- 1999 in Australia
Infobox Australian year
monarch =Elizabeth II
governor-general =William Deane
pm =John Howard
population = 18,925,855
australian =
elections =VIC ,NSW "See also:"1998 in Australia ,
other events of 1999,2000 in Australia ----See also:
*1999 Australian incumbents Incumbents
*
Queen of Australia -HM Queen Elizabeth II
*Governor General -Sir William Deane .
*Prime Minister -John Howard
*Premier of New South Wales -Bob Carr
*Premier of South Australia -John Olsen
*Premier of Queensland -Peter Beattie
*Premier of Tasmania -Jim Bacon
*Premier of Western Australia -Richard Court
*Premier of Victoria -Jeff Kennett , thenSteve Bracks
*Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory -Kate Carnell
*Chief Minister of the Northern Territory -Shane Stone , then Denis Burke.
*Chief Minister of Norfolk Island -George Charles Smith Events
*
March 27 - The ALP government of Bob Carr is re-elected inNew South Wales .
*April 14 - A massive hailstorm hitsSydney , with most of the damage being centred on the Eastern Suburbs. It is the costliest natural disaster inAustralia n history, causing $1.7 billion in insured damages.
*May 11 - Thebiotechnology industry receives a record $800 million in the federal budget.
*May 21 - Eight decaying bodies are found in barrels in a disused bank vault north ofAdelaide , marking the beginning of theSnowtown murders case, which wereAustralia 's worst everserial killing s. More bodies were found underneath a house in Adelaide onMay 26 .
*June 28 - The GST bill is passed through the Senate, with the help of most of theAustralian Democrats , in exchange for exemptions on fresh food.
*June 30 -Tim Fischer retires as federal leader of the National Party & is replaced by John Anderson the next day.
*July 27 - A canyoning disaster atSaxetenbach Gorge nearInterlaken inSwitzerland . 21 tourists, 14 of them Australian, are killed.
*August 26 - ThePrime Minister creates a controversy when he avoids the use of the word 'sorry' when a motion was tabled in Parliament expressing 'deep & sincere regret thatindigenous Australians suffered injustices under the practises of past generations'.
*August 30 -East Timor votes for independence fromIndonesia . In the violence that follows, Australia is a major contributor ofpeacekeeping forces.
*September 18 - In a shock result, Steve Bracks & the Labor Party form aminority government with three rural independents to oust the ruling Liberal/Nationalcoalition government of Jeff Kennett in Victoria.
*November 3 - The Reserve Bank announce aninterest rate increase of 0.25%, the first since1994 .
*November 6 - A referendum is held to determine whether Australia should become arepublic & whether apreamble is inserted into the constitution recognising the Aborigines as Australia's first people. The 'no' vote scores 54% on the republic question & 60% on the preamble question.
*November 14 - In response to the growing number ofillegal immigrants , most of whom arrived byboat , the government allowspolice to board vessels ininternational waters . OnNovember 23 ,refugees were barred from seeking asylum in they had lived somewhere else for more than seven days or had the right to live somewhere else.Arts & Literature
*
Murray Bail 's novel "Eucalyptus" wins theMiles Franklin Award Film
The Craic Television
*
February 1 - QSTV becomes an affiliate of theSeven Network , becoming known asSeven Central .
*March -WIN Television WA commences broadcasting to regional & remoteWestern Australia , ending the long-time monopoly held byGolden West Network .
*The Seven Network becomes the firstAustralian television network to introduce a watermark on its programs, although the watermark is not allowed to be broadcast on news or current affairs programs or "Deal Or No Deal" from 2004 onwards.
*November 27 - The last ever episode of "Hey Hey It's Saturday " goes to air.port
*
February 14 – Stadium Australia (nowTelstra Stadium ) is opened to the public for the first time.
