Wistful Thinking Trivia Quiz

Answer: A bomb with a lit fuse

Henry Lawson's 'The Loaded Dog' is one of the best loved Australian short stories. It tells the tale of three friends, Dave Regan, Jim Bently and Andy Page, who are living in a mining camp in Stony Creek together with their black retriever, 'an overgrown pup' named Tommy. Now Dave, Andy and Jim have come up with an ingenious method of fishing - they blow up the fish using a canister of explosives. One day this goes awry when Tommy steals one of the canisters and inadvertently lights the fuse on the campfire. Chaos ensues as the hapless friends try and evade a playful Tommy and his lethal toy. Eventually Dave takes refuge in a pub, only to be followed by Tommy, still carrying the canister. However, the pub is also home to a 'vicious yellow mongrel cattle-dog sulking and nursing his nastiness' who meanly relieves Tommy of his possession. The dog then pays the consequence of his actions as the fuse burns down and the canister explodes, killing the dog. Dave and Tommy then head back to camp, with Tommy blithely unaware of the havoc he has wreaked. The story was published as part of the collection 'Joe Wilson and his Mates' in 1901.

Considered to be one of Australia's greatest writers and poets, Henry Lawson was born in the Grenfell goldfields of New South Wales in 1867, the son of a Norwegian-born miner and the poet, publisher and feminist, Louise Lawson. As a result of a childhood illness, Lawson was totally deaf by the age of fourteen and turned to reading as a means of furthering his education. His first poem 'A Song for the Republic' was published in 1887. By the time of his death in 1922, he was beloved of Australians and was afforded a New South Wales state funeral.

Answer: Cricket

The poem 'How McDougal Topped the Score' tells the tale of a cricket match played between the rural towns of Pipers Flat and Molongo. Molongo had challenged Pipers Flat to a one inning match with the loser paying for the lunch that followed the game. Unfortunately, Pipers Flat could only come up with ten of the eleven players required. In desperation they decided to ask old McDougal from Cooper's Creek to make up the numbers. Now McDougal had never played cricket before but he was keen to give it a go. So he quietly went about practicing with his sheepdog, Pincher, who was very well trained to obey his master's commands.

The day of the match dawned and Molongo batted first, scoring sixty-six runs. In reply, Pipers Flat were in all sorts of trouble and still required fifty runs to win when McDougal came to the crease as last man in. As he hit the first ball and set off for his first run, he called out "fetch it". Pincher hared onto the field and grabbed the ball. He then proceeded to lead the Molongo fielders a merry chase while McDougal, huffing and puffing, racked up the necessary runs. As he scored the vital 50th run, he called out "drop it", whereupon Pincher released the ball and quickly scarpered from sight. And that is the story of how Pipers Flat won the match and 'How McDougal Topped the Score'.

The poem was first published in the 'Bulletin Receiver' in 1901 and was later included in the collection 'How McDougall Topped the Score and other Verses and Sketches' published in 1906. The poem was made into a silent movie in 1924 with Leslie Gordon in the role of McDougal.

Answer: Robbery Under Arms

'Robbery under Arms' was first published as a serial over the period 1882-83 by the 'Sydney Mail' magazine before appearing as a single volume in 1889. Dick Marston is encouraged to write his story a month before he is due to hang for his various crimes. He starts out as a cattle duffer (thief) and soon meets Captain Starlight and Warrigal, his aboriginal offsider. Warrigal rescues the team from jail after they inadvisedly return home for Christmas, and the crime spree escalates to robbing stage coaches. A series of daring crimes and skirmishes with the law lead to a plan to escape to the US. Before they can flee the country, they are betrayed. Starlight and Jim are shot dead and Dick is captured, which leads back to the starting point of the story. In a late reprieve, his sentence is commuted and he eventually marries the sister of his childhood friend, the honest and successful George Storefield and takes on the management of one of George's properties.

This book, written by Boldrewood (a pseudonym for Thomas Alexander Browne), is considered an Australian classic and has never been out of print. It shows how minor misdeeds can spiral out of control into major disasters despite the best intentions of the lovable rogues involved.

Answer: A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson

Paterson, C.J. Dennis and Henry Lawson form the triumvirate of most successful Australian poets and balladeers of the later part of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. They corresponded freely, although Lawson would often criticize Paterson for portraying an overly romantic view of the Australian bush and the people who lived there. Paterson would respond by calling Lawson 'full of doom and gloom'.

'The Man from Snowy River' (made into a feature film in 1982) tells of how the eponymous hero recaptures the highly valuable colt from old Regret who had escaped with the wild bush horses. All the best riders tried to keep up but only he could ride with sufficient skill and bravery to succeed. It is a wonderful poem, evocative of the Australian bush and the central role of horses and horse riding in the development of Australian rural life.

After writing these classic poems, Paterson then worked as a war correspondent during the second Boer War in 1899 and through the Boxer Rebellion. He was initially an ambulance driver in France during World War I before serving as a vet with a cavalry unit. He was injured in 1916 and listed as missing. By the time of his discharge in 1919 he had risen to the rank of major. After the war he continued to work as a journalist, and published more poetry, too. His nickname 'Banjo' came from a favorite horse. He died aged 76 in 1941.

