Time to take a citizenship test...

[highlyeccentric]

which reads like year nine history, but anyway. This is the list of sample questions found on the SMH

1. In what year did Federation take place? 1901 correct, thank you for playing!
2. Which day of the year is Australia Day? 25th Jan apparently it's the 26th!
3. Who was the first Prime Minister of Australia? Barton???? maybe??? yes, Barton
4. What is the first line of Australia's national anthem? Australians all eat sausages let us rejoice
5. What is the floral emblem of Australia? WTF? we have a floral emblem? wattle, apparently
6. What is the population of Australia? somewhere round the 20 million mark, i guess 21 millionish
7. In what city is the Parliament House of the Commonwealth Parliament located? canberra
8. Who is the Queen's representative in Australia? gov. general
9. How are Members of Parliament chosen? by election
10. Who do Members of Parliament represent? erm, technically, their electorate.
11. After a federal election, who forms the new government? the elected party? What kind of question is this?
12. What are the colours on the Australian flag? blue, red, white. someone care to explain why knowing this is important?
13. Who is the head of the Australian Government? at what level? do you mean the Queen? or the PM? we mean the PM
14. What are the three levels of government in Australia? council, state, federal
15. In what year did the European settlement of Australia start? 1878? 1788. i knew that
16. Serving on a jury if required is a responsibility of Australian citizenship: true or false? true
17. In Australia, everyone is free to practice the religion of their choice, or practice no religion: true of false? true
18. To be elected to the Commonwealth Parliament you must be an Australian citizen: true or false? um. true, i guess
19. As an Australian citizen, I have the right to register my baby born overseas as an Australian citizen: true or false? how should i know? seen me giving birth overseas lately? true, apparently
20. Australian citizens aged 18 years or over are required to enrol on the electoral register: true or false? true

Comments

[blackbuttoneyes.livejournal.com]

Phew! As a fairly self=loathing American I did way better then I expected to. 13 out of 20. And I even knew the wattle one from Monty Python (usually not a great source for accurate historical knowledge but it helps sometimes). But then again, questions like 'Who does this elected body represent?' have fairly obvious answers. =)

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

congratulations! you can now become an Australian Idiot!

[blackbuttoneyes.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! That's my number two dream, right after becoming a Mediocre Medievalist!!

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

well, you could try becoming a Mediocre Medievalist in Australia... one would *think* that would be easy, but in fact, since we have so few places for medievalists, one must be a Quite Good medievalist to get a job.

*is depressed by her lack of employment prospects*

[blackbuttoneyes.livejournal.com]

Yikes! Here at NYU there's a medievalist around every corner. I'm going to have to fight off hordes of them to get a job one day.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

there are still more medievalists here than there are jobs :(

Sydney Uni is the last uni in the country still teaching medieval languages.
Just say I were all growed up and wanted to come back here and teach. The current full-time anglo-saxonist is still a young man. So by the time he retires, there will probably be a queue god knows how long of us wanting to come back here. Starting with my current tutor Melanie; then Em, a current PHD student who doesn't get to tutor because Melanie does it all; either Katie or David (current honours students) may continue with Anglo-saxonism; and then there are two or three students in the class one level below me who will have caught me up by that time.

The other option is to develop a familiarity with Middle English, so as to increase my chances of becoming a general medieval literature teacher.
it is depressing to think about this now, i feel.

[blackbuttoneyes.livejournal.com]

Yikes! Yeah, I wouldn't think about that too much now. Things could always change! Plus I never think it's a good idea to try and imagine more than 5 years in the future. My brain goes wonky.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

yes, things could always change.

the rate education is going in this country, things are more likely to change for the worse... The Centre is always on the brink of collapsing.

on the bright side, we do have a much larger number of prospective hons. students than JP was expecting for next year :)

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

aaargh! i'm sorry, that's a really pessimistic whinge thingumy.

my excuse is, i was up till three last night spending quality time with an anglo-saxon verb. that sort of thing will make you pessimistic about everything.

[blackbuttoneyes.livejournal.com]

Haha! Totally understandable. I myself am at jury duty today, and also feeling very pessimistic. Booo!!!

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

oh, that is pessimable :I

erk. just erk.

oh, dear, i just realised that now i'm of age i can be called up for jury duty. what a depressing thought. i liked being underage better ;)

[blackbuttoneyes.livejournal.com]

Seriously? Being underaged is WAY better. Less responsibilities! Though I was dismissed today so all is well now.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

indeed. *sighs* i still haven't adjusted to being Growed Up, and it's been nearly two years.
It was also much easier to lead a quiet social life when i was underaged. "no, sorry, can't come out, i'm underage". end of story.

glad to hear you've escaped trial ;)

[blackbuttoneyes.livejournal.com]

I personally don't think it's ever a good idea to adjust to being Growed Up. I like being Not Growed Up, and I'd like to hold onto it as long as humanly possible. Although I agree, it is way harder to pass up invitations to night time raucusness now.