Incumbents

• Queen of Australia – Elizabeth II
• Governor General – Bill Hayden
  Bill Hayden
  William George "Bill" Hayden AC was the 21st Governor-General of Australia. Prior to this, he represented the Australian Labor Party in parliament; he was a minister in the government of Gough Whitlam, and later became Leader of the Opposition, narrowly losing the 1980 federal election to the...
  
  
• 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...
  
   – Paul Keating
  Paul Keating
  Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
  
  
• Premier of New South Wales – John Fahey
  John Fahey (politician)
  John Joseph Fahey, AC is a former Premier of New South Wales and Federal Minister for Finance in Australia. John Fahey is currently the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1984 to 1996 and the federal House of Representatives...
  
  , then 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 South Australia – Dean Brown
  Dean Brown
  Dean Craig Brown, AO was the Liberal Premier of South Australia between 14 December 1993 and 28 November 1996, and Deputy Premier of South Australia between 22 October 2001 and 5 March 2002 to Rob Kerin.-Political career:...
  
  
• Premier of Queensland – Wayne Goss
  Wayne Goss
  Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996.-Early life:He was born at Mundubbera, Queensland and educated at Inala High School and the University of Queensland...
  
  
• Premier of Tasmania – Ray Groom
  Ray Groom
  Raymond John "Ray" Groom, AO is a lawyer and former Australian sportsman and politician, representing the Liberal Party in the Federal Parliament 1975–84 and the Tasmanian Parliament 1986–2001. He was a Federal and state minister for a total of 13 years...
  
  
• 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...
  
   – Richard Court
  Richard Court
  Richard Fairfax Court AC , was a Western Australian politician, representing the seat of Nedlands in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the Liberal Party of Australia from 1982 to 2001. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001.Court was born into an old political...
  
  
• Premier of Victoria – 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...
  
  
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
  Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
  The Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory is the head of government of the Australian Capital Territory. The leader of party with the largest representation of seats in the unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly usually takes on the role...
  
   – 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....
  
  , then Kate Carnell
  Kate Carnell
  Anne Katherine Carnell AO was the third Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory, serving from 1995 to 2000. She is currently Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Food and Grocery Council.-Pharmacy career:...
  
  .
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
  Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
  The 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...
  
   – Marshall Perron
  Marshall Perron
  Marshall Bruce Perron is a former Australian politician, who was a Country Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Territory from the formation of the Assembly in 1974 until his resignation in 1995. From 1988 to 1995, Perron was the Chief Minister of the Northern...
  
  , then Shane Stone
  Shane Stone
  Shane Leslie Stone AC, QC is an Australian political figure. From 26 May 1995 to 8 February 1999 he was Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, representing the Country Liberal Party.-Biography:Stone was born in Bendigo, Victoria...
  
  

Events

• 30 January – John Howard
  John Howard
  John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
  
   becomes federal Liberal Party
  Liberal Party of Australia
  The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
  
   leader and thus federal leader of the opposition after the resignation of Alexander Downer
  Alexander Downer
  Alexander John Gosse Downer is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was Foreign Minister of Australia from March 1996 to December 2007, the longest-serving in Australian history...
  
  .
• 18 February – Elections in the Australian Capital Territory
  Australian Capital Territory
  The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
  
   replace the minority
  Minority government
  A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
  
   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...
  
   government of Rosemary Follett and elect a minority Liberal Party
  Liberal Party of Australia
  The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
  
   government of Kate Carnell.
• 25 March – Bob Carr leads the 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...
  
   to victory in the New South Wales
  New South Wales
  New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
  
   state election, deposing the Liberal
  Liberal Party of Australia
  The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
  
  /National
  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
  Coalition
  A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
  
   government of John Fahey that had been in power since 1988.
• May – The Australian Grand Prix
  Australian Grand Prix
  The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually and is held to be the pinnacle of motor racing in Australia. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia having been held 76 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985 the race has...
  
   is moved from 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...
  
   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...
  
   after the Premier of Victoria spends what is reported to be quite a large amount on securing the rights to the race from 1996 onwards. Protests ensue about what many saw as the turning of public parkland into a private racetrack.
• June–July – 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...
  
   is privatised.
• 1 July – Telecom Australia changes its domestic trading name to Telstra
  Telstra
  Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
  
  .
• 15 July – The 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...
  
   state election produces 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...
  
