Australian History and Politics

History And Politics

359 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 359 questions

  1. Complete the sentence about History of Australia with the correct year: Macassan trepangers visited Australia's northern coasts from around ______, and possibly earlier.
  2. Complete the sentence about History of Australia with the correct year: In ______, Lieutenant James Cook charted the east coast of Australia and claimed it for Great Britain.
  3. Complete the sentence about History of Australia with the correct year: The First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney Cove in January ______ and established a penal colony.
  4. Complete the sentence about Torres Strait Islanders with the correct year: While some of these stories had been written down by Haddon after his ______ expedition to the Torres Strait, many had subseq…
  5. Complete the sentence about Dreamtime with the correct year: In ______ Spencer conducted a field study to challenge Strehlow's conclusion about Altjira and the implied criticism of Gillen and Spencer'…
  6. Complete the sentence about Dreamtime with the correct year: The station-master, magistrate, and amateur ethnographer Francis Gillen first used the terms in an ethnographical report in ______.
  7. Complete the sentence about Dreamtime with the correct year: Along with Walter Baldwin Spencer, Gillen published a major work, Native Tribes of Central Australia, in ______.
  8. Complete the sentence about Willandra Lakes Region with the correct year: The World Heritage status of the region was created and negotiated in ______.
  9. Complete the sentence about Lake Mungo with the correct year: The station still exists today, and contains a 45-m woolshed built by Chinese laborers in ______.
  10. Complete the sentence about Willem Janszoon with the correct year: Duyfken was actually in Torres Strait in February ______, a few months before Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through it.
  11. Complete the sentence about Willem Janszoon with the correct year: On 26 February ______, Janszoon made landfall at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York in Queensland, near what is…
  12. Complete the sentence about Abel Tasman with the correct year: In ______, he joined the VOC and sailed to Batavia, now Jakarta, Indonesia.
  13. Complete the sentence about Abel Tasman with the correct year: In ______, Tasman was appointed by the VOC to lead an expedition to explore the uncharted regions of the southern Pacific Ocean.
  14. Complete the sentence about Abel Tasman with the correct year: Tasman continued to serve the Dutch East India Company until his death in ______.
  15. Complete the sentence about James Cook with the correct year: Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager before enlisting in the Royal Navy in ______.
  16. Complete the sentence about James Cook with the correct year: In ______, during his second visit to Hawaii, Cook was killed when a dispute with Native Hawaiians turned violent.
  17. Complete the sentence about James Cook with the correct year: In ______, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his father's employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for Cook to attend a sc…
  18. Complete the sentence about HMS Endeavour with the correct year: In September ______, she anchored off New Zealand, becoming the first European vessel to reach the islands since Abel Tasman's Heemsker…
  19. Complete the sentence about HMS Endeavour with the correct year: In April ______, Endeavour became the first European ship to reach the east coast of Australia, with Cook going ashore at what is now k…
  20. Complete the sentence about HMS Endeavour with the correct year: Resuming her voyage, she limped into port in Batavia in October ______, her crew sworn to secrecy about the lands that they had visited…
  21. Complete the sentence about HMS Endeavour with the correct year: Rehired as a British troop transport during the American War of Independence, she was finally scuttled in a blockade of Narragansett Ba…
  22. Complete the sentence about First Fleet with the correct year: Governor Arthur Phillip rejected Botany Bay, choosing instead Port Jackson to the north as the site for the new colony; the Fleet arrived…
  23. Complete the sentence about First Fleet with the correct year: Banks accepted an offer of assistance from the American Loyalist James Matra in July ______.
  24. Complete the sentence about First Fleet with the correct year: On 25 October ______ the 10-gun HMS Sirius, lying in the dock at Deptford, was commissioned, and the command given to Phillip.
  25. Complete the sentence about First Fleet with the correct year: Supply was designed in ______ by shipwright Thomas Slade, as a yard craft for the ferrying of naval supplies.
