1969 in Australia

1969 in Australia
Monarchy	Elizabeth II
Governor-General	Richard Casey, then Paul Hasluck
Prime minister	John Gorton
Population	12,008,635
Elections	Federal, TAS, QLD

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1969
in
Australia

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Decades:

1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s

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

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.

References

↑ "Sweeping Ministry Changes- Four New Faces in Cabinet". The Age. 12 November 1969.
↑ Barnes, Allan (14 November 1969). "Ainsley's Champagne Toast Turns Sour". The Age.
↑ "At Midnight Tomorrow, Victoria Stops". The Age. 12 November 1969.
↑ 2000 Weeks (1969), Australian Screen.

Years in Australia (1788–present)

1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800

1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900

1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Timeline of Australian history

1969 in Oceania

Sovereign states	Australia Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu

Associated states of New Zealand	Cook Islands Niue

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