  , with Labor holding a one seat majority over the Liberal/National coalition. However, irregularities are reported in the seat of Mundingburra, which was won by the Labor Party. After a recount, the seat goes to the coalition. This, combined with the decision of Gladstone
  Gladstone, Queensland
  - Education :Gladstone has several primary schools, three high schools, and one university campus, Central Queensland University. It is also home to CQIT Gladstone Campus.- Recreation :...
  
  -based independent Liz Cunningham
  Liz Cunningham
  Elizabeth Anne "Liz" Cunningham is an Australian politician. She has been an independent member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 1995, representing the electorate of Gladstone...
  
   to support the coalition, ensures that the coalition form the government in Queensland.
• 31 August – The cast bronze statue of the dog Larry La Trobe
  Larry La Trobe
  Larry La Trobe is the name given to a popular, cast bronze statue of a dog situated on the northern end of Melbourne’s City Square...
  
   situated on the northern end of Melbourne’s City Square
  City Square, Melbourne
  The City Square is a pedestrian plaza and former civic centre located in the Central Business District of Melbourne, Australia. The square is currently bounded by Swanston Street, Collins Street, Flinders Lane and the Westin Hotel. Melbourne Town Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral are prominent...
  
    is stolen.
• November – The rabbit calicivirus disease
  Disease
  A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
  
   (RCD) escapes from an island testing station 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...
  
   & quickly spreads into Victoria. It is estimated that the feral rabbit population would be permanently reduced by 60%.
• 3 November- After a six month trial, David Harold Eastman
  David Eastman
  David Harold Eastman is a former public servant from Canberra, Australia. In 1995 he was convicted of the murder of Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester. On 10 January 1989, Eastman shot Winchester twice in the head at point blank range in the driveway of Winchester's...
  
   is convicted by a jury of the assassination of AFP Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester. He is sentenced to life imprisonment
  Life imprisonment
  Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
  
   and can only be released by approval of the ACT parliament, Federal Parliament and the Governor-General.
• 4 December – A gas explosion at Kogarah railway station, Sydney kills two people.

Arts and literature

• William Robinson
  William Robinson (artist)
  William Robinson AO is an award-winning Australian painter and lithographer.Robinson studied art at the Central Technical College from 1955 to 1956. After graduating, he began working as an art instructor, eventually becoming head of the Painting Department at the Brisbane College of Advanced...
  
   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 Self Portrait with Stunned Mullet
• David Aspden wins the Wynne Prize
  Wynne Prize
  The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. One of Australia's longest running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne...
  
   with Seasons of Drought
• Helen Demidenko's novel The Hand That Signed the Paper wins the Miles Franklin Award
  Miles Franklin Award
  The 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 ...
  
  

Television

• January – Today Tonight
  Today Tonight
  Today Tonight is a controversial Australian News and Current Affairs program, produced by the Seven Network and shown weeknightly at in direct competition with rival Nine Network program A Current Affair....
  
   debuts on the Seven Network
  Seven Network
  The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
  
  , Hey Hey It's Saturday
  Hey Hey It's Saturday
  Hey Hey It's Saturday was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 27 years , debuting on the Nine Network on 9 October 1971 and broadcasting its last episode on 20 November 1999. Its host throughout its entire run was Daryl Somers, who would later...
  
   returns, debuts and starts in 1995 without Ossie Ostrich
  Ossie Ostrich
  Ossie Ostrich is an Australian television character, firstly on the Tarax Show, and then on the long-running program Hey Hey It's Saturday which started as a Saturday morning cartoon show for children in 1971. In 1984, he also hosted an after-school children's show called The Ossie Ostrich Video...
  
   as Ernie Carroll
  Ernie Carroll
  Ernie Carroll is an Australian entertainer and television personality most recognised for his role as the man behind Ossie Ostrich on Hey Hey It's Saturday....
  
  , who was Graham Kennedy
  Graham Kennedy
  Graham Cyril Kennedy, AO was an Australian radio, television and film performer, often called Gra Gra and The King of Australian television.-Childhood:...
  