  26. Complete the sentence about Arthur Phillip with the correct year: Seconded to the Portuguese Navy in ______, he served in the war against Spain.
  27. Complete the sentence about Arthur Phillip with the correct year: In ______, Phillip was employed by Home Office Under Secretary Evan Nepean, to survey French defences in Europe.
  28. Complete the sentence about Arthur Phillip with the correct year: By the time Phillip sailed home in December ______, the colony was taking shape, with official land grants, systematic farming, and a…
  29. Complete the sentence about Arthur Phillip with the correct year: On 11 December ______, Phillip left the colony to return to Britain to receive medical treatment for kidney stones.
  30. Complete the sentence about Botany Bay with the correct year: Cook's log for 6 May ______ records "The great quantity of these sort of fish found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Stin…
  31. Complete the sentence about Convicts in Australia with the correct year: Earlier in ______, James Cook had charted and claimed possession of the east coast of Australia for Great Britain.
  32. Complete the sentence about Convicts in Australia with the correct year: In ______, almost two decades after transportation to the eastern colonies had ceased, the last convict ship arrived in Western…
  33. Complete the sentence about Rum Rebellion with the correct year: The Rum Rebellion of ______ was a coup d'état in the British penal colony of New South Wales, staged by the New South Wales Corps in or…
  34. Complete the sentence about Rum Rebellion with the correct year: On 26 January ______, 400 soldiers marched on Government House and arrested Bligh.
  35. Complete the sentence about Rum Rebellion with the correct year: The military remained in control until the ______ arrival from Britain of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, who took over as governor.
  36. Complete the sentence about Matthew Flinders with the correct year: While returning to Britain in ______, Flinders was arrested by the French at the colony of Isle de France.
  37. Complete the sentence about Matthew Flinders with the correct year: In his own words, he was "induced to go to sea against the wishes of my friends from reading Robinson Crusoe", and in ______, at the…
  38. Complete the sentence about Matthew Flinders with the correct year: In May ______, on Pasley's recommendation, Flinders joined Captain William Bligh's expedition on HMS Providence transporting breadfr…
  39. Complete the sentence about Matthew Flinders with the correct year: In September ______, Flinders re-joined HMS Bellerophon, which was captained by Pasley.
  40. Complete the sentence with the correct year: In ______, gold was discovered in what was then the Colony of Victoria.
  41. Complete the sentence about Burke and Wills expedition with the correct year: The Government of Victoria organised the Burke and Wills expedition to cross the continent in ______.
  42. Complete the sentence about Burke and Wills expedition with the correct year: The Government of South Australia offered a reward of £______ to encourage an expedition to find a route between South Aus…
  43. Complete the sentence about Burke and Wills expedition with the correct year: In ______ the Philosophical Institute formed an Exploration Committee with the aim of investigating the practicability of…
  44. Complete the sentence about John McDouall Stuart with the correct year: The explorations of Stuart eventually resulted in the ______ annexation of a huge area of country to the Government of South Aus…
  45. Complete the sentence with the correct year: In ______ the Commonwealth of Australia assumed responsibility for that area.
  46. Complete the sentence about Ned Kelly with the correct year: A violent confrontation with a policeman occurred at the Kelly family's home in ______, and Kelly was indicted for his attempted murder.
  47. Complete the sentence about Ned Kelly with the correct year: In ______, the gang tried to derail and ambush a police train as a prelude to attacking Benalla, the base of police operations in the regio…
  48. Complete the sentence about Eureka Rebellion with the correct year: Rebel leader Peter Lalor was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in ______, though he proved to be less of an ally to the…
  49. Complete the sentence about Eureka Rebellion with the correct year: The Eureka Rebellion had its origins in the Australian gold rush that began in ______.
  50. Complete the sentence about Victorian gold rush with the correct year: The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between ______ and the late 1860s.
