1978 in Australia
Encyclopedia
Incumbents
- Queen of Australia – Elizabeth II
- Governor GeneralGovernor-General of AustraliaThe 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...
– Sir Zelman Cowen - Prime MinisterPrime Minister of AustraliaThe 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...
– Malcolm FraserMalcolm FraserJohn Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role... - Premier of New South Wales – Neville WranNeville WranNeville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986...
- Premier of South Australia – Don DunstanDon DunstanDonald Allan "Don" Dunstan, AC, QC was a South Australian politician. He entered politics as the Member for Norwood in 1953, became state Labor leader in 1967, and was Premier of South Australia between June 1967 and April 1968, and again between June 1970 and February 1979.The son of a business...
- Premier of Queensland – Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
- Premier of Tasmania – Doug LoweDoug Lowe (Australian politician)Douglas Ackley "Doug" Lowe AM was the 35th Premier of Tasmania, from 1 December 1977 to 11 November 1981. His time as Premier coincided with controversy over a proposal to build a dam on Tasmania's Gordon River, which would have flooded parts of the Franklin River...
- Premier of Western AustraliaPremier of Western AustraliaThe 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...
– Sir Charles Court - Premier of Victoria – Rupert HamerRupert HamerSir Rupert James Hamer, AC, KCMG, ED , generally known until he was knighted in 1982 as Dick Hamer, Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 39th Premier of Victoria, serving from 1972 to 1981.-Early years:...
Events
- 13 February – Sydney Hilton bombingSydney Hilton bombingThe Sydney Hilton bombing occurred on 13 February 1978, when a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At the time the hotel was the site of the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting , a regional off-shoot of the biennial meetings of the heads...
killing 3 people and injuring 11 others. - 14 March – Stephen Matthews, aged 20, swept from the Natural Bridge off Albany, Western Australia, by a King Wave. Rescued by whale ship, the Cheynes II. First recorded survival of someone swept into the sea at The Gap and Natural Bridge.
- 30 March - Commonwealth Police (Federal Police) begin arresting 180 Greek-Australians said to be involved in a conspiracy to defraud the Department Of Social Security.
- 4 April – Cyclone AlbyCyclone AlbySevere Tropical Cyclone Alby was regarded as the most devastating tropical cyclone to impact southwestern Western Australia on record. Forming out of an area of low pressure on 27 March, Alby steadily developed as it tracked southwestward, parallel to Western Australia...
kills 5 people in Western Australia - 24 June – The inaugural Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, a gay rights march is held in Oxford Street, Sydney to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York.
- 7 October – The ALPAustralian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government of Neville Wran is re-elected with a massively increased majority, leading to his win being dubbed as a "Wranslide". - 8 October – Australia's Ken WarbyKen WarbyKen Warby is an Australian motorboat racer, who currently holds the Water speed record of 317.60 miles per hour...
sets the current world water speed record of 510 km/h (317.60 mph) at Blowering DamBlowering DamBlowering Dam is on the Tumut River in Australia. It is part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Associated with the dam is the Blowering Power Station....
, New South WalesNew South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. - 21 November – Last day of commercial whaling in Australia. No sperm whales caught that day by the chaser ships (Cheynes II, III and IV) operated by the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company at Albany, Western Australia. The last whale caught by an Australian whaling company was the day before, 20 November.
Arts and literature
- Brett WhiteleyBrett WhiteleyBrett Whiteley, AO was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize...
wins the Archibald PrizeArchibald PrizeThe Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
with Art, Life and the other thing - Jessica AndersonJessica AndersonJessica Margaret Queale Anderson was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She won several awards and has been published in Britain and the United States.-Life:...
's novel Tirra Lirra By the RiverTirra Lirra By the RiverTirra Lirra by the River is a Miles Franklin Award winning novel by Australian author Jessica Anderson.For Nora Porteous, life is a series of escapes. To escape her tightly knit small-town family, she marries, only to find herself confined again, this time in a stifling Sydney suburb with a...
wins the Miles Franklin AwardMiles Franklin AwardThe Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
Sport
- 6 May - MelbourneMelbourne Football ClubThe Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
and St. KildaSt. Kilda Football ClubThe St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed The Saints, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club plays in the Australian Football League, the sport's premier league....
set a still-standing record VFL/AFLAustralian Football LeagueThe Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
aggregate score of 52.33 (345) - 1 July - Footscray kick a record VFL score of 33.15 (213) beating the previous record by three points. Kelvin TempletonKelvin TempletonKelvin Templeton is a former Australian rules footballer. At sixteen years of age Templeton kicked 100 goals for Traralgon in the 1973 Latrobe Valley FL season...
and Ian DunstanIan DunstanIan Dunstan is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Footscray in the Victorian Football League ....
combine for 22 of the 33 goals. - 6 August – James Langford wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:19:29 in Caboolture.
