Anzac Day Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rabaul

Australia's first acts of war, after Great Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, were the destruction of German radio stations in Rabaul and New Guinea. They then occupied New Guinea and the neighbouring islands including New Britain, New Ireland and Bouganville!

Answer: Laurence Binyon

The last verse of Laurence Binyon's 'For the Fallen' is recited at commemorative services on Anzac Day: "They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn; At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them." Binyon was a worker at the British Museum, and 'For the Fallen' was first published in 1914.

Answer: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Anzac Day, 25 April, is an important Australian national day, as it is the anniversary of the first major military action by Australian and New Zealand forces during WWI.

Answer: 1916

Anzac Day, 25 April, was officially named in 1916 and saw ceremonies and services all over the country (and in New Zealand) with wounded soldiers from Gallipoli in attendance. In London, they held a march with 2,000 odd Australian and New Zealand troops.

Answer: Australasian Corps

Anzac, the acronym for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, was coined in December 1914 when the Australian Imperial Force and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt came under the command of Lieutenant-General William Birdwood.

Answer: 7,500

There were 7,500 New Zealand casualties and of Australia's 26,000 casualties, there were 8,000 fatalities.

Answer: 147

On Anzac Day the New Zealand forces lost 147 soldiers, but 23 of those soldiers are only considered as having died on 25 April. Most of those who died have no known grave and are commemorated at the Lone Pine Memorial.

Answer: Joseph Cook

When WWI began on 4 August 1914, Australia's Prime Minister, Joseph Cook, offered an initial force of 20,000 soldiers, all of whom were volunteers!

Answer: Jack Simpson Kirkpatrick

'Simpson and his Donkey' - Jack (John) Simpson Kirkpatrick single handedly rescued over 300 wounded soldiers by transporting them down Monash Valley on the back of a donkey. He was killed by a machine gun bullet in the back - at the age of 22.

Answer: Sir John Monash

When war was declared in 1914, Sir John Monash was appointed Commander of the AIF's Fourth Infantry Brigade, part of the Anzac forces who served at Gallipoli in 1915. Edward Walter Clervaux Chaytor deployed the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) who joined the Australians to become the Anzacs! Sir William Birdwood led the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the Anzacs, from 1914 to 1918. General Sir Cyril Brudenell Bingham White served as Chief of Staff to Sir William Birdwood during WWI.

Answer: Russia

In response to a request for help from Russia, which was being attacked by the Turks, the Allies began a campaign in Turkey. The Allies were to begin at the Gallipoli Peninsula with the aim of controlling the Dardanelles and then attacking Istanbul (Constantinople).

Answer: Hobart Mercury

Reprinted from the Hobart Mercury, 8 May 1915, the report stated: "The Australians rose to the occasion. They did not wait for orders, or for the boats to reach the beach, but sprang into the sea, formed a sort of rough line, and rushed at the enemy's trenches.

Their magazines were not charged, so they just went in with the cold steel, and it was over in a minute for the Turks in the first trench had been either bayoneted or had run away, and the Maxim guns were captured."

Answer: Maorilanders

Charles Bean, the official press representative with the Australian Expeditionary Force at the landing of troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula, referred to the New Zealanders as Maorilanders! Dr Charles E W Bean wrote the 'Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918.'

Answer: William Jackson

Private John William (Billy) Alexander Jackson was Australia's youngest Victoria Cross winner for 'most conspicuous bravery'! In August 1915 he landed at Gallipoli. His VC was awarded for services in France, prior to the Battle of the Somme. The Australians were under machine-gun fire and Jackson, learning that some of his fellow soldiers had been hit, said he didn't like the idea of leaving any wounded men in No-Man's land, and went to rescue them. On his second rescue an exploding shell blew off his right arm above the elbow, Jackson said he didn't feel much, just a numbing sensation and had a tourniquet applied. Jackson continued to search until satisfied that all the wounded had been brought in, then he was sent to hospital! Alfred Shout was Australia's most decorated Gallipoli soldier. Captain (Sir) Ross M Smith was the leading 'ace' in the Australian Flying Corps during 1917. Jack Simpson Kirkpatrick showed remarkable courage, repeatedly carrying wounded men to aid while under heavy enemy fire, on his donkey at Gallipoli!

Answer: 7

7,000 Turkish and 3,000 Australian soldiers were listed as casualties at Lone Pine, and of these, 9,000 were fatalities. Seven Victoria Crosses were awarded to Australians who fought at Lone Pine. The Pine in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial was planted in 1934 with an inscription that reads, "After the capture of the Lone Pine ridge in Gallipoli (6 August 1915), an Australian Soldier who had taken part in the attack, in which his brother was killed, found a cone on one of the branches used by the Turks as overhead cover for their trenches, and sent it to his mother. From seed shed by it she raised the tree, which she presented to be planted in the War Memorial grounds in honour of her own and others' sons who fell at Lone Pine."