Incumbents

• Monarch
  Monarchy in Australia
  The Monarchy of Australia is a form of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of Australia. The monarchy is a constitutional one modelled on the Westminster style of parliamentary government, incorporating features unique to the Constitution of Australia.The present monarch is...
  
   – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister
  Prime Minister of Australia
  The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
  
   – Robert Menzies
  Robert Menzies
  Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
  
  
• Governor General
  Governor-General of Australia
  The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
  
   – William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle
  William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle
  William Philip Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle and 6th Baron De L'Isle and Dudley VC KG GCMG GCVO KStJ PC , was the 15th Governor-General of Australia and the final non-Australian to hold the office...
  
  

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Robert Heffron
  Robert Heffron
  Robert James "Bob" Heffron was one of the longest-serving New South Wales state parliamentarians. He was the Australian Labor Party Premier of New South Wales from 28 October 1959, to 30 April 1964.-Early years:...
  
  
• Premier of Queensland – Frank Nicklin
  Frank Nicklin
  Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin, KCMG, MM was Premier of the Australian state of Queensland from 1957 to 1968, and the first Country Party Premier since 1932.-Early life and career:...
  
  
• Premier of South Australia – Sir Thomas Playford
  Thomas Playford IV
  Sir Thomas Playford, GCMG was a South Australian politician. He served continuously as Premier of South Australia from 5 November 1938 to 10 March 1965, the longest term of any elected government leader in the history of Australia. His tenure as premier was marked by a period of population and...
  
  
• Premier of Tasmania – Eric Reece
  Eric Reece
  Eric Elliott Reece, AC was Premier of Tasmania on two occasions: from 26 August 1958 to 26 May 1969, and from 3 May 1972 to 31 March 1975.-Biography:...
  
  
• Premier of Western Australia
  Premier of Western Australia
  The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
  
   – David Brand
  David Brand
  Sir David Brand KCMG was the 19th and longest serving Premier of Western Australia and a Member of the Legislative Assembly from 1945 to 1975.-Early life:...
  
  
• Premier of Victoria – Henry Bolte
  Henry Bolte
  Sir Henry Edward Bolte GCMG was an Australian politician. He was the 38th and longest serving Premier of Victoria.- Early years :...
  
  

State Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Eric Woodward
  Eric Woodward
  Lieutenant General Sir Eric Winslow Woodward KCMG, KCVO, CB, CBE, DSO was an Australian military officer and Viceroy...
  
  
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Henry Abel Smith
  Henry Abel Smith
  Colonel Sir Henry Abel Smith KCMG KCVO DSO was a British Army officer and a Governor of Queensland.-Biography:He was born in London, on 8 March 1900, the son of Francis Abel Smith and wife Madeline St. Maur Seymour...
  
  
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Edric Bastyan
  Edric Bastyan
  Lieutenant-General Sir Edric Montague Bastyan, KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB was Governor of South Australia from 4 April 1961 until 1 June 1968 then Governor of Tasmania from 2 December 1968 until 30 November 1973...
  
  
• Governor of Tasmania – Thomas Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan
  Thomas Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan
  Thomas Godfrey Polson Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan, KT, KBE, MC, TD , had a distinguished military career, was Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth and Empire and Governor of Tasmania.-Early life:...
  
  
• Governor of Western Australia
  Governor of Western Australia
  The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
  
   – Sir Charles Gairdner
  Charles Gairdner
  General Sir Charles Henry Gairdner, GBE, KCMG, KCVO, CB was a British Army general during World War II and was Governor of Western Australia from 1951 to 1963, and Governor of Tasmania from 1963 to 1968.-Early life:...
  
  
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Dallas Brooks
  Dallas Brooks
  Brooks made his first-class debut for the Royal Navy against Cambridge University in 1919 as a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium. The same season Brooks made his debut for Hampshire against Surrey in the County Championship...
  
  

Events

• The Australian Ballet is founded.
• 1 March – The final section of the Cahill Expressway
  Cahill Expressway
  The Cahill Expressway is the first true freeway constructed in Sydney, Australia. It starts from the Eastern Distributor and Cross City Tunnel in Woolloomooloo, and runs through a series of sunken cuttings and tunnels between the Royal Botanical Gardens and The Domain...
  
   opens in Sydney.