  's on-screen writer from the early IMT
  In Melbourne Tonight
  In Melbourne Tonight, also known as "IMT", was a highly popular nightly variety television show produced at GTV-9 Melbourne from 6 May 1957 to 1970....
  
   days, retired at the end of 1994.
• Pay television arrives in Australia
  Australia
  Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
  
   with Foxtel
  Foxtel
  Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....
  
   & Optus Vision
  Optus Television
  Optus Television is the cable television division of Australian telecommunications company Optus.-History:Its immediate predecessor was Optus Vision, a joint venture between, Optus and Continental Cablevision with small shareholdings by media companies Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and Seven...
  
   launching in the metropolitan areas & Galaxy
  Galaxy (Australian TV)
  Galaxy is a former provider of pay television programming in Australia via satellite and wireless cable delivery methods.Galaxy was founded in 1993, and begin test broadcasting on 1 January 1995 via microwave, making it the first provider of pay-TV services in the country...
  
   & Austar
  Austar
  Austar is an Australian telecommunications company. Its main business activity is Subscription Television but it is also involved with internet access and mobile phones...
  
   launching in regional areas that year.
• May – Kerry Stokes
  Kerry Stokes
  Kerry Matthew Stokes AC is an Australian businessman. He holds business interests in a diverse range of industries including electronic and print media, property, mining, and construction equipment. He is most widely known as the chairman of the Seven Network, one of the largest broadcasting...
  
   becomes chairman of the Seven Network
  Seven Network
  The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
  
   after reaching 20% ownership of the company.
• STW-9
  STW-9
  STW is an Australian television station owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Perth, Australia.Based in Dianella, Western Australia, STW broadcasts with a transmitter mast located in Walliston...
  
   is purchased by Sunraysia Television
  Sunraysia Television
  Sunraysia Television is the publicly-listed parent company of Swan Television and Radio Broadcasters, former owners of STW-9 . Sunraysia TV is majority owned by Eva Presser, who owns around 55% of the company. WIN Television owns 40% of the company...
  
   after a fierce bidding war with WIN Television
  WIN Television
  WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single Wollongong-only station, and has since expanded to 24 owned-and-operated stations with transmissions covering a...
  
  .

Sport

• 2 March – First day of the Australian Track & Field Championships for the 1994–1995 season, which are held at the Sydney Athletic Field 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...
  
  . The men's 10,000 metres events were conducted in conjunction with the Zatopek Meet at Melbourne, Victoria on 15 December 1994.
• 31 March – The Super League war
  Super League war
  The Super League war is the common name given to the corporate dispute that was fought in and out of court during the mid-1990s between the Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation-backed Super League and the Kerry Packer and Optus Vision-backed Australian Rugby League organisations over broadcasting...
  
   begins. Lightning raids begin across the country to sign players on vastly inflated contracts. The Kerry Packer
  Kerry Packer
  Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
  
   backed ARL
  Australian Rugby League
  The Australian Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in Australia. It is made up of state bodies, including the New South Wales Rugby League and the Queensland Rugby League...
  
   responds by signing 50 players an equally inflated contracts on 2 April.
• 7 May – Melbourne Knights
  Melbourne Knights
  Melbourne Knights Football Club is a football club representing Melbourne, Australia in the Victorian Premier League . The club is one of the most successful football clubs in Australia, being a two-time championship and four-time premiership winner in the now defunct National Soccer League...
  
   dispel their tag of chokers by upsetting defending champions Adelaide City
  Adelaide City
  Adelaide City is a football club in Adelaide, South Australia. They are also known as The Zebras. They played in the National Soccer League for 27 Seasons but withdrew just prior to the 2003/2004 season. They now play in the South Australian Super League. City won the inaugural Super League...
  
   2-0 in the NSL
  National Soccer League
  The National Soccer League is the former national association football competition in Australasia, overseen by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977, until its demise in 2004...
  
   Grand Final at Hindmarsh Stadium
  Hindmarsh Stadium
  Hindmarsh Stadium is a rectangular stadium located in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Australian A-League team, Adelaide United....
  
  .
• 15 May – The Paul Vautin
  Paul Vautin
  Paul Vautin , is an Australian sports television personality and former rugby league footballer and coach. He currently hosts the NRL Footy Show and provides commentary for the Nine Network's coverage of rugby league matches...
  
