Backpack Bear - Quiz 6 Answers

Which country is closest to Perth?
- Madagascar 6947km
- Malaysia 4162km
  Malta 12963km
  Mexico 16246km
  source: How Far Is It?

2. Which device, invented by Lyster Ormsby in 1906, led to the development of the Surf Lifesaving Association? surf lifesaving reel

3. Which day is Australian National Flag Day? September 3 Australian National Flag Day commemorates the day in 1901 on which the Australian National Flag was first flown. The event took place at the Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne in the presence of Australia’s first Prime Minister Edmund Barton

What is the name of the document that sets out how Australia will be governed? Australian Constitution
Which Australian painter created a series of paintings of Ned Kelly during the mid-1940s? Sir Sidney Nolan
What and where are the Devils' Marbles? The Devils' Marbles are about 100km south of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and are an extensive collection of huge round red coloured boulders which seem precariously balanced on top of each other. They contrast with the surrounding flat landscape. They are granite rocks of volcanic origin which have been eroded over 1500 million years to produce the formation they are today. The Devils Marbles are explained in a Dream Time legend told by The Warumungu, the native Aboriginal people who say that they are fossilised eggs of the Rainbow Serpent. For this reason the Devils Marbles Reserve is another spiritually significant and sacred site to the Aborigines.
Australia has 20 world-heritage listed sites - list the three that are found in Western Australia. Shark Bay, Purnululu National Park, Ningaloo Reef
Where can you find Australia's only active volcano? Heard Island, 4100 kilometres south-west of Perth. Mawson's Peak, at Big Ben's summit, is Australia's only active volcano, and rises to a height of 2745 metres. The volcano was last active in 1987, and the middle of the seventy metre deep crater contains molten lava.
Which number in the 990s in the Dewey Decimal Classification system refers to books about Australia? 994
Who, according to Banjo Paterson, caught the cycling craze and ended up head-first in Dead Man's Creek? Mulga Bill
If the Brisbane Lions defeated the Geelong Cats by 16.14 to 7.13, what was the difference in the scores? 55 points or 9.01
Which rock'n'roll singer of the early 1960s had hits with I'm Counting on You (1961) and She Wears My Ring (1964)? Johnny O'Keefe
If you were sending a letter to a friend on King Island, what would the postcode be? 7256
You have found a florin - what is it? A coin worth 20 cents
Why is Helen Porter-Mitchell featured on the Australian $100 note ? She was an Australian opera singer performing under the name Dame Neliie Melba
Who is associated with a boat called Tom Thumb and a cat called Trim? Mathew Flinders
How do scientists know that Australia was once joined to South Africa, South America and Antarctica? Eduard Suess, an Austrian geologist, named Gondwanaland after a district in India where the fossil plant Glossopteris was found. Suess said that because this fossil plant could be found in India, South America, southern Africa, Australia, and Antarctica, then all the lands must once have been joined together as Gondwanaland. .
What primitive life form continues to thrive in Hamelin Pool, WA? Stromatolites

Which state borders meet at Cameron's Corner? New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia
Which national park is the oldest in Australia and second-oldest in the world? Royal National Park, NSW

Even though it means travelling on my own so I don’t get to share my adventures and make memories with my family and friends, I am quite enjoying this period because I’m seeing all sorts of places uncluttered by tourists and other people. I get to have good conversations with tour operators and guides and learn so much more about each place.

This week I’m on an island, off the coast of the mainland, one of 52 islands in this remarkable chain that began forming 430 million years ago as the mainland began breaking away from the super-continent of Gondwana and sediment from eroding mountains was gradually deposited on the sea floor as it slid off the continental shelf forming a land bridge between the mainland and Tasmania.

Even though there have been Aboriginal peoples living here for about 35 000 years, cut off from their northern neighbours as the land bridge was gradually overtaken by the sea, it wasn’t until 1773 that the islands became known to and named by European explorers. Originally known as Great Island, this island was renamed by Governor King in the early 1800s as he sought to commemorate the work of an explorer whose name is synonymous with this region.

By this time the island was a thriving sealers’ settlement, Australia’s first export industry, but that was short-lived as the seals became over-exploited and there were too few left. Meanwhile, on the nearby island of Tasmania there was significant conflict between the new settlers and the Aboriginal people as the settlers sought to take more and more of the traditional lands for themselves and so in 1830, Governor Arthur, with the help of George Augustus Robinson, attempted to ensure the survival of the aboriginal people by exiling them to this island. Sadly, this settlement was not successful and of the 200 or so aboriginal persons who were moved, over 150 died due to exposure to diseases like influenza and pneumonia. In 1847, those remaining were transported back to Tasmania to Oyster Cove where, over time, they all died.

The stories of these people and that of Robinson form a solid part of the heritage of the island and there are reminders of it to be found this day, including a restored chapel which is on my list of things to visit.

But firstly, I am hiring a car and driving north to a place that has always fascinated me ever since I read The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie by Gary Crew and Peter Gouldthorpe. Perhaps I will find some “diamonds” of my own.

Even if I don’t find physical stones, there are so many beautiful spots on this wild, rugged island exposed to all the elements that the Roaring Forties throws at it as it straddle the 40˚ South parallel.

Where am I? Flinders Island