1. What is the capital city of Australia?
Canberra
Canberra, not Sydney or Melbourne, was purpose built to be Australia's capital city.
2. Which Australian city is famous for its Opera House and Harbour Bridge?
Sydney
Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge are two of Australia's most recognisable landmarks.
3. What is the capital city of Victoria?
Melbourne
Melbourne, on the south east coast, is the capital of Victoria.
4. What is the capital city of Queensland?
Brisbane
Brisbane, on the Brisbane River, is the capital of Queensland.
5. What is the capital city of Western Australia?
Perth
Perth, on Australia's west coast, is the capital of Western Australia.
6. What is the capital city of South Australia?
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital of South Australia, set between hills and the coast.
7. What is the capital city of Tasmania, an island state south of the mainland?
Hobart
Hobart, on the Derwent River, is the capital of Tasmania.
8. What is the capital city of the Northern Territory?
Darwin
Darwin, on Australia's tropical north coast, is the capital of the Northern Territory.
9. The world's largest coral reef system lies off the coast of which Australian state?
Queensland
The Great Barrier Reef stretches along the Queensland coast and is the largest coral reef system in the world.
10. Which two rivers make up Australia's largest river system, flowing through several south eastern states?
The Murray and the Darling
The Murray-Darling river system drains a huge area of south eastern Australia and is vital for farming.
11. Much of central Australia is covered by dry, sparsely populated land often called what?
The outback
The outback is the vast, dry interior of Australia, home to deserts, red earth and small remote towns.
12. Which large desert covers part of central Australia, near the border of South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory?
The Simpson Desert
The Simpson Desert is one of several deserts covering much of central Australia, known for its long red sand dunes.
13. Which territory, though small, is entirely surrounded by New South Wales?
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, home to Canberra, is a small territory carved out of, and surrounded by, New South Wales.
14. Which mountain range runs along Australia's east coast, from Queensland down through New South Wales to Victoria?
The Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range runs the length of Australia's eastern side and is the country's most extensive mountain range.
15. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are recognised as having lived in Australia for how long, making theirs the oldest continuous culture in the world?
Tens of thousands of years
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived on this land for at least 65,000 years, making theirs the oldest continuous culture on Earth.
16. In 1788, a fleet of British ships arrived at what is now Sydney to set up a colony. What was this fleet called?
The First Fleet
The First Fleet, carrying convicts and officials from Britain, arrived in 1788 and founded the colony that became Sydney.
17. Which day is a national day of remembrance in Australia, honouring those who served in war, especially at Gallipoli?
Anzac Day
Anzac Day, on 25 April, remembers Australian and New Zealand soldiers, first marking the landing at Gallipoli in 1915.
18. In which year did six separate British colonies join together to form the single nation of Australia?
1901
Australia became a single federated nation on 1 January 1901, when the six colonies agreed to join together.
19. What is the word for the six colonies joining together in 1901 to form one country?
Federation
Federation is the name for the process by which Australia's separate colonies united under one national government in 1901.
20. ANZAC is short for which group of soldiers who landed at Gallipoli in 1915?
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers fought together at Gallipoli in 1915.
21. The First Fleet in 1788 carried many people to Australia who had been sentenced to what?
Transportation as convicts
Many people on the First Fleet were convicts transported from Britain, sent to serve their sentences in the new colony.
22. The Eureka Stockade of 1854 was a rebellion by workers in which industry, angry about licence fees?
Gold miners
The Eureka Stockade saw gold miners in Victoria rebel against the government over unfair licence fees and a lack of political rights.
23. In which Australian colony did the Eureka Stockade rebellion of 1854 take place?
Victoria
The Eureka Stockade happened near Ballarat, in the colony of Victoria, during the gold rush years.
24. The Gallipoli campaign of 1915, where Anzac troops landed, took place during which war?
The First World War
The Gallipoli campaign was part of the First World War, as Allied forces tried and failed to take control of the Gallipoli peninsula.
25. Before Federation in 1901, Australia was made up of how many separate British colonies?
Six
New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania were six separate colonies before Federation.
26. Gallipoli is a peninsula located in which present day country?
Turkey
Gallipoli is a peninsula in what is now Turkey, on the western side of the Dardanelles strait.
27. Captain James Cook charted Australia's east coast in 1770, sailing on behalf of which country?
Great Britain
James Cook charted the eastern coast of Australia in 1770 while sailing on behalf of Great Britain, ahead of the First Fleet's arrival in 1788.