  -coached Maroons
  Queensland Rugby League
  The Queensland Rugby Football League is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League and selects the members of Queensland State of Origin teams....
  
   win the opening Rugby League State of Origin
  Rugby League State of Origin
  State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
  
   match 2–0 at the Sydney Football Stadium. The win is all the more amazing as the team is made up largely of relatively unknown players, thanks to most star players having signed with Super League
  Super League (Australia)
  Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australasia for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during the Super League war which arose following an unsuccessful attempt to...
  
  .
• 16 July – Roderic deHighden wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:13:58 in Brisbane
  Brisbane
  Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
  
  , while Julie Rose claims the women's title in 2:38:44.
• 24 September – The Canterbury Bulldogs
  Canterbury Bulldogs
  The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, as well as New South Wales Rugby League junior competitions...
  
   (playing as the Sydney Bulldogs) defeat the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
  Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
  The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
  
   17-4 to win the 88th NSWRL/ARL premiership.
• 25 September – Opening arguments are heard in the ARL/SL case in the Federal Court, which will decide the future of rugby league
  Rugby league
  Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
  
   in Australia
  Australia
  Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
  
  .
• 30 September – The Carlton Blues (21.15.141) defeat the Geelong Football Club
  Geelong Football Club
  The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
  
   (11.14.80) to win the 99th VFL/AFL
  Australian Football League
  The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
  
   premiership. It is a record 16th premiership for Carlton
  Carlton, Victoria
  Carlton is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
  
  .
• 12 November – After 10 years, the last
  1995 Australian Grand Prix
  The 1995 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on November 12, 1995 at the Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide. It was the seventeenth and final race of the 1995 Formula One season...
  
   Australian Grand Prix
  Australian Grand Prix
  The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually and is held to be the pinnacle of motor racing in Australia. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia having been held 76 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985 the race has...
  
   to take place on the streets
  Adelaide Street Circuit
  The Adelaide Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit in the East Parklands adjacent to the central business district of the city of Adelaide in South Australia....
  
   of 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...
  
  .

Deaths

• 13 January – Max Harris, 74, poet and author
• 26 January – Ian Tomlinson, 58, triple and long jumper
• 5 March – Gregg Hansford
  Gregg Hansford
  Gregg Hansford was an Australian motorcycle and touring car racer.-Racing career:Hansford began racing motorcycles in Australia, winning the 1973 500cc Unlimited title, as well as competing in the New Zealand Marlboro Series in 1975/76 and 1977/78 on Team Kawasaki 750s. He also won one leg of the...
  
  , 42, motorcycle and touring car racer
• 6 March – Olive Zakharov
  Olive Zakharov
  Alice Olive Zakharov was an Australian politician. Zakharov was elected as an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian Senate relatively late in life, in 1983....
  
  , 75, ALP senator
• 11 March – Isabel Letham
  Isabel Letham
  Isabel Letham was an Australian pioneer surfboard rider and swimming instructor, renowned as 'the first Australian to ride a surfboard'...
  
  , 95, Australia's first surfer
• 29 March – Antony Hamilton
  Antony Hamilton
  Antony Hamilton was an Australian actor, model, and dancer.-Early life:Hamilton was born in Liverpool, England, was adopted by an Australian RAF-hero and his wife soon after birth, and grew up on a sheep farm in Australia. He attended the Scotch College in Adelaide, where dance and ballet was a...
  
  , 42, actor, model and dancer
• 2 April – Trevor Ashmore Pyman
  Trevor Ashmore Pyman
  Trevor Ashmore Pyman was an Australian diplomat.He was educated at Caulfield Grammar School and the University of Melbourne. He joined the Australian Diplomatic Service...
  
  , diplomat
• 24 April – Stanley Burbury
  Stanley Burbury
  Sir Stanley Charles Burbury, KCMG, KCVO, KBE was an Australian jurist. He was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania, and the first Australian-born person appointed as Governor of Tasmania 1973-1982.-Biography:...
  
  , 85, 21st Governor of Tasmania
• 27 April – Peter Wright
  Peter Wright
  Peter Maurice Wright was an English scientist and former MI5 counterintelligence officer, noted for writing the controversial book Spycatcher, which became an international bestseller with sales of over two million copies...
  
  , 78, British MI5
  MI5
  The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
  
   officer and author of Spycatcher
  Spycatcher
  Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer , is a book written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. It was published first in Australia...
  
