World Mythology · Unit 14

Pacific and Australian Myths

Maui, Pele, Tangaroa, the Dreaming and the Rainbow Serpent

Polynesian myth is the mythology of the greatest navigators in human history, and it shows: the stories are full of ocean, islands being fished up, and journeys.

The unit covers Maui, Tangaroa and the Polynesian gods, Pele and Hawaiian volcanic myth, and the Dreaming and the Rainbow Serpent of Aboriginal Australian tradition.

This unit breaks down into 18 short steps and 110 questions, starting at difficulty 2 and building to 4. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 18
Questions: 110
Difficulty: 2-4

What this unit covers

The Rainbow Serpent
Maui the Demigod
Tangaroa and the Polynesian Gods
The Dreaming
Pele and Hawaiian Myth

Where this fits

Independent of the other regional units.

Where people slip

The Dreaming is not a creation story set in the past. It is understood as an ongoing reality that the present participates in, and past tense misrepresents it.

How the unit is structured

Pacific and Australian Myths runs as 18 short steps that unlock in order. 13 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 2 and climb to 4 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 18 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 110 in the unit altogether.

Maui the Demigod

Fact or fibLevel 2
1. Stories of Maui are told in New Zealand, Hawaii, Tahiti and many other Pacific islands.
Answer: True
True. He is one of the most widely shared Polynesian figures.
Fill the blankLevel 2
2. Maui is also said to have brought ____ to people, stolen from its guardian.
- firecorrect
- gold
- snow
- iron
He got fire from the fire goddess and gave it to people.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
3. Who is Maui in Polynesian tradition?
- A clever demigod herocorrect
- A sea monster
- A star goddess
- A giant turtle
Maui is a clever demigod hero whose deeds are told across the Pacific.
True or falseLevel 2
4. Maori tradition calls the North Island of New Zealand the fish of Maui.
Answer: True
True. Te Ika-a-Maui means the fish of Maui.
Type the answerLevel 2
5. Which Polynesian demigod slowed down the sun so the days would be longer?
Answer: Maui
Maui and his brothers snared the sun to make it travel more slowly.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
6. Which deeds are told of Maui across the Pacific? Pick all that apply.
- Fishing up islandscorrect
- Slowing the suncorrect
- Bringing fire to peoplecorrect
- Building the first pyramid
Fishing up islands, snaring the sun and bringing fire are his classic feats.

Pele and Hawaiian Myth

Fact or fibLevel 2
7. Many visitors are told not to take lava rocks home from Hawaii out of respect for Pele.
Answer: True
True. Respecting the tradition, and the land, is part of visiting.
Fill the blankLevel 2
8. Hawaiian volcanoes are formed by ____ rising from beneath the sea floor.
- lavacorrect
- sand
- ice
- coral
Molten rock builds the islands up from the ocean floor.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
9. Which Hawaiian volcano is especially linked with Pele?
- Kilaueacorrect
- Vesuvius
- Fuji
- Etna
Kilauea, with its Halemaumau crater, is said to be her home.
Picture questionLevel 2
10. 🌋 Which Hawaiian goddess is connected with this natural feature?
- Pelecorrect
- Hina
- Laka
- Poliahu
The volcano belongs to Pele.
True or falseLevel 2
11. Pele is said to create new land when lava flows into the sea.
Answer: True
True. Hawaiian tradition sees eruptions as Pele building land.
Type the answerLevel 2
12. Which Hawaiian goddess is honoured at the crater of an active volcano?
Answer: Pele
Pele is honoured with chants and offerings at Kilauea.

