1979 in Australia
Encyclopedia
Incumbents
- Queen of Australia – Elizabeth II
- Prime MinisterPrime Minister of AustraliaThe 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...
– Malcolm FraserMalcolm FraserJohn Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role... - Governor GeneralGovernor-General of AustraliaThe 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...
– Zelman CowenZelman CowenSir Zelman Cowen, was the 19th Governor-General of Australia. He is currently the oldest living former Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:... - Premier of New South WalesPremiers of New South WalesThe Premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature...
– Neville WranNeville WranNeville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986... - Premier of South AustraliaPremiers of South AustraliaBefore the 1890s when there was no formal party system in South Australia, MPs tended to have historical liberal or conservative beliefs. The liberals dominated government from 1893 to 1905 with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government with the support of...
– Don DunstanDon DunstanDonald Allan "Don" Dunstan, AC, QC was a South Australian politician. He entered politics as the Member for Norwood in 1953, became state Labor leader in 1967, and was Premier of South Australia between June 1967 and April 1968, and again between June 1970 and February 1979.The son of a business...
, Des Cocoran - Premier of QueenslandPremiers of QueenslandBefore the 1890s, there was no developed party system in Queensland. Political affiliation labels before that time indicate a general tendency only. Before the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, political parties were more akin to parliamentary factions, and were fluid, informal and...
– Sir Joh Bjelke-PetersenJoh Bjelke-PetersenSir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state... - Premier of TasmaniaPremiers of TasmaniaThe Premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly will nominate its leader to be Premier. The nominated politician is then invited by the Governor of...
– Harry HolgateHarry HolgateHarold Norman "Harry" Holgate AO was an Australian Labor Party politician and Premier of Tasmania from 11 November 1981 to 26 May 1982.... - Premier of Western AustraliaPremier of Western AustraliaThe 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...
– Charles CourtCharles CourtSir Charles Walter Michael Court, was a Western Australian politician, 21st Premier of Western Australia and member for the seat of Nedlands for the Liberal Party for nearly 30 years.-Early life:... - Premier of VictoriaPremiers of VictoriaThe Premier of Victoria is the leader of the government in the Australian state of Victoria. The Premier is appointed by the Governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Legislative Assembly....
– Rupert HamerRupert HamerSir Rupert James Hamer, AC, KCMG, ED , generally known until he was knighted in 1982 as Dick Hamer, Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 39th Premier of Victoria, serving from 1972 to 1981.-Early years:... - Chief Minister of the Northern TerritoryChief Minister of the Northern TerritoryThe Chief Minister of the Northern Territory is appointed by the Administrator, who in normal circumstances will appoint the head of whatever party holds the majority of seats in the legislature of the territory...
– Paul EveringhamPaul EveringhamPaul Anthony Edward Everingham AO was the first Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia when it was granted self-government in 1978....
Events
- Neville BonnerNeville BonnerNeville Thomas Bonner AO was an Australian politician, and the first indigenous Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia...
is announced as Australian of the YearAustralian of the YearSince 1960 the Australian of the Year Award has been part of the celebrations surrounding Australia Day , during which time the award has grown steadily in significance to become Australia’s pre-eminent award. The Australian of the Year announcement has become a very prominent part of the annual... - 9 June – A fire at Luna Park SydneyGhost Train (Luna Park Sydney)The Sydney Ghost Train fire was a fire that destroyed the ghost train amusement ride at Luna Park Sydney on the night of 9 June 1979. Inadequate fire-fighting measures and low staffing caused the fire to completely destroy the ride, which was first constructed in 1931, and had been transported from...
kills 7. The park is forced to close. - 1 July - Commonwealth Death Duties abolished
- 11 July – The American space station SkylabSkylabSkylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a mass of...
crashes in Western AustraliaWestern AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east... - 19 July – The Miss UniverseMiss Universe 1979Miss Universe 1979 was held at Perth Entertainment Centre, Perth, Australia on 20 July 1979. 18-year-old Maritza Sayalero earned Venezuela's first Miss Universe crown. First runner-up Gina Swainson would go on to win the rival Miss World 1979 later in the year...
final is celebrated in PerthPerth, Western AustraliaPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. - 20 July – inaugural meeting of the National Farmers' FederationNational Farmers' FederationThe National Farmers' Federation is an Australian industry association that represents Australian farmers at a national level, including through lobbying the Australian Government...
- 24 July - Fourteen Coalminers die in a lethal gas explosion at Appin NSW.
