1961

January 1

Legislation directs that all future television commercials are to be Australian made.

January 2

Oral contraceptives for women go on sale.

January 9

Myers Emporium takes over Farmers department stores.

February 10

The 1960 credit squeeze causes General Motors Holden to lay off 2,600 employees in response to a downturn in sales.

February 20

Composer and pianist Percy Grainger dies, age 78.

February 25

Sydney’s tram era comes to an end as the last tram, to La Perouse, makes its last run.

February

A world record crowd to witness a cricket match is recorded at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the Second Test between Australia and the West Indies.

March 2

Fire destroys the Western Australian South-West towns of Karridale, Pemberton and Augusta.

March 16

Monash University, Melbourne, opens.

March 26

The Morris Mini is launched in Australia as the Morris 850 at an RRP of £498 ($996). Production of the car commenced at British Motor Corporation’s assembly plant at Zetland, Sydney.

March 29

Stephen Bradley is found guilty of the murder of Bondi schoolboy Graeme Thorne and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

April 30

A referendum on the abolition of the New South Wales upper house (Legislative Council) rejects the proposal.

May 13

Australia sells its first consignment of wheat to China.

May 22

Artist Lionel Lindsay dies, age 86.

June 9

Australia’s first moving footway opens in Sydney. It is an underground footway linking the Domain Car Park with College Street and Hyde Park.

June 20

The book, The Trial of Lady Chatterley, is banned.

June 21

P&O ocean liner SS Canberra arrives at Station Pier, Melbourne, on her maiden voyage carrying 2,238 passengers. SS Canberra was built to service P&O’s Britain-Australia run. It was built by Harland & Wolff, the Belfast-based firm who had built the Titanic, Britannic and Olympic for the White Star Line.

June 21

An RAF Avro Vulcan jet fighter becomes the first plane to fly non-stop from Britain to Australia with three aerial fuellings.

June 29

Joint guided missile tests at Woomera, SA, announced by the Australian and US Governments.

June

The level of unemployment reaches 110,401, or 2.6 percent of the workforce, its highest level since World War II.

July 17

Migrants at the Bonegilla Hostel at Wodonga, Vic, stage a violent demonstration over conditions at the camp, and attempt to burn it down.

July 26

Australia sells its share in Tasman Empire Airways to New Zealand. It eventually becomes part of Air New Zealand.

August 3

William Phillip Sydney, 1st Viscount De L’Isle becomes Governor-General on the death of William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil.

August 9

The last passenger liner to service the ports on the Australian coastline, SS Manoora, is withdrawn from service.

August 19

The ABC current affairs programme, Four Corners, is first aired.

October 3

Essington Lewis, the Managing Director of BHP, dies age 80.

October 10

Poker machine mechanic Stephen Bradley is arrested in Colombo, Ceylon, for the murder of Graeme Thorne. Bradley and his wife and children had sold up and were travelling aboard SS Himalaya to Britain.

October 14

14 years after construction commenced, Sydney’s Warragamba Dam opens.

November 1

The Parkes Radio Telescope becomes operational.

November 2

Alcohol breath tests become permissible as evidence in a court of law in Victoria.

November 13

The finding of the largest iron ore deposits in the country in the Pilbara region of Western Australia is made public.

November 23

Cricketer Merv Hughes born.

November 30

A Vickers Viscount aircraft crashes into Botany Bay, Sydney, on takeoff, killing 15 people.

November 30

Entertainer Frank Sinatra performs to a sell-out crowd at Sydney Stadium.

December

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies formed in Canberra.

December 4

Oil discovered at Moonie, Qld, in what would become Australia’s first commercially viable oilfield.

December 15

Robert Gordon Menzies‘ Liberal Government is returned to power with a majority of just one seat after a General Election. Before the poll it had a majority of 32 seats.

December 20

Australia’s 15th Prime Minister (for a period of 20 days), Earl Christmas Grafton Page dies, Grafton, NSW.

1962

January 16

Film maker and photographer Frank Hurley dies in Sydney, age 76

January 17

Bushfires surrounding Melbourne cause the loss of 8 lives and extensive property damage.

