Tap or click the state or territory it names, or choose Name it for capitals too.
Australia Map Quiz
Name Date
Tap Australian Capital Territory
1 of 8
More options
Write the name of each numbered state or territory, then its capital.Answer key
Australian Capital Territory · Canberra
New South Wales · Sydney
Northern Territory · Darwin
Queensland · Brisbane
South Australia · Adelaide
Tasmania · Hobart
Victoria · Melbourne
Western Australia · Perth
Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2. Licence: public domain.
Each state or territory is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a state or territory is answered.
Australian Capital Territory(capital: Canberra)Capital: Canberra, which is also the national capital. New South Wales handed the land over on January 1, 1911. It is the only one of the eight with no coast, and the smallest at 2,358 square kilometers.
New South Wales(capital: Sydney)Capital: Sydney. The first colony, founded in 1788. The state with the most people. Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain on the mainland at 2,228 meters, stands near its border with Victoria.
Northern Territory(capital: Darwin)Capital: Darwin. Part of South Australia until 1911. It has governed itself since 1978 and has the fewest people of the eight. Uluru stands in its south, 335 kilometers southwest of Alice Springs.
Queensland(capital: Brisbane)Capital: Brisbane. The second largest by area. A separate colony since 1859. The Great Barrier Reef runs for more than 2,300 kilometers off its coast. Cape York holds the northernmost point of the mainland.
South Australia(capital: Adelaide)Capital: Adelaide. Founded as a colony in 1836. Lake Eyre (Kati Thanda), the lowest natural point in the country at about 15 meters below sea level, lies in its dry north.
Tasmania(capital: Hobart)Capital: Hobart. The only island state. Bass Strait cuts it off from the mainland. The smallest of the six states at 68,401 square kilometers. It was called Van Diemen's Land until 1856.
Victoria(capital: Melbourne)Capital: Melbourne. The smallest mainland state, yet second in population. A separate colony since 1851. The national government sat in Melbourne until it moved to Canberra in 1927.
Western Australia(capital: Perth)Capital: Perth. The largest state, about a third of the country. It covers 2,527,013 square kilometers. It began in 1829 as the Swan River Colony.
How this list was compiled: Names, kinds and short forms written for this site and checked on 2026-09-19 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-2:AU. Capitals, the years the colonies and territories began, and the count of three internal and seven external territories checked the same day against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_territories_of_Australia and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_capital_cities. Areas: Geoscience Australia, https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/national-location-information/dimensions/area-of-australia-states-and-territories. People: Australian Bureau of Statistics, estimated resident population at 31 March 2026, released 17 September 2026, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population/latest-release. The Australian Capital Territory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Capital_Territory. Landmarks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kosciuszko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uluru, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Eyre, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Australia, all read on 2026-09-19. Neighbors and coasts named in the hints were worked out from the drawing itself. Boundaries follow Natural Earth. The Jervis Bay Territory and the external territories are not on the drawing and are not asked. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_admin_1_states_provinces_lakes (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_admin_1_states_provinces_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Albers equal-area conic projection, central meridian 134°E, standard parallels 18°S and 36°S. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This Australia map quiz has only 8 shapes: the 6 states, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In Name it a right name brings a second question, the capital city, so a full round there is 16 answers.
Read the full guide
Where the slips happen
Most slips in an Australia states quiz happen in the southeast, where New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory sit close together. The territory is too small to tap, so it has a numbered ring just to its right. A miss shows the right shape, and afterward Practise the ones you missed replays only those.
The capital comes second
Find it only ever asks for the shape. In Name it a state or territory counts only when both the name and the capital are right. Each of the eight capitals is also the largest city of its state or territory. For paper, Print blank gives a numbered map with 8 lines to fill in.
Go around the mainland clockwise from the top: Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia.
Learn South Australia first. On this map it touches every other mainland state and the Northern Territory, five neighbors in all.
Under Name it, press Type it and the short forms count: NSW, Qld, Vic, Tas, SA, WA, NT and ACT.
Questions and answers
How many states and territories does Australia have?
Six states and two self-governing territories, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory: the 8 shapes of this Australian states quiz. Jervis Bay, a third internal territory of 67 square kilometers, and seven external territories such as Norfolk Island are not on the map.
Is Canberra in New South Wales?
No. Canberra is in the Australian Capital Territory, which New South Wales handed to the national government on January 1, 1911. The constitution required a capital territory inside New South Wales, 100 miles or more from Sydney. The government sat in Melbourne until 1927.
Which Australian state is the largest?
Western Australia, at 2,527,013 square kilometers. Queensland is second and the Northern Territory third. Tasmania is the smallest state at 68,401 square kilometers, and the Australian Capital Territory is the smallest of all 8 shapes at 2,358. New South Wales has the most people.