The following lists events that happened during 1978 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 Zelman Cowen *

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 ...

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Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

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Doug Anthony John Douglas Anthony, (31 December 192920 December 2020) was an Australian politician. He served as leader of the National Party of Australia from 1971 to 1984 and was the second and longest-serving Deputy Prime Minister, holding the position ...

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

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Bill Hayden William George Hayden (born 23 January 1933) is an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 1983, and served as ...

* Chief Justice –

Sir Garfield Barwick Sir Garfield Edward John Barwick, (22 June 190313 July 1997) was an Australian judge who was the seventh and longest serving Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1964 to 1981. He had earlier been a Liberal Party politician, serving as a ...

State and territory leaders

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 ...

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Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman ...

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Peter Coleman William Peter Coleman (15 December 1928 – 31 March 2019) was an Australian writer and politician. A widely published journalist for over 60 years, he was editor of '' The Bulletin'' (1964–1967) and of '' Quadrant'' for 20 years, and publi ...

(until 7 October), then John Mason *

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 ...

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Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...

– Tom Burns (until 28 November), then Ed Casey *

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

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Don Dunstan Donald Allan Dunstan (21 September 1926 – 6 February 1999) was an Australian politician who served as the 35th premier of South Australia from 1967 to 1968, and again from 1970 to 1979. He was a member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for th ...

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David Tonkin David Oliver Tonkin AO (20 July 1929 – 2 October 2000) was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of South Australia from 18 September 1979 to 10 November 1982. He was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Bragg at the 1 ...

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of ...

– Doug Lowe **

–

Max Bingham Sir Eardley Max Bingham (18 March 1927 – 30 November 2021), was an Australian politician. He was Deputy Premier and Opposition Leader of Tasmania, who represented the electorate of Denison for the Liberal Party in the Tasmanian House of As ...

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assemb ...

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Rupert Hamer Sir Rupert James Hamer, (29 July 1916 – 23 March 2004), generally known until he was knighted in 1982 as Dick Hamer, was an Australian Liberal Party politician who served as the 39th Premier of Victoria from 1972 to 1981. Early years Hamer ...

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Frank Wilkes Frank Noel Wilkes (16 June 1922 – 20 August 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the Leader of the Labor Opposition in Victoria from 1977 to 1981. Early life Wilkes was born in Melbourne and educated at Northcote Primary and Se ...

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...

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Sir Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

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Colin Jamieson Colin John Jamieson, AO JP (26 May 1923 – 27 March 1990), was a politician in Western Australia. A member of the Labor Party, he served as a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1953 until 1986, as the Minister for Wo ...

(until 21 February), then Ron Davies * Majority Leader/Chief Minister of the Northern Territory –

Paul Everingham Paul Anthony Edward Everingham (born 4 February 1943) is a former Australian politician who was the head of government of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1977 to 1984, serving as the second and last Majority Leader (1977–1978) and ...

–

Jon Isaacs Jonathan Martin Isaacs (born 10 September 1949) is an Australian former politician. He was the Labor member for Millner in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 1981, and was the ALP's first leader in that body and the ...

Governors and administrators

* Governor of New South Wales – Sir Roden Cutler *

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 James Ramsay * Governor of South Australia – Sir Keith Seaman *

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 Stanley Burbury *

Governor of Victoria The governor of Victoria is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the Australian state of Victoria. The governor is one of seven viceregal representatives in the country, analogous to the governors of the other states, and th ...

– Sir Henry Winneke *

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 Wallace Kyle *

Administrator of Norfolk Island The administrator of Norfolk Island acts as a representative both of The Crown and of the Government of Australia, as well as carrying out other duties according to the ''Norfolk Island Amendment Act 2015''.Administrator of the Northern Territory The Administrator of the Northern Territory is an official appointed by the Governor-General of Australia to represent the government of the Commonwealth in the Northern Territory, Australia. They perform functions similar to those of a state gov ...