January 20

Banks in all states except Victoria decide to close on Saturday mornings.

February 1

Qantas introduces Boeing 707 V-jets to its Sydney – London via Perth Kangaroo service (photo).

March 1

Sydney’s first freeway, the Cahill Expressway, including the tunnel under the Botanic Gardens, opens to traffic.

March 3

Labor wins its seventh successive state election in NSW.

March 30

All Australian Aborigines given the right to vote.

April 13

The standard gauge rail link between Melbourne and Sydney is completed, allowing the Southern Aurora to travel the full journey without passengers having to change trains at Albury.

April 18

Rugby Union player Nicholas Campbell (Nick) Farr-Jones born in Caringbah, Sydney.

May 3

Australian physics scientist Sir Mark Oliphant criticises the United States over its current testing of atomic bombs near Christmas Island in the Central Pacific.

May 9

As Vietnam becomes embroiled in civil war, Australia’s Minister for External affairs, Garfield Barwick, announces Australia’s willingness to be involved in the conflict if invited.

May 10

Plans to build the North West Cape Communications Base, Exmouth Gulf, WA, by the United States is announced.

June 30

The remaining open section of the Gembrook Railway, Victoria, closes due to a decline in business. It is eventually taken over by the Puffing Billy Preservation Society.

July 6

Heather Blundell (Heather Pamela McKay) wins the British Squash Championship. The championship is the unofficial world title.

July 10

Melbourne’s new King Street Bridge is closed when cracks and slumping of sections of it are found.

July 18

Champion walker Kerry Saxby-Junna born Kerry Saxby.

July 29

Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War escalates with the departure from Australia of a team of 30 advisers sent to Saigon to train South Vietnamese troops. An Air Force squadron is also sent to Thailand at the request of that country to assist it in maintaining its ‘territorial integrity’.

August 15

A territorial dispute between Indonesia and Australia over West New Guinea (Irian Jaya) is defused when the United Nations determines that the former Dutch colony will become Indonesian territory in May 1963.

August 15

Six RAAF pilots die in a crash during an air show practice flight at the RAAF base at East Sale, Vic. Also lost were the four Vampire jets the pilots were flying.

September 10

A ban on Aborigines consuming alcohol in New South Wales is lifted.

September 26

The yacht Gretel, in Australia’s first challenge of the America’s Cup, loses the series.

September 28

Fire destroys one-fifth of Brisbane’s tram fleet (65 trams).

September 28

The vast iron ore deposits of Mt Tom Price, WA, are discovered.

October 11

Rugby Union player David Ian Campese born in Queanbeyan, NSW.

November 2

The Australian Ballet begins it inaugural season.

November 4

The Queensland branch of the Labor Party merges with the Democratic Labor Party.

November 24

Swimmer Tracey Wickham born in Melbourne.

December 3

Author and social reformer Dame Mary Gilmore dies, age 97.

December 13

The last morse code telegram in New South Wales is sent from Sydney to Bombala.

December 21

Australia wins 38 gold, 36 silver and 31 bronze medals at the 12th British Empire and Commonwealth Games, held in Perth, WA.

1963

January 1

Cyclone Annie kills two people north of Brisbane.

January 28

Actress Marcia Hathaway is taken by a shark in Middle Harbour, Sydney.

February 8

Soviet Embassy staff member Ivan Skripov is expelled from Australia for engaging in espionage activities.

February 18

The Royal Visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip begins in Canberra. At the official reception, the Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies quotes a 17th century poem, "… I did but see her passing by, yet I will love her ’til I die".

April 1

The satirical weekly magazine Oz begins publication.

April 1

Long Service Leave is increased in New South Wales to three months after 15 years of service.

April 2

Playwright Jeremy Johnson born.

April 4

Licences are granted for a commercial third television station in Melbourne and Sydney. These licences are awarded to Channel 10.

April 19

Three weeks annual leave granted to the majority of Australian workers.

