1976 in Australia

Incumbents

• Queen of Australia – Elizabeth II
• Governor General – Sir John Kerr
• Prime Minister – Malcolm Fraser
• Premier of New South Wales -Tom Lewis, then Sir Eric Willis, then Neville Wran
• Premier of South Australia – Don Dunstan
• Premier of Queensland – Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
• Premier of Tasmania – Bill Neilson
• Premier of Western Australia – Sir Charles Court
• Premier of Victoria – Rupert Hamer

Events

• 5 January Family Law Act comes into effect, Elizabeth evatt is sworn in as first Chief justice of the Family Court of Australia.
• 1 May – Neville Wran Becomes NSW Premier
• 1 September - Cigarette + Tobacco advertising banned on TV + Radio
• 30 September – Blue Hills, the long running ABC radio serial, comes to an end after 32 years
• 4 December – The Royal Australian Navy's fleet of Grumman Tracker aircraft is destroyed by arson at Nowra, New South Wales
• Edward (Weary) Dunlop is announced as Australian of the Year
• Mining on Fraser Island ends.
• Random Breath Testing introduced in Victoria

Science and technology

Arts and literature

• Brett Whiteley wins the Archibald Prize with Self Portrait in the Studio
• David Ireland's novel The Glass Canoe wins the Miles Franklin Award

Film

• Don's Party
• Storm Boy
• The Fourth Wish

Television

Nine Network soap operas The Young Doctors and The Sullivans both begin on air in November.

Sport

• 31 July – Victor Anderson wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:23:28.6 in Sydney.

• Van der Hum wins the Melbourne Cup
• South Australia wins the Sheffield Shield
• Ballyhoo takes line honours and Piccolo wins on handicap in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
• Hawthorn were premiers of the Victorian Football League
• Australia defeats the West Indies 5-1 in the cricket test series
• Geoff Hunt wins the men's squash World Open
• Manly defeats Parramatta 13-10 to win the New South Wales Rugby League Premiership

Births

• 9 January – Amy Gillett (died 2005), cyclist
• 18 January – Damien Leith, singer
• 17 February – Matthew Lappin, Australian rules footballer
• 19 February – Travis Denney, badminton player
• 24 February – Bradley McGee, cyclist
• 28 February – David Bradbury, politician
• 28 April – Paul Cleary, middle-distance runner
• 27 May – Bianca Netzler, field hockey player
• 4 June – Kasey Chambers, singer
• 21 June – Nigel Lappin, Australian rules footballer
• 24 August- Alex O'Loughlin, actor
• 27 August – Mark Webber, Formula 1 driver
• 1 September – Marcos Ambrose, racing driver
• 7 September – Carmel Bakurski, field hockey defender
• 15 September – Brett Kimmorley, Rugby league footballer
• 7 November – Mark Philippoussis, tennis player
• 8 November – Brett Lee, cricketer
• 18 November – Matt Welsh, swimmer
• 30 November – Gail Miller, water polo player
• 6 December – Paul Crake, racing cyclist
• 31 December – Craig Reucassel, comedian

Deaths

• 8 February – Gladys Moncrieff (born 1892), singer
• 21 May – Harold Blair (born 1924), singer and activist
• 17 June – Richard Casey (born 1890), Governor General of Australia
• 10 August – Bert Oldfield (born 1894), cricketer
• 21 September – Peter Crimmins B. 1943, Australia Rules Footballer