- 19 October – The Australian Federal PoliceAustralian Federal PoliceThe Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
is established
Arts and literature
- Wes WaltersWes WaltersWes Walters, Australian artist who won the Archibald Prize.Born Mildura, Victoria, 1928. He was a realist portrait painter and abstract artist. He painted nearly 200 portraits of leading Australians, especially academics, businessmen, artists, and musicians. Awarded Minnie Crouch Prize in 1953 and...
wins the Archibald PrizeArchibald PrizeThe 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...
for his portrait of Philip Adams - David IrelandDavid Ireland (author)David Neil Ireland AM is an Australian novelist.-Biography:David Ireland was born in Lakemba in New South Wales in 1927....
's novel A Woman of the FutureA Woman of the FutureA Woman of the Future is a Miles Franklin Award winning novel by Australian author David Ireland.-References:*...
wins the Miles Franklin AwardMiles Franklin AwardThe Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
Film
- My Brilliant CareerMy Brilliant Career (film)My Brilliant Career is a 1979 Australian drama film directed by Gillian Armstrong and based on the book of the same name by Miles Franklin....
, directed by Gillian ArmstrongGillian ArmstrongGillian May Armstrong is an award-winning Australian director of feature films and documentaries.- Career :Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Gillian Armstrong grew up in the eastern suburb of Mitcham. She graduated from Swinburne Technical College in 1968 where she studied theatrical costume design and...
, is released
Television
- 11 February – The Australian 60 Minutes begins on the Nine NetworkNine NetworkThe Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
- 27 February – PrisonerPrisoner (TV series)Prisoner is an Australian television soap opera which was set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women's prison. The series was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation and ran on Network Ten for 692 episodes from 27 February 1979 to 11 December 1986.The series was inspired by the 1970s...
makes its debut on the 0–10Network TenNetwork Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
Network.
Sport
- 14 January – TasmaniaTasmanian TigersThe Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket tournaments. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which currently consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and...
beats Western AustraliaWestern WarriorsThe Western Australia cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team representing the state of Western Australia...
by 47 runs to win their first Gillette Cup title. - 25 March – Australia is represented by nine long-distance runners (all men), including Robert de CastellaRobert de CastellaRobert Francois de Castella, MBE is an Australian former world champion marathon runner. He is widely known as "Deek" or "Deeks" to the Australian public, and "Tree" to his competitors due to his thick legs and inner calm...
, at the seventh IAAF World Cross Country Championships1979 IAAF World Cross Country ChampionshipsThe 7th IAAF World Cross Country Championships were held on March 25, 1979 in Limerick, Ireland.- Individual :- Team :- Individual :- Team :- Individual :- Team :- External links :**...
in Limerick, Ireland. Steve AustinSteve Austin (athlete)Stephen John "Steve" Austin is an Australian athlete. He competed in the 5000m and 10000m at the 1980 Summer Olympics.-References:...
is Australia's best finisher, claiming the 29th spot (38:36.0) in the race over 12 kilometres. - 28 April – CollingwoodCollingwood Football ClubThe Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
beat a sixty-year-old record for the greatest VFLAustralian Football LeagueThe Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
winning margin when they demoralise St. KildaSt. Kilda Football ClubThe St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed The Saints, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club plays in the Australian Football League, the sport's premier league....
by 178 points, beating South MelbourneSydney SwansThe 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...
’s 171-point margin also against St. Kilda, from 19191919 VFL seasonResults and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1919.-Premiership season:In 1919, the VFL competition consisted of nine teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their...
. - 28 July – FitzroyFitzroy Football ClubThe Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
set a still-standing record winning margin when they beat MelbourneMelbourne Football ClubThe Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
by 190 points at VFL Park. Their score of 36.22 (238) was a record until 19921992 AFL seasonResults and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1992. The AFL Grand Final this year was won by the West Coast Eagles, who became the first non-Victorian club to win a Premiership.-Ladder:...
. - 12 August – Robert de CastellaRobert de CastellaRobert Francois de Castella, MBE is an Australian former world champion marathon runner. He is widely known as "Deek" or "Deeks" to the Australian public, and "Tree" to his competitors due to his thick legs and inner calm...
wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:13:23 in PerthPerth, Western AustraliaPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. - 22 September: The 1979 NSWRFL season culminates in St. George's victory over Canterbury-Bankstown
- 29 September Carlton Football ClubCarlton Football ClubThe Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
wins the 1979 VFL Grand Final1979 VFL Grand FinalThe 1979 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 1979. It was the 83rd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to...
over Collingwood. - 6 November – HypernoHypernoHyperno was a Thoroughbred racehorse foaled in New Zealand. He was a wayward but brilliant galloper that won the Melbourne Cup and other group and listed races....
wins the Melbourne CupMelbourne CupThe 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 ShieldPura CupThe 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...