April 29

The wreck of the Dutch merchantman, Gilt Dragon, is discovered on the WA coast near Ledge Point, close to the 307th anniversary of its sinking.

April 30

Mining of bauxite commences at Weipa, Qld.

May 9

A bulk sugar terminal at Townsville, Qld, burns for five days after catching fire.

May 9

Federal Government gives the go-ahead for the construction of the North West Cape Communications Base, Exmouth, WA.

May 13

Tennis player Wally Masur born.

May 16

The Australian Society of Authors formed in Sydney.

May 29

The inquest into the notorious Bogle and Chandler death mystery in Sydney reaches an open finding.

July 8

The Ord River Diversion Dam, the first stage of the Ord River Scheme in the Kimberly Region of Western Australia, is brought into service.

July 16

Australia’s exports top £1,070 million for the 1962-63 financial year, a record high.

August 5

Australia and Japan sign a major trade agreement.

August 15

Australia decides to sign the International Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

August

Holden releases a new model, the EH, which features a newly designed body.

September 1

Uniformity on marriage laws is brought to all states.

September 20

Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra, begins to fill after the Molonglo River is dammed.

September 25

Australia pledges military aid to the newly created independent South-East Asian state of Malaysia.

October 10

Open-cut coal mining commences at Maura, Qld.

October 10

Former VFL footballer Ray Cazaly dies.

October 18

Neurophysicist Sir John Carew Eccles wins the year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine, sharing the honour with Huxley and Hodgkin.

October 24

Australia contracts to purchase 24 F-111 fighter aircraft for the RAAF from the US.

November 7

The Controversial Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Daniel Mannix, dies age 99. Mannix was known for his strong opposition to conscription and communism.

November 15

Rugby League player Benny Elias bornTripoli, Lebanon.

November 15

Queensland police evict Mapoon community Aborigines and raze their buildings to the ground to allow the mining of bauxite.

December 1

The Liberal Government of Robert Gordon Menzies is returned with an increased majority in a Federal Election.

December 13

University student and Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins leads a ‘Freedom Ride’ through rural Aboriginal communities.

1964

January 2

Channel 7 Sydney launches the satirical Mavis Bramston Show.

January 13

Cyclone Audrey brings floodwaters to South-West Queensland and New South Wales.

February 4

Cyclone Dora leaves a trail of damage across northwest Queensland.

February 10

The destroyer HMAS Voyager collides with the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne during exercises to the south-east of Jervis Bay. HMAS Voyager is cut in half and sinks.

February 17

Author Arthur W. Upfield dies, age 73.

February 20

Northern Territory Aborigines granted full citizenship.

February 25

The RAAF takes delivery of 18 DHC Caribou transport aircraft.

March 15

Australian jurist and politician Sir Percy Spender appointed as President of the International Court of Justice.

April 7

Actor Russell Crowe born, Wellington,, New Zealand.

April 22

The Minister for External Affairs, Garfield Barwick, is appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.

June 12

Macquarie University in suburban North Ryde, Sydney, is founded.

June 13

Beatlemania hits Australia as the Liverpool-based pop group The Beatles begin their short tour of Australia.

July 15

‘The Australian‘ newspaper launched in Canberra.

July 17

British speed ace Donald Malcolm Campbell breaks the world land speed record on Lake Eyre, SA. He achieved 690 km/hr (photo).

July

WA Petroleum discovers gas and oil on Barrow Island, WA, during test drills.

August 20

Australia joins Intelsat with 12 other nations.

September

The Duchess of Kent (Katharine Lucy Mary Windsor, née Worsley) visits New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT.

October 2

The Gladesville Bridge, Sydney, opens.

October 16

Ansett ANA and Trans Australian Airlines take delivery of their new Boeing 727 jet airliners (Where are they now?).

October 20

The first episode of the long-running Australia police drama, Homicide, airs on HSV-7 Melbourne. The first episode – ‘The Stunt’ – stars Terry McDermott, Lex Mitchell and John (Jack) Fegan and guest stars Ian Turpie, Gordon Glenwright, Susan Hayworth, Lawrence Beck and John Derum. A total of 509 episodes are made between 1964 and 1976.