• 16 July – An education strike in Goulburn, New South Wales
  Goulburn, New South Wales
  Goulburn is a provincial city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Goulburn Mulwaree Council Local Government Area. It is located south-west of Sydney on the Hume Highway and above sea-level. On Census night 2006, Goulburn had a population of 20,127 people...
  
  , where, in response to a demand for the installation of three extra toilets at a local Catholic Primary School, the local community closed down these schools and sent the children to the Government schools. The Catholic Church declared they had no money to install the extra toilets. Nearly 1,000 children turned up to be enrolled locally and the state schools were unable to accommodate them. In 1963, Menzies made State aid for science blocks part of his party's platform in response to the public debate engendered by the Goulburn strike.
• 15 August – The Red Sales aerobatic team, flying Vampire
  De Havilland Vampire
  The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...
  
   jets, crashes in practice, killing six people.
• 28 September – Paddington tram depot fire
  Paddington tram depot fire
  The Paddington tram depot in Brisbane, Australia was destroyed by fire on the night of 28 September 1962, one of the largest fires in Brisbane's history. Sixty-five of Brisbane's trams were destroyed...
  
  : One fifth of the Brisbane
  Brisbane
  Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
  
   tram
  Trams in Brisbane
  The Brisbane tramway network once served Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, Australia. It operated between 1885 and 1969 and ran on standard gauge track. The electric system was originally energised to 500 volts, and subsequently increased to 600 volts. All tramcars built in Brisbane up to...
  
   fleet is destroyed when the Paddington tram depot is burnt down in suspicious circumstances. 65 trams are destroyed.

Arts and literature

• 2 November – The first performance of the Australian Ballet Company
  Australian Ballet Company
  The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd. and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English ballerina Dame Peggy van Praagh as founding artistic director...
  
   in Sydney was of Swan Lake
  Swan Lake
  Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
  
  .
• The Well Dressed Explorer
  The Well Dressed Explorer
  The Well Dressed Explorer is a Miles Franklin Award winning novel by Australian author Thea Astley. This novel shared the award with The Cupboard Under the Stairs by George Turner.-Plot summary:...
  
  by Thea Astley
  Thea Astley
  Thea Astley was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin Awards, Australia's major literary award, than any other writer...
  
   and The Cupboard Under the Stairs
  The Cupboard Under the Stairs
  The Cupboard Under the Stairs is a Miles Franklin Award winning novel by Australian author George Turner. This novel shared the award with The Well Dressed Explorer by Thea Astley....
  
  by George Turner
  George Turner (writer)
  George Reginald Turner was an Australian writer and critic, best known for the science fiction novels written in the later part of his career. He was notable for being a "late bloomer" in science fiction . His first SF story and novel appeared in 1978, when he was in his early sixties...
  
   are jointly awarded the Miles Franklin Literary Award

Television

• 4 March – NBN Television
  NBN Television
  NBN Television is a television station based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The station was inaugurated on 4 March 1962 as the first regional commercial television station in New South Wales, and has since expanded to 39 transmitters throughout the northern half of New South Wales and...
  
   opens in Newcastle, New South Wales
  Newcastle, New South Wales
  The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
  
   as NBN-3.
• 18 March – WIN Television
  WIN Television
  WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single Wollongong-only station, and has since expanded to 24 owned-and-operated stations with transmissions covering a...
  
   opens in Wollongong, New South Wales
  Wollongong, New South Wales
  Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...
  
   as WIN-4.

Sport

• General
  • Australia wins 38 gold medals at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
    1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
    The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, Australia from 22 November-1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North Perth....
    
    , held in Perth
    Perth, Western Australia
    Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
    
    

• Athletics
  • 11 August – Keith Ollerenshaw wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:26:24.2 in Perth
    Perth, Western Australia
    Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
    
    .

• Cricket
  • New South Wales
    New South Wales Blues
    The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
    
     wins the Sheffield Shield
    Pura Cup
    The Sheffield Shield is the domestic cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Prior to the Shield being established, a number of intercolonial matches were played. The Shield, donated by Lord Sheffield, was first contested during...
    
