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...
  
   – 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 – 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 – Edward Brooker (until 25 February), then 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....
  
  
• Premier of Victoria – 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...
  
   – 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
  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 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;...
  
   – Sir James Mitchell
  James Mitchell (Australian politician)
  Sir James Mitchell GCMG was the 13th Premier of Western Australia, serving on two occasions, the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia for 15 years and the 22nd Governor of Western Australia....
  
   (from 5 October)

Events

• 23 January – De Havilland Australia
  De Havilland
  The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...
  
   conducts the first flight of its 3 engined Drover transport aircraft at Bankstown Airport
  Bankstown Airport
  Bankstown Airport is a general aviation airport and business park located in the City of Bankstown, from the central business district of Sydney, Australia...
  
  .
• 19 February – An Avro Lincoln
  Avro Lincoln
  The Avro Type 694, better known as the Avro Lincoln, was a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were known initially as the Lancaster IV and V, but were renamed Lincoln I and II...
  
   bomber crashes at RAAF Base Amberley
  RAAF Base Amberley
  RAAF Base Amberley is a Royal Australian Air Force base located southwest of Ipswich, Queensland and southwest of Brisbane. It is currently home to No. 1 Squadron and No. 6 Squadron , No. 33 Squadron and No. 36 Squadron...
  
   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 Royal Australian Air Force
  Royal Australian Air Force
  The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
  
   personnel.
• 25 February – 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....
  
   is reinstated as Premier of Tasmania after being cleared of corruption charges on 22 February.
• 8 May – Margaret McIntyre
  Margaret McIntyre
  Margaret Edgeworth David McIntyre OBE was the first woman elected to the Parliament of Tasmania , representing the seat of Cornwall in the Legislative Council....
  
   becomes the first woman elected to the Parliament of Tasmania
  Parliament of Tasmania
  The Parliament of Tasmania consists of the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Tasmanian House of Assembly and the Monarch represented by the Governor of Tasmania....
  
  . She is killed in a plane crash later in the year.
• 29 May – A federal referendum
  Australian referendum, 1948
  The 1948 Australian Referendum was held on 29 May 1948. It contained one referendum question.* Rents and Prices -Proposed Amendment:...
  
   is held, asking one question on Rents and Prices. It is not carried.
• 1 July – The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
  Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
  The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or PBS is a program of the Australian Government that provides subsidised prescription drugs to residents of Australia. The PBS ensures that all Australians have affordable and reliable access to a wide range of necessary medicines.-History:The PBS was established...
  
   is introduced.
• 21 August – A state election
  Tasmanian state election, 1948
  A general election for the House of Assembly was held in the Australian state of Tasmania on 21 August 1948.-Background:In December 1947, Labor leader Robert Cosgrove had stood down as Premier while he faced charges of bribery, corruption and conspiracy...
  
   is held in Tasmania
  Tasmania
  Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
  
  . The result is a hung parliament
  Hung parliament
  In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...
  
  , but 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....
  
   and Labor
  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...
  
   retain power with the support of an independent, William Wedd.
• 2 September – Australian National Airways (ANA)
  Australian National Airways
  Australian National Airways was Australia's predominant carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.-The Holyman Airways Period:On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.II VH-UEE Miss Launceston between Launceston, Tasmania and Flinders...
  
   DC3
  Douglas DC-3
  The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
  
   VH-ANK Lutana crashes near Nundle, New South Wales
  Nundle, New South Wales
  Nundle is a village in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It was formerly the centre of Nundle Shire Local Government Area, but most of this area, including the village of Nundle, was absorbed into Tamworth Regional Council in 2004. The village is 400 km north of Sydney and...
  
  , killing 13.
• 21 September – H.V. Evatt becomes President of the United Nations General Assembly
  President of the United Nations General Assembly
  The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis.- Election :...
  
