It's time for a home-grown check-up asking how well we really know the history of our own country.

Last week the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority announced it was overhauling the testing process in schools to focus on seven key areas, and modern history doesn't get a look-in.

In the latest Today Tonight generation challenge, there was plenty of passion - and plenty of mistakes.

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Generation Y - those aged up to 30, were guided by pop star Johny Ruffo; the team leader for the 31 to 48-year-olds, or Generation X, was News Limited journalist Joe Hilderbrand; and marching the Baby Boomers into battle was Pauline Hanson.

Posting the questions was Cornelia Frances.

The first question was one that every Australian high-school student should know, though many didn't: Who was the indigenous land rights fighter in the 1980s?

If you answered Eddie Mabo, you're off to a good start.

Only two people in the entire class knew that ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, and it seems the knowledge gaps run deep: all the way back to when Australia's European settlement began.

Seven people in the class of 34 didn't know when the first fleet landed at Sydney Cove, despite the fact we celebrate the anniversary every year on Australia Day.

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When it comes to our flag, do you know what the stars symbolise? Half of Generation Y got it wrong, and though most knew the Southern Cross, only a handful could name the seven-pointed star as the Commonwealth Star.

And as for when the flag was adopted, only one person in both Generation Y and the Baby Boomers got it right, and only two in Generation X. The answer is 1953.

According to UTS historian and author of History's Children, Anna Clark, "history isn't just about memorising the facts. It is about connecting to certain things that happened, and knowing certain things that happened."

Clark helped compile the test questions for the Australian history challenge, and isn't surprised modern history doesn't get the curriculum merit it deserves.

"I have spent a lot of time talking about it. I've done quite a lot of research, looking at why teaching history is very controversial - the curriculum end of it - and why different versions of the past are supported by different governments of different persuasions," she said.

"But at the same time the irony is that actually in the classroom it's not very popular."

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