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 VI
  George VI of the United Kingdom
  George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
  
  
• 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...
  
   – Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
  Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
  The Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was a soldier and member of the British Royal Family, the third son of George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary....
  
   (until 11 March), then William McKell
  William McKell
  Sir William John McKell GCMG , Australian politician, was Premier of New South Wales from 1941 to 1947, and was the 12th Governor-General of Australia. He was also the oldest Governor General of Australia, at 93 when he died....
  
  
• 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...
  
   – Ben Chifley
  Ben Chifley
  Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...
  
  

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – William McKell
  William McKell
  Sir William John McKell GCMG , Australian politician, was Premier of New South Wales from 1941 to 1947, and was the 12th Governor-General of Australia. He was also the oldest Governor General of Australia, at 93 when he died....
  
   (until 6 February), then James McGirr
  James McGirr
  James McGirr was the Labor Premier of New South Wales from 6 February 1947 to 3 April 1952.A Catholic, McGirr was the seventh son of John Patrick McGirr, farmer and Irish immigrant, and Mary McGirr, whose maiden name was O'Sullivan. Born in Parkes, New South Wales, he grew up on a dairy farm near...
  
  
• Premier of Queensland – Ned Hanlon
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford IV
  Thomas Playford IV
  Sir Thomas Playford, GCMG was a South Australian politician. He served continuously as Premier of South Australia from 5 November 1938 to 10 March 1965, the longest term of any elected government leader in the history of Australia. His tenure as premier was marked by a period of population and...
  
  
• Premier of Tasmania – Robert Cosgrove
  Robert Cosgrove
  Sir Robert Cosgrove KCMG was an Australian politician, trade unionist, and twice Premier of Tasmania from 18 December 1939 to 18 December 1947 and 25 February 1948 to 26 August 1958....
  
   (until 18 December), then Edward Brooker
• Premier of Victoria – John Cain
  John Cain (senior)
  John Cain was an Australian politician, who became the 34th premier of Victoria, and was the first Australian Labor Party leader to win a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. He was the only premier of Victoria whose son also served as premier.-Early life:Cain was born, one of 18...
  
   (until 20 November), then Thomas Hollway
  Thomas Hollway
  Thomas Tuke "Tom" Hollway was the 36th Premier of Victoria, holding office from 1947 to 1950, and again for a short period in 1952....
  
  
• 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...
  
   – Frank Wise
  Frank Wise
  Frank Joseph Scott Wise AO was an Australian Labor Party politician and the 16th Premier of Western Australia. He took office on 31 July 1945 in the closing stages of the Second World War, following the resignation of his predecessor due to ill health...
  
   (until 1 April), then Ross McLarty
  Ross McLarty
  Sir Duncan Ross McLarty KBE MM was the 17th Premier of Western Australia.-Early life:McLarty was born in Pinjarra, Western Australia, the youngest of seven children of Edward McLarty, a farmer and grazier and member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, and his wife Mary Jane, née Campbell...
  
  

State Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir John Northcott
  John Northcott
  Lieutenant General Sir John Northcott KCMG, KCVO, CB was an Australian Army general who served as Chief of the General Staff during World War II, and commanded the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in the Occupation of Japan...
  
  
• Governor of Queensland – Sir John Lavarack
  John Lavarack
  Lieutenant General Sir John Dudley Lavarack KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB, DSO was an Australian soldier who was Governor of Queensland from 1 October 1946 to 4 December 1957, the first Australian-born governor of that state....
  
  
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Charles Norrie
  Charles Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie
  Lieutenant-General Charles Willoughby Moke Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie GCMG, GCVO, CB, DSO, MC & Bar was a British Army general during World War II, following which he served terms as Governor of South Australia and the eighth Governor-General of New Zealand.-Army career:After education at Eton and...
  
  
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Hugh Binney
  Hugh Binney
  Admiral Sir Thomas Hugh Binney, KCB, KCMG, DSO was a British naval officer and administrator who was Governor of Tasmania from 1945 to 1953.-Early life:...
  
  
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Winston Dugan
• 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

• 1 April – The Woomera rocket range is established in South Australia
  South Australia
  South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
  
   as a testing site for British and Australian missiles.
• 5 May – A train derails
  Derailment
  A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
  
   in the Camp Mountain rail accident 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...
  