  .
• 29 November – The first Holden
  Holden
  GM Holden Ltd is an automaker that operates in Australia, based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was founded in 1856 as a saddlery manufacturer. In 1908 it moved into the automotive field, before becoming a subsidiary of the U.S.-based General Motors in 1931...
  
   car, the model 48-215, popularly known as the FX, rolls off the assembly line. The on-road cost was approximately £760.
• 1 December – The body of an unidentified man is found on a beach in Adelaide
  Adelaide
  Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
  
   in the Taman Shud Case
  Taman Shud Case
  The Taman Shud Case,While the words that end The Rubaiyat are "Tamam Shud", it has always been referred to as "Taman Shud" in the media, presumably due to a spelling error that persisted. In Persian "tamam" is a noun that means "the end". "shud" is an auxiliary verb indicating past tense, so "tamam...
  
  .
• 16 December – HMAS Sydney
  HMAS Sydney (1944)
  HMAS Sydney was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier operated by the Royal Australian Navy . She was built for the Royal Navy and launched as HMS Terrible in 1944, but was not completed before the end of World War II...
  
   is commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy
  Royal Australian Navy
  The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
  
   as its first aircraft carrier
  Aircraft carrier
  An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
  
  .

Arts and literature

• William Dobell
  William Dobell
  Sir William Dobell, OBE was an Australian artist .The electoral Division of Dobell is named after him.- Life :...
  
   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 Margaret Olley
  Margaret Olley
  Margaret Hannah Olley AC was an Australian painter. She was the subject of more than 90 solo exhibitions.Margaret Olley was born in Lismore, New South Wales. She attended Somerville House in Brisbane during her high school years...
  
  

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...
  
  
• Rimfire 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

• 5 January – Wally Foreman
  Wally Foreman
  Walter "Wally" John Foreman OAM was a sports administrator and commentator for ABC Radio program "Grandstand" based in Perth, Western Australia....
  
  , football commentator (d. 2006)
• 23 January – Glenn Wheatley
  Glenn Wheatley
  Glenn Dawson Wheatley is an Australian artist manager and entertainment industry executive.Wheatley began his career as a musician in Brisbane in the mid-1960s and in the late 1960s became nationally famous as a member of leading pop-rock band The Masters Apprentices...
  
  , musician and manager
• 25 January – Ros Kelly
  Ros Kelly
  Ros Kelly AO was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of Canberra from 18 October 1980 to 30 January 1995. She was a minister in the governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating....
  
  , politician
• 10 February – Mike Pratt
  Mike Pratt (Australian politician)
  Michael Philip "Mike" Pratt is a former Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives. He was born in Blyth, South Australia and was a farmer and grazier before entering Parliament...
  
  , politician
• 2 March – Jeff Kennett
  Jeff Kennett
  Jeffrey Gibb Kennett AC , a former Australian politician, was the Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999. He is currently the President of Hawthorn Football Club. He is the founding Chairman of beyondblue, a national depression initiative.- Early life :Kennett was born in Melbourne on 2 March...
  
  , Premier of Victoria (1992–1999)
• 13 March – Rick Amor
  Rick Amor
  Rick Amor is an Australian artist and figurative painter. He was an official war artist.-Life and work:Rick Amor was born in Frankston, Victoria, Australia. He has a certificate in art from the Caulfield Institute of Technology, and Associate Diploma in Painting from the National Gallery School,...
  
  , artist
• 27 March – Rosemary Follett
  Rosemary Follett
  Rosemary Follett AO , Australian politician, was the first Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory. She was the first woman to become head of government in an Australian state or territory....
  
  , Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory (1989, 1991–1995)
• 31 March – Graham Cornes
  Graham Cornes
  Graham Studley Cornes OAM is a former Australian rules football player and coach, as well as a media personality with a weekday drivetime sports program that he hosts on Adelaide 5AA with Stephen Rowe....
  
  , Australian rules footballer
• 2 April – Jennifer Rowe
  Jennifer Rowe
  Jennifer June Rowe is an Australian author. Her crime fiction for adults is published under her own name, while her children's fiction is published under the pseudonyms Emily Rodda and Mary-Anne Dickinson...
  
  , children's author
• 29 April – Leslie Howard
  Leslie Howard (musician)
  Leslie Howard AM is an Australian pianist and composer. He is best known for being the only pianist to have recorded the complete solo piano works of Franz Liszt, a project which included more than 300 premiere recordings...
  
