1978 in Australia

Incumbents

• Queen of Australia – Elizabeth II
• Governor General – Sir Zelman Cowen
• Prime Minister – Malcolm Fraser
• Premier of New South Wales – Neville Wran
• Premier of South Australia – Don Dunstan
• Premier of Queensland – Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
• Premier of Tasmania – Doug Lowe
• Premier of Western Australia – Sir Charles Court
• Premier of Victoria – Rupert Hamer

Events

• 13 February – Terrorism arrives in Australia for the very first time with the Sydney Hilton bombing killing 3 people and injuring 11 others.
• 14 March – Stephen Matthews, aged 20, swept from the Natural Bridge off Albany, Western Australia, by a King Wave. Rescued by whale ship, the Cheynes II. First recorded survival of someone swept into the sea at The Gap and Natural Bridge.
• 30 March - Commonwealth Police (Federal Police) begin arresting 180 Greek-Australians said to be involved in a conspiracy to defraud the Department Of Social Security.
• 4 April – Cyclone Alby kills 5 people in Western Australia
• 15 May – Australia's longest serving prime minister Sir Robert Menzies dies
• 24 June – The inaugural Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, a gay rights march is held in Oxford Street, Sydney to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York.
• 7 October – The ALP government of Neville Wran is re-elected with a massively increased majority, leading to his win being dubbed as a "Wranslide".
• 8 October – Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 510 km/h (317.60 mph) at Blowering Dam, New South Wales.
• 21 November – Last day of commercial whaling in Australia. No sperm whales caught that day by the chaser ships (Cheynes II, III and IV) operated by the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company at Albany, Western Australia. The last whale caught by an Australian whaling company was the day before, 20 November.

Science and technology

Arts and literature

• Brett Whiteley wins the Archibald Prize with Art, Life and the other thing
• Jessica Anderson's novel Tirra Lirra By the River wins the Miles Franklin Award

Film

• Blue Fin
• Little Boy Lost

Television

Sport

• 6 May - Melbourne and St. Kilda set a still-standing record VFL/AFL aggregate score of 52.33 (345)
• 1 July - Footscray kick a record VFL score of 33.15 (213) beating the previous record by three points. Kelvin Templeton and Ian Dunstan combine for 22 of the 33 goals.
• 6 August – James Langford wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:19:29 in Caboolture.
• 19 September - After a controversial NSWRL finals series with two draws, Manly thrash Cronulla 16-0 to win their fourth premiership with Graham Eadie dominating.
• 30 September - Hawthorn 18.13 (121) defeats North Melbourne 15.13 (103) for its fourth VFL premiership.
• Arwon wins the Melbourne Cup
• Western Australia wins the Sheffield Shield
• Apollo wins the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Births

• 25 January – Jason Johnson, Australian rules footballer
• 1 February - Tim Harding, singer (Hi 5)
• 7 February – Frank Drmic, basketball player
• 1 March – Gavin Woods, water polo player
• 14 March – Karyne Di Marco, hammer thrower
• 18 March – Brooke Hanson, swimmer
• 4 April - Sam Moran, singer (The Wiggles)
• 30 June – Ben Cousins, AFL Footballer
• 8 August – Kate Ritchie, actress, radio & television personality
• 22 September – Harry Kewell, soccer player
• 25 October – Matt Shirvington, track and field athlete
• 22 November – Steven King, plays with Geelong Football Club

Deaths

• 9 January – Eddie Gilbert, (born 1905), Queensland cricketer
• 14 May – Robert Menzies (born 1894), Prime Minister of Australia
• 27 July – Robert Heffron (born 1890), Premier of New South Wales
• 6 October – Johnny O'Keefe, (born 1935), Australian rock and roll singer