The following lists events that happened during 1954 in Australia.
Incumbents
*
Monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...
–
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
*
Governor-General –
Sir William Slim
*
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
–
Robert Menzies
*
Chief Justice –
Sir Owen Dixon
State Premiers
*
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislatu ...
–
Joseph Cahill
John Joseph Cahill (21 January 189122 October 1959), also known as Joe Cahill or J. J. Cahill, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, railway worker, trade unionist and Labor Party Premier of New South Wales from 1952 to his death in 1 ...
*
Premier of Queensland
The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland.
By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...
–
Vince Gair
Vincent Clair Gair (25 February 190111 November 1980) was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Labor Party. He was e ...
State Governors
*
Governor of New South Wales –
Sir John Northcott
*
Governor of Queensland
The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor performs constitutional and ceremonial func ...
–
Sir John Lavarack
*
Governor of South Australia –
Sir Robert George
*
Governor of Tasmania
The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...
–
Sir Ronald Cross, 1st Baronet
*
Governor of Western Australia
The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutiona ...
–
Sir Charles Gairdner
Events
* 3 February –
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
arrives in Sydney on her first visit as monarch
* 13 February –
Mawson Station
The Mawson Station, commonly called Mawson, is one of three permanent bases and research outposts in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Mawson lies in Holme Bay in Mac. Robertson Land, East Antarctica in the Austra ...
in the
Australian Antarctic Territory
The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is a part of East Antarctica claimed by Australia as an external territory. It is administered by the Australian Antarctic Division, an agency of the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the En ...
is established
* During February, a cyclone hits the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
and northern New South Wales, killing 26
* 1 March -
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
and large parts of southern South Australia are shaken by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake, resulting in the injuries of 16 people, and a damage bill of £17 million (2017: $578 million).
* 3 April –
Vladimir Petrov, a Soviet diplomat, defects to Australia, sparking the
Petrov Affair
The Petrov Affair was a Cold War spy incident in Australia, concerning the defection of Vladimir Petrov, a KGB officer, from the Soviet embassy in Canberra in 1954. The defection led to a Royal Commission and the resulting controversy contribu ...
* Shirley Bliss wins the
Miss Australia Quest
* On 31 October, the first
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner.
The Vi ...
aircraft delivered to Australia crashed at
Mangalore Airport
Mangalore International Airport , is an international airport serving the coastal city of Mangalore, India. It is one of the only two international airports in Karnataka, the other being Kempegowda International Airport, Bangalore. Mangalore ...
while on a training flight only days after its arrival in Australia, killing 3 of the 7 people on board.
Science and technology
* The
Australian Academy of Science
The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soc ...
is established.
Arts and literature
*
Ivor Hele
Sir Ivor Henry Thomas Hele, CBE (13 June 1912 – 1 December 1993) was an Australian artist noted for portraiture. He was Australia's longest serving war artist and completed more commissioned works than any other in the history of Austr ...
wins the
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor ...
with his portrait of ''Rt Hon R G Menzies, PC, CH, QC, MP''
* Charles Bannon wins the
Blake Prize for Religious Art
The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and since 2016 has been a ...
with his work ''Judas Iscariot''
* ''
Overland'' literary magazine is founded, edited by
Stephen Murray-Smith
Stephen Murray-Smith AM (9 September 1922 – 31 July 1988) was an Australian writer, editor and educator.
Early life and education
Murray-Smith's father ran a lucrative business shipping Australian horses to India for the armed forces. It ena ...
Sport
* Cricket
**
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
wins the
Sheffield Shield
The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...
* Football
**
Brisbane Rugby League premiership:
Wests defeated
Brothers
A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...
35-18
**
New South Wales Rugby League premiership:
South Sydney defeated
Newtown 23-15
**
South Australian National Football League premiership: won by
Port Adelaide
**
Victorian Football League premiership:
Footscray defeated
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
102-51
* Golf
**
Australian Open: won by
Ossie Pickworth
**
Australian PGA Championship
The Australian PGA Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It is the home tournament of the Australian PGA. Since 2000 it has been held in the South East Queensland region. The tournament was part of the OneAsia Tour fro ...
: won by
Kel Nagle
* Horse Racing
** ''
Rising Fast
Rising Fast (1949 - 1978) was a champion New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who is the only horse to complete the Spring Grand Slam, winning the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, and Cox Plate in 1954. He also won the 1955 Caulfield Cup and c ...
'' wins the
Caulfield Cup
The Caulfield Cup is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held under handicap conditions, although the Melbourne Racing Club is in the process of turning the race into weight for age (WFA) conditions. This is for all horses ...