  , musician
• 15 May – Muriel Porter
  Muriel Porter
  Muriel Lylie Porter OAM is an Australian journalist based in Melbourne, Victoria. She is a frequent contributor to The Age newspaper and mostly writes about issues concerning the Anglican Church of Australia in which she is a prominent layperson...
  
  , Anglican laywoman
• 28 May – Michael Field
  Michael Field (Australian politician)
  Michael Walter Field, AC was Tasmanian Labor leader from 1988 until his retirement in 1996, and was the Premier of Tasmania between 1989 and 1992...
  
  , Premier of Tasmania (1989–1992)
• 11 June – Pat Wilson
  Pat Wilson
  Pat Wilson is an Australian singer and journalist. Wilson wrote for Go-Set, a 1960s and 1970s pop music newspaper, under the pen-name "Mummy Cool" during 1971–1972. Wilson released several singles in the early 1980s including the hit single "Bop Girl"...
  
  , singer and journalist
• 21 June – Lionel Rose
  Lionel Rose
  Lionel Edmund Rose MBE was an Australian bantamweight boxer, the first Indigenous Australian to win a world title.-Early life:...
  
  , boxer
• 30 June – Galarrwuy Yunupingu
  Galarrwuy Yunupingu
  Galarrwuy YunupinguAM is a leader in the Australian Indigenous community, and has been involved in the fight for Land Rights throughout his career...
  
  , Aboriginal leader
• 15 July – Richard Franklin
  Richard Franklin (director)
  Richard Franklin was an Australian-born film director.-Early life and career:Franklin was born and grew up in Brighton, Melbourne and was educated at Haileybury College. In the 1960s, Franklin was the drummer in the Melbourne band The Pink Finks, which also featured Ross Wilson and Ross Hannaford,...
  
  , film director (d. 2007)
• 24 July – Joan London
  Joan London (Australian author)
  Joan Elizabeth London is an Australian author of short stories, screenplays and novels.She graduated from the University of Western Australia having studied English and French, has taught English as a second language and is a bookseller...
  
  , writer
• 7 August – Greg Chappell
  Greg Chappell
  Gregory Stephen Chappell MBE is a former cricketer who captained Australia between 1975 and 1977 and then joined the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation, before returning to the Australian captaincy in 1979, a position he held until his retirement 1983...
  
  , cricketer
• 19 August – Robert Hughes
  Robert Hughes (Australian actor)
  Robert Lindsay Hughes is an Australian actor whose most significant roles include ABBA: The Movie and the television sitcom Hey Dad..!-Early career:...
  
  , actor
• 20 August – John Noble
  John Noble
  John Noble is an Australian film and television actor, and theater director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia and is currently starring as scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe.He made occasional appearances on the...
  
  , actor
• 12 September – Max Walker
  Max Walker
  Maxwell Henry Norman Walker AM is a former Australian cricketer and VFL/AFL footballer. Formerly an architect, he currently works as a media commentator and motivational speaker and has diverse business interests.- Football career :...
  
  , cricketer and VFL footballer
• 18 September – Christopher Skase
  Christopher Skase
  Christopher Charles Skase was an Australian businessman who later became one of his country's most wanted fugitives, after his business empire crashed spectacularly and he fled to Majorca in Spain.-Early life:...
  
  , fugitive businessman (d. 2001)
• 22 September – Denis Burke, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (1999–2001)
• 25 September – Vicki Viidikas
  Vicki Viidikas
  Vicki Viidikas was a twentieth century Australian poet and prose writer.Vicki Viidikas was born and grew up in Sydney, Australia. Dropping out of school, she encountered the Balmain New South Wales poetry scene in the late 1960s. There she encountered, among others, Ken Bolton, John Forbes, Martin...
  
  , poet
• 3 October – Rob Langer
  Rob Langer
  Robert Samuel Langer is a former cricketer who played for Western Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a left-handed middle order batsman and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler. Langer's first-class career extended from 1973–1974 until 1981–1982...
  
  , cricketer
• 4 October – Bob Morris
  Bob Morris (motor racing)
  Robert Morris is an Australian former racing driver. Morris was one of the leading touring car drivers during the 1970s and continued racing until 1984. Morris won Australia's premier Touring car race, the Bathurst 1000 in 1976. He also won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1979...
  