– John England (from 1 June)

Events

January

1 January January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year ...

– **Another Vietnamese refugee boat arrives at night, from a camp off the Malaysian coast. **The Festival of Sydney begins. **A jail warder, Victor Sullivan is struck on the head by a prisoner at Parramatta Jail. * 2 January – Senator

Neville Bonner Neville Thomas Bonner AO (28 March 19225 February 1999) was an Australian politician, and the first Aboriginal Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia. He was appointed by the Queensland Parliament to fill a casual vacancy ...

attacks the Queensland Government over delays in its housing reconstruction programme for Mornington Island, which was ravaged by Cyclone Ted more than a year ago. *

3 January Events Pre-1600 *AD 69, 69 – The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. * 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (ex ...

– **Bela Csidei, a prominent Sydney businessman, is alleged in the Darwin Magistrates' Court to have been involved in growing marijuana in the Northern Territory. **Acting Health Minister Mr McLeay reiterates the Federal Government's election promise to keep the Medibank levy and ceiling at the same level for the next six months. **Queensland Premier

announces that he will ask churches throughout Queensland to hold a day of prayer for rain, suggesting a date of 15 January. *

4 January Events Pre-1600 *46 BC – Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina. * 871 – Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred are defeated by a Danish invasion army. 1601–1900 *1649 – Engli ...

– **The Australian dollar is devalued from 89.4 to 89.2 due to a drop in the US dollar to bring the effect devaluation since November 1976 to 15.3%. **Acting Prime Minister

announces that the Federal Government knew that Arab nations operated a blacklist for more than 20 years and that some Australian companies were on it, but that the Government had never been told officially that certain companies were being boycotted. * 5 January – **Corrective Services Commissioner, W. McGeechan, talks 120 maximum security prisoners back into their cells after a 5-hour protest sit-in at Parramatta jail. **Aboriginal Senator

makes a complaint to the Queensland State Licensing Commission about the Mount Isa hotel which refused him service on Boxing Day. **Immigration and Ethnic Affairs Minister

Michael MacKellar Michael John Randal MacKellar (27 October 1938 – 9 May 2015) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1994, representing the Division of Warringah. He was M ...

reverses a department decision thereby allowing a Uruguayan woman to join her widowed brother, Ruben Molina, in Sydney. *

18 January Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later. * 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail. * 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chines ...

– New South Wales Premier

meets with prison union officials about their demand that Bathurst Jail be reopened to relieve over crowding and staff shortages in other prisons.

February

* 13 February – Terrorism arrives in Australia for the very first time with the Sydney Hilton bombing killing 3 people and injuring 11 others.

March

* 14 March – Stephen Matthews, aged 20, swept from the

Natural Bridge A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion ...

off Albany, by a King Wave. Rescued by whale ship, the ''Cheynes II''. First recorded survival of someone swept into the sea at The Gap and Natural Bridge. * 30 March – Commonwealth Police (Federal Police) begin arresting 180 Greek-Australians said to be involved in a conspiracy to defraud the

Department of Social Security The Department of Social Security (DSS) was a governmental agency in the United Kingdom from 1988 to 2001. The old abbreviation is still often used informally. Advertisements for rented accommodation used to describe prospective tenants who wou ...

April

4 April Events Pre-1600 *503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. * 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground. * 611 – ...

–

Cyclone Alby Severe Tropical Cyclone Alby was regarded as the most devastating tropical cyclone to impact southwestern Western Australia on record. Forming out of an area of low pressure on 27 March 1978, Alby steadily developed as it tracked southwestward, ...

kills 5 people in Western Australia.

May

* 15 May – Timezone opens at Perth after longest-serving prime minister dies

June

24 June Events Pre-1600 *1312 BC – Mursili II launches a campaign against the Kingdom of Azzi-Hayasa. * 109 – Roman emperor Trajan inaugurates the Aqua Traiana, an aqueduct that channels water from Lake Bracciano, northwest of Rome. ...

– The inaugural

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest such festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the ...

parade, a gay rights march is held in Oxford Street, Sydney to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York. * 25 June – Trudie Adams disappears from the Surf Life Saving Club in

Newport, New South Wales Newport is a suburb of northern Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council. It is part of the Northern Beaches region. History Prior to European colonisation, the Newport are ...