October 30

Australian troops are involved in warfare with Indonesian guerillas in Malacca.

November 10

Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announces the reintroduction of conscription, prompted by the perceived threat of Indonesian aggression in Papua New Guinea, and the insurgence of communism throughout South-East Asia, particularly in Laos and South Vietnam.

November 14

Industrial action by miners closes the Mt Isa copper mines, Qld.

December 10

A state of emergency is declared in Mt Isa, Qld, in an effort to resolve the industrial dispute.

December 16

Brown’s Range Space Tracking Station near Carnarvon, WA, operational (photos).

December 22

Victoria becomes the first state to introduce Consumer Protection laws.

December 24

The Labor Premier of Queensland, Vince Gair, is elected to the Federal Senate.

December 31

Donald Malcolm Campbell sets a new world water speed record on Lake Dumbleyung, WA. He achieves a speed of 444.7 km/hr.

December 31

Test drilling in Bass Strait strikes oil and gas.

1965

January 7

A hydrofoil is introduced to the Sydney Harbour ferry fleet.

January 13

The bodies of two teenage girls are found in the sandhills of Wanda Beach near Cronulla, NSW.

January 17

The new Sydney – Hobart passenger car ferry Empress of Australia leaves its berth at Balmain, Sydney, on its maiden voyage to Hobart via Burnie and Bell Bay (photo | under construction at Cockatoo Island | at Bell Bay, Tasmania).

January 27

Mt Isa Police given the power to arrest on site and without a warrant anyone aiding the strike in the mines.

February 12

Federal Labor Party Leader Arthur Calwell rejects proposals for a party reconciliation with the DLP.

February 18

Gas flows from Esso-BHP’s ‘Barracouta‘ well in Bass Strait.

February 18

Members of the Student Action for Aborigines Council gets a 1955 local council bylaw repealed that prohibited Aboriginal children at Moree, NSW, from using the town’s swimming pool.

February 23

The new Federal Mint in Canberra is opened by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip.

February 26

Mt Isa mine workers begin to go back to work.

March 10

The first National Service birthday-draw held.

March 2

Champion swimmer Dawn Fraser is banned from competitive swimming for ten years for allegedly stealing a Japanese flag from the palace of the Japanese Emperor during the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

March 7

The Qantas Boeing 707 passenger jet ‘City of Townsville’ completes the first continuous flight across the Pacific. It roughly follows the course taken 37 years earlier by Charles Kingsford Smith in Southern Cross. The ‘City of Townsville’ is later purchased by actor John Travolta.

March

Bushfires burn throughout southern NSW and Victoria, taking 11 lives.

April 1

Cosmetic manufacturer Helena Rubinstein dies, age 93.

May 1

Liberal Party leader Robert (Robin William) Askin becomes Premier of New South Wales after the Labor Party lost the state election and became the opposition after 24 years in power.

May 4

A contingent of 800 Australian troops are the first to leave Australia to join the Vietnam War.

May 29

The Captain Cook Bridge at Sans Souci, Sydney, opens.

July 8

Radio pioneer Sir Ernest Fisk dies, age 78.

July 26

Surfing champion Pam Burridge born.

July 26

Richard Gavin Gardiner Casey (Lord Casey), 74, is named Governor-General.

August 1

The Mirage jet fighter comes into service in the RAAF.

August 17

A free trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand signed.

September 9

Dame Roma Flinders Mitchell is appointed to the Supreme Court of South Australia, becoming the first woman judge in Australia.

September 24

The Oberon class HMAS Oxley, Australia’s first modern submarine, is launched at Greenock, Scotland.

October 8

Australian Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies has been made Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the first time in its 900 year history that this ancient honour has been granted to someone outside of Britain. The honorary position implies custodianship of the five ancient ports of Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover and Winchelsea.

October 30

English model Jean Shrimpton attends Derby Day in Melbourne and introduces Australia to the mini skirt, turning heads wearing a skirt with a hemline 165 mm above the knee.

