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Australian Voices Quiz

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Australian Voices Quiz

Read the original story below, then answer the questions using evidence from the text. For questions asking for an explanation, support your ideas with a quotation or a precise detail.

The Long Way to the Lookout

Isla’s family had lived in the coastal town of Wattle Point for three months. Before that, home had been a busy apartment in western Sydney, where Isla could hear buses sighing at the kerb and neighbours speaking Arabic through the thin walls. At Wattle Point, the loudest morning sound was often a magpie warbling from the fence. On Saturday, Isla’s neighbour Eli invited her to walk to the old lookout. “It’s not far,” he said, which Isla had learned could mean almost anything. They set off beneath a bright sky. The track climbed between paperbarks and banksias. Eli pointed out a scar on a tree where a branch had split in a storm. Isla noticed tiny ants carrying crumbs across the path. They walked quietly for a while, listening to leaves rustle and distant surf. At the top, the coast curved around a blue bay. Isla took out her phone, then lowered it. The view seemed too wide to fit inside a screen. Eli said his grandmother used to bring him there and tell him that places held many stories. Isla thought of her own grandmother, who had taught her Arabic names for plants in the courtyard of their old building. Different places, she decided, could both feel like home. A gust of wind snatched Eli’s cap and sent it tumbling towards the edge of the track. Isla caught it against a low shrub. Eli laughed with relief. “Good save, mate.” On the way back, they took the longer loop. Isla asked Eli about the old jetty and he asked her what she missed about Sydney. By the time they reached town, neither had run out of things to say. The walk had not made Isla an expert on Wattle Point. It had given her a reason to look more closely—and someone to explore with next time.

Check your understanding

Use details from the story in your answers.

1.Where had Isla lived before moving to Wattle Point, and what sound from that place does she remember?

2.Eli says the lookout is “not far”, but Isla thinks this could mean almost anything. What does this suggest about Isla’s attitude to the walk?

She is certain Eli is trying to trick her.
She is unsure how long the walk will really take.
She has walked the track many times before.
She does not want to spend time with Eli.

3.Name two small details Isla notices on the track before she reaches the lookout.

4.In the story, what does Eli mean when he says, “places held many stories”?

5.By the end of the walk, Isla believes that only one place can feel like home. True or false? Give one detail that supports your answer.

TrueFalse

6.What does Isla’s decision to lower her phone at the lookout suggest about how she is responding to the view?

7.How does the moment with Eli’s cap help develop the idea of mateship in the story?

8.Why does the final paragraph mention the questions Isla and Eli ask each other on the way back?

To show that the track becomes more difficult.
To show their conversation and connection have grown.
To explain why they need to return to town quickly.
To prove that Isla already knows everything about Wattle Point.

9.The story includes Australian settings and expressions, such as a coastal bush track and the word “mate”. Explain how these details help shape the story’s sense of place without suggesting that every Australian has the same experience.

10.Complete the statement with a theme from the story, then give one piece of evidence: “The story suggests that belonging can grow when …”