Five questions about Australia – Quick Quiz answers

By Kay McMahon, 29 August 2011

We asked you five quick trivia questions about Australia. Here are the answers:

1. The first European landfall of Australia is attributed to whom?
   No, not James Cook, nor Anthony van Diemen, nor even Abel Tasman – but the relatively little-known Willem Janszoon, a Dutch explorer and colonial governor who first visited Cape York in 1606 on an expedition from Java.
2. In what year did James Cook map the east coast of Australia, name it New South Wales, and claim it for Great Britain?
   1770. You might be forgiven for thinking that it was 1788 – but that was the bicentennary of the First Fleet’s settlement of Botany Bay, by which time Cook had been dead for nine years.
3. What major economic phenomenon beginning in 1851 in Victoria eventually led to the “White Australia” policy?
   The Victoria Gold Rush, also associated with the town of Ballarat and the Battle of Eureka Stockade. A large influx of mainly Chinese workers led to a backlash from white settlers, culminating in the effective exclusion of most non-European would-be immigrants from 1901 until well after the Second World War.
4. What is Australia’s official national language?
   At present, there isn’t one! Although the Australian variety of English is the de facto language of government, justice and business, there’s no legal basis for this.
5. According to the 2006 census, what was the second most followed religion in Australia?
   It was Buddhism at 2.1%. Dave guessed that it might have been Jedi because of the New Zealand census campaign in 2001, but he was wrong. Top of the list was Christianity (64%), followed by “no religion” (19% – the fastest growing group since 2001), and “no answer” (12%).

How did you get on? Why not let us know?