November 7

Four miners die in an underground fire at a Bulli, NSW, coalmine.

November 16

Australia imposes economic sanctions against Rhodesia because of its unilateral declaration of independence.

November

The Mills Cross radio telescope at Hoskinstown, NSW, opens.

December 10

The XP Ford Falcon wins Wheels magazine’s Car of the Year award.

December 15

The Sydney – Newcastle expressway opens.

1966

January 1

Free trade between Australia and New Zealand commences.

January 20

Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies, retires. During his terms of office he was given a variety of nicknames, including Ming the Merciless to Pig Iron Bob. He is replaced by Harold Holt.

January 26

The Beaumont Children – Jane, age 9, her sister Anna, age 7, and their brother Grant, age 4 – disappear from a busy beachside lawn at Glenelg, SA, on Australia Day. Despite ongoing investigations, the mystery of their disappearance has never been solved.

January 26

Australia’s first woman Government minister, Senator Dame Annabelle Rankin, is part of the new ministry of Harold Holt following the retirement of Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies.

January 30

Prince Charles arrives in Australia to commence schooling at Geelong Grammar’s Timbertop school, Vic.

February 1

Hotel trading hours in Victoria are extended from 6.00pm 10.00pm.

February 1

Drunk driving laws introduced in which driving a vehicle with a blood alcohol level above 0.05 percent is a criminal offence.

February 13

(Edward) Gough Whitlam risks expulsion from the Labor Party by referring to the Federal Labor Executive as ’12 witless men’.

February 14

The Avon Valley railway deviation in the Darling Ranges east of Perth opens, thereby completing the standard guage railway link from east to west.

February 14

Australia switches to decimal currency, replacing 10 shillings with a dollar and a penny with a cent.

February 28

Sydney Opera House designer and supervising architect, Joern Utzon, resigns after an ongoing dispute with the NSW government.

March 9

Australia’s immigration laws are relaxed to allow non-European residents to apply for citizenship after five years instead of 15 years.

March 25

Flinders University, SA, opens at Bedford Park, Adelaide.

April 19

Cricketer Paul Ronald Reiffel born.

April 25

Australia sends its first 4,500-man task force to take part in the Vietnam War. Australia is bitterly divided over its involvement in the conflict.

June 16

Australia becomes one of nine founding member countries of The Asian and Pacific Council.

July 1

Prime Minister Harold Holt further divides the nation over Australia’s involvement in the escalating Vietnam War when he states that Australia will go "All The Way With LBJ" – Lyndon B. Johnson, the President of the United States of America.

June 21

The Federal Opposition Leader, Arthur Calwell, is shot by a youth with a sawn-off shotgun in Mosman while preparing to leave his home to address an anti-Vietnam War rally. He is not badly injured.

June 30

A national census is held, revealing Australia’s full-blood Aboriginal population is 80,207.

June 30

Rugby League player Allan (Alfie) Langer born in Ipswich, Queensland.

August 4

Australia participates in 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.

August 13

A fire kills 30 residents of a Salvation Army men’s convalescent home in Melbourne and destroys the home.

August 16

The feature film, ‘They’re A Weird Mob‘, released.

August

Hundred of Aborigines on stations at Newcastle Waters and Wave Hill, NT, walk off their jobs to support their claim for legal control of their own tribal lands. A month later, the Gutindji tribe appeal to the United Nations to intervene in the dispute and what they see as discrimination against them because of race and colour.

September 22

An Ansett ANA Vickers Viscount aircraft crashes near Winton, Qld, killing all 24 people on board.

October 22

HMAS Stalwart, the largest warship ever built in Australia, is launched at Cockatoo Island shipyards, Sydney Harbour.

October 22

NSW Premier Robert Askin is alleged to have told his driver to "run over the bastards" when the motorcade he is traveling in with US President Lyndon B. Johnson is accosted by anti-Vietnam War protesters.

November 25

Hundreds of commuters are left stranded when Qantas pilots begin an International strike.

November 26

A map of Britain is televised in the first satellite telecast between Britain and Australia through the Carnarvon OTC station, WA.

