americans celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday in September. The date of Labour Day in Australia varies from state to state.

Answer: Time

Robert Hughes was born and educated in Sydney, but moved to London and then the USA. His 1986 history of early Australia "The Fatal Shore" sold well in both countries.

Answer: 25

The American twenty-five cent piece is called a quarter. Australians seem to be able to get along without it, using a twenty cent piece instead. Australians also get by without slang names for their coinage. Nearly all Americans call coins nickels, dimes, pennies, etc., but Australians do not have similar terms. Special thanks to ozzz2002 for correcting some errors in this quiz.