- 19 September - After a controversial NSWRLNational Rugby LeagueThe National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
finals series with two draws, Manly thrash Cronulla 16-0 to win their fourth premiership with Graham EadieGraham EadieGraham "Wombat" Eadie , is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1970s and 80s who has been named amongst the nation's finest of the 20th century...
dominating. - 30 September - HawthornHawthorn Football ClubThe Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
18.13 (121) defeats North MelbourneNorth Melbourne Football ClubThe North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...
15.13 (103) for its fourth VFL premiership. - ArwonArwonArwon was a New Zealand bred Thoroughbred racehorse, by Aritzo from Fair Flash, who won the 1978 Melbourne Cup at 5 years of age....
wins the Melbourne CupMelbourne CupThe 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... - Western Australia wins the Sheffield ShieldPura CupThe 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...
- Apollo wins the Sydney to Hobart Yacht RaceSydney to Hobart Yacht RaceThe 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
- 25 January – Jason JohnsonJason Johnson (Australian rules footballer)Jason Johnson is retired Australian rules footballer who spent his entire professional career with Essendon of the Australian Football League ....
, Australian rules footballer - 7 February – Frank DrmicFrank DrmicFrank Drmic is an Australian professional basketball player.-Playing career:Frank Drmic's career began in the Australian National Basketball League - NBL in 1996, playing with the NBL South East Melbourne Magic. In his rookie season with the NBL South East Melbourne Magic, they won the National...
, basketball player - 1 March – Gavin Woods, water polo player
- 14 March – Karyne Di MarcoKaryne Di MarcoKaryne Di Marco is a female hammer thrower from Australia. Her personal best is 67.44 metres, achieved in March 2004 in Adelaide.-Achievements:-References:*...
, hammer thrower - 18 March – Brooke HansonBrooke HansonBrooke Louise Hanson OAM is a former Australian swimmer.A swimmer since the age of four, Hanson was the youngest swimmer on the Australian national team at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, where she finished fourth in the 200 m breaststroke...
, swimmer - 30 June – Ben CousinsBen CousinsBenjamin Luke "Ben" Cousins is a former Australian rules footballer, best known for his 270-game career with and in the Australian Football League ....
, AFL Footballer - 8 August – Kate RitchieKate RitchieKatherine "Kate" Ritchie is an Australian actress, best known for her long-running role as Sally Fletcher on the television soap opera Home and Away. She played the character for 20 years from 1988–2008...
, actress, radio & television personality - 22 September – Harry KewellHarry KewellHarold "Harry" Kewell is an Australian professional football midfielder who plays for Melbourne Victory in the A-League. Internationally he has received 55 caps, and scored 16 goals, while playing for the Australian national team...
, soccer player - 25 October – Matt ShirvingtonMatt ShirvingtonMatt Shirvington is an Australian athlete and television presenter who held the Australian 100m national sprint title from 1998 to 2002...
, track and field athlete - 22 November – Steven KingSteven King (footballer)Steven King is a former Australian rules footballer for Geelong and St Kilda in the Australian Football League .- Geelong :...
, plays with Geelong Football ClubGeelong Football ClubThe Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
Deaths
- 9 January – Eddie GilbertEddie Gilbert (cricketer)Eddie Gilbert was a Queensland Aboriginal cricketer. He was an exceptionally fast bowler.-Early years:...
, (b. 1905), Queensland cricketer - 14 May – Robert MenziesRobert MenziesSir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
(b. 1894), Prime Minister of Australia - 27 July – Robert HeffronRobert HeffronRobert 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:...
(b. 1890), Premier of New South Wales - 6 October – Johnny O'KeefeJohnny O'KeefeJohn Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Some of his hits include "Wild One" , "Shout!" and "She's My Baby"...
, (b. 1935), Australian rock and roll singer