    

• Football
  • Bledisloe Cup
    Bledisloe Cup
    Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup is contested by the Australia national rugby union team and New Zealand national rugby union team. It is named after Lord Bledisloe, the former Governor-General of New Zealand who donated the trophy in 1931. The trophy was designed in New Zealand by Nelson Isaac, and...
    
    : retained by the All Blacks
    All Blacks
    The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
    
    
  • Brisbane Rugby League premiership: Norths
    Norths Devils
    The Northern Suburbs Devils, Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They play in the Queensland Wizard Cup, and, through their predecessors, are one of the oldest clubs in...
    
     defeated Valleys
    Fortitude Valley Diehards
    The Fortitude Valley Diehards were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley.-History:...
    
     22 – 0
  • New South Wales Rugby League premiership
    New South Wales Rugby League premiership
    The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League from 1908 until 1994, the premiership was the state's and later the country's elite rugby league competition...
    
    : St. George
    St. George Dragons
    The St George Dragons was an Australian Rugby league football club in St George, Sydney, New South Wales that played in Australia's top-level Rugby league competition from New South Wales Rugby Football League in 1921 until 1998; in 1999 they formed a joint venture with the Illawarra Steelers,...
    
     defeated Wests
    Western Suburbs Magpies
    The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...
    
     9-6
  • South Australian National Football League premiership: won by Port Adelaide
    Port Adelaide Magpies
    The Port Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the South Australian National Football League...
    
    
  • Victorian Football League premiership: Essendon
    Essendon Football Club
    The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
    
     defeated Carlton
    Carlton Football Club
    The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
    
     90-58

• Golf
  • Australian Open
    Australian Open (golf)
    The Australian Open is one of the principal annual golf tournaments on the PGA Tour of Australasia, and also the OneAsia Tour since its formation in 2009. The event was first played in 1904 and takes place toward the end of each year...
    
    : won by Gary Player
    Gary Player
    Gary Player DMS; OIG is a South African professional golfer. With his nine major championship victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Player has won 165 tournaments on six continents over six...
    
    
  • Australian PGA Championship
    Australian PGA Championship
    The Australian PGA Championship, formerly known as the Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship, is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It is the home tournament of the Australian PGA and dates back to 1905...
    
    : won by Bill Dunk
    Bill Dunk
    William Edgar Dunk is an Australian professional golfer.Dunk is renowned as one of the greatest shot makers in Australian golf. He was inducted as a life member of the Australasian Tour in 1996. Dunk won five Australian PGA Championships and the New Zealand Open...
    
    

• Horse Racing
  • Indian Summer wins the AJC Oaks
    AJC Oaks
    The AJC Oaks is a Group 1 Australian Thoroughbred horserace for three-year-old fillies at set weights contested over 2,400 metres at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney in April. The AJC Australian Oaks is the premier staying race for three-year-old fillies during the Sydney autumn racing carnival. Total...
    
    
  • Even Stevens wins the Caulfield Cup
    Caulfield Cup
    The Caulfield Cup, one of Australia's richest Thoroughbred horse races and the richest of its type in the world is held annually by the Melbourne Racing Club. The race is a handicap like the Melbourne Cup, which means that horses that compete in the Caulfield Cup are capable of running on the...
    
    
  • Aquanita wins the Cox Plate
    Cox Plate
    The W.S. Cox Plate is an Australian Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne every October by the Moonee Valley Racing Club to honour W.S. Cox, the club's founder. For three-year-olds and over, the race is considered to be the Weight for Age championship of Australasia...
    
    
  • Birthday Card wins the Golden Slipper
  • Even Stevens wins the Melbourne Cup
    Melbourne Cup
    The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
    
    

• Motor Racing
  • The Australian Grand Prix
    Australian Grand Prix
    The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually and is held to be the pinnacle of motor racing in Australia. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia having been held 76 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985 the race has...
    
     was held at Caversham
    Caversham Airfield
    Caversham Airfield, also known as Middle Swan Airfield was an airfield constructed at Caversham, Western Australia during World War II as a parent aerodrome for the United States Fleet Air Arm of the 7th Fleet....
    
     and won by Bruce McLaren
    Bruce McLaren
    Bruce Leslie McLaren , born in Auckland, New Zealand, was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor....
    
     driving a Cooper-Climax
    Cooper Car Company
    The Cooper Car Company was founded in 1946 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. Together with John's boyhood friend, Eric Brandon, they began by building racing cars in Charles' small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England in 1946...
    
