Incumbents

• Monarch
  Monarchy in Australia
  The Monarchy of Australia is a form of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of Australia. The monarchy is a constitutional one modelled on the Westminster style of parliamentary government, incorporating features unique to the Constitution of Australia.The present monarch is...
  
   – King George V
  George V of the United Kingdom
  George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
  
  
• Governor-General
  Governor-General of Australia
  The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
  
   – Sir Isaac Isaacs
  Isaac Isaacs
  Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs GCB GCMG KC was an Australian judge and politician, was the third Chief Justice of Australia, ninth Governor-General of Australia and the first born in Australia to occupy that post. He is the only person ever to have held both positions of Chief Justice of Australia and...
  
  
• Prime Minister
  Prime Minister of Australia
  The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
  
   – Joseph Lyons
  Joseph Lyons
  Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
  
  

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Bertram Stevens
• Premier of Queensland – William Forgan Smith
  William Forgan Smith
  William Forgan Smith , generally known as Forgan Smith, was Premier of the Australian state of Queensland from 1932 to 1942. He came to dominate politics in the state during the 1930s, and his populism, firm leadership, defence of states' rights and interest in state development make him something...
  
  
• Premier of South Australia – Richard L. Butler
  Richard Layton Butler
  Sir Richard Layton Butler KCMG was the 31st Premier of South Australia, serving two disjunct terms in office: from 1927 to 1930, and again from 1933 to 1938....
  
  
• Premier of Tasmania – Albert Ogilvie
  Albert Ogilvie
  Albert George Ogilvie was an Australian politician and Premier of Tasmania from 22 June 1934 until his death on 10 June 1939....
  
  
• Premier of Victoria – Stanley Argyle
  Stanley Argyle
  Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle KBE , Australian politician, was the 32nd Premier of Victoria. He was born in Kyneton, Victoria, the son of a grazier, and was educated at Brighton Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in medicine...
  
   (until 2 April), then Albert Dunstan
  Albert Dunstan
  Sir Albert Arthur Dunstan, KCMG was an Australian politician. A member of the Country Party , Dunstan was the 33rd Premier of Victoria. His term as Premier was the second-longest in the state's history, behind Sir Henry Bolte...
  
  
• Premier of Western Australia
  Premier of Western Australia
  The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
  
   – Philip Collier
  Philip Collier
  Philip Collier was Premier of Western Australia for nine years, the longest ever term for an Australian Labor Party premier....
  
  

State Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Philip Game
  Philip Game
  Air Vice-Marshal Sir Philip Woolcott Game GCB, GCVO, GBE, KCMG, DSO was a British Royal Air Force commander, who later served as Governor of New South Wales and Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis...
  
   (until 15 January), then Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie
  Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
  Brigadier General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie VC, GCMG, CB, DSO & Bar, PC was a British soldier and colonial governor and the tenth Governor-General of Australia. Serving for 9 years and 7 days, he is the longest serving Governor-General in Australia's history...
  
   (from 21 February)
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Leslie Orme Wilson
  Leslie Orme Wilson
  Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, DSO, PC was a British soldier, Conservative politician and Governor of Queensland.-Personal life:...
  
  
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Winston Dugan
  Winston Dugan, 1st Baron Dugan of Victoria
  Major-General Winston Joseph Dugan, 1st Baron Dugan of Victoria GCMG, CB, DSO, KStJ , known as Sir Winston Dugan between 1934 and 1949, was a British administrator and a career British Army officer...
  
  
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ernest Clark
  Ernest Clark (governor)
  Sir Ernest Clark, GCMG, KCB, CBE was a British civil servant, who was Governor of Tasmania from 1933 to 1945.-Early life and education:...
  
  
• Governor of Victoria – William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield
  William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield
  William Charles Arcedeckne Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield, KCMG was a British Conservative Party politician, Governor of Victoria and Administrator of Australia.-Early life:...
  
  
• Governor of Western Australia
  Governor of Western Australia
  The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
  
   – none appointed

Events

• 26 February – Qantas Empire Airways
  Qantas
  Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
  
   makes its first scheduled international flight, when a De Havilland Express
  De Havilland Express
  The de Havilland Express was a four-engined passenger aircraft from the 1930s manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.-Development:...
  
   departs Darwin
  Darwin, Northern Territory
  Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
  
   bound for Singapore
  Singapore
  Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
  
  .
• 2 March – A general election is held in Victoria
  Victoria (Australia)
  Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
  
  . The UAP
  United Australia Party
  The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...
  
  -Country Party
  National Party of Australia
  The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
  
   coalition wins a comfortable majority.
• 29 March – 141 people drown when a cyclone
  Cyclone
  In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale...
  
   strikes the pearling
  Pearl hunting
  Pearl hunting or pearl diving refers to a largely obsolete method of retrieving pearls from pearl oysters, freshwater pearl mussels and, on rare occasions, other nacre-producing molluscs, such as abalone.-History:...
  
   fleet off the coast of Broome, Western Australia
  Broome, Western Australia
  Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...
  
