1941 in Australia

Infobox Australian year
monarch = George VI
governor-general = Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
pm =Robert Menzies, Arthur Fadden, John Curtin
population = 7,109,898
australian =
elections =QLD, NSW, SA, TAS"See also:"
1940 in Australia,
other events of 1941,
1942 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 (until August 28), then Arthur Fadden (until October 7), then John Curtin

tate Premiers

*Premier of New South Wales – Alexander Mair (until May 16), then William McKell
*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

*March 25 – The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) is formed.
*March 31 – The Siege of Tobruk begins.
*April 7 – The Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) is formed.
*May 10 – A general election is held in New South Wales. The ALP led by William McKell defeats the incumbent United Australia Party and Premier Alexander Mair.
*May 12 – "The Daily Mirror" newspaper is first published in Sydney.
*June 30 – HMAS "Waterhen" sinks off Libya – the first Australian naval vessel lost in the war.
*October 3 – Prime Minister Arthur Fadden resigns following the rejection of his budget by two independent MPs.
*October 7 – John Curtin is sworn in as Prime Minister after Arthur Fadden's government loses majority support in the House of Representatives.
*November 11 – The Australian War Memorial is opened in Canberra.
*November 19 – The light cruiser HMAS "Sydney" engages the German auxiliary cruiser "Kormoran" in an hour-long battle off the coast of Western Australia. Both ships are sunk, the "Sydney" going down with 645 crew.
*December 9 – Australia declares war on Japan, and the Axis powers of Finland, Hungary and Romania.
*December 13 – A general election is held in Tasmania. The Labor Party lead by Robert Cosgrove is returned to power.

Arts and literature

* William Dargie wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of "Sir James Elder, KBE"

port

*September 27 – Melbourne wins the 45th VFL Premiership, defeating Essendon 19.13 (127) to 13.20 (98).
*November 4 – "Skipton" wins the Melbourne Cup.

* "Velocity" wins the Caulfield Cup
* "Beau Vite" wins the Cox Plate
* The Sheffield Shield is not contested due to war

Births

*January 29 – Maggie Kirkpatrick, actress
*February 2 – John Cornell, actor and producer
*February 4 – Russell Cooper, Premier of Queensland (1989)
*March 11 – Kim Santow, NSW Supreme Court judge
*March 29 – Michael Thornhill, film producer, screenwriter and film director
*March 31 – Faith Leech, swimmer
*April 10 – Wendy Fatin, politician
*April 17 – Bill Landeryou, politician
*April 24 – John Williams, classical guitarist
*May 11 – Ian Redpath, cricketer
*May 18 – Lobby Loyde, rock music guitarist (d. 2007)
*May 31 – Julian Croft, poet
*June 4 – Kenneth G. Ross, playwright
*June 24 – Graham McKenzie, cricketer
*June 28 – Harry Quick, politician
*July 31 – Heather McKay, squash player
*September 1 - Graeme Langlands, rugby league footballer
*September 22 – Murray Bail, writer
*September 27 – Gay Kayler, country music singer
*October 3 – John Elliott, businessman
*October 14 – David Kemp, politician
*October 16 – Genevieve Lloyd, philosopher and feminist
*October 25 – Helen Reddy, singer
*October 28 – Fred Chaney, WA politician
*November 16 – Max Gillies, actor
*December 13 – Dixie Willis, middle distance runner

Deaths

*March 18 – Harry Boan (b. 1860), founder of Boans department store
*April 1 – John Chamberlain (b. 1884), cricketer
*April 5 – Banjo Paterson (b. 1864), bush poet, author and journalist
*April 12 – James Boyd (b. 1867), politician
*April 15 – Emily Pelloe (b. 1878), botanical illustrator
*May 4 – Chris McKivat (b. 1879), rugby union and league player
*May 8 – Alexander Hay (b. 1865), politician
*June 15 – John Lynch (b. 1862), politician
*June 24 – Francis Anderson (b. 1858), philosopher
*July 1 – Francis Birtles (b. 1881), adventurer
*July 7 – Randolph Bedford (b. 1868), writer and Queensland politician
*July 27 – James Ronald (b. 1861), politician
*July 31 – Ron Barassi, Sr. (b. 1913), Australian rules footballer
*August 1 – James Drake (b. 1850), member of the first federal ministry
*August 23 – Jack O'Connor (b. 1875), cricketer
*August 30 – Gregan McMahon (b. 1874), actor and theatrical producer
*August 31 – Thomas Bavin (b. 1874), Premier of New South Wales (1927–1930)
*September 1 – Millice Culpin (b. 1846), politician
*September 5 – George Marchant (b. 1857), soft drink manufacturer
*October 1 – John Longstaff (b. 1861), artist
*November 18 – Chris Watson (b. 1867), Prime Minister of Australia (1904)
*November 19 – Joseph Burnett (b. 1899), captain of the HMAS "Sydney"

ee also

*1941
*1940s