Q 01/05

Which Dutch ship made the first documented European landing in Australia in 1606?

A) Batavia

B) Zeehaen

C) Eendracht

D) Duyfken

Answer · why

D) Duyfken

Duyfken: her captain Willem Janszoon took the coast he charted for part of New Guinea, and Dutch maps repeated the error for years.

Q 02/05

Which Dutch navigator's 1642 voyage first reached Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand?

A) Willem Janszoon

B) Dirk Hartog

C) Abel Tasman

D) Jan Carstensz

Answer · why

C) Abel Tasman

Abel Tasman: Van Diemen's Land was later renamed Tasmania in his honour, partly to shed the island's convict associations.

Q 03/05

Which English buccaneer landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and again in 1699?

A) Francis Drake

B) William Dampier

C) Henry Morgan

D) Woodes Rogers

Answer · why

B) William Dampier

William Dampier: on a later voyage he helped rescue castaway Alexander Selkirk, who may have inspired Robinson Crusoe.

Q 04/05

Which natural wonder nearly sank James Cook's Endeavour when the ship struck it in 1770?

A) Ningaloo Reef

B) Lord Howe Island

C) Great Barrier Reef

D) Fraser Island

Answer · why

C) Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef: the crew threw guns and ballast overboard to refloat her, then spent seven weeks repairing the ship at the Endeavour River.

Q 05/05

Where did James Cook's Endeavour make its first landing on Australia's east coast, in April 1770?

A) Port Jackson

B) Botany Bay

C) Moreton Bay

D) Jervis Bay

Answer · why

B) Botany Bay

Botany Bay: Cook first called it Stingrays Harbour, then renamed it for the many new plants Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander collected there.