  
• 12 May – Len Beadell
  Len Beadell
  Leonard Beadell OAM BEM FIEMS was a surveyor, roadbuilder , bushman, artist and author, responsible for opening up the last remaining isolated desert areas of central Australia from 1947 to 1963. Len is sometimes called "the last true Australian explorer"...
  
  , 72, explorer and roadbuilder
• 17 May – Frank Knopfelmacher
  Frank Knopfelmacher
  Frank Knopfelmacher , Australian-domiciled political philosopher and psychologist, the subject of nationally famous controversies during the 1960s and 1970s....
  
  , 72, philosopher
• 26 June – John Jefferson Bray
  John Jefferson Bray
  The Honourable Dr John Jefferson Bray, AC was an Australian lawyer, academic and published poet, and from 1967-1978 served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia.-Family:...
  
  , 82, SA Supreme Court judge
• 22 July – Harold Larwood
  Harold Larwood
  Harold Larwood was an English cricket player, an extremely accurate fast bowler best known for his key role as the implementer of fast leg theory in the infamous "bodyline" Ashes Test series of 1932–33....
  
  , 90, English cricketer
• 2 August – Fred Daly, 82, ALP politician
• 8 August – Harold Stewart
  Harold Stewart
  Harold Frederick Stewart was an Australian poet and oriental scholar. He is chiefly remembered as the enigmatic other half of Ern Malley.Stewart's work has been associated with James McAuley and A. D...
  
  , 78, poet and author
• 17 August – Ted Whitten
  Ted Whitten
  Edward James "EJ" Whitten was an Australian rules football player and media personality. He played a then-record 321 Victorian Football League games for the Footscray Football Club between 1951 and 1970...
  
  , 62, AFL player
• 18 August – Philip Hodgins
  Philip Hodgins
  Philip Ian Hodgins was a prize-winning Australian poet whose work appeared in such major publications as The New Yorker. Peter Rose called him 'probably the most loved [Australian] poet of his generation', noting that 'his admirers ranged from... Alan Hollinghurst to Ron Barassi and Peter Porter...
  
  , 36, poet
• 27 August – Dick Bentley
  Dick Bentley
  Charles Walter "Dick" Bentley , born in Melbourne, Australia, was a comedian and actor. He starred with Jimmy Edwards in Take It From Here for BBC Radio....
  
  , 88, comedian and actor
• 30 August – Dame Pattie Menzies
  Pattie Menzies
  Dame Pattie Maie Menzies GBE was the wife of Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies.-Biography:...
  
  , 94, wife of Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies
• 24 October – Anna Wood, 15, victim of water intoxication
  Water intoxication
  Water intoxication, also known as water poisoning, is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by over-consumption of water....
  
   after taking ecstasy
  Methylenedioxymethamphetamine
  MDMA is an entactogenic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of drugs. In popular culture, MDMA has become widely known as "ecstasy" , usually referring to its street pill form, although this term may also include the presence of possible adulterants...
  
  
• 26 October – John Sangster
  John Sangster
  John Sangster was an Australian jazz composer, arranger, drummer, cornettist and Vibraphonist born in Melbourne, most well known as a composer though also a gifted multi-instrumentalist...
  
  , 66, jazz musician
• 1 November – Sir James Ralph Darling
  James Ralph Darling
  Sir James Ralph Darling OBE was the Headmaster of Geelong Grammar School , and Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission .-Early life:...
  
  , 96, headmaster of Geelong Grammar School and chairman of the ABC
• 10 November – Jim Willis, 85, botanist
• 5 December – Gwen Harwood
  Gwen Harwood
  Gwen Harwood AO , née Gwendoline Nessie Foster, was an Australian poet and librettist. Gwen Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won numerous poetry awards and prizes...
  
  , 75, poet
• 8 December – Arthur John Birch, 80, organic chemist
• 12 December – Andrew Olle
  Andrew Olle
  John Andrew Durrant Olle , always known as Andrew Olle, was a radio and television presenter on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, beginning his career in 1967 as a news cadet and, until his death, working in a wide variety of programs, including The 7.30 Report, ABC Radio 2BL, Sydney,...
  
  , 48, ABC TV journalist

Unknown

• Warringah Council becomes the first council in Australia to use dung beetles to pick up dog droppings.