November 28

Harold Holt is elected as Prime Minister in a General Election, returning him to power after taking over as Prime Minister and head of the Liberal Party on Robert Gordon Menzies‘ retirement.

December 10

A helicopter on charter to the ABC hits Goldfields House at Circular Quay, Sydney, and crashes, killing three people.

December 14

John Fairfax Limited takes control of Melbourne’s The Age newspaper.

December 16

Pioneer aviator and author Sir Gordon Taylor dies.

December 23

Prime Minister Harold Holt announces plans to increase the number of Australian troops fighting in Vietnam to 6,300.

1967

January 20

The aviation branch of the Victa Company closes.

February 9

(Edward) Gough Whitlam wins the leadership of the National Labor Party.

February 9

Bushfires engulfing Hobart take 59 lives and destroy 1,300 homes and buildings.

March 1

The Royal Australian Navy adopts its own flag, the Australian white ensign, abandoning the British white ensign.

March 17

Honeysuckle Space Tracking Station, ACT, becomes operational.

March 30

The South East Asia Commonwealth telephone cable (Seacom) is opened, linking Australia with Singapore and Malaysia.

March

The third Intelsat communications satellite is launched over the Atlantic Ocean.

March

La Trobe University, Melbourne, commences taking students.

April 29

The state of NSW votes no in a State Referendum over the formation of a new state in northern New South Wales.

April

Large scale release of the dung beetle by the CSIRO begins to eradicate the buffalo fly.

May 27

90.8 percent of voters in a referendum vote ‘yes’ to giving the Federal Government increased powers over Aborigines affairs and for Aborigines to be included in census counts.

May 31

Oil is struck in the Kingfisher field in Bass Strait, significantly increasing locally known reserves.

June 30

Qualified disabled persons begin receiving a disability allowance.

June 30

Prime Minister Harold Holt gives the go-ahead to assist in financing the controversial Lake Pedda and Gordon River Hydro-Electric Schemes.

June

More than 5,000 people work on the construction of an emergency seawall on the Gold Coast, Qld, during severe storms.

July 1

Postcodes are introduced to assist in the sorting of mail by new electronic equipment.

August 1

Qantas Empire Airways Ltd drops the work "Empire" from its name.

August 25

Australia’s 12th Prime Minister Viscount Stanley Melbourne Bruce dies in England.

September 9

Police attack protesters who take to the streets of Brisbane CBD over the refusal of the Queensland Government to permit street meetings without a permit. Many students and lecturers from Queensland University take part, 114 of whom were arrested after being kicked, punched and dragged by the hair to police wagons.

September 16

Prime Minister Harold Holt opens the US Naval Communications Base, near Exmouth, WA.

September

Intelsat launches its fourth communications satellite, over the Pacific Ocean.

October 26

The Australian Resources Development Bank Ltd begins trading.

October 30

New South Wales businesses are permitted to close down to give employees an annual holiday.

November 26

The Liberal Government loses power in the Senate after Senate elections. The Democratic Labor Pary (DLP) holds the balance of power.

November 29

Australia launches its first satellite on a US Redstone rocket at Woomera, SA.

November

19-year old John Farnham‘s first single, ‘Sadie, The Cleaning Lady‘, released.

December 18

Australia’s 22nd Prime Minister, Harold Holt disappears while swimming at Cheviot Beach on Mornington Peninsula and is feared drowned, age 59. His body is never recovered. A memorial service is held in his honour on 22nd December at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne. Rumours and conspiracy theories about his death abound.

December 19

The yacht Dame Pattie fails in an Australian bid to win the America’s Cup at Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

December 27

A third Australian infantry battalion and a tank squadron arrive in Vietnam for active service.

1968

January 11

Senator John Grey Gorton becomes Australia’s 19th Prime Minister.

January 30

A 12 mile (19.3 km) fishing limit is imposed around the coast of Australia.

January 31

Nauru gains its independence from Australia.

January

Uniform censorship laws adopted to cover all states and territories.

February 2

Prime Minister John Gorton commits to not increasing the number of Australian troops in Vietnam.

