The Quest of Quests beauty pageant was organised from 1967 until 1979 by Waltons, a leading retail chain in Australia at the time. The purpose of the pageant was to select Australia's representatives for a number of international pageants.
State contests were held in each of the seven states with the winner in each state contest being named "Dream Girl" for her state. The state winners, together with a number of state runners-up, usually competed at the national final. The number of contestants ranged from 10 to 21 with the bulk of the contestants coming from New South Wales and Victoria.
After preliminary judging, between four and six contestants were called into the final round of competition. Each of the finalists was then awarded a title eg. Miss World Australia or Miss Teen Australia, with the top-scoring finalist being named "Dream Girl Australia" in addition to the title of the international pageant she would compete at.
The winner of the "Dream Girl Australia" title was usually the contestant selected to compete at Miss World, but that was not always the case. At least four of the thirteen winners went on to compete at Miss Universe, and the 1973 winner competed at, and won, the Miss Asia pageant.
A Miss World Australia title-holder was named at each of the thirteen Quest of Quests pageants, but from 1977 Miss Universe Australia was named at a separate pageant organised by another organisation. Miss Teen Australia (changed to Miss Young Australia) was named at each of the thirteen pageants.
The Quest of Quests pageant was usually held in late September or early October with the winner of the Miss World Australia title competing at Miss World in the same calendar year, and the other title-holders competing at their respective international pageants in the following calendar year.
