Australia day!

#18 Week 4

Author

Sigrun Sørumgård
January 24, 2025

Australia Day is Australia's official national day. Celebrated on 26 January, it marks the landing of the First Fleet in 1788. The First Fleet was 11 British ships carrying a group of convicts, soldiers and relatives to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the European colonization of Australia. With the celebration this Sunday, we have to check (y)our knowledge of Australia.

  1. Going back to the times when all the states are colonies, name the two Australian states that are named after the same person?

  2. How many stars are on the Australian flag?

  3. Which Australian city is called the city of lights?

  4. Which two Australian cities have hosted the Olympic Games?

  5. It is considered the world's largest single rock monolith, it is an inselberg, what is this iconic sandstone formation called?

  6. What is the traditional musical instrument of the Aboriginal people of Australia

  7. Approximately, what percentage of Australia's land area is considered 'Outback'

  8. Who were the first Europeans that recorded sighting and making landfall on the Australian mainland?

  9. Apart from the emu, which other native animal is featured on the Australian coat-of-arms?

  10. What is the capital city of Tasmania?

The Wonder Wall

  • The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres.

  • Around 80% of Australia’s wildlife is unique to the country, with marsupials, koalas and kangaroos. But you can also find the platypus, the echidna and the wombat, and let´s not forget some of the world's most venomous snakes, including the taipan and the brown snake. The country also has the world's most venomous spider, the Sydney funnel-web, and the most venomous jellyfish, the box jellyfish.

  • In the 18th Century, there were 250 languages spoken by Indigenous peoples throughout Australia. Today, over 145 languages remain in use (although the exact figure is often debated). Around 20-40 of these languages are spoken daily with dialects unique to their communities.

Yesterday´s Answers

  1. Queen Elizabeth II surpassed the reign of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria

  2. King Macbeth

  3. Tsar Nicholas II

  4. Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989), known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa

  5. Queen Mary I (1516-1558) was the first queen to rule England (1553–58) in her own right. She was known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants in a vain attempt to restore Roman Catholicism in England.

  6. King George III. In his last years, physical as well as mental powers deserted him and he became blind.

  7. King Felipe VI

  8. Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715.

  9. Nefertiti. With her husband, she reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of ancient Egyptian history.

  10. Queen Isabella I of Castile