28. Which day, held on 26 January, marks the anniversary of the First Fleet's arrival and is a public holiday, though it is seen very differently by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people?
Australia Day
Australia Day falls on 26 January, the anniversary of the First Fleet's 1788 arrival, and its meaning is understood very differently across the community.
29. The Eureka Stockade is sometimes described by historians as an early step toward what, because of its calls for the vote and fairer representation?
Australian democracy
Although the rebellion was crushed, many of the miners' demands for fairer representation were later adopted, and Eureka is often remembered as an early moment in Australian democracy.
30. Aboriginal stone fish traps found at Brewarrina in New South Wales are considered among the world's oldest surviving examples of what?
Human made structures
The stone fish traps at Brewarrina are thought to be among the oldest surviving human made structures anywhere in the world.
31. Which large Australian animal hops on powerful back legs and carries its young in a pouch?
Kangaroo
Kangaroos use their strong back legs to hop and carry their young, called joeys, in a front pouch.
32. Which slow moving Australian animal spends much of its day sleeping in eucalyptus trees and eating their leaves?
Koala
Koalas sleep for many hours a day and eat mostly eucalyptus leaves, which are tough and low in nutrition.
33. What is the name for the group of mammals, including kangaroos and koalas, that carry their young in a pouch?
Marsupials
Marsupials are mammals whose young are born tiny and undeveloped, then finish growing in their mother's pouch.
34. The platypus is unusual among mammals because it does what?
Lays eggs
The platypus is one of the very few mammals that lays eggs instead of giving birth to live young.
35. Which spiky, egg laying Australian mammal is covered in sharp quills and eats ants and termites?
Echidna
The echidna, like the platypus, is a monotreme, one of the small group of mammals that lay eggs.
36. What is the name for the small group of mammals, including the platypus and echidna, that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young?
Monotremes
Monotremes are a rare group of egg laying mammals, found only in Australia and New Guinea.
37. Wombats are known for producing what unusually shaped droppings, thought to help stop them rolling away?
Cube shaped
Wombats produce roughly cube shaped droppings, which scientists think helps stop them rolling off logs and rocks used to mark territory.
38. Kangaroos are well suited to Australia's dry conditions partly because they can do what with their water needs?
Go long periods with very little water
Kangaroos are adapted to survive in dry, arid parts of Australia, needing far less water than many other large animals.
39. Which flightless Australian bird, the second tallest bird in the world, has strong legs built for fast running across open country?
Emu
The emu cannot fly, but its long, powerful legs let it run fast across the open plains it lives on.
40. Many Australian eucalyptus trees are adapted to survive, and even benefit from, what natural event that regularly sweeps through dry Australian bush?
Bushfires
Many eucalypts have thick bark, buried seed pods or roots that survive fire, and some species need the heat of a bushfire to release their seeds.
41. What is the name of Australia's system of government, in which the country is led by a Prime Minister?
A parliamentary democracy
Australia is a parliamentary democracy, where the public elects members of parliament and the Prime Minister leads the government.
42. In which city does Australia's federal Parliament meet?
Canberra
Australia's federal Parliament meets in Canberra, the city purpose built to be the national capital.
43. Besides the federal government, Australia is divided into states and territories, each with their own what?
State or territory parliament
Each Australian state and territory has its own parliament and government, alongside the federal government in Canberra.
44. Unlike in many countries, voting in Australian federal elections is what for enrolled adult citizens?
Compulsory
Australia requires enrolled adult citizens to vote in federal elections, one of a relatively small number of countries that does this.
45. How many states make up Australia?
Six
Australia has six states, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, plus two mainland territories.
46. What are the two houses of Australia's federal Parliament called?
The House of Representatives and the Senate
Australia's federal Parliament has two chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
47. Who represents the King as Australia's head of state within the country, carrying out mostly ceremonial duties?
The Governor-General
The Governor-General represents the monarch in Australia and carries out mostly formal and ceremonial duties.
48. In Australia's Senate, how many senators does each state get, regardless of the state's population?
Twelve
Each Australian state elects twelve senators, giving smaller states a stronger voice than their population alone would give them, while the two mainland territories elect fewer.
49. Who usually becomes Australia's Prime Minister?
The leader of the party or coalition with the most support in the House of Representatives
The Prime Minister is normally the leader of whichever party or coalition can command a majority in the House of Representatives.
50. Australia's system of voting for the House of Representatives asks voters to do what with the candidates, rather than just choosing one?
Number every candidate in order of preference
Australia uses preferential voting, where voters number candidates in order of preference rather than picking just one.