Read the following passage carefully and choose appropriate option given below:
Lizard Island is only 30 km off the far north Queensland coast and 250 km north of Cairns, the most northernly city in northeastern Australia. The 1,012 hectare island is spectacularly rugged with vegetation ranging from grassland to rainforest and encompossing pandanus swamp, eucalypt woodland and mangroves. The most recent discoverers of this island were Sir Sydney Williams and another north Queensland businessman, Mr. John Wilson, now a Brisbane share broker. For several years from 1968, they camped on Lizard island for annual fishing holidays and in 1974 after obtaining a Queensland Government lease with other businessmen, built four cabins for guests. In the next step of development in 1978, they raised the number of bungalows to eight, then to fifteen in 1982 and in 1984 ultimately the complex was bought by the Queensland State Government Insurance Office. The island is consistently visited by those who seem to be quite careful about their health. Each has all the facilities expected in such an elegant resort including well-stocked minibar. It is because of this that Australian Prime Ministers for the decade or so have taken heed, as they constantly retreat to this island to rest, relax and lick the wounds of office. Since this island attracts people from all over the world, most of the time it remains packed. One of the island resort's founders, Queensland aviation pioneer, Sir Sydney Williams, affirms that a sturdy Arab Sheikh once came ashore from a chartered luxury yacht and tried to book a suite for the night. When told the place was full he hastily produced a cheque book and offered to buy it.
Who amongst the following discovered Lizard Island ?
(A) An Arab Sheikh
(B) A Brisbane sharebroker and a Queensland aviation pioneer
(C) The Prime Minister of Australia
(D) Queensland Government and Insurance Office
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (B) Only
The passage says, "The most recent discoverers of this island were Sir Sydney Williams and another north Queensland businessman, Mr. John Wilson, now a Brisbane share broker." Later it calls Sir Sydney Williams a "Queensland aviation pioneer". Statement (B) names both men.
(A) An Arab Sheikh — Incorrect.
- Wrong link: the sheikh only came ashore from a chartered yacht and tried to book a suite.
(B) A Brisbane sharebroker and a Queensland aviation pioneer — Correct.
- The Brisbane share broker is John Wilson and the aviation pioneer is Sir Sydney Williams, the two discoverers.
(C) The Prime Minister of Australia — Incorrect.
- Wrong link: Australian Prime Ministers only retreat to the island to rest.
- They did not discover it.
(D) Queensland Government and Insurance Office — Incorrect.
- Wrong link: the Queensland State Government Insurance Office bought the complex in 1984.
- It did not discover the island.
Note: In the original NTA paper, statement (A) read "John Wilson" and statement (C) read "Sydney Williams". NTA accepted Option 2 (A) and Option 1 (C) as correct answers as well for the question. To leave only one correct answer and avoid confusion for students, statements (A) and (C) have been changed here to "An Arab Sheikh" and "The Prime Minister of Australia" respectively.
Tip: In this question the options do not follow the order of the statements (Option 1 = (C) Only, Option 2 = (A) Only, Option 3 = (B) Only, Option 4 = (D) Only). NTA often jumbles the options in this way, so after finding the correct statement, read the options carefully and mark the one with the right letter.
Advice for the exam: In the real exam, mark the answer that is grammatically or factually correct. If NTA’s provisional answer key marks a different option, challenge it during the answer-key challenge window and give the reason in one or two lines.