Australian history & geography

The RNG hit 31 that in my world means it was Australia’s turn for me to get further down the Wikipedia page. Had a nice trip through post-war history and general geography on this occasion.

Questions

Intended to discourage pejorative terms that were then in use, what two-word term was used for non-British migrants to Australia following World War II?

NEW AUSTRALIANS

As well as participating in the Korean War and Vietnam War, Australia also became involved in which conflict that ran from 1948 to 1960 and was fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the MNLA, an arm of a Communist Party?

MALAYAN EMERGENCY

The longest serving Prime Minister of Australia, whose activities during his second spell in charge from 1949 to 1966 included trying to dissolve the Australian Communist Party?

ROBERT MENZIES

Indigenous peoples were given the right to ‘native title’ when which Torres Strait Islander won a landmark case in 1992? This judgement determined that the right of ‘terra nullius’, meaning the ‘land belongs to no one’, did not exist at the time of colonisation.

EDDIE MABO

What term has been used for a set of historical policies that aimed to prevent non-ethnic Europeans from migrating to Australia, beginning with the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901? The Gough Whitlam government passed laws to disregard race as an immigration factor in 1973.

WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY

Possibly named after a people from New Guinea, what is the name of the sea that is bordered by that island in the north, Northern Territory in the south, the Timor Sea to the west and the Torres Strait to the east?

ARAFURA SEA

Known to local people as a dreamtime figure called Burringurrah, the huge inselberg of Mount Augustus that is billed as the ‘world’s largest monolith’ can be found in which Australian state? Bigger than Ayer’s Rock, it is however made of more than one rock type compared to Uluru’s sandstone monopoly.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Spelling was obviously not a strong point for which band, whose track listing for the 1984 album “Red Sails in the Sunset” misses the ‘z’ out of “Kosciuszko”, this being corrected on their 1997 compilation “20,000 Watt R.S.L.”?

MIDNIGHT OIL

Named for the leader of the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition that visited Heard Island in 1929, what is the highest peak in Australia’s official territory, over 500m higher than the mainland high point of Kosciuszko?

MAWSON PEAK

Higher than Mawson Peak is which highest mountain in the claimed Australian Antarctic Territory, named for an Irish explorer who was a Royal Navy admiral and found in the Britannia range?

MOUNT MCCLINTOCK

The Blue Mountains and Snowy Mountains, both in New South Wales, can be found in which 3,500km range of mountains that extends from north of Queensland into Victoria? Alternative names are the East Australian Cordillera and Eastern Highlands.

GREAT DIVIDING RANGE

Found mainly in Queensland and the north of New South Wales, ‘Acacia harpophylla’ is commonly known by what name, with a belt of wooded grassland between the rainforest on the coast of Queensland and the state’s arid interior being named for it?

BRIGALOW

Which Scottish explorer gives the common name for grasses in the genus ‘Astrebla’, these being native only to Australia and dominant across much of the continent? With the addition of the word ‘Downs’, they provide the name of an ecoregion that can be found in parts of Queensland and Northern Territory.

THOMAS MITCHELL

Found all over Australia, with a bioregion that covers an area of Queensland and New South Wales being named for it, what is the common name of the ‘Acacia aneura’, a tree that thrives in the arid Outback regions of Australia?

MULGA

What two-word term that gives an indication of its position within the state is used for a vaguely defined area in the northernmost section of Northern Territory, with sites to visit including the stunning Kakadu National Park?

TOP END

Consisting of a narrow gap surrounded by steep-sided walls, Echidna Chasm can be found in which range that is a major feature of Purnululu National Park?

BUNGLE BUNGLES

Lying to the south of the Kimberley region of Western Australia, which sparsely populated region is known for its aboriginal population and red earth, a characteristic derived from its iron ore?

PILBARA

A potentially confusing bioregion in Northern Territory adds ‘Bonaparte’ to the name of which river? Over 500km long, it was named for a monarch who was no relation to Joseph Bonaparte and is a long way from another geographical place with the same name.

VICTORIA

An erg that contains the world’s longest parallel sand dunes, which of Australia’s large deserts covers the tri-point between Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia?

SIMPSON DESERT

The deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion known as the Tirari-Sturt stony desert can be found mainly in which Australian state, with the Flinders Ranges and the opal-mining town of Coober Pedy also being found there?

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Named for an Australian explorer who is presumed to have died there during an 1874 expedition, which large desert in situated in the eastern part of Western Australia?

GIBSON DESERT

The Serpentine Lakes are a chain of salt lakes found on the border between Western and South Australia. They are located in which desert, that extends into both states and it not located where one might expect?

GREAT VICTORIA DESERT

Leave a comment