Neha Patil (Editor)

1940 in Australia

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Monarchy
  
George VI

Population
  
7,039,490

Prime minister
  
Robert Menzies

Elections
  
Federal, VIC

1940 in Australia

Governor-General
  
Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie

Incumbents

  • Monarch – King George VI
  • Governor-General – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie
  • Prime Minister – Robert Menzies
  • 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

  • 28 February – The Australian 7th Division is formed.
  • 16 March – A state election is held in Victoria. The Country Party led by Albert Dunstan is returned to government.
  • 14 June – The Volunteer Defence Corps is formed, a militia force based on the British Home Guard.
  • 6 July – The Story Bridge is opened in Brisbane.
  • 19 July – The Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney takes part in the sinking of the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni
  • 1 August – The first of sixty Bathurst class corvettes, HMAS Bathurst, is launched in Sydney.
  • 13 August – An RAAF Lockheed Hudson crashes near Canberra, killing three members of Cabinet and the Chief of the General Staff.
  • 3 September – The heavy cruiser HMAS Australia takes part in Operation Menace off Dakar.
  • 6 September – The British prison ship HMT Dunera docks in Sydney, carrying refugees and prisoners of war considered a danger to British security, for internment in Hay and Tatura.
  • 26 October – Double-decker buses replace the last cable trams in Melbourne.
  • Arts and literature

  • Max Meldrum wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Dr J Forbes McKenzie
  • The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead is published.
  • Film

  • Forty Thousand Horsemen, directed by Charles Chauvel and starring Chips Rafferty, is released
  • Sport

  • Old Rowley wins the Melbourne Cup
  • Beaulivre wins the Caulfield Cup
  • Beau Vite wins the Cox Plate
  • New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield
  • Births

  • 5 January – Athol Guy, musician
  • 19 January – Paul Calvert, Liberal Senator for Tasmania
  • 17 February – Marilyn Jones, ballet dancer
  • 22 February – Neil Brown, politician
  • 27 February – Bill Hunter, actor (died 2011)
  • 1 March – Robin Gray, Premier of Tasmania (1982–1989)
  • 8 March – Don Barker, actor
  • 19 March – Andrew Taylor, poet
  • 20 March – Paul Neville, politician
  • 12 April – Jack Hibberd, playwright
  • 16 April – Marion Halligan, writer
  • 26 April – Ian Geoghegan, race car driver (died 2003)
  • 15 June – Ken Fletcher, tennis player (died 2006)
  • 23 June – Diana Trask, country music singer
  • 25 June – Judy Amoore, athlete
  • 29 June – Ken Done, artist
  • 3 August – Judith Troeth, Liberal Senator for Victoria
  • 16 August – Bruce Beresford, film director
  • 18 August – Jan Owen, poet
  • 31 August – Jack Thompson, actor
  • 9 September – Hugh Morgan, businessman
  • 13 September – Kerry Stokes, chairman of the Seven Network
  • 15 September – Allan Andrews, NSW politician
  • 21 September – John Pochee, jazz musician
  • 3 October – Diana Warnock, radio broadcaster and politician
  • 4 October – Ian Kiernan, environmentalist, 1994 Australian of the Year
  • 5 October – Bob Cowper, cricketer
  • 15 October – Peter C. Doherty, medical researcher, Nobel Prize recipient
  • 19 October – Ian Causley, politician
  • 21 October – Peter Arnison, Governor of Queensland (1997–2003)
  • 1 November – John Bell, actor and theatre director
  • 4 November – John Sanderson, Governor of Western Australia (2000–2005)
  • 12 November – John Dowd, NSW politician
  • 7 December – Robin Miller, aviator and nurse (died 1975)
  • Deaths

  • 3 February – John Henry Michell, mathematician
  • 8 March – Michael Kelly (born 1850), Catholic Archbishop of Sydney (1911–1940)
  • 16 April – Herbert James Carter (born 1858), entomologist
  • 22 June – Monty Noble (born 1873), cricketer
  • 23 June – Hugh Denis Macrossan (born 1881), Queensland politician and judge
  • 6 July – Michael O'Connor (born 1865), WA politician
  • 22 July – Sir George Fuller (born 1861), Premier of New South Wales (1921)
  • 30 July – Arthur Merric Boyd (born 1862), painter
  • 30 July – Archibald Watson (born 1849), surgeon and professor of anatomy
  • 13 August – Geoffrey Street (born 1894), politician
  • 13 August – Henry Gullett (born 1878), politician
  • 13 August – James Fairbairn (born 1897), politician
  • 13 August – Sir Brudenell White (born 1876), Chief of the General Staff
  • 9 September – Percy Abbott (born 1869), politician
  • 11 September – Issy Smith (born 1890), soldier and Victoria Cross recipient
  • 22 September – Robert Blackwood
  • 2 October – Albert Green, politician
  • 14 October – Helen de Guerry Simpson (born 1897), novelist
  • 25 October – Thomas Waddell (born 1854), Premier of New South Wales (1904)
  • 31 October – Frank Anstey (born 1865), politician
  • 2 November – Colin Rankin (born 1869), soldier, politician, cane farmer and company director
  • 3 November – James Fowler, politician
  • 23 November – Stanley Argyle (born 1867), Premier of Victoria (1932–1935)
  • References

    1940 in Australia Wikipedia