From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also: 1940 in Australia, other events of 1941, 1942 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.

Incumbents

• Monarch – King George VI
• Governor-General – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie
• Prime Minister – Robert Menzies (until August 28), then Arthur Fadden (until October 7), then John Curtin

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Alexander Mair (until May 16), then William McKell
• Premier of Queensland – William Forgan Smith
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford
• Premier of Tasmania – Robert Cosgrove
• Premier of Victoria – Albert Dunstan
• Premier of Western Australia – John Willcock

State Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Leslie Orme Wilson
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ernest Clark
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Winston Dugan
• Governor of Western Australia – none appointed

Events

• March 25 – The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) is formed.
• March 31 – The Siege of Tobruk begins.
• April 7 – The Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) is formed.
• May 10 – A general election is held in New South Wales. The ALP led by William McKell defeats the incumbent United Australia Party and Premier Alexander Mair.
• May 12 – The Daily Mirror newspaper is first published in Sydney.
• June 30 – HMAS Waterhen sinks off Libya – the first Australian naval vessel lost in the war.
• October 3 – Prime Minister Arthur Fadden resigns following the rejection of his budget by two independent MPs.
• October 7 – John Curtin is sworn in as Prime Minister after Arthur Fadden's government loses majority support in the House of Representatives.
• November 11 – The Australian War Memorial is opened in Canberra.
• November 19 – The light cruiser HMAS Sydney engages the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran in an hour-long battle off the coast of Western Australia. Both ships are sunk, the Sydney going down with 645 crew.
• December 9 – Australia declares war on Japan, and the Axis powers of Finland, Hungary and Romania.
• December 13 – A general election is held in Tasmania. The Labor Party lead by Robert Cosgrove is returned to power.

Arts and literature

• William Dargie wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Sir James Elder, KBE
• The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark is published.

Sport

• September 27 – Melbourne wins the 45th VFL Premiership, defeating Essendon 19.13 (127) to 13.20 (98).
• November 4 – Skipton wins the Melbourne Cup.

• Velocity wins the Caulfield Cup
• Beau Vite wins the Cox Plate
• The Sheffield Shield is not contested due to war

Births

• January 29 – Maggie Kirkpatrick, actress
• February 2 – John Cornell, actor and producer
• February 4 – Russell Cooper, Premier of Queensland (1989)
• March 11 – Kim Santow, NSW Supreme Court judge
• March 29 – Michael Thornhill, film producer, screenwriter and film director
• March 31 – Faith Leech, swimmer
• April 10 – Wendy Fatin, politician
• April 17 – Bill Landeryou, politician
• April 24 – John Williams, classical guitarist
• May 11 – Ian Redpath, cricketer
• May 18 – Lobby Loyde, rock music guitarist (d. 2007)
• May 31 – Julian Croft, poet
• June 4 – Kenneth G. Ross, playwright
• June 24 – Graham McKenzie, cricketer
• June 28 – Harry Quick, politician
• July 31 – Heather McKay, squash player
• September 1 - Graeme Langlands, rugby league footballer and coach of the 1960s and 70s
• September 22 – Murray Bail, writer
• September 27 – Gay Kayler, country music singer
• October 3 – John Elliott, businessman
• October 14 – David Kemp, politician
• October 16 – Genevieve Lloyd, philosopher and feminist
• October 25 – Helen Reddy, singer
• October 28 – Fred Chaney, WA politician
• November 7 — Willi Sawall, race walker
• November 16 – Max Gillies, actor
• December 13 – Dixie Willis, middle distance runner

Deaths

• March 18 – Harry Boan (b. 1860), founder of Boans department store
• April 1 – John Chamberlain (b. 1884), cricketer
• April 5 – Banjo Paterson (b. 1864), bush poet, author and journalist
• April 12 – James Boyd (b. 1867), politician
• April 15 – Emily Pelloe (b. 1878), botanical illustrator
• May 4 – Chris McKivat (b. 1879), rugby union and league player
• May 8 – Alexander Hay (b. 1865), politician
• June 15 – John Lynch (b. 1862), politician
• June 24 – Francis Anderson (b. 1858), philosopher
• July 1 – Francis Birtles (b. 1881), adventurer
• July 7 – Randolph Bedford (b. 1868), writer and Queensland politician
• July 27 – James Ronald (b. 1861), politician
• July 31 – Ron Barassi, Sr. (b. 1913), Australian rules footballer
• August 1 – James Drake (b. 1850), member of the first federal ministry
• August 23 – Jack O'Connor (b. 1875), cricketer
• August 30 – Gregan McMahon (b. 1874), actor and theatrical producer
• August 31 – Thomas Bavin (b. 1874), Premier of New South Wales (1927–1930)
• September 1 – Millice Culpin (b. 1846), politician
• September 5 – George Marchant (b. 1857), soft drink manufacturer
• October 1 – John Longstaff (b. 1861), artist
• November 18 – Chris Watson (b. 1867), Prime Minister of Australia (1904)
• November 19 – Joseph Burnett (b. 1899), captain of HMAS Sydney

See also

• 1941
• 1940s