1939 in Australia
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See also: 1938 in Australia, other events of 1939, 1940 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.
Contents |
[edit] Incumbents
- Prime Minister - Joseph Lyons (died in office April 7), Earle Page (until April 26), then Robert Menzies
- Governor General - Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
- Premier of New South Wales - Bertram Stevens (until August 5) then Alexander Mair
- Premier of South Australia - Thomas Playford
- Premier of Queensland - William Forgan Smith
- Premier of Tasmania - Albert Ogilvie (died in office June 10), Edmund Dwyer-Gray (until December 18) then Robert Cosgrove
- Premier of Western Australia - John Willcock
- Premier of Victoria - Albert Dunstan
[edit] Events
- January 13 - The bushfires of Black Friday kill 70 people in Victoria
- March 27 - The first Wirraway training aircraft, A20-3, takes to the air at Fishermans Bend, Victoria
- September 3 - Australia declares war on Germany
[edit] Science & Technology
[edit] Arts and literature
- Max Meldrum wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of The Hon G J Bell, Speaker of the House of Representatives
[edit] Film
[edit] Sport
- Rivette wins the Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup
- Mosaic wins the Cox Plate
- South Australia wins the Sheffield Shield
[edit] Births
- January 6 - Murray Rose, swimmer
- January 29 - Germaine Greer, academic and feminist
- February 13 - Andrew Peacock, politician
- March 5 - Tony Rundle, Premier of Tasmania
- April 4 - Alex George, botanist
- April 7 - Brett Whiteley (d. 1992), artist
- April 20 - Elspeth Ballantyne, actress
- July 26 - John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia
- September 5 - George Lazenby, actor
- October 8 - Paul Hogan, comedian and actor
- October 9 - John Pilger, journalist and filmmaker
- October 10 - Clive James, writer and social commentator
- November 25 - Ian Smith, politician
- December 26 - Fred Schepisi, film director
[edit] Deaths
- April 7 - Joseph Lyons (b. 1879), Prime Minister of Australia
- June 10 - Albert Ogilvie (b. 1890), Premier of Tasmania