  , killing 16 people.
• 30 June – The Australian government
  Government of Australia
  The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
  
   assumes control of Qantas
  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...
  
  .
• 1 July – Real estate company L. J. Hooker is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange
  Australian Stock Exchange
  The Australian Securities Exchange was created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in July 2006. It is the primary stock exchange group in Australia....
  
  .
• 5 August – Australia becomes a member of the International Monetary Fund
  International Monetary Fund
  The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
  
  
• 30 August – The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
  Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
  The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration is a defunct Australian court, which had jurisdiction to arbitrate interstate industrial disputes....
  
   grants workers a 40-hour week
  Working time
  Working time is the period of time that an individual spends at paid occupational labor. Unpaid labors such as personal housework are not considered part of the working week...
  
  .
• 18 November – Australia reduces its trade tariff
  Tariff
  A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
  
  s after ratifying the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
  General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
  The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization . GATT was signed in 1947 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World...
  
   (GATT) in Geneva
  Geneva
  Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
  
  .
• 26 December – Heard Island and McDonald Islands
  Heard Island and McDonald Islands
  The Heard Island and McDonald Islands are an Australian external territory and volcanic group of barren Antarctic islands, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The group's overall size is in area and it has of coastline...
  
   in Antarctica are transferred from British control to Australian territories.

Arts and literature

• William Dargie
  William Dargie
  Sir William Alexander Dargie CBE was an Australian painter, known especially for his portrait paintings. He holds the record for the most Archibald Prize wins; eight. He was an official Australian War Artist during World War II.- Biography :William Dargie was born in Footscray, Victoria, the first...
  
   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 Marcus Clarke
  Marcus Clarke
  Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke was an Australian novelist and poet, best known for his novel For the Term of his Natural Life.- Biography :...
  
  

Sport

• Morna takes line honours and Westward wins on handicap in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
  Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
  The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, Australia on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart. The race distance is approximately...
  
  
• Hiraji 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...
  
  

Births

• 19 June – James Mason
  James Mason (field hockey)
  James Robert Mason is a retired field hockey player from Australia, who won the silver medal with the Men's National Team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.-References:*...
  
  , field hockey player
• 28 July – Peter Cosgrove
  Peter Cosgrove
  General Peter John Cosgrove AC, MC is a retired Australian Army officer. He was the Chief of the Defence Force from 3 July 2002 to 3 July 2005, when he retired from active service...
  
  , Chief of the Defence Force
  Chief of the Defence Force (Australia)
  Chief of the Defence Force is the most senior appointment in the Australian Defence Force . The CDF commands the ADF under the direction of the Minister of Defence, in a coequal arrangement with the Secretary of Defence, the most senior public servant in the Department of Defence.The position is a...
  
   (2002-2005)
• 28 August – Jennie George
  Jennie George
  Jennie George , Australian politician, is a former Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from November 2001 to July 2010, representing the Division of Throsby, New South Wales.-Early life:...
  
  , politician and trade unionist
• 28 September – Bob Carr
  Bob Carr
  Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...
  
  , premier of New South Wales (1995–2005)
• 2 November – David Ahern
  David Ahern
  David Anthony Ahern was an Australian composer and music critic, who became a prominent artist in the avant-garde genre after his best-known work, Ned Kelly Music was released and performed at the Sydney Proms music series.Born and raised in Sydney, Ahern decided to become a composer in his...
  
  , composer (d. 1988)

Deaths

• 25 April – Rupert Bunny
  Rupert Bunny
  Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny was an Australian painter, born in St Kilda, Victoria. He achieved success and critical acclaim as an expatriate in fin-de-siècle Paris....
  
   (b. 1864), artist
• 30 July – Joseph Cook
  Joseph Cook
  Sir Joseph Cook, GCMG was an Australian politician and the sixth Prime Minister of Australia. Born as Joseph Cooke and working in the coal mines of Silverdale, Staffordshire during his early life, he emigrated to Lithgow, New South Wales during the late 1880s, and became General-Secretary of the...
  
  (b. 1860), Prime Minister of Australia