Answer: Cattle

Author and historian, Dame Mary Durack was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1977 for her services to literature. Twelve years later she received an Order of Australia award as well. Her first major story was of her grandfather Patrick Durack, as he and his relations (including Mary's father Michael) established a vast cattle business in Western Australia.

However, the power of this gripping true life tale is the enormous obstacles facing the Duracks in the earlier stages of this quest.

After finally establishing a successful land holding on Coopers Creek in western Queensland, Patrick and his brother Michael were forced by drought to trek 3000 miles (4800 km) with over 7000 breeding cattle and 200 horses to the Kimberly region in northern Western Australia.

The arduous journey took over two years, through incredibly harsh terrain. The title of the book comes from one of the lines within: 'If it's kings we are, it's kings in grass castles that may be blown away in the wind.'

Answer: 'Of droughts and flooding rains.'

Despite writing four poetry collections and several novels, Dorothea Mackellar, daughter of parliamentarian Sir Charles Mackellar, is undoubtedly best remembered for the second stanza of her poem, 'My Country' - the first four lines of which are in the question and answer here. The poem was originally called 'Core of my Heart' and was published in England in 1908 by the 'London Spectator'. It reflected the 19 year old Mackellar's homesickness for her native land. The rest of that stanza continues: 'I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror -, The wide brown land for me!'.

A photograph of her notebook showing the hand-written poem is often used to dispel the common misconception that it is 'rugged' rather than 'ragged' mountain ranges.

Answer: A Fortunate Life

(Al)Bert Facey's autobiography is not only an Australian classic but has been used by many as a source of inspiration to overcome difficulties in their own lives. Facey wrote matter-of-factly about his childhood, when he was forced to live with his grandmother and younger siblings after his father died and his mother moved to look after his older siblings.

He started work at age 8 and never attended school. While a teenager, he taught himself to read and write. He was physically abused with a whip while a farm boy and the scars he received were a reminder of that treatment until the day he died at age 87 in 1982.

In addition to the traumas that he witnessed and injuries he received while in Gallipoli, he lost two of his older brothers in the ultimately futile battles there. Later he lost a son in a bombing raid on Singapore during the second world war. Between wars, and then afterwards, he worked as a tram driver, then a successful farmer and businessman.

When asked about the title of his book given the harrowing stories he told, Facey replied that he didn't think his story was that remarkable and that he truly believed he did have a fortunate life, especially in his marriage. Facey kept records of his life from a very early age and when he finally put it all together, he requested that 20 copies be made for distribution to his family.

Instead, the work was immediately recognised as having far greater appeal and received the 'Banjo Award for Australian Literature in 1981' just months before he died.

Answer: Dad and Dave

'On Our Selection' was written by Arthur Hoey Davis under the pseudonym of Steele Rudd. The 26 original short stories making up this compendium were compiled and published by 'The Bulletin' magazine in 1899. The tales were highly amusing, largely due to the efforts of Dad and/or Dave to achieve some task that the more experienced rural folk of Snake Gully would perform easily. A 'selection' was a plot of unsurveyed land given by the government to encourage intensive agriculture, originating from the Land Acts of the 1860s.

These stories were originally based on the experiences of the Davis family (predominantly Arthur's father) on their own selection. The success of Dad and Dave led to many more stories over a period of over 30 years. However, Davis was not enamored of many of the adaptations of his works, as he resented the characters being portrayed as simpletons, rather than the engaging, optimistic and humorous people he depicted. Davis was honored with a statue at Speaker's Corner in King George Square, Brisbane.

Answer: True

First published in 1901, 'My Brilliant Career' was the first novel by Stella Miles Franklin and was written while she was still in her teens. The book recounts the story of Sybylla Melyvn, a headstrong and opinionated teenager growing up in rural New South Wales during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Sybylla is a feminist who dreams of more from life than being kept by a man, and the novel explores how these dreams are thwarted by both poverty and circumstance, making the title of the book rather ironic. The parallels between the novel and the author's own life caused much controversy and unhappiness. This led to Franklin withdrawing the novel from publication and it was not re-printed until after her death.

The novel, with its evocative descriptions of bush life and the economic hardships experienced by people during that era, struck an immediate chord with the Australian public and it has become one of the best loved pieces of Australian literature. In 1979, a movie of the novel was released which sparked a new interest in Franklin and her works.

Franklin was passionate about the nurturing of Australian literature and, on her death in 1954, she bequeathed her estate to funding a literary prize. The prestigious Miles Franklin Award is an annual prize awarded to 'a novel which is of the highest literary merit and which presents Australian life in any of its phases'. The prize was first awarded in 1957, and the inaugural winner was Patrick White for his novel 'Voss'.

Answer: Tasmania

Despite the grim background of prison, harsh treatment and misplaced justice, this story is also a 'boy's own adventure'. There are wonderful escapes, implausible scenarios, mutinies, thwarted love affairs, dastardly villains and cross country adventures which naturally involve cannibalism! Nevertheless, the descriptions of the prison conditions, based on Clark's studies of the real Port Arthur prison complex near Hobart, are a constant reminder of the worst excesses of inhumane convict treatment. Clark's intention was to write about the indomitability of the human spirit in even the direst of circumstances.

The original ending, where Dawes finally meets his love Sylvia only for them both to die that night in a shipwreck, was deemed unsuitable for US audiences. Clark subsequently altered the ending so that the story continued until the Victorian gold rushes of the 1850s.