  51. Complete the sentence about Victorian gold rush with the correct year: By ______, Chinese people were contributing to the gold rushes.
  52. Complete the sentence about Australian gold rushes with the correct year: The first gold rush in Australia began in May ______ after prospector Edward Hargraves claimed to have discovered payable gold…
  53. Complete the sentence about Australian gold rushes with the correct year: In July ______, Victoria's first gold rush began on the Clunes goldfield.
  54. Complete the sentence about White Australia policy with the correct year: The Whitlam government passed laws to ensure that race would be totally disregarded as a component for immigration to Australi…
  55. Complete the sentence about White Australia policy with the correct year: The Whitlam government passed the Racial Discrimination Act ______, which made racially-based selection criteria unlawful.
  56. Complete the sentence about Immigration Restriction Act 1901 with the correct year: After ______, the passage chosen was not important in itself, as it was already decided the person could not enter A…
  57. Complete the sentence about Immigration Restriction Act 1901 with the correct year: Communist political activist Egon Kisch from Czechoslovakia, who was exiled from Germany for opposing Nazism, arrive…
  58. Complete the sentence about Immigration Restriction Act 1901 with the correct year: In ______, the dictation test was controversially used again to exclude Mabel Freer, a white British woman born in I…
  59. Complete the sentence about Immigration Restriction Act 1901 with the correct year: Interior Minister Thomas Paterson resigned from the Lyons Cabinet in ______ as a result of the controversy.
  60. Complete the sentence about Federation of Australia with the correct year: When the Constitution of Australia came into force, on 1 January ______, the colonies collectively became states of the Commo…
  61. Complete the sentence about Federation of Australia with the correct year: In September ______, the New South Wales Colonial Secretary Sir Edward Deas Thomson suggested federation in the New South Wal…
  62. Complete the sentence about Federation of Australia with the correct year: In ______, the Secretary of State for the Colonies Earl Grey drew up a plan for a "General Assembly" of the colonies.
  63. Complete the sentence about Federation of Australia with the correct year: A few years later in ______, a select committee formed by Wentworth to draft a new constitution for New South Wales endorsed…
  64. Complete the sentence about Edmund Barton with the correct year: In late ______, despite the initial "Hopetoun Blunder", Barton was commissioned to form a caretaker government as Australia's first pri…
  65. Complete the sentence about Edmund Barton with the correct year: At the first federal election in March ______, Barton and the Protectionists won the most seats, but were well short of a majority.
  66. Complete the sentence about Edmund Barton with the correct year: Barton left politics in ______ to become one of the three founding members of the High Court, which his government had created.
  67. Complete the sentence about Edmund Barton with the correct year: Barton was born on 18 January ______ in Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales.
  68. Complete the sentence about Alfred Deakin with the correct year: After the Federation in ______, Deakin became the inaugural attorney-general of Australia in the ministry led by his close friend Edmun…
  69. Complete the sentence about Alfred Deakin with the correct year: In ______, in what became known as the Fusion, Deakin controversially led his supporters into a union with the Free Traders.
  70. Complete the sentence about Andrew Fisher with the correct year: Fisher emigrated to Australia in ______, where he continued his involvement with trade unionism.
  71. Complete the sentence about Andrew Fisher with the correct year: In ______, Fisher was elected to the new federal parliament representing the Division of Wide Bay.
  72. Complete the sentence about Billy Hughes with the correct year: Hughes became prime minister in October ______, when Fisher retired due to ill health.
  73. Complete the sentence about Robert Menzies with the correct year: On his return to Australia in August ______, Menzies found that he had lost the support of his party and consequently resigned as prim…
  74. Complete the sentence about Robert Menzies with the correct year: Menzies won seven consecutive elections during his second period, eventually retiring as prime minister in January ______.
  75. Complete the sentence about Joseph Lyons with the correct year: After two elections that ended in hung parliaments, Lyons was appointed premier in ______ at the head of a minority government.