** ''Rising Fast'' wins the
Cox Plate
The W. S. Cox Plate is a Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old and over under Weight for age conditions, over a distance of 2040 metres (approximately 1m 2f), that is held by the Moonee Valley Racing Club at Moo ...
** ''Rising Fast'' wins the
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...
* Motor Racing
** The
Australian Grand Prix was held at
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
and won by
Lex Davison
Alexander Nicholas Davison (12 February 1923 – 20 February 1965) was a racing driver who won the Australian Grand Prix four times between 1954 and 1961 and won the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1957. He drove HWM-Jaguar, Ferrari, As ...
driving a
HWM Jaguar
* Tennis
**
Australian Open men's singles:
Mervyn Rose
Mervyn Gordon Rose AM (23 January 1930 – 23 July 2017) was an Australian male tennis player who won seven Grand Slam titles (singles, doubles and mixed doubles).
Rose was born in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, and turned professional in 19 ...
defeats
Rex Hartwig
Rex Noel Hartwig (2 September 1929 – 30 December 2022) was an Australian tennis player.
Early life
Rex Hartwig was born on 2 September 1929 in Culcairn, New South Wales. Both parents played tennis, and at age 10, Hartwig won a local tournam ...
6-2 0–6 6-4 6-2
**
Australian Open women's singles:
Thelma Coyne Long
Thelma Dorothy Coyne Long (née Coyne; 14 October 1918 – 13 April 2015) was an Australian tennis player and one of the female players who dominated Australian tennis from the mid-1930s to the 1950s. During her career she won 19 Grand Sl ...
defeats
Jenny Staley Hoad
Jenny Staley Hoad (born 3 March 1934) is an Australian former tennis player who was mainly active in the 1950s.
Career
In 1953 she won the junior singles title at the Australian Championships.
As Jenny Staley she reached the singles final o ...
6-3 6-4
**
Davis Cup:
Australia is defeated by the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
2–3 in the
1954 Davis Cup
The 1954 Davis Cup was the 43rd edition of the Davis Cup, the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 23 teams entered the Europe Zone and 7 teams entered the America Zone. The Eastern Zone was abandoned for this year and ...
final
**
Wimbledon:
Rex Hartwig
Rex Noel Hartwig (2 September 1929 – 30 December 2022) was an Australian tennis player.
Early life
Rex Hartwig was born on 2 September 1929 in Culcairn, New South Wales. Both parents played tennis, and at age 10, Hartwig won a local tournam ...
and
Mervyn Rose
Mervyn Gordon Rose AM (23 January 1930 – 23 July 2017) was an Australian male tennis player who won seven Grand Slam titles (singles, doubles and mixed doubles).
Rose was born in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, and turned professional in 19 ...
win the
Gentlemen's Pairs
**
Wimbledon:
Jaroslav Drobný
Jaroslav Drobný (; 12 October 1921 – 13 September 2001) was a World No. 1 amateur tennis and ice hockey champion. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959, w ...
defeats
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...
13–11 4–6 6–2 9–7 in the
Gentlemen's Singles
* Yachting
** ''Kurrewa IV'' takes line honours and ''Solveig IV'' wins on handicap in the
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
Births
* 10 January –
Greg Towns, footballer
* 25 January –
Kay Cottee, sailor
* 26 January –
Kim Hughes
Kimberley John Hughes (born 26 January 1954) is a former cricketer who played for Western Australia, Natal and Australia. He captained Australia in 28 Test matches between 1979 and 1984 before captaining a rebel Australian team in a tour of ...
, cricketer
* 27 April –
Mark Holden
Mark Ronald Holden (born 27 April 1954) is an Australian singer, actor, TV personality, record producer, songwriter, and barrister. He was a pop star in the 1970s and had four top 20 hit singles, "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (May 1976 ...
, singer and media personality
* 1 May –
Garry Who
Garry Who (born Garry Weston, 1 May 1954) is an Australian actor and comedian, best known for his role as Doug Stevens in the Australian sitcom '' All Together Now''.
Career
Beginning his working life as a signwriter, Who began his career in th ...
, actor and comedian
* 2 May –
Don Cameron, water polo player and coach
* 19 May –
Phil Rudd
Phillip Hugh Norman Rudd (born Phillip Hugh Norman Witschke Rudzevecius, 19 May 1954) is an Australian drummer, best known as the drummer of AC/DC across three stints. On the 1977 departure of bass guitarist Mark Evans from AC/DC, Rudd became ...
