Australia was the host nation for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. However, due to Australian quarantine restrictions the equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden. 294 competitors, 250 men and 44 women, took part in 140 events in 18 sports.
Betty Cuthbert — Athletics, Women's 100 metres
Betty Cuthbert — Athletics, Women's 200 metres
Shirley Strickland — Athletics, Women's 80 m Hurdles
Norma Croker, Betty Cuthbert, Fleur Wenham, and Shirley Strickland — Athletics, Women's 4 × 100 m Relay
Joey Browne and Anthony Marchant — Cycling, Men's 2000 m Tandem
Jon Henricks — Swimming, Men's 100 m Freestyle
Murray Rose — Swimming, Men's 400 m Freestyle
Murray Rose — Swimming, Men's 1500 m Freestyle
David Theile — Swimming, Men's 100 m Backstroke
John Devitt, Jon Henricks, Kevin O'Halloran, and Murray Rose — Swimming, Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay
Dawn Fraser — Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle
Lorraine Crapp — Swimming, Women's 400 m Freestyle
Lorraine Crapp, Dawn Fraser, Faith Leech, and Sandra Morgan — Swimming, Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay
Graham Gipson, Kevan Gosper, Leon Gregory, and David Lean — Athletics, Men's 4 × 400 m Relay
Chilla Porter — Athletics, Men's High Jump
Stuart MacKenzie — Rowing, Men's Single Sculls
John Devitt — Swimming, Men's 100 m Freestyle
John Monckton — Swimming, Men's 100 m Backstroke
Lorraine Crapp — Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle
Dawn Fraser — Swimming, Women's 400 m Freestyle
John Scott and Roland Tasker — Sailing, Men's Sharpie 12 m²
Hector Hogan — Athletics, Men's 100 metres
John Landy — Athletics, Men's 1500 metres
Allan Lawrence — Athletics, Men's 10.000 metres
Norma Thrower — Athletics, Women's 80 m Hurdles
Marlene Mathews — Athletics, Women's 100 metres
Marlene Mathews — Athletics, Women's 200 metres
Kevin Hogarth — Boxing, Men's Welterweight
Walter Brown and Dennis Green — Canoeing, Men's K2 10,000 m Kayak Pairs
Dick Ploog — Cycling, Men's 1000 m Sprint (Scratch)
Murray Riley and Mervyn Wood — Rowing, Men's Double Sculls
Michael Aikman, Angus Benfield, David Boykett, Bryan Doyle, Harold Hewitt, Jim Howden, Walter Howell, Garth Manton, and Adrian Monger — Rowing, Men's Eights
Gary Chapman — Swimming, Men's 100 m Freestyle
Faith Leech — Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle
Douglas Buxton, Devereaux Mytton and Jock Sturrock — Sailing, Men's 5½ Meter Class
Men's 110m Hurdles
James Joyce
Heat — 14.7s (→ did not advance)
Kenneth Doubleday
Heat — 14.8s (→ did not advance)
John Chittick
Heat — 14.9s (→ did not advance)
Men's Marathon
John Russell — 2:41:44 (→ 18th place)
Keith Ollerenshaw — 2:48:12 (→ 25th place)
Les Perry — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Men's Team Competition
Preliminary Round:
Lost to Brazil (66-89)
Lost to Chile (56-78)
Defeated Thailand (87-48)
Lost to Formosa (73-86)
Defeated Singapore (98-74)
Classification Matches:
9th/12th place: Lost to Canada (83-38)
11th/12th place: Lost to Formosa (87-70) → 12th place
Team Roster:
Peter Demos
Geoff Heskett
Peter Bumbers
Stan Dargis
Inga Freidenfelds
Colin Burdett
George Dancis
Peter Sutton
Algis Ignatavicius
Merv Moy
Ken Finch
Bruce Flick
Head Coach: Ken Watson
Sprint
Dick Ploog — Bronze Medal
Time trial
Warren Scarfe — 1:12.1 (→ 4th place)
Team pursuit
Cliff Burvill
Frank Brazier
Roy Moore
Warren Scarfe — 9th place
Tandem
Anthony Marchant
Joey Browne — Gold Medal
Individual road race
John O'Sullivan — 5:36:58 (→ 41st place)
Jim Nevin — 5:47:02 (→ 44th place)
Ed Nestor — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Jack Trickey — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Men's 3m Springboard
Arthur Winther
Preliminary Round — 71.04 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
Joseph McCann
Preliminary Round — 69.18 (→ did not advance, 19th place)
Ronald Faulds
Preliminary Round — 68.84 (→ did not advance, 20th place)
Men's 10m Platform
Francis Murphy
Preliminary Round — 66.29 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
William Tully
Preliminary Round — 65.49 (→ did not advance, 18th place)
Barry Holmes
Preliminary Round — 58.01 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)
Women's 3m Springboard
Barbara McAulay
Preliminary Round — 60.19 (→ did not advance, 13th place)
Roslyn Barton
Preliminary Round — 58.50 (→ did not advance, 15th place)
Pat Howard
Preliminary Round — 53.89 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
Women's 10m Platform
Barbara McAulay
Preliminary Round — 45.67 (→ did not advance, 14th place)
Roslyn Barton
Preliminary Round — 41.96 (→ did not advance, 15th place)
Adele Price
Preliminary Round — 35.28 (→ did not advance, 18th place)
21 fencers, 18 men and 3 women, represented Australia in 1956.
Men's foil
Brian McCowage
Michael Sichel
David McKenzie
Men's team foil
Ray Buckingham, Brian McCowage, Rod Steele, David McKenzie, Michael Sichel, Tom Cross
Men's épée
Ivan Lund
Richard Stone
Laurence Harding-Smith
Men's team épée
James Wolfensohn, Ivan Lund, Keith Hackshall, Hilbert Van Dijk
Men's sabre
Graham McKenzie
Leslie Fadgyas
Sandor Szoke
Men's team sabre
Leslie Fadgyas, Alexander Martonffy, Emeric Santo, Leslie Kovacs, Sandor Szoke
Women's foil
Denise O'Brien
Lois Joseph
Joy Hardon
Men's Team Competition
Team Roster
Alan Barblett
Geoffrey Bennett
Brian Booth
Kevin Carton
Kenneth Clarke
Ian Dick
John Dwyer
Maurice Foley
Louis Hailey
Glen Jobson
Dennis Kemp
Keith Leeson
Donald Mecklem
Eric Pearce
Gordon Pearce
Melville Pearce
Kenneth Reid
Raymond Whiteside
Three male pentathletes represented Australia in 1956.
Individual
Neville Sayers
Sven Coomer
George Nicoll
Team
Neville Sayers
Sven Coomer
George Nicoll
Twelve shooters represented Australia in 1956.
25 m pistol
Johnnie Maitland
Peter Papps
50 m pistol
Len Tolhurst
Rodney Johnson
300 m rifle, three positions
Ian Wrigley
Norman Goff
50 m rifle, three positions
Don Tolhurst
Norman Rule
50 m rifle, prone
Don Tolhurst
Norman Rule
100m running deer
Colin Anderson
Noel Hall
Trap
John Bryant
Clement Mudford