The Sun-Herald

WHO WE ARE: What every applicant needs to know

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A column about Australia, by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 10/2/2008
Do you have the knowledge necessary to flourish at work and play in Australia -- not the history stuff you learnt at school and instantly forgot, but an understanding of what Australians are like in the 21st century? Are you brave enough to test yourself?

I'll give you a set of answers, and you suggest the questions that gave rise to them. If you read this column last week, you'll be ahead of the game. Don't look to the end yet ...

The Answers
1 To squash; to remove; go into a rage; an isolated inland area; frequent intercourse (as in bangs like ...); stomach upset.
2. 1.7 % of the population; 26 %; 2.5 %; 54 %; 0.5 %; 85%.
3 The Sound of Music; Crocodile Dundee; Star Wars; E.T.; Titanic.
4 Dancing With The Stars; Kath and Kim; Friends; Border Security; Desperate Housewives.
5 106 times a year.
6 Are you awake, love?
7. 90,000 a year.
8. $644; $3,000; mother father, 1.75 children.
9. AFL, rugby league, tennis, cricket, horse racing, swimming, rugby union, soccer.
10 Heart disease; cancer; strokes; accidents; diabetes.
11 74% of adults.
12 The belief, now declining, that Australia can never do anything as well as the British or the Americans; the belief, now growing, that we have nothing to learn from the rest of the world.
13 Thongs, spaghetti bolognese (pad thai a close second), cappuccino, tomato sauce (soy sauce a close second), G'day.
14 $US3.7 million to Nicole Kidman for a four minute Chanel No 5 commercial.
15 San Remo pasta; Ingham's frozen chicken.
16 Frank McEnroe; Cyril Callister; Norman Lindsay; Max Schubert; Edwin Street.
17 Taken by a dingo at Ayer's rock; lost swimming off a beach near Melbourne; arrested arriving in Bali with marijuana in her boogie board bag.
18. Anzac Day (landing of Australian troops in Turkey in 1915); the English monarch's birthday; the Melbourne Cup horse race; Armistice Day in 1918 and the dismissal of PM Gough Whitlam by the Governor-General in 1975.
19. Boundless plains.
20. The Nobel Prize.

The Questions
1.Define "put the kibosh on"; "give the flick to"; "chuck a wobbly"; "back of woopwoop"; "like a dunny door"; "tummy wog".
2. What is Australia's proportion of Muslims; Catholics; Aboriginal people; obese or overweight people; homeless; people living within 50 km of the sea?
3 What five movies were seen by the most Australians?
4 What five TV series were seen by the most Australians?
5 How often does the average adult have sex?
6 What's an Australian man's idea of foreplay?
7 How many abortions are performed in Australia's hospitals and clinics?
8 What is average weekly household income; average credit card debt; the average family?
9 Rank the major sports in order of attendance and viewing.
10 Rank the main causes of death in order of frequency.
11 What proportion agree that "Immigrants make Australia open to new ideas and cultures"?
12. What's the difference between the cultural cringe and the cultural strut?
13 What is the national footwear; dish; drink; condiment; greeting?
14 What was the world record fee per minute ever paid to an actor?
15 What are the only Australian-owned products among the top 40 sellers in our supermarkets?
16 Who invented the Chiko Roll; Vegemite; the Magic Pudding; Grange Hermitage; the Paddle Pop?
17 What happened to Azaria Chamberlain; Harold Holt; Schappelle Corby?
18 What do we remember on April 25; June 13; first Tuesday in November; November 11?
19 What do we share with those who've come from across the seas?
20 What do Peter Doherty; Patrick White; Barry Marshall; and Howard Florey have in common.

What other questions reveal essential knowledge for living in Australia?

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). His latest book is Soffritto -- A delicious Ligurian memoir. For further observations of Australian attitudes and behaviour, go to Who we are.