# The Australian Citizenship Test is irrelevant **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187 "2008-11-05T02:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DellieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@DellieM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DellieM)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/21 "2008-11-05T09:50:29Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:20, topic:471187”] Serious question, what’s the go with these things? I assume you mean the method of turning right where you pull over to the left wait for straight travelling traffic to drive through then make your turn? Is it to do with the trams? Do other cities with tams do them? [/QUOTE] I live in ‘the bush’ and when visiting Melbourne last weekend, my husband had to do one. Yeah - it’s like going to the front of line, but in the middle of the road. And on an angle. They suck. ---
**Author:** ![chocolatefrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/41988e/32.png) [@chocolatefrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chocolatefrog)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/22 "2008-11-05T10:24:22Z")
I know what killed Phar Lap. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/23 "2008-11-05T10:53:18Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:20, topic:471187”] Serious question, what’s the go with these things? I assume you mean the method of turning right where you pull over to the left wait for straight travelling traffic to drive through then make your turn? Is it to do with the trams? Do other cities with tams do them? [/QUOTE] It’s only in Melbourne and ONLY where two tramlines intersect at right angles…IOW, when the road you are on and the road to the sides contains a tramline as well, and ONLY in the CBD. If you want to make a right turn, you pull slightly to the left in the intersection, and stop still mostly facing the direction you don’t want to go. When the traffic lights change in the direction you are not facing, but want to proceed into, you go! I hope I’ve made things clearer. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/24 "2008-11-05T10:55:49Z")
> [@chocolatefrog](#): > > I know what killed Phar Lap. Does that count? He tried to do one of those funny right-hook turns at the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets. Idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/25 "2008-11-05T11:06:44Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > It’s only in Melbourne and ONLY where two tramlines intersect at right angles…IOW, when the road you are on and the road to the sides contains a tramline as well, and ONLY in the CBD. > > If you want to make a right turn, you pull slightly to the left in the intersection, and stop still mostly facing the direction you don’t want to go. When the traffic lights change in the direction you are not facing, but want to proceed into, you go! > > I hope I’ve made things clearer. > > 😃 Yes you have! I’ve never driven in Melbourne but I’ve wandered around the CBD and I’d figured out most of what was going on with those turns, but you’ve filled in the blanks (like that it only happens where two tracks cross. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/26 "2008-11-05T11:10:01Z")
Hook turns are great - if you’re a cyclist. I do them (on my bike) at basically every intersection, and everyone knows what I’m doing 'cos they’ve been trained in the CBD. That test is fucked. I can’t _believe_ how fucked that test is. I got “when did a new popular literature emerge”. Apparently the 1880s (not the 1890’s - bad Aspidistra!). I also lost on knoiwng about John Cornforth (who?) John Eccles (who?) and Barry Marshall (???) 10/20. Deport me now. ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/27 "2008-11-05T11:11:56Z")
Holy crap that thing is hard, to be honest i assumed up until this point that it was all pretty simple stuff like “who is the prime minister?”. I don’t think anyone i know would be able to pass that. (Though of the 5 questions in the OP, i think more Australians would know Phar Lap than any of the others.) ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/28 "2008-11-05T11:13:09Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > It’s only in Melbourne and **ONLY where two tramlines intersect at right angles** …IOW, when the road you are on and the road to the sides contains a tramline as well, and ONLY in the CBD. Nuh uh! I submit to you, the corner of Elizabeth and Franklin streets. Elizabeth has tram tracks but Franklin doesn’t. And that test is bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/29 "2008-11-05T11:19:15Z")
Phar Lap is obviously a trick question, they are clearly trying to catch out any Kiwi desperate enough to try for Oz citizenship (YES I MEAN YOU UNCLE LARRY!). EVERYONE knows that Phar Lap was a KIWI horse! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/30 "2008-11-05T11:22:58Z")
