This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

1940 in Australia
Monarch	George VI
Governor-General	Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
Prime Minister	Robert Menzies
Population	7,039,490
Elections	Federal, VIC

See also: 1939 in Australia, other events of 1940, 1941 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.

Contents 1 Incumbents 1.1 State Premiers 1.2 State Governors 2 Events 3 Science and technology 4 Arts and literature 5 Film 6 Sport 7 Births 8 Deaths 9 See also

[edit] Incumbents

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

[edit] State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Alexander Mair
• Premier of Queensland – William Forgan Smith
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford
• Premier of Tasmania – Robert Cosgrove
• Premier of Victoria – Albert Dunstan
• Premier of Western Australia – John Willcock

[edit] 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

[edit] Events

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

[edit] Science and technology

[edit] Arts and literature

• Max Meldrum wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Dr J Forbes McKenzie

[edit] Film

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

[edit] 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

[edit] Births

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

[edit] Deaths

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

[edit] See also

• 1940
• 1940s