July

* 1 July – The

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

attains self-government; Majority Leader

becomes the inaugural

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

August

* 25 August – Michelle Pope and Stephen Lapthorne disappear. Still missing .

October

7 October Events Pre-1600 * 3761 BC – The epoch reference date (start) of the modern Hebrew calendar. *1403 – Venetian–Genoese wars: The Genoese fleet under a French admiral is defeated by a Venetian fleet at the Battle of Modon. *1477 &n ...

– The ALP government of

is re-elected with a massively increased majority, leading to his win being dubbed as a "Wranslide". * 8 October – Australia's

Ken Warby Ken Warby (born 9 May 1939) is an Australian motorboat racer, who currently holds the water speed record of , set on Blowering Dam on 8 October 1978. As a child, Warby's hero was Donald Campbell, who died attempting to break the record in 19 ...

sets the world water speed record to 510 km/h (317.60 mph) at

Blowering Dam The Blowering Dam is a major ungated rock fill with clay core embankment dam with concrete chute spillway impounding a reservoir under the same name. It is located on the Tumut River upstream of Tumut in the Snowy Mountains region of New Sou ...

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 ...

. *

21 October Events Pre-1600 *1096 – A Seljuk Turkish army successfully fights off the People's Crusade. *1097 – First Crusade: Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, begin the Siege of ...

- Cessna pilot Frederick Valentich disappears while flying over Bass Strait.

November

* 21 November – Last day of commercial

whaling in Australia Whaling in Australian waters began in 1791 when five of the 11 ships in the Third Fleet landed their passengers and freight at Sydney Cove and then left Port Jackson to engage in whaling and seal hunting off the coast of Australia and New Zeala ...

. No sperm whales caught that day by the chaser ships (''Cheynes'' II, III and IV) operated by the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company at Albany, Western Australia. The last whale caught by an Australian whaling company was the day before, 20 November.

Arts and literature

Brett Whiteley Brett Whiteley AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. He held many exhibitio ...

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 Art, Life and the other thing * Jessica Anderson's novel ''

Tirra Lirra By the River ''Tirra Lirra by the River'' is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Jessica Anderson. Though written some years before, it was first published in 1978. It is included in Carmen Callil and Colm Tóibín's collection ''Th ...

'' wins the Miles Franklin Award * Helen Garner becomes the first woman to win the National Book Council Award for her novel '' Monkey Grip'', selected as Book of the Year.

Film

*''

Blue Fin ''Blue Fin'' is a 1978 Australian family film directed by Carl Schultz and starring Hardy Krüger, Greg Rowe and Elspeth Ballantyne. It is based on a 1969 Australian novel written by Colin Thiele. Plot Based on the children's novel by South ...

'' *'' Little Boy Lost''

Sport

* 6 May –

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 ...

and St Kilda set a still-standing record

VFL/AFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

aggregate score of 52.33 (345) * 1 July – Footscray kick a record VFL score of 33.15 (213) beating the previous record by three points.

Kelvin Templeton Kelvin Templeton (born 30 September 1956) is a former Australian rules footballer. At sixteen years of age Templeton kicked 100 goals for Traralgon in the 1973 Latrobe Valley Football League season. Footscray, within whose country zone Trar ...

and

Ian Dunstan Ian Dunstan (born 28 February 1955) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club and the North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Originally recruited from Fish Creek in Sout ...

combine for 22 of the 33 goals. * 6 August – James Langford wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:19:29 in Caboolture. * 19 September – After a controversial NSWRFL finals series with two draws, Manly thrash Cronulla 16–0 to win their fourth premiership with

Graham Eadie Graham "Wombat" Eadie (born 25 November 1953), is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been named amongst Australia's finest of the 20th century. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian ...

dominating. Newtown finish in last position, claiming their third straight and final wooden spoon before their departure from the premiership five years later. * 30 September –

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

18.13 (121) defeats

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

15.13 (103) for its fourth VFL premiership. * '' Arwon'' 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 ...