, musician
* 27 May –
Pauline Hanson, politician
* 30 June –
Wayne Swan
Wayne Maxwell Swan (born 30 June 1954), often colloquially referred to as Swanny, is an Australian politician who is National President of the Labor Party. He was previously the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Deputy Leader of the Labor ...
, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
* 2 July –
Scott W. Sloan, professor of civil engineering (died 2019)
* 11 July –
Paul Blackwell, actor (died 2019)
* 11 August –
Wally Carr
Wally Carr (11 August 1954 – 13 April 2019) was an Australian professional boxer. A Wiradjuri man who was born and raised in Wellington, New South Wales, Carr held twelve titles across six different divisions across his 15-year career as a box ...
, boxer (died 2019)
* 12 August –
Rob Borbidge
Robert Edward Borbidge (born 12 August 1954) is a former Australian politician who served as the 35th Premier of Queensland from 1996 to 1998. He was the leader of the Queensland branch of the National Party, and was the last member of that p ...
, Premier of Queensland
* 2 September –
Gai Waterhouse
Gabriel Marie "Gai" Waterhouse (née Smith; born 2 September 1954) is an Australian horse trainer and businesswoman. The daughter of Tommy J. Smith, a leading trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses, Waterhouse was born and raised in Sydney. After ...
, horse trainer
* 13 September –
Steve Kilbey
Steven John Kilbey (born 13 September 1954) is an English-Australian singer-songwriter and bass guitarist for the rock band the Church. He is also a music producer, poet, and painter. As of 2020, Kilbey has released 14 solo albums and has col ...
, musician
* 20 September –
James Moloney, author
* 27 September –
Ray Hadley
Raymond Morris Hadley OAM (born 27 September 1954) is an Australian talkback radio broadcaster and a rugby league football commentator for Channel Nine. He presents 2GB Sydney's Monday to Friday morning show, and leads the Continuous Call T ...
,
2GB radio announcer
*13 October –
Banduk Marika
Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika (13 October 1954 – 12 July 2021) was an artist and printmaker from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. She was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people, whose traditional land is Yalangb ...
, Indigenous artist and printmaker (died 2021)
* 15 October –
Steve Bracks, 44th Premier of Victoria
* 24 October –
Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Turnbull grad ...
, 29th Prime Minister of Australia
* 12 November –
Paul McNamee
Paul McNamee (born 12 November 1954) is an Australian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player and prominent sports administrator.
Tennis career Juniors
In his hometown, McNamee won the boys' singles tournament at the 1973 Australian Open.
...
, tennis player
* 22 November –
Carol Tomcala
Carol Tomcala (born 22 November 1954) is an Australian sports shooter. She competed in two events at the 1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly ...
, sports shooter
* 26 November –
Jacki MacDonald
Jacki MacDonald (born Jenine MacDonald; 26 November 1953) in Blackall, Queensland is a former Australian television personality, who now works in radio broadcasting.
Career
Popular in her home state of Queensland, MacDonald appeared on a number ...
, media personality
* 28 November – John McMartin, Pastor, ACC State President NSW, National Executive
* 29 November –
Steve Rogers (died 2006), Rugby league footballer
Deaths
*
10 January –
Chester Wilmot, war correspondent (b.
1911
A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole.
Events January
* January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...
)
*
19 September –
Miles Franklin
Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (14 October 187919 September 1954), known as Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel ''My Brilliant Career'', published by Blackwoods of Edinburgh in 1901. While ...
, writer and feminist (b.
1879)
*
14 November
Events Pre-1600 1601–1900
* 1680 – German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680, the first comet to be discovered by telescope.
*1770 – James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile. ...
–
Inigo Owen Jones, meteorologist and farmer (born in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
) (b.
1872
Events
January–March
* January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years.
* February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...
)
*
22 November
Events Pre-1600
* 498 – After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius is elected Pope in Santa Maria Maggiore.
* 845 – The first duke of Brittany, Nominoe, defeats the Fra ...
–
Roy Rene
Roy Rene (born Henry van der Sluys, 15 February 189122 November 1954) was an Australian comedian and vaudevillian. As the bawdy character Mo McCackie, Rene was one of the most well-known and successful Australian comedians of the 20th century.
...
, comedian (b.
1891
Events
January–March
* January 1
** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany.
** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence.
** Germany takes formal possession of its new Af ...
)
See also
*
List of Australian films of the 1950s
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1954 in Australia
Australia
Years of the 20th century in Australia