  .
• 2 April – Stanley Argyle
  Stanley Argyle
  Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle KBE , Australian politician, was the 32nd Premier of Victoria. He was born in Kyneton, Victoria, the son of a grazier, and was educated at Brighton Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in medicine...
  
   stands down as Premier of Victoria after the Country Party dissolves their coalition with the UAP. He is succeeded by Country Party leader Albert Dunstan
  Albert Dunstan
  Sir Albert Arthur Dunstan, KCMG was an Australian politician. A member of the Country Party , Dunstan was the 33rd Premier of Victoria. His term as Premier was the second-longest in the state's history, behind Sir Henry Bolte...
  
  .
• 1 July – The Australian Associated Press
  Australian Associated Press
  Australian Associated Press is Australia's national news agency. The organisation was established in 1935 by Fairfax and The Herald and Weekly Times.AAP employs more than 175 journalists who work in bureaux in all Australian states and territories...
  
   (AAP) news agency
  News agency
  A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
  
   is established.
• 2 October – John Curtin
  John Curtin
  John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
  
   replaces James Scullin
  James Scullin
  James Henry Scullin , Australian Labor politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Two days after he was sworn in as Prime Minister, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the beginning of the Great Depression and subsequent Great Depression in Australia.-Early life:Scullin was...
  
   as leader of the Australian Labor Party
  Australian Labor Party
  The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
  
  .
• 4 October – Luna Park
  Luna Park Sydney
  Luna Park Sydney is an amusement park, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
  
   in Sydney
  Sydney
  Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
  
   is officially opened.
• 14 October – The Hornibrook Bridge
  Hornibrook Bridge
  Hornibrook Bridge was one of three bridges that crossed Bramble Bay, Queensland, Australia. The second is the Houghton Highway, which was built to accommodate rising traffic levels on the two-lane Hornibrook Bridge in the 1970s to increase capacity and cope with future demand...
  
  , connecting Redcliffe
  Redcliffe
    Redcliffe City is a municipal location north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. Also known as "the Redcliffe peninsula", the area covers the suburbs of Clontarf, Kippa-Ring, Margate, Newport, Redcliffe, Rothwell, Scarborough and Woody Point.Redcliffe is home...
  
   and Sandgate
  Sandgate, Queensland
  Sandgate is a coastal suburb in Brisbane, Australia, located 16 km north of the Brisbane CBD. The town became a popular escape for the people of Brisbane in the early 20th century.-Geography:Sandgate is situated on the coastline, along Bramble Bay...
  
   in Queensland
  Queensland
  Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
  
  , is officially opened.
• 31 December – The Cane Toad
  Cane Toad
  The Cane Toad , also known as the Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad which is native to Central and South America, but has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean...
  
   is introduced to Queensland.

Arts and literature

• John Longstaff
  John Longstaff
  Sir John Campbell Longstaff was an Australian painter, war artist and a five-time winner of the Archibald Prize. He was a cousin of Will Longstaff, also a painter....
  
   wins the Archibald Prize
  Archibald Prize
  The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
  
   with his portrait of Banjo Paterson
  Banjo Paterson
  Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
  
  
• Olive Cotton
  Olive Cotton
  Olive Cotton was a pioneering Australian modernist female photographer of the 1930s and 40s working in Sydney. As a female photographer in Australia of that era, she was overlooked and her work at the Dupain studio was considered "art" rather than commercial. Cotton only became a national "name"...
  
   takes the photograph Teacup Ballet
• Scottish painter Ian Fairweather
  Ian Fairweather
  Ian Fairweather was an Australian painter. Fairweather was born in Scotland in 1891 and arrived in Melbourne in February 1934...
  
   moves to Melbourne
  Melbourne
  Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
  
   and is soon noticed by local artists as a significant painter.

Sport

• 11 May - St. George beats Canterbury 91 points to 6 for the highest score and biggest win in NRL
  National Rugby League
  The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
  
   history
• 14 September - Eastern Suburbs beats South Sydney 19 to 3 for its fifth premiership
• 5 October - Collingwood
  Collingwood Football Club
  The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
  
   11.12 (78) beats South Melbourne
  Sydney Swans
  The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
  
   7.16 (58) for its tenth premiership. Bob Pratt
  Bob Pratt
  Harold Robert "Bob" Pratt was a former Australian rules footballer from Mitcham, Victoria.Pratt played with South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League from 1930–1939 and again in 1946, and with the Coburg Football Club in the Victorian Football Association from 1940 to 1941...
  
   missed the game due to a car accident.
• Marabou wins the Melbourne Cup
  Melbourne Cup
  The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
  
  
• Victoria wins the Sheffield Shield
  Pura Cup
  The Sheffield Shield is the domestic cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Prior to the Shield being established, a number of intercolonial matches were played. The Shield, donated by Lord Sheffield, was first contested during...
  