  76. Complete the sentence about Joseph Lyons with the correct year: At the ______ election he led Labor to its first majority government in Tasmania, but the party lost office three years later.
  77. Complete the sentence about Joseph Lyons with the correct year: In early ______, Lyons and his followers left Labor to sit as independents.
  78. Complete the sentence about John Curtin with the correct year: After three unsuccessful attempts, Curtin was elected to the House of Representatives at the ______ federal election, winning the Divisio…
  79. Complete the sentence about John Curtin with the correct year: The ALP eventually formed a minority government in October ______, when the Fadden government lost a confidence motion.
  80. Complete the sentence about Ben Chifley with the correct year: After several previous unsuccessful candidacies, Chifley was elected to parliament in the ______ federal election.
  81. Complete the sentence about Ben Chifley with the correct year: In ______, he was appointed Minister for Defence in the government of James Scullin.
  82. Complete the sentence about Ben Chifley with the correct year: At the ______ Australian federal election, Chifley was re-elected with a slightly reduced majority – the first time that an incumbent Lab…
  83. Complete the sentence about Harold Holt with the correct year: Holt was made a minister without portfolio in ______, when his mentor Robert Menzies became prime minister.
  84. Complete the sentence about Harold Holt with the correct year: When the Liberals came to office in ______, Holt became a senior figure in the new government.
  85. Complete the sentence about Harold Holt with the correct year: Holt became prime minister in January ______, elected unopposed as Liberal leader following Menzies' retirement.
  86. Complete the sentence about John Gorton with the correct year: Gorton enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in ______, and was a fighter pilot in Malaya and New Guinea during the Second World War…
  87. Complete the sentence about John Gorton with the correct year: After a previous unsuccessful candidacy at state level, Gorton was elected to the Senate at the ______ federal election.
  88. Complete the sentence about John Gorton with the correct year: Gorton was promoted to the ministry in ______, and over the following decade held a variety of different portfolios in the governments of…
  89. Complete the sentence about Gough Whitlam with the correct year: Upon the election of the Hawke government in ______, he was appointed as ambassador to UNESCO; he was later elected a member of the UNE…
  90. Complete the sentence about Gough Whitlam with the correct year: Edward Gough Whitlam was born on 11 July ______ at the family home, "Ngara", at 46 Rowland Street, Kew, a suburb of Melbourne.
  91. Complete the sentence about Malcolm Fraser with the correct year: When Harold Holt became prime minister in ______, Fraser was appointed Minister for the Army.
  92. Complete the sentence about Bob Hawke with the correct year: Hawke holds the highest-ever approval rating for an Australian prime minister, reaching 75% approval in ______.
  93. Complete the sentence about Paul Keating with the correct year: After Labor's landslide victory at the ______ election, Keating was appointed treasurer by prime minister Bob Hawke.
  94. Complete the sentence about John Howard with the correct year: In ______, Howard was elected leader of the Liberal Party for the first time, thus replacing Andrew Peacock as Leader of the Opposition.
  95. Complete the sentence about John Howard with the correct year: The Howard government called a snap election for October ______, which they won, albeit with a greatly reduced majority.
  96. Complete the sentence about Kevin Rudd with the correct year: Born on the Sunshine Coast, Rudd graduated from the Australian National University in ______ with honours in Chinese studies, and is fluen…
  97. Complete the sentence about Kevin Rudd with the correct year: Rudd was elected to the House of Representatives at the ______ federal election, winning the Queensland division of Griffith.
  98. Complete the sentence about Kevin Rudd with the correct year: By ______, Rudd's leadership had faltered due to a loss of support among the Labor caucus and failure to pass key legislation like the Car…
  99. Complete the sentence about Julia Gillard with the correct year: Born in Barry, Wales, Gillard migrated with her family to Adelaide in South Australia in ______.
  100. Complete the sentence about Julia Gillard with the correct year: In ______, she became chief of staff to John Brumby, the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria.

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