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See also: 1973 in Australia, other events of 1974, 1975 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.

Incumbents

• Queen of Australia - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Governor General - Sir Paul Hasluck (til July 11), then Sir John Kerr
• Prime Minister - Gough Whitlam
• Premier of New South Wales - Sir Robert Askin
• Premier of South Australia - Don Dunstan
• Premier of Queensland - Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
• Premier of Tasmania - Eric Reece
• Premier of Western Australia - John Tonkin (til April 8), then Charles Court
• Premier of Victoria - Rupert Hamer

Events

• January - Cyclone Wanda makes landfall near Double Island Point. Large parts of south east Queensland, including Brisbane, and northern New South Wales are flooded.
• February 26 - Mungo Man, a human skeleton estimated to be 40,000 years old, uncovered at Lake Mungo
• May 18 - John Howard enters Parliament as an Opposition backbencher for the electorate of Bennelong
• October - The first Australian credit card, Bankcard, is introduced
• December 24 - Cyclone Tracy devastates the city of Darwin. The official death toll was 71

Arts and literature

• Conductor Bernard Heinze is announced as Australian of the Year
• Ronald McKie's novel The Mango Tree wins the Miles Franklin Award

Film

• The Cars That Ate Paris, directed by Peter Weir, is released

Television

• The long running popular music program Countdown first screens
• Soap operas The Box and Class of '74 begin

Sport

• September 14 - John Farrington wins his third men's national marathon title, clocking 2:17:23 in Gawler.

• Think Big wins the Melbourne Cup
• Victoria wins the Sheffield Shield
• Apollo takes line honours in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Love and War is the handicap winner
• Australia defeats the USA 2-1 in the Federation Cup
• The Australian team makes its first World Cup appearance when it competes in the 1974 FIFA World Cup
• Eastern Suburbs wins the NSW Rugby League Premiership
• Rothmans medal awarded to Graham Eadie
• Richmond wins the 78th VFL Premiership (Richmond 18.20 (128) d North Melbourne 13.9 (87))
• Brownlow Medal awarded to Keith Greig (North Melbourne)

Births

• April 5 - Deborah Sosimenko, hammer thrower
• May 19 - Andrew Johns, rugby league footballer
• June 12 - Scott Ferrier, decathlete
• June 13 - Tristram Woodhouse, field hockey forward
• July 2 - Matthew Reilly, writer
• July 6 - James Swan, boxer
• July 15 - Chris Taylor, comedian
• July 16
  • Michelle Chandler, basketball player
  • Wendell Sailor, rugby league footballer
• September 4 - Andrew Hansen, comedian and musician
• September 28 - Shane Webcke, rugby league footballer
• November 1 - Emma George, pole vaulter
• December 19 - Ricky Ponting, cricketer

Deaths

• April 6 - Hudson Fysh (b.1895), co founder of Qantas
• May 1 - Frank Packer (b.1906), publisher
• June 10 - Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (b.1900), former Governor General of Australia