> [@Kayeby](#): > > Nuh uh! I submit to you, the corner of Elizabeth and Franklin streets. Elizabeth has tram tracks but Franklin doesn’t. > > And that test is bullshit. And that’s the beauty of the Hook Turn Principle: it works wherever the PTB deign it to…even NOT at a cross-tram intersection such as the cnr of Elizabeth and Franklin Streets. Hey, you’ve gotta love the founders of Melbourne’s traffic systems. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/31 "2008-11-05T11:34:15Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > 12/20. When do the jackbooted officers come to throw me out? The only charitable way to view the test is as a test of the combined ability to comprehend english and cram useless info (or perhaps to ensure that immigrants are all history buffs). > > I’ve lived here all my life and was pretty much an A grade average student when I did school history and don’t even know who half the people mentioned _were_ let alone what the fuck year they landed here or which city they were born in or other bits of irrelevant trivia about them. Has there ever been any doubt that the Australian government has always run immigration as a racist affair? I don’t think the average Aussie is racist but the govt operates that way. Remember the Tampa refugees, many of them are New Zealanders now. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/32 "2008-11-05T12:11:44Z")
I agree. The citizenship test is completely stupid. I wouldn’t pass any of the sports questions … and damn few of the history ones, to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Dottygumdrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Dottygumdrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dottygumdrop)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/33 "2008-11-05T17:52:02Z")
Tell me where to hand in my passport - I got 12/20 and FAILED most definitely! That is bullsh\*t! ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/34 "2008-11-05T20:42:04Z")
I finally got to do the test, and boy oh boy, am I ashamed. 12/20?!?! It’s a good thing they’re weeding out those Aussies who are in their mid thirties and were born here. Don’t want folk like us around. However, a couple of the questions were outright bizarre. Such as > [@](#): > > When did Australians begin to be proud of their convict past? > [A] 1950s > [B] 1960s > [C] 1970s WTH? [Correct answer is the 1960’s, by the way]. We also don’t like people in this country who can’t speak English properly. So we weed them out with questions like: > [@](#): > > Which of the following area, in which Government were active at the beginning of 20th century? > [A] Protecting wages and living conditions > [B] Giving help to farmers and pensions to the old > [C] All of these You can’t make shit like that up. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/35 "2008-11-05T21:54:33Z")
11/20, and that only by some lucky guessing. Hmm… birth places of historical figures prepare one for life in modern Australia how exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/36 "2008-11-05T22:09:26Z")
Well, at least they don’t ask if you’re a Communist. I got 30%, and only because I got two cricket questions. I think I just qualified for citizenship of Melbourne Cricket Ground. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/37 "2008-11-05T22:21:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, at least they don’t ask if you’re a Communist. It’s subtle, but it seems that if you don’t know the city where an obscure historical figure was born, the only explanation is that you’re a commie. I can tell you, though, as a cricket nut, the questions relating to the sport were NOT written by someone who has ever discussed cricket trivia. Here’s a better question that will actually pay off in day to day life: Q: Did you go to the MCG on the day that there was free entry, when Thommo and AB almost won a test match against impossible odds? Correct answer: Yes. (No true Aussie would ever answer No to this question, even if they weren’t born yet then). ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/38 "2008-11-05T22:26:48Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > …This is relevant to Australia how?.. Australia lost preferential access to British markets when the UK joined the European Community. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/39 "2008-11-05T22:34:00Z")
> [@DellieM](#): > > What was the name of the explorer who landed on the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1606? Wow, I was sure it was either Tasman or van Diemen. It was Willem Janszoon. That is really, _really_ obscure. This reminds me of the “literacy tests” they used to give to black people to prevent them from voting, in the American South before the 1960’s. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/40 "2008-11-05T23:27:42Z")
Whoops. Looks like I’m going to be deported as well. 12/20. ☹ I think whoever wrote the questions on that website needs to work on their sentence construction a little. But in general I fully agree those questions are stupid. I got that same stupid one about “When did Australia become proud of it’s convict past?” WTF sort of question is that? 😕 Birthplaces of people I’ve never heard of, etc, what a crock of shit. I don’t see how anyone is passing that test with having massive cram sessions on Obscure Australian history. I was always good academically, and I’m usually one of the best in a group in trivia contests, but those questions are irrelevant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187.md?page=3)