1995 in Australia

← 1994 1993 1992 1995 in Australia → 1996 1997 1998
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	Other events of 1995 Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

• Queen of Australia – Elizabeth II
• Governor General – Bill Hayden
• Prime Minister – Paul Keating

Premiers and Chief Ministers

• Premier of New South Wales – John Fahey, then Bob Carr
• Premier of Queensland – Wayne Goss
• Premier of South Australia – Dean Brown
• Premier of Tasmania – Ray Groom
• Premier of Victoria – Jeff Kennett
• Premier of Western Australia – Richard Court
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Rosemary Follett, then Kate Carnell.
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Marshall Perron, then Shane Stone

Governors and Administrators

• Governor of New South Wales – Peter Sinclair
• Governor of Queensland – Leneen Forde
• Governor of South Australia – Dame Roma Mitchell
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Phillip Bennett (until 2 October), then Sir Guy Green
• Governor of Victoria – Richard McGarvie
• Governor of Western Australia – Michael Jeffery
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – Austin Asche
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – Alan Gardner Kerr

Events

• 30 January – John Howard becomes federal Liberal Party leader and thus federal leader of the opposition after the resignation of Alexander Downer.
• 18 February – Elections in the Australian Capital Territory replace the minority Australian Labor Party government of Rosemary Follett and elect a minority Liberal Party government of Kate Carnell.
• 25 March – Bob Carr leads the Labor Party to victory in the New South Wales state election, deposing the Liberal/National coalition government of John Fahey that had been in power since 1988.
• May – The Australian Grand Prix is moved from Adelaide to Melbourne 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 is privatised.
• 1 July – Telecom Australia changes its domestic trading name to Telstra.
• 15 July – The Queensland state election produces a hung Parliament, 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-based independent Liz Cunningham 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 situated on the northern end of Melbourne's City Square is stolen.
• 20 October – Brenda Hodge, the last person to be sentenced to death in Australia before the full abolition of capital punishment, is paroled from prison after serving eleven years of a life sentence.
• 24 October – Anna Wood, 15-year-old schoolgirl from Sydney, dies after taking ecstasy at a rave. Her death sparks a media firestorm and a national debate over the use of illicit drugs.
• 3 November- After a six-month trial, David Harold Eastman is convicted by a jury of the assassination of AFP Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester. He is sentenced to life imprisonment and can only be released by approval of the ACT parliament, Federal Parliament and the Governor-General.
• November – The rabbit calicivirus disease (RCD) escapes from an island testing station in South Australia & quickly spreads into Victoria. It is estimated that the feral rabbit population would be permanently reduced by 60%.
• 3 December – The ANZAC Bridge in Sydney is opened to traffic.
• 4 December – A gas explosion at Kogarah railway station, Sydney kills two people.

Film

• Angel Baby
• Babe
• Hotel Sorrento

Television

• January – Today Tonight debuts on the Seven Network, Hey Hey It's Saturday returns, debuts and starts in 1995 without Ossie Ostrich as Ernie Carroll, who was Graham Kennedy's on-screenwriter from the early IMT days, retired at the end of 1994.
• Pay television arrives in Australia with Foxtel & Optus Vision launching in the metropolitan areas & Galaxy & Austar launching in regional areas that year.
• May – Kerry Stokes becomes chairman of the Seven Network after reaching 20% ownership of the company.
• STW-9 is purchased by Sunraysia Television after a fierce bidding war with WIN Television.
• July – Cheez TV begins on the Ten network. It later became a huge hit and eventually made Agro's Cartoon Connection end in 1997.

Sport

• International rugby league representative forward Ian Roberts became the first high-profile Australian sports person and first rugby footballer in the world to come out to the public as gay.^[1]
• 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. 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 begins. Lightning raids begin across the country to sign players on vastly inflated contracts. The Kerry Packer backed ARL responds by signing 50 players onto equally inflated contracts on 2 April.
• 7 May – Melbourne Knights dispel their tag of chokers by upsetting defending champions Adelaide City 2-0 in the NSL Grand Final at Hindmarsh Stadium.
• 15 May – The Paul Vautin-coached Maroons win the opening Rugby League State of Origin 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.
• 9 July – Manly-Warringah set a record of fifteen consecutive wins to open an NSWRL/ARL season.
• 16 July – Roderic deHighden wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:13:58 in Brisbane, while Julie Rose claims the women's title in 2:38:44.
• 2 September – The Sturt Football Club completes the longest winless season in the history of major Australian football leagues, with a record of 0-22 and a minimum losing margin of 24 points.
• 24 September – The Canterbury Bulldogs (playing as the Sydney Bulldogs) defeat the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 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 in Australia.
• 30 September – The Carlton Blues (21.15.141) defeat the Geelong Football Club (11.14.80) to win the 99th VFL/AFL premiership. It is a record 16th premiership for Carlton.
• 12 November – After 10 years, the last Australian Grand Prix to take place on the streets of Adelaide.