* Western Australia 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 ...

* ''Apollo'' wins the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Births

*4 January –

Paul Licuria Paul Licuria (born 4 January 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans and Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). AFL career Sydney Swans Licuria was drafted to ...

, Australian rules footballer *14 January –

James Mathison James Mathison (born 14 January 1978) is an Australian television presenter and former independent political candidate. Early life Mathison was born in Sydney, New South Wales and grew up in Northern Beaches suburb of Frenchs Forest. He atte ...

, TV host *25 January – Jason Johnson, Australian rules footballer *1 February – Tim Harding, singer ( Hi 5) *2 February –

Annabel Ellwood Annabel Ellwood (born 2 February 1978) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. She is the sister of former ATP Tour professional Ben Ellwood. Ellwood, a right-handed player, born in Canberra, competed at seven Australian Open ...

, tennis player *7 February –

Frank Drmic Frank Drmic (born 7 February 1978) is an Australian professional basketball player. Playing career Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Drmic held an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship 1994–1995. His career began in the Australian National ...

, basketball player *8 February – Mick de Brenni, politician *16 February –

Lance Thompson Lance Thompson (16 February 1978 – 23 August 2018) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for St. George, St. George Illawarra and Cronulla-Sutherland. He primarily played in t ...

, rugby league player (d. 2018) *1 March – Gavin Woods, water polo player *14 March – Karyne Di Marco, hammer thrower *18 March – Brooke Hanson, swimmer *4 April – Sam Moran, singer (

The Wiggles The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. The group are currently composed of Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce and Tsehay Hawkins, as well as supporting members Evie Ferris, John Pearce, ...

) *16 April –

Matthew Lloyd Matthew James Lloyd (born 16 April 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A highly decorated full-forward, Lloyd's AFL's honours include ...

, footballer and coach *2 June –

Luke Williamson Luke Williamson (born 2 June 1978) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He is now coach of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles' NSW Cup team after previously coaching the team in 2011 and be ...

, rugby league player *30 June –

Ben Cousins Benjamin Luke Cousins (born 30 June 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for and in the Australian Football League (AFL). Cousins is listed by journalist Mike Sheahan as one of the fifty greatest players of ...

, AFL Footballer *8 August – Kate Ritchie, actress, radio & television personality *16 August –

Ben Galea Ben Galea (born 16 August 1978) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. A City New South Wales representative forward, he previously played in Australasia's National Rugby League for the Balmain Tigers and the Wests Tiger ...

, rugby player *18 September – Melanie Gibbons, politician *20 September –

Scott Minto Scott Christopher Minto (born 6 August 1971) is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player he was as a left back who played in the Premier League for Chelsea and West Ham United and in Portugal for Ben ...

, rugby league player *22 September –

Harry Kewell Harry Kewell (born 22 September 1978) is an Australian association football coach, manager and former player. His most recent role as a club manager was at English National League side Barnet, and he is currently a first team coach at Celtic F ...

, soccer player *20 October – Michael Johns, Australian singer (d. 2014) *25 October –

Matt Shirvington Matt Shirvington (born 25 October 1978) is an Australian athlete and television presenter who held the Australian 100m national sprint title from 1998 to 2002. Shirvington is the third fastest Australian sprinter of all time. He qualified for ...

, track and field athlete *November – Allyson McConnell, convicted killer who drowned her two children in Alberta, Canada *22 November – Steven King (footballer), Steven King, plays with Geelong Football Club *2 December – Peter Moylan, baseball player *Fiona McFarlane - author

Deaths

* 9 January – Eddie Gilbert (cricketer), Eddie Gilbert, (born 1905), Queensland cricketer * 5 February – Frank McIver, (born 1904), soccer player and administrator * 14 May – Robert Menzies, (born 1894), Prime Minister of Australia * 27 July – Robert Heffron, (born 1890), Premier of New South Wales * 6 October – Johnny O'Keefe, (born 1935), Australian rock and roll singer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1978 in Australia 1978 in Australia, 1978 by country, Australia Years of the 20th century in Australia