    
  • The Armstrong 500
    Bathurst 1000
    The Bathurst 1000 is a touring car race held annually at Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia...
    
     was held at Phillip Island
    Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
    The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a motor racing racing circuit on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The circuit was opened in 1956.-Road circuit:...
    
    , and was won by Harry Firth
    Harry Firth
    Harry L. Firth is an Australian former racing driver and team manager. Firth was a leading race and rally driver during the 1950s and 1960s and continued as an influential team manager well into the 1970s...
    
     and Bob Jane
    Bob Jane
    Robert "Bob" Jane is an Australian former race car driver and prominent businessman. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a four-time Australian Touring Car Champion, Jane is perhaps known best nowadays for his chain of tyre retailers,...
    
     driving an XL Falcon
    Ford Falcon (Australia)
    The Ford Falcon is a full-size car which has been manufactured by Ford Australia since 1960. Each model from the XA series of 1972 onward has been designed, developed and built in Australia and/or New Zealand, following the phasing out of the American Falcon of 1960–71 which had been re-engineered...
    
    

• Squash
  • Heather Blundell
    Heather McKay
    Heather Pamela McKay AM MBE is a retired Australian squash player, who is considered by many to be the greatest female player in the history of the game, and possibly also Australia's greatest-ever sportswoman...
    
     wins the Women's Championship at the British Open Squash Championships
    British Open Squash Championships
    The British Open Squash Championships is the oldest and most established tournament in the game of squash. It is widely considered to be one of the two most prestigious tournaments in the game, alongside the World Open The British...
    
    

• Tennis
  • Australian Open men's singles: Rod Laver
    Rod Laver
    Rodney George "Rod" Laver MBE is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for titles won in career, and was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970...
    
     defeats Roy Emerson
    Roy Emerson
    Roy Stanley Emerson is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles. He is the only male player to have won singles and doubles titles at all four Grand Slam tournaments. His 28 Grand Slam titles are an all-time record for a male...
    
     8-6 0–6 6-4 6-4
  • Australian Open women's singles: Margaret Court defeats Jan Lehane O'Neill 6-0 6-2
  • Davis Cup
    Davis Cup
    The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
    
    : Australia
    Australia Davis Cup team
    The Australian Davis Cup team is the second most successful team ever to compete in the Davis Cup, winning the coveted title on 23 separate occasions, second behind the United States with 32....
    
     defeats Mexico
    Mexico Davis Cup team
    The Mexico Davis Cup team represents Mexico in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Federación Mexicana de Tenis.Mexico finished as runners-up in 1962. They currently compete in the Americas Zone Group II. They last competed in the World Group in 1997.-History:Mexico competed in...
    
      5-0 in the 1962 Davis Cup
    1962 Davis Cup
    The 1962 Davis Cup was the 51st edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 41 teams would enter the competition, 28 in the Europe Zone, 8 in the Eastern Zone, and 5 in the Americas Zone....
    
     final
  • French Open
    French Open (tennis)
    The French Open |Roland Garros]]) is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris, France, at the Stade Roland Garros. It is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world and the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments – the other three are...
    
    : Rod Laver wins the Men's Singles
  • French Open: Margaret Court wins the Women's Singles
  • French Open: Roy Emerson and Neale Fraser
    Neale Fraser
    Neale Andrew Fraser AO MBE is a former tennis player from Australia, born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a Victorian judge. He began playing tennis at age 11 and attended St Kevin's College, Melbourne where he became Captain of Tennis at the school.Fraser won Wimbledon in 1960 and the US...
    
     win the Men's Doubles
    French Open champions (Men's Doubles)
    -French Championships:-French Open:-Multiple champions:-Champions by country:*Please note that if the doubles partners are from the same country then that country gets two titles instead of one, while if they are from different countries then each country will get one title apiece....
    