Tangaroa and the Polynesian Gods

Fact or fibLevel 2
13. Polynesian peoples settled islands spread across a huge area of the Pacific Ocean.
Answer: True
True. Their voyages covered thousands of kilometres of open sea.
Fill the blankLevel 2
14. Maori tradition says the mist and dew are the tears of the sky father ____.
- Ranginuicorrect
- Tangaroa
- Maui
- Tu
Ranginui weeps for his separation from the earth mother.
Match the pairsLevel 2
15. Match each Maori god to what they look after.
Answer: Tangaroa = The sea; Tane = Forests and birds; Tawhirimatea = Winds and storms; Rongo = Cultivated food
The children of sky and earth each took charge of part of the world.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
16. Which Polynesian god rules the sea?
- Tangaroacorrect
- Tane
- Rongo
- Tu
Tangaroa, known by related names across the Pacific, is the god of the ocean.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
17. Which of these are Polynesian cultures? Pick all that apply.
- Maoricorrect
- Hawaiiancorrect
- Samoancorrect
- Inuit
Maori, Hawaiian and Samoan peoples are all Polynesian.
Put in orderLevel 3
18. Put the Maori creation story in order.
Answer: Sky and earth hold each other tightly -> Their children argue about what to do -> Tane pushes them apart -> Light enters the world
Sky and earth cling together, their children debate, Tane pushes them apart, and light floods in.

The Dreaming

Fact or fibLevel 2
19. Some Aboriginal stories are restricted and are not meant to be shared with everyone.
Answer: True
True. Certain knowledge belongs to particular people, and that must be respected.
Fill the blankLevel 2
20. Aboriginal ____ art in Australia includes some of the oldest surviving art in the world.
- rockcorrect
- glass
- metal
- paper
Rock art in Australia dates back many thousands of years.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
21. According to Aboriginal traditions, what did ancestral beings do as they travelled?
- They shaped the land and everything in itcorrect
- They built cities of stone
- They wrote laws on paper
- They sailed away for ever
They created hills, rivers, waterholes and living things, leaving the land full of meaning.
True or falseLevel 2
22. Aboriginal Australian cultures are among the oldest continuing cultures in the world.
Answer: True
True. They stretch back tens of thousands of years.
Type the answerLevel 2
23. What word describes the paths across Australia that link places in ancestral stories and songs?
Answer: songlines
Songlines, also called dreaming tracks, connect sites across the land.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
24. Which are appropriate research practices for Indigenous knowledge? Pick all that apply.
- Seeking community consentcorrect
- Crediting knowledge holderscorrect
- Respecting restricted materialcorrect
- Publishing sacred secrets for interest
Consent, credit and respect for restricted material are basic requirements.

The Rainbow Serpent

Build the sentenceLevel 2
25. Build a sentence about the land in Aboriginal tradition.
Answer: Ancestral beings shaped the land
Ancestral beings shaped the land itself.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
26. Which are true of Aboriginal Australian traditions? Pick all that apply.
- There are many nations, each with their own stories
- Stories are tied to specific places in the landcorrect
- The traditions are still alive todaycorrect
- They all share one single book
There are many nations and languages, with stories tied to particular places, still alive today.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
27. What is the Rainbow Serpent often said to have created?
- Rivers and waterholescorrect
- Coins and jewellery
- Ships and sails
- Deserts of glass
Its movement is said to have carved rivers, gorges and waterholes.
Fact or fibLevel 3
28. Aboriginal stories sometimes preserve memories of real events such as rising seas thousands of years ago.
Answer: True
True. Researchers have matched some coastal stories with the end of the last ice age.
Guess the numberLevel 3
29. For roughly how many thousands of years have Aboriginal peoples lived in Australia?
Answer: 60 thousand years
Evidence points to at least sixty thousand years of continuous presence.
Put in orderLevel 3
30. Put these steps of respectful study in order.
Answer: Listen to the community -> Ask permission for what you use -> Credit the knowledge holders -> Share the results back
Good practice starts with listening, then asking permission, then crediting and sharing back.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 12 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Fill the blank
Guess the number
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Picture question
Put in order
Sort into groups
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Pacific and Australian Myths

110 questions across 18 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

Read about Pacific and Australian Myths

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

How Polynesian Navigators Crossed the PacificPolynesian navigators travelled across vast ocean distances using stars, waves, winds, birds and memory. Their voyages connected islands across one of the largest regions of settlement in human history.July 29, 2026 · 5 min read

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