- Bumblebee IV takes line honours in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht RaceSydney to Hobart Yacht RaceThe 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...
. Screw Loose is the handicap winner - England defeats Australia 5-1 in The AshesThe AshesThe Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
- Australia wins the Admiral's CupAdmiral's CupThe Admiral's Cup is an international yachting regatta. For many years it was known as the unofficial world championship of offshore racing. The Admiral's Cup regatta was started in 1957 and was normally a biennial event which was competed for between national teams. However the event was not...
- Jack NewtonJack NewtonJack Newton OAM is a former Australian professional golfer.-Golf career:Newton was born in Cessnock, New South Wales. He was one of Australia's most successful golfers in the 1970s and early 1980s. He turned professional in 1971 and won his first professional tournament – the Dutch Open...
wins the Australian OpenAustralian Open (golf)The Australian Open is one of the principal annual golf tournaments on the PGA Tour of Australasia, and also the OneAsia Tour since its formation in 2009. The event was first played in 1904 and takes place toward the end of each year...
golf championship - The National Basketball LeagueNational Basketball League (Australia)The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....
is founded
Births
- 2 January – Robert NewberyRobert NewberyRobert Frederick Newbery is an Australian diver, who won a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics and two bronze medals in the 2004 Summer Olympics, one with synchronised springboard diving partner Steven Barnett.His wife, Chantelle Newbery, has also won an Olympic medal in diving...
, diver - 3 January – Brooke MorrisonBrooke MorrisonBrooke Morrison is a retired female field hockey striker from Australia. She made her debut for the Australian women's national team during the 1998 season following an impressive season with the Australian U21 team at the 1997 Junior World Cup...
, field hockey striker - 4 March – Geoff HuegillGeoff HuegillGeoffrey Andrew Huegill , nicknamed Skippy and Skip, is an Australian butterfly swimmer...
, swimmer - 12 March – Jamie DwyerJamie DwyerJamie Dwyer OAM is a field hockey striker from Australia. He wears the number 1 jersey for his country....
, field hockey forward - 16 March — Suzie FaulknerSuzie FaulknerSuzanne Margaret Faulkner is a field hockey striker from Australia, who made her debut for the Australian women's national team in 2002 during a Six Nations International Tournament...
, field hockey striker - 4 April – Heath LedgerHeath LedgerHeath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
, actor (d. 2008) - 9 April – Graeme BrownGraeme BrownGraeme Allen Brown OAM is a professional cyclist and dual Olympic gold medallist from Australia.-Cycling career - road and track:...
, cyclist - 18 April – Zain WrightZain WrightZain Wright is a former field hockey midfielder from Australia, who was a member of the Men's National Team just after the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.-References:...
, field hockey midfielder - 7 July – Loudy TourkyLoudy TourkyLoudy Wiggins is an Australian diver.She was born in Haifa, Israel and is of a Palestinian background. She was born to Butros and Afaf Tourky. They came to Australia when Loudy was three. Loudy has commented, "I will always have a bond with Palestine...
, diver - 14 August – Paul BurgessPaul Burgess (athlete)Paul Burgess is an Australian pole vaulter who become only the thirteenth pole vaulter in the world to reach 6 metres.-Biography:...
, pole vaulter - 23 August – Lance WhitnallLance WhitnallLance Whitnall is a former Australian rules footballer, and the ex-captain of the Carlton Football Club.-Early career :...
, Australian Rules footballer - 12 September – Aaron HopkinsAaron HopkinsAaron Hopkins is a field hockey defender from Australia. He narrowly missed selection in Australia's Olympic Games squads in both 2004 and 2008...
, field hockey defender - 20 October – Tim NeeshamTim NeeshamTimothy Paul Neesham is an Australian water polo player. Neesham was part of Australia's Olympic squad for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens...
, water polo player - 21 December – Stephen Lambert, field hockey goalkeeper
Deaths
- 7 January – Ivan StedmanIvan StedmanIvan Cuthbert Stedman was an Australian freestyle and breaststroke swimmer of the 1920s, who won a silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp...
(83), swimmer (b. 1895) - 15 April – David BrandDavid BrandSir David Brand KCMG was the 19th and longest serving Premier of Western Australia and a Member of the Legislative Assembly from 1945 to 1975.-Early life:...
, Premier of Western Australia (b. 1912) - 6 June – Ion IdriessIon IdriessIon Llewellyn Idriess, OBE was a prolific and influential Australian author. He wrote more than 50 books over 43 years between 1927 to 1969 - an average of one book every 10 months, and twice published three books in one year...
, author (b. 1889)