Australians in WW1 Quiz

1. What is the Victoria Cross?
2. Who was Albert Jacka?
3. What is the Menin Gate?
4. Where is Villers-Bretonneux?
5. Who wrote the poem in Flanders’ Fields?
6. Why did the ANZACs wear colour patches on their uniforms?
7. Where will you find the names of all Australian service men and women who have been killed in wars?
8. Why were Australian soldiers called ‘Diggers’?
9. The first Royal Australian Navy battle occurred on 9 November 1914.  What ship was sunk by HMAS Sydney during that battle?
10. What was a Maurice Farman Shorthorn?

Answers

1. The highest British Commonwealth award for the most conspicuous bravery in the presence of the enemy
2. Albert Jacka was a soldier who fought during World War One. Because of his bravery at Gallipoli he was awarded Australia’s highest medal for bravery – the Victoria Cross.
3. Menin Gate is a war memorial in Leper (Ypres) Belgium.  This memorial to the missing contains inside and out huge panels into which are carved the names of the 54, 896 officers and men of the Commonwealth (6,209 Australians) who dies in the Ypres Salient area during WW1 and who have no known grave.
4. Villers-Bretonneux is a small French village which the ANZACs liberated from the Germans in World War 1.  The French were so thankful they put a sign up in the local school which says “Never forget Australia”. It is still there today. The village commemorates ANZAC Day each year.
5. John McCrae
6. The ANZACs were grouped together into Battalions of many men. When they were training in Egypt they found it very difficult to find their tents at the end of the day because there were so many and all the tents looked the same.  It was decided that each Battalion would fly a flag from their tent with special colours to help the ANZACs find their way.  This was so successful the ANZACs decided to sew tiny flags onto their uniforms so they could find each other if lost in battle.
7. Their names are recorded on the walls of the cloisters on either side of the Pool of Reflection at the Australian War Memorial.  This is called the Roll of Honour.
8. The nickname “Digger” is attributed to the number of ex-gold diggers in the early army units and to the trench digging activities of the Australian soldiers during WW1.  It became quite an affectionate term for them.
9. The German cruiser EMDEN.
10. A plane flown by pilots of the Australian Flying Corps during WW1.