Locations of Australian Televisions Shows Quiz

Answer: Bellbird

"Bellbird", which relates the stories of various people who live in the small fictional country town of Bellbird in rural Victoria, lasted from 1967 until 1977. For the first few years of the series, each weekday episode only ran for fifteen minutes, unusual for the time, but in its last season, these were lengthened to thirty minute episodes. Many of its stars, including the great old Australian comedian, Maurie Field (1926-1995) would go on to make their names in other Australian shows in the years that followed. A horrifying fact related to "Bellbird" was that, in 2004, the television station which had screened it - the ABC - taped over the mastertapes. It was only by sheer luck that some surviving episodes were found in a branch of the ABC which was later being closed down. These are now safely stored in the Australian National Archives.

The photo clue is of a bell - as in Bellbird.

Answer: Alice Springs

Alice Springs is known Australia wide as "The Alice". It is situated smack bang in the centre of our dry nation, almost spookily so in a way. For miles around is desert, yet there sits that large (by Australian standards) town, Alice Springs, like a miraculous belly button, right in the middle of nowhere. The TV series "The Alice", starring the very popular actors Jessica Napier and Erik Thomson, is set in that town. It is an ongoing drama, like many of our TV series, based around the interweaving lives of people in an Australian rural location. It only ran for twenty-episodes in 2005 before Channel Nine cancelled the series - due to falling ratings according to the powers that be. In other words, they probably wanted to replace it with football. It has since been released on DVD however, along with the telemovie of the same name, and proved to be surprisingly popular. Australia is determined to hang onto its "outback" ethos, in spite of the footy.

The photo clue is of a spring - as in Alice Springs.

Answer: Western General Hospital

Set at the fictional All Saints Western General Hospital, the very popular series "All Saints" ran from 1998 until 2009. The show is built around the personal and working lives of the permanent medical staff of the hospital, with each weekly story featuring a guest star or stars with various medical complications. Its top rated cast included Erik Thomson, Georgie Parker, Judith McGrath, John Howard and others, superb actors all. During its long run, "All Saints" took out a host of awards. These included fifty nominations for Australia's top TV accolade, the Logie, of which it scored nine.

The photo clue is of the sun setting in the west - as in western - as in Western General Hospital.

Answer: Ramsay Street

Ramsay Street's "Neighbours" has seen more scandals, heartache, marriages, divorces, crime and shock, gasp, horror than the "Bible" itself if possible, but still this endlessly popular Australian soap opera, which commenced in 1985, continues its Methuselah-like run well into 2015. The secret of its success are reasonably believable story lines and the comfortable, every day quality the writers ascribe to its long and constantly evolving list of starring characters, some of which have gone on to make huge names for themselves on the international stage. Stars such as Kylie Minoque, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe. Basically, "Neighbours" is about the residents who live on a street in suburban Melbourne, but of course the show is much more than that simple outline. It invites us in to share all those lives and to even magically become a part of them. They become real to us. They're our language, our likes, dislikes, loves and heartaches. They're the very people who live next door to us in the real world. Receiving eighty-one Logie Award nominations up until 2015, this popular series has won thirty of these standards of honour from its admiring public.

The photo clue is of a ram - as in Ramsay Street.

Answer: Goat Island

That's the fattest goat I've ever seen. "Water Rats" ran from 1996 until 2001 and centred around the work carried out by a fictional group of Sydney Water Police. The Sydney Water Police is a very real law enforcement agency in our country, but "Water Rats" itself, which starred Colin Friels, Catherine McClements and other fine actors, was definitely the creative work of some fine writers. Over the course of the show, which concentrated solely on solving crime in and around Sydney Harbour - while based on Goat Island - the show stayed true to that aspect of the series, but towards the end of the production, it tended to shift its focus more onto the personal lives of the law enforcement officers themselves.

Goat Island is an actual small rocky island in Sydney Harbour. Over time since European settlement, it has been used as a quarry, a convict prison, a depot for explosives, a real water police station, a marine fire station, a bacteriology centre to investigate an outbreak of the bubonic plague in Sydney, a boat repair yard, a site for rock concerts, and a film set.

