1. The capital city of Australia is Canberra. Anyone who thought Sydney deserves a slapping.
2. Our island state is Tasmania.
3. Our largest territory is Northern Territory, larger than most of our states.
4. Wombats burrow holes into the ground for shelter and to breed. If their pouches faced the same way as kangaroos, their pouches would fill with dug out soil. Well done Roentare for a concise answer.
5. Again Roentare knew of the Goyder Line. From memory, a surveyor named Goyder explored South Australia and drew a line on a map which was the limit for land that could support agriculture and livestock. He was quite correct and those who breached the Goyder Line had their livelihoods destroyed by drought and long periods of low rainfall.
6. My city, Melbourne has the largest tram system in the world. I think it is described as a legacy system, as Melbourne has had trams continuously since the 1890s. It is now a quite modern system, built on the old.
7. Again referring to Roentare, I have to disagree. The King on the advice of the Governor General of Australia can dismiss our Prime Minister, as Queen Elizabeth II dismissed our Prime Minister in 1975. I don't know if our monarch can dismiss an Australian Prime Minister without the advice of our Governor General, but I suspect that could happen.
Rule Britannia, marmalade and jam. Five Chinese crackers...... bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
8. Melbourne has recently overtaken Sydney as the largest Australian city.
9. When I was young, from books I always thought swans were white. No, Australian swans are black.
10. I was wrong. PNG gained independence from Australia in 1975, not 1972. Maybe I should have fact checked my questions?
Extra question. A Winnie, Winfield, is a brand of cigarettes. Rough men use to tuck a packet up under the sleeves of their tee shirts. They were advertised on tv by Paul Hogan, once a Sydney Harbour Bridge painter who went on to world wide fame in the film I've never seen, Crocodile Dundee. The spoken by Hogan advertising slogan was, "Anyhow, have a Winfield".
Hmm, maybe I should have slipped in a question about our indigenous people. Bad Andrew.
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The Goyder Line was new to me. On the power question I don't know - and really, really wish we could move to being a republic. It is time.
ReplyDeleteAnd on the wombat front - another piece of trivia. What shape is wombat crap?
EC, I learnt about the Goyder Line some years ago from a podcast. I didn't know about it before then. It was a very interesting podcast and I've only given a simplified version. If the King did sack a Prime Minister again, I think the push for a republic would be overwhelming. The shape of wombat crap might have been a more amusing question to ask.
DeleteWombats poop cubes.
DeleteOoh..looks like I missed out on your quiz. I think I was perhaps better off in bed with the lurgy after looking at those questions!
ReplyDeleteMs JayCee has been excused from quiz participation owing to an illness.
DeleteSydney (5.450m)
ReplyDeleteMelbourne (5.207m)
Brisbane (2.707m)
Perth (2.309m)
YP, they must be out of date. Melbourne overtook Sydney this year.
DeleteYou are right. Current population of Melbourne - 5,316,000. Current population of Sydney 5,185,000. It is strange how different figures are bandied about.
DeleteGosh, clever me! I got four, just from general knowledge. We learned Canberra in grade school! It finally came in useful.
ReplyDeleteVery good Boud. And of course the capital of your country is New York.
DeleteThat's what New Yorkers think!
DeleteThis is fun since this applies to my country. I really doubt King can really interfere with Aussie politics anymore though? Well, I never know!
ReplyDeleteRoentare, I am not aware of any changes since 1975 that would prevent a repeat. The GG makes a recommendation to the Crown who will consider the advice if and before acting.
DeleteNot giving any credence to Australian claims to a territory in Antarctica?
ReplyDeleteMC, should a territorial claim be included? However, Antarctica did not cross my mind and it should have. It is vastly larger, at nearly 6 million square kilometres against the NT at 1.4. Had I thought of Antarctica, I think I still would have excluded it. It is very interesting to see how the different 'lands' are wedges. And what's with the wedge of what seems no man's land. I must find that out, at least. Ah, that seems like a claim of France.
DeleteI wouldn't include Antarctica either since it isn't within the continent. If you had asked which is the biggest Territory owned by Australia that would be Antarctica.
DeleteRiver, yes. Not the Australian continent...although what about all the islands that are territories of Australia. No, discount them too.
DeleteI remembered that the monarch could dismiss a prime minister simply because you've done a post about it in the past.
ReplyDeleteKirk, I believe I have and it would have been much the same. Good memory, man.
DeleteI asked a few people at coffee in Melbourne whether they had heard of the Goyder Line in South Australia. And nobody had. But I bet there will be a lot of on-line searching tonight :)
ReplyDeleteHels, when I heard about it, I found it so fascinating. People were told what it was futile to do, and they went ahead and did it.
DeleteI relied on History when answering #8. When did Melbourne overtake Sydney? I've heard of the Goyder line but couldn't remember what it was for.
ReplyDeleteRiver, yes history of course does give an answer for 6. Melbourne's population exceeded Sydney's just earlier this year. It is not really an honour most of us want.
DeleteInteresting Andrew.
ReplyDeleteVery good, Margaret.
DeleteOh, I missed the quiz! I didn't know that Melboune had the the largest tram system in the world. Also, that Melbourne had overtaken Sydney as the largest city in Australia.
ReplyDeleteNever mind Pradeep. I may do another one in the future. Calcutta's trams survive. Not in a great state, but still going and well used.
DeleteI did know that Australian swans are black. It's so interesting about wombats - both pouches and poop.
ReplyDeleteJB, on my childhood farm we had wombats but we never noticed the cubic poo.
DeleteI knew about the swans.
ReplyDeleteProbably learnt from previous blog posts of mine, TP.
DeleteWhen I read through the quiz questions I was shocked at just how little I know about Australia.........
ReplyDeleteOh and definitely deserve a slap !
Thanks for educating me.
Alison in Wales x
Ha ha Alison. You may remember at least one thing about Australia.
DeleteOk, I got thrown off on the Winnie search, because Paul Hogan is listed as a rigger not a painter of the bridge. Google failed me. Sad face. I did not even look up largest city because I was sure it was Sydney, only to be wrong there too. Another sad face.
ReplyDeleteStrayer, I've heard him described as a rigger, but that isn't really a term we use here. You weren't the only one who thought Sydney was larger.
DeleteThanks for the interesting lesson about your country. At school I learned that Australia is full of ex criminals from the UK, and orphans, because the country didn't have enough inhabitants. I found that very nice that criminal's children became honest citizen, and maybe your Great great great etc grandmother stole an apple and was shipped to Australia ??
ReplyDeleteGattina, now many say we have too many people. Australia has grown very quickly in the last forty years through immigration. As far as I know, there aren't any criminals in my background. They were all free settlers.
Delete