  

Births

• 9 January – Brian Harradine
  Brian Harradine
  Richard William Brian Harradine , Australian politician, was an independent member of the Australian Senate from 1975 to 2005, representing the state of Tasmania. He was the longest-serving independent federal politician in Australian history, and a Father of the Senate.He was born in Quorn, South...
  
  , politician
• 19 January – Johnny O'Keefe
  Johnny O'Keefe
  John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Some of his hits include "Wild One" , "Shout!" and "She's My Baby"...
  
   (d.1978), entertainer
• 3 March – Malcolm Anderson
  Malcolm Anderson
  Malcolm "Mal" J. Anderson was a top-ranking Australian tennis player from the middle 1950s to the early 1970s....
  
  , tennis player
• 5 March – Philip K. Chapman, astronaut
• 7 April – Mervyn Crossman
  Mervyn Crossman
  Mervyn Crossman is a retired field hockey player from Australia, who won the bronze medal with the Men's National Team at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Four years earlier, when Rome, Italy hosted the Games, he made his Olympic debut.-References:...
  
  , field hockey player
• 10 April – Peter Hollingworth
  Peter Hollingworth
  Peter John Hollingworth AC, OBE is an Australian Anglican bishop. He served as the Archbishop of Brisbane for 11 years before becoming the 23rd Governor-General of Australia from 2001 until 2003....
  
  , Bishop and Governor General of Australia
• 12 May – Leneen Forde, Governor of Queensland
• 2 August – Llewellyn Edwards
  Llewellyn Edwards
  Sir Llewellyn Roy Edwards, AC was the twelfth Chancellor of the University of Queensland, a Queensland state politician and state Liberal Party leader, as well as Chair and CEO of the 1988 World Exposition, Brisbane's World Expo '88...
  
  , politician
• 8 August – John Laws
  John Laws
  Richard John Sinclair "John" Laws, CBE , an Australian radio presenter, sometimes known as Lawsie, was from the 1970s until his retirement in 2007, the host of a hugely successful morning radio program, which mixed music with interviews, opinion, live advertising readings and listener talkback...
  
  , radio personality
• 28 September
  • Eddie Lumsden
    Eddie Lumsden
    Eddie Lumsden is an Australian former rugby league player. He was a winger with the St. George Dragons during their eleven-year premiership winning run from 1956 to 1966, playing in nine grand finals....
    
    , rugby league footballer
  • Bruce Crampton
    Bruce Crampton
    Bruce Crampton is an Australian professional golfer.Crampton was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and attended Kogarah High School from 1948-1950. He turned professional in 1953....
    
    , golfer
• 7 October – Thomas Keneally
  Thomas Keneally
  Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
  
  , writer
• 4 November – Barry Crocker
  Barry Crocker
  Barry Hugh Crocker OAM is a popular Australian singer, with a crooning vocal style.-Biography:...
  
  , entertainer
• 28 November – Randolph Stow
  Randolph Stow
  Julian Randolph Stow was an Australian writer.-Life:Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow attended Guildford Grammar School and the University of Western Australia. He lectured in English Literature at the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia and the...
  
  , writer
• 13 December – Arthur Summons
  Arthur Summons
  Arthur Summons is a former Australian representative rugby union and rugby league player, a dual-code rugby international fly-half or five-eighth...
  
  , rugby footballer

Deaths

• 8 April – David Watkins
  David Watkins (Australian politician)
  David Watkins was an Australian politician and Member of the Australian House of Representatives for Newcastle from 1901 until his death in 1935....
  
   (b. 1865), Newcastle politician and member of the First Parliament
• 2 September – Sir Sidney Kidman
  Sidney Kidman
  Sir Sidney Kidman was a pastoralist in Australia and controlled huge tracts of land.-Early life:Sidney Kidman was born near Adelaide third son of George Kidman , farmer, and his wife Elizabeth Mary, née Nunn...
  
   (b. 1857), pastoralist
• 22 September – Elliott Lewis
  Elliott Lewis
  Sir Neil Elliott Lewis, KCMG , Australian politician, was Premier of Tasmania on three occasions. He was also a member of the first Australian federal ministry, led by Edmund Barton....
  
   (b. 1858), Premier of Tasmania
• 25 September – Tom Richards (53), rugby union player (b. 1882)
• 8 November – Charles Kingsford Smith
  Charles Kingsford Smith
  Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC, AFC , often called by his nickname Smithy, was an early Australian aviator. In 1928, he earned global fame when he made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia...
  
  (b. 1897), aviator