February 14

Poet Dorothea McKellar dies, age 82.

March 29

The Australian Resources Bank begins trading.

March 29

A satellite earth station for the receipt of international television signals opens at Moree, NSW. (photo)

March

Holden releases a new small car, the HB Torana, which begins life as an Australian built Vauxhall Viva with Holden badges (photo).

April 1

American evangelist Billy Graham returns to Australia for a second crusade (photo).

April 28

Australia’s first liver transplant is performed at a Sydney hospital.

May 6

Four Australian news reporters killed in Vietnam.

May 10

The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, begins a three week visit to Australia.

May 12

Four year drought over most of New South Wales breaks.

May 21

Federal Labor Party leader (Edward) Gough Whitlam wins a challenge to his leadership by Dr Jim Cairns.

May 28

Singer Kylie Minogue born.

May 28

Sydney crime boss Joe Borg killed when his car is blown to bits by a stick of gelignite at Bondi.

May

Mineral stocks boom on Australia’s Stock Exchange.

May

Northern Territory members of the Federal House of Representatives gain full voting rights.

May

The Queensland Government rejects an application to mine lime off the Great Barrier Reef.

June 21

The Queensland Government announces its plan to close the state’s tramways.

June 24

Penalties for avoiding National Service are increased.

July 5

Mounted Police make a cavalry-like charge on anti-Vietnam War protesters in Melbourne.

July

Australia signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty.

July

A discovery of human bones at Lake Mungo, NSW, indicates that Aboriginal People or another ethnic group before them occupied Australia anywhere from 25,000 to 40,000 years ago.

August 8

57 year old Johannes (Joh) Bjelke-Petersen becomes the Premier of Queensland, replacing Jack Pizzey who died in office.

August 15

The first complete mapping of Australia is completed by the Division of National Mapping.

August 15

The National Gallery, Canberra, opens.

August 20

Victoria’s National Gallery opens in Melbourne.

October 2

New South Wales’ 10,000-strong body of school teachers strike, with 2,000 of them marching on Parliament House, Sydney, demanding a reduction in class sizes.

October 22

Northern Territory Aborigines gain the same rates of pay and working conditions as other workers.

October 24

A team of surgeons at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, successfully perform Australia’s first heart transplant surgery on Richard Pye, 57. It is the world’s 64th heart transplant operation.

October 28

Suburban postal deliveries in capital cities are reduced from two to one delivery a day.

November 1

Ansett ANA becomes Ansett Airlines of Australia.

December 1

Tasmania abolishes capital punishment.

December 14

A referendum in Tasmania gives the go-ahead to build Australia’s first casino at Wrest Point near Hobart.

December 19

Breathalyser testing of motorists commences in New South Wales.

December 31

A MacRobertson-Miller Airlines Viscount 700 crashes after catching fire near Port Hedland, killing all 26 on board. It was a former TAA aircraft, sold to Ansett ANA in 1961 to replace an Ansett-ANA Viscount that crashed into Botany Bay, Sydney, with the loss of 15 lives. It apparently cartwheeled through the air for about 43kms before crashing.

1969

January 2

Australia signs the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

January 6

Double decker railway carriages are introduced onto the Sydney suburban railway system.

January 10

Bushfires destroy over 100 homes and kill 23 people in the Geelong, Vic, region.

February 7

The Southern Aurora train collides head on with a goods train near Violet Town, Vic, killing nine people.

February 12

Townsville Teachers College opens.

March 17

Brisbane receives natural gas from Moonie, Qld, becoming the first Australian capital city to use natural gas as a fuel.

March 26

The Nimmo Report into the national health insurance industry recommends major changes.

April 1

The first shipment of iron ore from the Pilbara leaves Mt Newman, WA, for Japan.

April 13

Electric trams are withdrawn from service in Brisbane amid much opposition.

May 1

Sir Paul Hasluck appointed Governor-General of Australia.

May 11

After 35 years in opposition, the Liberal Party wins office in Tasmania.