The photo clue is of a very plump goat - as in Goat Island.

Answer: Drovers Run

Set in outback Australia, "McLeod's Daughters" (2001-2009) is a drama that tells the tale of two half sisters who have inherited a large property from their father, and who are determined to keep it running in spite of their ability to do so being generally doubted by all. It follows their lives and loves, joys and triumphs, losses and heartaches through the years that follow, and interweaves them with story lines of other characters who move in and out of their lives. Shot on an original property in outback South Australia, "Drovers Run" is the fictional name of the property the two girls have inherited.

The photo clue is of a couple of drovers moving cattle to another location - as in Drovers Run.

Answer: Waratah

That show irritated the life out of me when I was a kid, particularly Skippy's infernal clicking all the time. Running from 1968 until 1970, "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" was a series set in the fictional Waratah National Park, somewhere near Sydney in New South Wales. The story line involves a young boy - the son of the Head Ranger of the park - and his super intelligent pet kangaroo who seems to be able to do everything from cooking a five course dinner to steering a rocket ship to mars.

On a more mundane level, it usually deals with bringing small time criminals to justice, or with the everyday problems that can arise from living in the fairly dangerous environment of a state National Park - with Skippy always there, bounding in at the last minutes to save the day, solving all problems that his human owners were incapable of solving, and click, click, clicking all the while. Nine different kangaroos played the role of the super kangaroo during the course of the series. Astonishingly so, the show became a hit in various countries overseas as well. These included Germany, in which it was known as "Skippy das Bush Kangaroo". I don't know why I think that's so funny, but sad to say, I do. I keep imagining Arnold Schwarzenegger saying it.

The photo clue is of some of our lovely waratah flowers - as in Waratah National Park.

Answer: Riverside

The twice weekly one hour long episodes of "Cop Shop" ran from 1977 until 1984. This popular series set at the fictional Riverside Police Station is a nice blend between the interweaving personal lives of the members of the station, and their dealing with the crimes that came their way on a daily basis. Two of its most popular cast members, Peter Adams and Paula Duncan, won many Logies for their roles in this show, including of course the much sought after Gold Logies.

The photo clue is of a river - as in Riverside Police Station.

Answer: Mount Thomas

Australians like their police, medical and life in a rural setting dramas it seems. Another long running, very successful series, "Blue Heelers" unites two of these elements. It ran from 1994 until 2006, and is a police drama set in the fictional small rural town of Mount Thomas in Victoria. Along with many others of this type of show, it combines police work with the personal stories behind each officer, and the law-abiding people who live in the same area. Headed by the multi-award winning actor, John Wood, the series features a very fine cast of other actors as well, in addition to the many guest stars who came, went and conquered the small screen. Why "Blue Heelers" you ask? A blue heeler dog is a hard-working cattle dog seen everywhere in rural areas of Australia, "heelers" is a slang term given to police officers in this country, and member of that force wear a blue uniform. Very logical if you live here.

The photo clue, which may seem a bit ambiguous, is of a tomcat - as in Thomas - as in Mount Thomas.

Answer: Wandin Valley

Numbering 1,058 episodes, "A Country Practice" ran from 1981 until 1993, and proved to be one of the most popular series Australian television had given the nation up until that time. The story line was built around a small medical practice associated with the local hospital, in Wandin Valley, a fictional country town in New South Wales. The weekly tales were not only centred on the medical personnel of the town, but also local townspeople and nearby farming folk, and were either based on country life concerns in rural Australia, or with a strong human interest focus that could fit any genre of society. Some of the story lines were ongoing, such as the long courtship between Vicky the vet and Dr Simon Bowen (played by Penny Cook and Grant Dodwell), but these were mixed in with individual one-off tales of drama and comedy that changed from week to week. It was innocent, fresh, always new, uncomplicated, and endeared itself incredibly to its large numbers of adoring viewers for over a decade, taking out an astonishing number of awards along the way.

The photo clue is of a wand - as in Wandin Valley.