1940 in Australia

Infobox Australian year
monarch = George VI
governor-general = Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
pm =Robert Menzies
population = 7,039,490
australian =
elections =Federal, VIC"See also:"
1939 in Australia,
other events of 1940,
1941 in Australia and the
Timeline of Australian history.

Incumbents

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

tate 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

tate 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

*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.

cience & Technology

Arts and literature

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

Film

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

port

* "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

* 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 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)

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)

ee also

*1940
*1940s