  , racing driver
• 8 October – Warren Truss
  Warren Truss
  Warren Errol Truss , Australian politician, is the current leader of the National Party of Australia in the Parliament of Australia. He has held the House of Representatives seat of Wide Bay since the 1990 election...
  
  , leader of the National Party
• 19 October – Meg Lees
  Meg Lees
  Meg Heather Lees was a member of the Australian Senate from 1990 to 2005, representing the state of South Australia. She represented the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 2002, and was an independent senator between 2002 and 2005, adopting the party designation Australian Progressive Alliance from...
  
  , Democrat senator for South Australia
• 30 October – Garry McDonald
  Garry McDonald
  Garry George McDonald, AO is an Australian stage and screen actor.-Early life and career:McDonald was born in Sydney and was educated at Cranbrook School and National Institute of Dramatic Art....
  
  , actor
• 5 November – Malcolm Milne
  Malcolm Milne
  Malcolm Milne is a former Australian Olympic skier.In 1968, at the age of 19, Malcolm competed in his first Olympics at Grenoble, France. In an era dominated by Jean-Claude Killy, Malcolm finished twenty-fourth of eighty-six starters, with a time only 5.51 seconds behind Killy...
  
  , Olympic skier
• 6 November – Geoff Prosser
  Geoff Prosser
  Geoffrey Daniel Prosser , Australianpolitician, was a Liberal member of theAustralian House of Representatives from July 1987 until the 2007 election, representing the Division of Forrest, Western Australia....
  
  , politician
• 14 November – Ian Stanley
  Ian Stanley (golfer)
  Ian Stanley is an Australian professional golfer.Stanley was born in Melbourne. He turned professional in 1970 and was a prolific tournament winner in Australasia from the mid 1970s through to the early 1990s...
  
  , golfer
• 15 November – James Kemsley
  James Kemsley
  James Lawrence Kemsley OAM was an Australian cartoonist who drew Jimmy Bancks' original creation, Ginger Meggs.-Childhood:...
  
  , cartoonist (d. 2007)
• 22 November – Gary Dempsey
  Gary Dempsey
  Gary Dempsey is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Footscray and North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League....
  
  , Australian rules footballer
• 1 December – John Quigley
  John Quigley (politician)
  John Robert Quigley LL.B. is an Australian barrister, solicitor and politician in Western Australia. A member of the Australian Labor Party, he has served as a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from the 2001 election until the present, initially as the Member for Innaloo until...
  
  , WA politician
• 5 December – Cheryl Kernot
  Cheryl Kernot
  Cheryl Kernot is an Australian politician, academic, and political activist. She was a member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland for the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 1997, and the fifth leader of the Australian Democrats from 1993 to 1997...
  
  , politician
• 12 December – Kim Beazley
  Kim Beazley
  In the October 1998 election, Labor polled a majority of the two-party vote and received the largest swing to a first-term opposition since 1934. However, due to the uneven nature of the swing, Labor came up eight seats short of making Beazley Prime Minister....
  
  , politician
• 15 December – Cassandra Harris
  Cassandra Harris
  Cassandra Harris was an Australian actress.Born Sandra Colleen Waites in Sydney, Australia, Cassandra Harris was a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. She enrolled in 1961, aged 12, under the name Sandra Gleeson. She went on to perform in the successful Sydney stage production of...
  
  , actor (d. 1991)
• 29 December – Michael White
  Michael White (psychotherapist)
  Michael White was an Australian social worker and family therapist.He is known as the founder of narrative therapy, and for his significant contribution to psychotherapy and family therapy, which have been a source of techniques adopted by other approaches.-Biography:Michael Kingsley White was...
  
  , psychotherapist (d. 2008)

Deaths

• 12 February – 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...
  
   (b. 1855), Governor-General of Australia (1931–1936)
• 23 March – Lou Cunningham
  Lou Cunningham
  Lucien Lawrence "Lou" Cunningham was an Australian farmer and politician. He was born at Inverell, New South Wales, to a farmer, Eugene Cunningham, and his wife Mary, née Edgeworth, both born in Ireland...
  