    
  • US Open: Rod Laver wins the Men's Singles
  • US Open: Margaret Court wins the Women's Singles
  • Wimbledon
    The Championships, Wimbledon
    The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
    
    : Rod Laver wins the Men's Singles
  • Wimbledon: Bob Hewitt
    Bob Hewitt
    Robert "Bob" Anthony John Hewitt is a former professional male tennis player from Australia...
    
     and Fred Stolle
    Fred Stolle
    Frederick "Fred" Sydney Stolle is an Australian tennis player. He was born in Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. He is the father of former Australian Davis Cup player Sandon Stolle....
    
     win the Men's Doubles

• Yachting
  • Gretel makes Australias first challenge for the America's Cup
    America's Cup
    The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...
    
    , losing 4–1 to the American opponent Weatherly
  • Ondine takes line honours and Solo wins on handicap in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
    Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
    The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, Australia on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart. The race distance is approximately...
    
    

Births

• 22 February – Steve Irwin
  Steve Irwin
  Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin , nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted...
  
  , wildlife expert and media personality (d. 2006)
• 13 April – Andrew Jachno
  Andrew Jachno
  Andrew Jachno is a retired male race walker from Australia. He set his personal best in the men's 50 km in 1988. Jachno is a two-time national champion.-Achievements:-References:*...
  
  , race walker
• 24 April – Steve "Blocker" Roach, rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s
• 15 July – Michelle Ford
  Michelle Ford
  Michelle Jan Ford MBE was an Australian long distance freestyle and butterfly swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold medal in the 800 m freestyle at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. She was the only non Soviet bloc female swimmer to win an individual gold medal at the boycott-marred games...
  
  , swimmer
• 18 July – Shaun Micallef
  Shaun Micallef
  Shaun Patrick Micallef is an Australian actor, comedian and writer. After ten years of working in insurance law as a solicitor in Adelaide, Micallef moved to Melbourne to pursue a full-time comedy career in 1993...
  
  , comedian
• 6 August – Steven Lee
  Steven Lee
  Steven Lee is an Australian alpine skier. He competed in the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics, and had a competitive career lasting just on 25 years. He is the second of only 3 Australian skiers ever to claim victory on the Alpine World Cup circuit...
  
  , alpine skier
• 17 September – Baz Luhrmann
  Baz Luhrmann
  Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
  
  , film director and producer
• 26 September – Steve Moneghetti
  Steve Moneghetti
  Stephen James "Steve" Moneghetti is an Australian long-distance runner. Moneghetti has a degree in civil engineering, a graduate diploma in education and an honorary doctorate from the University of Ballarat...
  
  , long distance runner
• 10 November – Bob Lindner
  Bob Lindner
  Bob Lindner is a former Australian representative rugby league player and coach. He represented his country in the sport and is one of a handful of players to be man-of-the-match in State of Origin football more than once...
  
  , rugby league footballer and coach
• 11 November – James Morrison
  James Morrison (musician)
  James Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing...
  
   – jazz musician
• 5 December – Michael Harvey
  Michael Harvey (racewalker)
  Michael Harvey is a retired male race walker from Australia.He set his personal best in the men's 50 km in 1993. His best international result was an eleventh in the 1984 Summer Olympics. Harvey is a five-time national champion in the men's 50 km event.-Achievements:-External links:*...
  
  , racewalker
• 8 December – Steve Elkington
  Steve Elkington
  Stephen John Elkington is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He spent over 50 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings from 1995 to 1998.-Early years and education:...
  
  , golfer

Deaths

• 17 January – Frank Hurley
  Frank Hurley
  James Francis "Frank" Hurley, OBE was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars.His artistic style produced many memorable images but he also used staged...
  
   (b.1885), film maker and photographer
• 3 December – Mary Gilmore
  Mary Gilmore
  Dame Mary Gilmore DBE was a prominent Australian socialist poet and journalist.-Early life:Mary Jean Cameron was born on 16 August 1865 at Cotta Walla near Goulburn, New South Wales...
  
  (b.1865), poet and journalist