Births

• 6 January – Paul Izzo, footballer
• 13 January – Brianna Davey, soccer player
• 15 January – Christopher Cristaldo, footballer
• 16 January – Mikaela Turik, cricketer
• 18 January
  • Jack Miller, motorcycle racer
  • Dylan Murnane, footballer
• 21 January – Alanna Kennedy, soccer player
• 24 January – Callan McAuliffe, actor
• 26 January – Jordan Drew, footballer
• 31 January – Taylor Corry, swimmer
• 11 February – Alex Haas, canoeist
• 18 February – Mitchell Oxborrow, British-born soccer player
• 4 April – Jacob Melling, soccer player
• 8 April – Hagi Gligor, footballer
• 11 April – Sarah Mason, New Zealand-born surfer
• 12 April – Angela Donald, artistic gymnast
• 21 April – Matt Crouch, footballer
• 25 April – Scott Galloway, footballer
• 27 April – Nick Kyrgios, tennis player
• 5 May
  • James Connor, diver
  • Anthony Spanos, actor
• 11 May – Erinn Walters, athlete
• 15 June
  • Ben Garuccio, footballer
  • Arthur Sissis, motorcycle racer
• 18 June – Olia Burtaev, swimmer
• 23 June – Eva Lazzaro, actress
• 30 June – Jai Opetaia, boxer
• 5 July – Torita Isaac, athlete
• 6 July – Brooklee Han, American-born figure skater
• 13 July – Dante Exum, basketball player
• 15 September – Awer Mabil, Kenya-born footballer
• 29 September – Yolane Kukla, swimmer
• 3 October – Jay Andrijic, tennis player
• 7 October – Tiffany Eliadis, soccer player
• 12 October – Stefan Mauk, footballer
• 1 November – Nick D'Aloisio, entrepreneur, computer programmer and designer
• 7 November – Michael Dameski, actor, dancer and singer
• 23 November – Brittany Broben, diver
• 20 December – Feliks Zemdegs, speedsolver
• 22 December – Holly Ferling, cricketer

Deaths

• 13 January – Max Harris, 74, poet and author
• 26 January – Ian Tomlinson, 58, triple and long jumper
• 5 March – Gregg Hansford, 42, motorcycle and touring car racer
• 6 March – Olive Zakharov, 75, ALP senator
• 11 March – Isabel Letham, 95, Australia's first surfer
• 29 March – Antony Hamilton, 42, actor, model and dancer
• 2 April – Trevor Ashmore Pyman, diplomat
• 24 April – Stanley Burbury, 85, 21st Governor of Tasmania
• 27 April – Peter Wright, 78, British MI5 officer and author of Spycatcher
• 12 May – Len Beadell, 72, explorer and roadbuilder
• 17 May – Frank Knopfelmacher, 72, philosopher
• 12 June – Sir Talbot Duckmanton, 73, ABC general manager (1965–82)
• 26 June – John Jefferson Bray, 82, SA Supreme Court judge
• 22 July – Harold Larwood, 90, English cricketer
• 2 August – Fred Daly, 82, ALP politician
• 8 August – Harold Stewart, 78, poet and author
• 17 August – Ted Whitten, 62, AFL player
• 18 August – Philip Hodgins, 36, poet
• 27 August – Dick Bentley, 88, comedian and actor
• 30 August – Dame Pattie Menzies, 94, wife of Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies
• 24 October – Anna Wood, 15, victim of water intoxication after taking ecstasy
• 26 October – John Sangster, 66, jazz musician
• 1 November – Sir James Ralph Darling, 96, headmaster of Geelong Grammar School and chairman of the ABC
• 10 November – Jim Willis, 85, botanist
• 5 December – Gwen Harwood, 75, poet
• 8 December – Arthur John Birch, 80, organic chemist
• 12 December – Andrew Olle, 48, ABC TV journalist

Unknown

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

References