*March 6 – A world record crowd of 104,583 attend the first rugby league matches held at Stadium Australia (nowTelstra Stadium). TheNewcastle Knights defeat theManly-Warringah Sea Eagles 41-10 & theParramatta Eels defeat theSt George Illawarra Dragons 20-10 in what is also the joint venture team's first match.
*March 18 – First day of the Australian Track & Field Championships for the 1998-1999 season, which are held at theOlympic Park inMelbourne, Victoria . The 10,000 metres was conducted at the Zatopek Classic, Melbourne onDecember 5 ,1998 . The men's decathlon event was staged at the Hobart Grand Prix onFebruary 25 -27.
*May 5 – South Melbourne becomeNational Soccer League Champions for a record equaling 4th time, defeatingSydney United 2-1 atOlympic Park .
*June 6 –Tony Lockett becomes the greatest goalscorer in VFL/AFL history by overtakingGordon Coventry 's long held record of 1299 career goals when he scores career goal number 1300 against theCollingwood Magpies at theSydney Cricket Ground . Tony Lockett announces his retirement onAugust 14 .
*June 20 – Australia wins the1999 Cricket World Cup , defeating Pakistan in the final.
*July 11 –Shaun Creighton wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:16:03 inBrisbane , whileCarolyn Schuwalow claims her second women's title in 2:41:39.
*July 27 - Foundation clubs theBalmain Tigers &Western Suburbs Magpies vote to form the game's second joint venture team, theWests Tigers . The team start playing as a joint venture in2000 .
*August 13 – TheAdelaide Thunderbirds defeat theAdelaide Ravens 62-30 in theCommonwealth Bank Trophy netball grand final
*September 18 – In one of the classic matches ofAustralian rules football , theCarlton Blues (16.8.104) defeat theEssendon Bombers (14.19.103) in the preliminary final.
*September 25 – The Kangaroos (19.10.124) defeat the Carlton Blues (12.17.89) to win the 103rd VFL/AFL premiership. It is the first all-Victorian grand final since1995 & the first time the cup has not been won by the Adelaide Crows since1996 .
*September 26 – A new world record crown forrugby league is set when 107,961 people attend the firstNational Rugby League grand final held at Stadium Australia. In one of the most memorable & controversial grand finals in history, theMelbourne Storm , in just their second season of existence, defeat theSt George Illawarra Dragons 20-18. The final outcome is determined when a penalty try is given toMelbourne 'sCraig Smith . Melbourne's win means that both the AFL trophy & NRL trophy have been won by teams from the same city for the first time.
*October 3 - In the third year of the split in the organisation of theBathurst 1000 the traditional race was held for the last time and won by Paul Morris as the Bathurst 500 was declared after just 310 of the scheduled 500 kilometres due to unrelenting rain. It was a justification for Morris and the BMW team after being disqualified from victory two years ago.
*October 10 – South Sydney supporters rally through the streets of Sydney to protest against the rationalisation of the NRL to 14 teams for 2000.
*October 15 – TheSouth Sydney Rabbitohs are put in lockdown for 2000.
*November 2 – Rogan Josh wins theMelbourne Cup .
*November 6 – Australia wins the 1999Rugby World Cup , defeating France 35-12 in the final.
*November 14 –Steven Richards successfully defended his FAI Bathurst 1000 crown with co-driverGreg Murphy forGibson Motor Sport . It was the third and final win for the GMS team.Unknown Dates
*Australia wins the
1999 Netball World Championships , defeatingNew Zealand in the final.Births
Deaths
*
February 6 -Don Dunstan (b. 1926), former Premier of South Australia
*April 24 -Arthur Boyd (b. 1920), painter
*May 21 -Colin Hayes (b. 1924), champion trainer of thoroughbred racehorses
*June 6 -Anne Haddy (b. 1930), actress
*June 25 - Sir Peter Abeles (b. 1924), businessman
*September 23 -Ivan Goff (b. 1910), screenwriter
*October 29 -Eric Reece (b. 1909), Premier of Tasmania
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