   (b. 1889), politician
• 24 March – Sydney Sampson
  Sydney Sampson
  -Biography:Born in Creswick, Victoria, he was educated there and became a journalist with the country papers. Moving to Warracknabeal in 1883, he became a farmer and newspaper proprietor. Sampson's nephew was the future Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies...
  
   (b. 1863), politician
• 9 April – George Carpenter
  George Carpenter
  George Lyndon Carpenter was the 5th General of The Salvation Army .He trained in Raymond Terrace, Australia, and became an officer of the Army in 1892. For the first 18 years of his officership, he worked in property, training and literary work in Australia.He and Ensign Minnie Rowell were married...
  
   (b. 1872), General of the Salvation Army (1939–1946)
• 15 April – Eric Harrison
  Eric Harrison (Australian soldier)
  Eric Fairweather Harrison was an Australian soldier and politician.Harrison was born in the Sydney suburb of Stanmore, New South Wales and educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School and Bedford Grammar School in England. He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with a B.A. in 1901...
  
   (b. 1880), soldier and politician
• 20 May – Marie Pitt
  Marie Pitt
  Marie Elizabeth Josephine Pitt was an Australian poet and socialist activist, also journalist and Unitarian. Pitt wrote very highly coloured nature poetry, once much anthologised; and also wrote poetry in support of the socialist and labour movements...
  
   (b. 1869), poet
• 8 June – Thomas Crawford
  Thomas Crawford (Australian politician)
  Thomas William Crawford was a long-serving member of the Australian Senate and joint Father of the Senate.-Early life:...
  
   (b. 1865), politician
• 18 June – Edward Brooker (b. 1891), Premier of Tasmania (1947–1948)
• 18 July – May Moss
  May Moss
  Alice "May" Moss, CBE was an Australian welfare worker and women's rights activist.She was born as Alice Frances Mabel Wilson in Ballarat and was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College in East Melbourne...
  
   (b. 1869), women's rights activist
• 21 July – Francis Joseph Bayldon
  Francis Joseph Bayldon
  Francis Joseph Bayldon was an Australian master mariner and nautical instructor. Born in England, he was apprenticed to Devitt & Moore, and was an officer on their passenger ships, on a route that circled the globe, around the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. He was later with the...
  
   (b. 1872), master mariner
• 24 July – Stanley Goble
  Stanley Goble
  Air Vice Marshal Stanley James Goble CBE, DSO, DSC was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force . He served three terms as Chief of the Air Staff, alternating with Wing Commander Richard Williams...
  
   (b. 1891), Chief of the Air Staff
• 31 July – Nigel Barker
  Nigel Barker (athlete)
  Nigel Chase Barker was an Australian athlete, who is regarded as holder of Australia's first athletics world record, in the 400 yards, and is an Olympic Games bronze medalist....
  
   (b. 1883), track and field athlete
• 2 September – Margaret McIntyre
  Margaret McIntyre
  Margaret Edgeworth David McIntyre OBE was the first woman elected to the Parliament of Tasmania , representing the seat of Cornwall in the Legislative Council....
  
   (b. 1886), politician (first woman elected to the Parliament of Tasmania)
• 9 September – Francis Foster
  Francis Foster (Australian politician)
  Francis James Foster was an Australian politician. Born in Sofala, New South Wales, he received a primary education, and held various jobs including a miner, farmhand and teacher. He then became a shopkeeper and orchardist in Inverell...
  
   (b. 1872), politician
• 18 October – George Cann
  George Cann
  George Cann was an Australian miner and politician in the Parliaments of Australia and New South Wales.Cann was born at Shankhouse, Cramlington, Northumberland, England, educated at Cramlington National School and became a coalminer at eleven. He married Catherine Roberts in 1890 and they had one...
  
   (b. 1871), politician
• 18 October – Philip Collier
  Philip Collier
  Philip Collier was Premier of Western Australia for nine years, the longest ever term for an Australian Labor Party premier....
  
   (b. 1873), Premier of Western Australia (1924–1930)
• 8 December – Matthew Charlton
  Matthew Charlton
  Matthew Charlton was an Australian Labor Party politician.Charlton was born at Linton in rural Victoria but moved to Lambton, New South Wales at the age of five. He worked as a coal miner after only a primary education and then married Martha Rollings in 1889...
  
  (b. 1866), politician