Special Sub-Topic: I Still Call Australia Home Authored by: wasm_boy Sub-topic of: Australia

I am walking down Hay Street passing the Red House with gold in my pocket. Where in Australia am I?

Kalgoorlie. An Irish born prospector, Paddy Hannan, filed the first claim near Kalgoorlie in 1893. A commemorative statue to Paddy Hannan is today located on the corner of Hannan and Wilson Street in Kalgoorlie and a bar at the Burswood Casino is named in honour of him. The "gold capital of Australia", Kalgoorlie has a population in excess of 30,000, with 25 pubs and 3 brothels servicing the many needs of its inhabitants.

We leave the Golden Mile and head along the famous water pipeline to this city. Founded in 1829 by Captain James Stirling and nestled between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp, what city am I?

Perth. Perth is the largest city in Western Australia and fourth largest in Australia, after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The Perth CBD is located on the Swan River, named after the local black swans. The metropolitan area of Perth spreads north and south along the pristine beaches of the coast over a total distance of more than 125 kilometres by road.

I was a bustling small mining town in the early 1900's. Today mining continues, but the town's economy is supplemented by tourism. The barren surrounds of the town, the result of timber felling, noxious smelter fumes and the region's high rainfall, remind some tourists of a moonscape.

Queenstown. Queenstown is located on the often wild and wet west coast of Tasmania. Some common tourist attractions within the town and surrounding areas includes the 'moonscape' mountain sides, the rock surface AFL ground and the local museum which offers good insight into the colourful history of the town.

Which Australian city was host to the first Olympic Games in the southern hemisphere?

Melbourne. Locally thought of as the 'Sporting Capital of Australia', Melbourne has been home to the 1956 Olympic Games, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the Presidents Cup golf tournament in 1999. Each year, Melbourne hosts the AFL Grand Final and the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, the Melbourne Cup is the race that stops a nation, and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix is staged at Albert Park.

An Australian Prime Minister, whose name is now the colloquial slang for salt, disappeared off the beach near this popular holiday spot.

Portsea. Harold Holt was the Australian Prime Minister who went for a swim one day and disappeared off this beach. Actually a suburb of Melbourne, Portsea's postcode, 3944, is the Australia's most affluent. Little wonder the Head of State should have swam there.

I am a small town best known for the wine region named after it, identified by a strip of soil along the Riddoch Highway?

Coonawarra. The Coonawarra wine region is a strip of terra rossa soil approximately 15 kilometres long and two kilometres wide along the Riddoch Highway in South Australia. Terra rossa is rich red topsoil over porous limestone.

I am the birthplace of former Australian cricketeer, David Clarence Boon. He is an iconic Australian legend and a proud Tasmanian. Where was he born?

Launceston. Boonie achieved cult status when he consumed 52 cans of beer on the flight from Sydney to London prior to the commencement of the Ashes series which saw Australia regain the Ashes after 5 years.

The pearling capital of Australia and a favoured town for tourists, whose presence can more than double the town's population during the season. Where am I?

Broome. At least 88 people were killed during a Japanese air attack on Broome on March 3, 1942.

This city was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records for being the largest city in the world by area.

Mount Isa. Mount Isa developed for the sole purpose of extracting the huge mineral deposits of lead, silver, copper and zinc that are beneath and around the town.

This town is called the 'Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef' and lies on the Burnett River in Queensland.

Bundaberg. A town largely dependant on the sugar cane grown throughout the surrounding districts for its downstream industries, including milling and refining, packing and distribution. An iconic Australian beverage, Bundaberg Rum, or Bundy, is also produced in Bundaberg from a by-product of the sugar industry - molasses.