May 22

Clarence O’Shea, secretary of the Victorian Tram and Bus Employees’ Union is released from Pentridge Gaol a week after being found guilty of contempt of court.

May 30

The Coral Sea Islands, which has a population of three, becomes a territory of Australia.

June 3

Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with the US destroyer Frank E. Evans, killing 74 US sailors (photos).

July 4

Thousands of people across Australia use American Independence Day to protect Australia’s involvement with the US in the Vietnam War.

July 21

The pictures of the Apollo XI moon walk are relayed to the world through the Parkes Radio Telescope, NSW.

July 21

A new political party, The Australia Party, is formed.

July

The Australian Opera Company is formed.

August 28

The 1,672 tonne freighter Noongah is wrecked off Smoky Cape near Kempsey on the NSW coast.

August 29

Australia’s last trolleybus service, between Perth and suburban Wembley and Floreat Park, are withdrawn from service. The trolley buses were first installed on the route in 1938 to replace trams.

October 1

Oz magazine ceases publication.

October 2

Author Katherine Susannah Pritchard dies, age 85.

November 6

John Grey Gorton ‘s Federal Liberal Government is returned for another term in a General Election.

November 12

The Canberra afternoon newspaper, Canberra News, commences publication.

November 20

Rugby League player Laurie Daley born at Junee, NSW.

November 21

Artist Norman Lindsay dies, age 90.

November 27

Author and artist May Gibbs dies, age 93.

November 29

The standardisation of the railway line from Sydney to Perth via Broken Hill is completed at Broken Hill.

December 5

South Australia legalises abortion.

December 15

The Ceduna, SA, OTC earth station opens, linking Australia to Asia, Africa and Europe by satellite.

1970

January 7

A fire at Port Adelaide, SA, causes $1 million damage to the survey ship Polaris.

January 19

The resorts on the Great Barrier Reef islands are destroyed by a cyclone.

January 24-25

10,000 hippies attend a Woodstock-style rock concert named ‘Pilgrimage for Pop’ at Ourimbah, NSW.

February 10

Poseidon Nickel shares soar to $280 each as the mining boom continues.

February 24

The Indian Pacific railway passenger service commences.

March 4

Three armed men steal $587,000 from a security truck at a Sydney suburban shopping centre.

March 5

The Australian Film Development Corporation formed.

April 30

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Anne, Princess Royal, are among the crowds attending a 200th anniversary re-enactment of Lieutenant James Cook’s Landing at Botany Bay, NSW.

April 22

Angry Western Australian farmer Leonard George Casley creates the Hutt River Province and secedes from the Commonwealth of Australia.

May 3

Sydney Airport‘s international terminal opens.

May 8

Hundreds of thousands of people protest across the country at Australia’s continued involvement in the Vietnam War. An estimated 100,000 protests on the streets of Melbourne alone.

May 13

Artist William Dobell dies, age 70.

July 1

Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport opens for international and domestic services.

July 2

Feminist Jessie Mary Grey (Jessie) Street dies, age 81.

July 4

The Metric Conversion Board is established to plan Australia’s switch to metric weights and measures.

September 12

The Queensland Opera Company opens its first season.

September 15

Tennis player Margaret Jean Court becomes only the second woman to win the women’s Grand Slam.

September 18

Oil production from the Bass Strait oil and gas fields commences.

September 22

Australian yacht Gretel II fails in its bid to win the America’s Cup from the New York Yacht Club.

October 16

Australia’s oil industry works become the first to be granted four weeks annual leave.

October 16

A section of Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge collapses midway through construction, killing 35 workers.

October 30

The Ranger Uranium Deposit is discovered to the east of Darwin, NT.

November 2

Australian Wool Commission established.

November 12

The withdrawal of troops from Vietnam begins with the return home of one battalion.

November

The ACTU makes a move into retailing with the opening of its retail store, Bourke’s.

December 3

Huge crowds greet Pope Paul VI on his visit to Australia.

December 14

Former Governor-General Sir William Slim dies, age 79.

December 19

Germaine Greer‘s controversial feminists book, The Female Eunuch, is published.