1969 in Australia

← 1968 1967 1966 1969 in Australia → 1970 1971 1972
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	Other events of 1969 Federal election Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor General – Lord Casey (until 30 April), then Sir Paul Hasluck
• Prime Minister – John Gorton

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Robert Askin
• Premier of Queensland – Joh Bjelke-Petersen
• Premier of South Australia – Steele Hall
• Premier of Tasmania – Eric Reece (until 26 May), then Angus Bethune
• Premier of Victoria – Henry Bolte
• Premier of Western Australia – David Brand

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Roden Cutler
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Alan Mansfield
• Governor of South Australia – Major-General Sir James William Harrison
• Governor of Tasmania – Lieutenant General Sir Edric Bastyan
• Governor of Victoria – Major General Sir Rohan Delacombe
• Governor of Western Australia – Major General Sir Douglas Kendrew

Events

• 7 February – The Violet Town railway disaster: the passenger train Southern Aurora collides head-on with a freight train on the new Melbourne to Sydney train line. Nine people are killed.
• 30 April – Sir Paul Hasluck becomes Governor-General of Australia after the retirement of Lord Casey.
• 10 May – The 1969 Tasmanian election is held, resulting in a hung parliament with the ALP and Liberals winning 17 seats each. The deadlock is broken when Kevin Lyons of the Centre Party forms a coalition government with the Liberals and becomes Deputy Premier under Angus Bethune.
• 12 May – The Age newspaper in Melbourne begins the process of moving from Collins Street to Spencer Street. The move is completed on 6 October.
• 3 June – Melbourne-Evans collision – The Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in the South China Sea. Frank E. Evans is cut in half and sinks, killing 74 crew.
• 19 June – The Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission rules that equal pay for women doing the same work as men must be phased in by 1972.
• 26 September – The Poseidon bubble begins when the small mining company Poseidon NL discovers a large nickel deposit in Laverton, Western Australia.
• 25 October – A federal election is held. The incumbent Coalition government led by John Gorton defeats the Australian Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam.
• 11 November - Prime Minister John Gorton makes the most sweeping changes to the Federal Ministry since the Liberal-Country Party Coalition took office in 1949. Mr Gorton dropped three Ministers, recruited seven back-benchers to the Junior Ministry and promoted four new men to the Inner Cabinet. The biggest change was the dropping of Mr William McMahon from the Treasury. Mr McMahon, Treasurer since 1966, will be the new External Affairs Minister. The vital Treasury post will be filled by Mr Leslie Bury (former Minister for Labour and National Service). Another major Cabinet change was the promotion of the former Minister for Education and Science (Mr Malcolm Fraser) into the powerful Defence Ministry.^[1]
• 13 November - Former Minister for Air, Mr Dudley Erwin, expresses to journalists his belief that Prime Minister Gorton's young secretary, Miss Ainsley Gotto, was responsible for him being dropped from his ministerial position on 11 November, as well as asserting that Miss Gotto severely restricted access to the Prime Minister which he and other ministers had previously enjoyed. When asked what political manoeuvre had been used to get him out of office, he replied "it wiggles, it has a fine shape and its name is Ainsley Gotto".^[2]
  • Victorian SEC workers strike for 24 hours from midnight for the fourth time this year, causing widespread disruption to power supplies.^[3]
• 29 November – The rebuilding of the Indian Pacific rail line between Sydney and Perth to standard gauge is completed.
• 16 December – Prime Minister John Gorton announces that a withdrawal of Australian Army troops from the Vietnam War would begin in 1970.

Science and technology

• 20 July – NASA switches the main transmission feed of the Apollo 11 moon landing to Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in Canberra, then Parkes Observatory in New South Wales, which then broadcasts the mission to the world.

Arts and literature

• 4 May – An Australian production of the rock musical Hair opens in Sydney. Produced by Harry M. Miller, it features the debut of young American singer Marcia Hines.
• George Johnston's novel Clean Straw for Nothing wins the Miles Franklin Award

Film

• 27 March – 2000 Weeks (directed by Tim Burstall) is released. The film was one of the first features of the modern era in Australian cinema, although it was received poorly both critically and commercially.^[4]

Television

• 5 March – The last episode of spy series Hunter is aired.
• 11 March – Police procedural drama series Division 4 makes its debut on the Nine Network.
• 21 March – Graham Kennedy wins the Gold Logie for In Melbourne Tonight.

Sport

• 21 January – Boxer Johnny Famechon becomes world featherweight champion, when he defeats Cuban Jose Legra in a bout at the Albert Hall in London.
• 12 April – Carlton achieve the first double-century VFL score when they kick 30.30 (210) against Hawthorn, beating a previous record from 1931.
• 6 September – Richmond sets a new record VFL finals winning margin when it beats Geelong by 118 points. it is the first century winning margin in a finals match and beats the previous record margin of 88 points by Melbourne against Collingwood in the 1964 Second Semi.
• 20 September – The Balmain Tigers defeated South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NSWRL Rugby League Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
• 27 September – Richmond 12.13 (85) beats Carlton 8.12 (60) for its seventh premiership.
• 2 October – Tennis player Rod Laver beats fellow Australian Tony Roche in the men's singles final of the U.S. Open, achieving his second Grand Slam (having also won the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon in that year).
• 11 October – John Farrington wins his first men's national marathon title, clocking 2:21:02.8 in Sydney.
• 4 November – Rain Lover wins the Melbourne Cup.

Births

• 19 January – Luc Longley, basketball player
• 22 January – Shelley Sandie, basketball player
• 23 January – Danielle Woodhouse, water polo player
• 7 February – Fiona Robinson, basketball and handball player
• 3 March – Tony Modra, Australian Rules football player
• 17 March – Alison Forman, football (soccer) midfielder
• 1 April – Andrew Vlahov, basketball player
• 3 April – Ben Mendelsohn, actor
• 7 May - Rachael Robertson (writer), speaker, author and mentor
• 14 May – Cate Blanchett, actress
• 31 May – Juliet Haslam, field hockey defender
• 30 June – Mark Garner, track and field sprinter
• 7 July – Rina Bradshaw-Hill, triathlete
• 30 July – Simon Baker, actor
• 15 August – Bernard Fanning, singer
• 6 September – Michellie Jones, triathlete
• 9 September – Natasha Stott Despoja, politician
• 13 September – Shane Warne, cricketer
• 18 September – Brad Beven, triathlete
• 19 September – Kostya Tszyu, boxer
• 20 October – Laurie Daley, rugby league football commentator and former player
• 25 October – Alexander S. Foxhall, author

Deaths

• 14 May – Frederick Lane (born 1888), swimmer
• 3 August – Alexander Mair (born 1889), Premier of New South Wales (1939–1941)
• 25 August – Robert Cosgrove (born 1894), Premier of Tasmania (1939–1947, 1948–1958)
• 17 November – Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey (born 1890), Governor of South Australia (1939–1944)
• 21 November – Norman Lindsay (born 1879), artist
• 27 November – May Gibbs, (born 1877) children's author.

See also

• 1969
• 1960s

References