The following lists events that happened during 1967 in Australia.
Incumbents
Monarch – Elizabeth II Governor-General – Lord Casey Prime Minister – Harold Holt (until 17 December), then John McEwen (from 19 December) Opposition Leader – Arthur Calwell (until 9 February), then Gough Whitlam Chief Justice – Sir Garfield Barwick
State and territory leaders Premier of New South Wales – Robert Askin Opposition Leader – Jack Renshaw Premier of Queensland – Frank Nicklin Opposition Leader – Jack Houston Premier of South Australia – Frank Walsh (until 1 June), then Don Dunstan Opposition Leader – Steele Hall Premier of Tasmania – Eric Reece Opposition Leader – Angus Bethune Premier of Victoria – Sir Henry Bolte Opposition Leader – Clive Stoneham (until 15 May), then Clyde Holding Premier of Western Australia – David Brand Opposition Leader – John Tonkin
Governors and administrators Governor of New South Wales – Sir Roden Cutler Governor of Queensland – Sir Alan Mansfield Governor of South Australia – Lieutenant General Sir Edric Bastyan Governor of Tasmania – General Sir Charles Gairdner Governor of Victoria – Major General Sir Rohan Delacombe Governor of Western Australia – Major General Sir Douglas Kendrew Administrator of Nauru – Leslie King Administrator of Norfolk Island – Reginald Marsh Administrator of the Northern Territory – Roger Dean Administrator of Papua and New Guinea – David Hay (from 9 January)
Events
January 18 January – The Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyen Cao Ky begins a controversial visit to Australia. He is welcomed by supporters of South Vietnam but is then constantly heckled by anti-war protesters, and Harold Holt is forced to deny that Ky and his supporters are corrupt and were responsible for murdering his predecessor, President Ngo Dinh Diem.Australian Visit (1967) ABC News. Retrieved 15 December 2007
February First student intake at Macquarie University.Macquarie University Biological Sciences Museum . Retrieved 15 December 2007 3 February – Ronald Ryan becomes the last man hanged in Australia; he was executed for the murder of prison warder George Hodson while escaping from Pentridge Prison on 19 December 1965. 7 February – Black Tuesday in Tasmania – massive bushfires devastate much of the Tasmanian capital of Hobart and surrounding areas.Natural disasters in Australia – Culture and Recreation Portal (Australian Government) . Retrieved 15 December 2007 8 February – Gough Whitlam defeats Dr Jim Cairns and Frank Crean to replace the retiring Arthur Calwell as leader of the federal Australian Labor Party.Australia's Prime Ministers – National Archives of Australia . Retrieved 15 December 2007
March 1 March – The Royal Australian Navy replaces the British White Ensign flag on all its ships with the Australian White Ensign.Ausflag – Australian Naval Ensign . Retrieved 15 December 2007 1 March – The Duke of Edinburgh visits Australia.National Archives of Australia – Royalty and Australian Society: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh . Retrieved 15 December 2007 8 March – La Trobe University is officially opened.History of the University – La Trobe University . Retrieved 15 December 2007 13 March – Bessie Rischbieth protested against the Mounts Bay reclamation project on the Swan River and the building of the Narrows Bridge and dies.
April 4 April – The Australian government announces it will not ban the oral contraceptive pill, maintaining that the risk of thrombosis is "very slight".'97 Series Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 December 2007 7 April – Australian military adviser Major Peter Badcoe is killed in action in Vietnam during an operation in Hương Trà District with the 1st ARVN Division Reaction Company.Maj P.J. BADCOE, VC (Post.) . Retrieved 15 December 2007 12 April – Australian Roman Catholic bishops publicly declare their opposition to the war in Vietnam. 29 April – A majority in the New England region of New South Wales voted against the creation of a new state in the referendum.About ABC New England North West NSW . Retrieved 15 December 2007
May 25 May – The report by the Tasmanian Hydro Electric Commission on the Gordon Power scheme was tabled in parliament and the Government of Tasmania sought approval for $100 million funding.Interim Report – The Future of Lake Pedder , Lake Pedder Committee of Enquiry, 29 September 1997. 27 May – Indigenous Australians (technically only the Aboriginal race – see Australian referendum, 1967 (Aboriginals)) are given the right to be counted in the national census after a national referendum and legislation changing citizenship laws, but voters reject a third referendum question about breaking the nexus between the sizes of the Senate and the House of Representatives.Didj "u" Know – Stories of the 1967 Referendum . Retrieved 15 December 2007 29 May – The new Australian 5-dollar note goes into circulation.THE AUSTRALIAN NOTE ISSUE – Australian Bureau of Statistics . Retrieved 15 December 2007
June 1 June – Don Dunstan succeeds Frank Walsh as Premier of South Australia, after Walsh retires under pressure from his party.ABC News Obituary – Don Dunstan . Retrieved 15 December 2007 7 June – Launceston, Tasmania, records the highest barometric pressure on record for Australia with a reading of 1044.3 millibars or 30.84 inHg.World and US High barometric pressure records 25 June – Sydney underworld figure Richard Gabriel Reilly is murdered.MILESAGO 1967 Almanac . Retrieved 15 December 2007 29 June – The Tasmanian Government passes a Bill revoking the national park status of Lake Pedder, allowing the Hydro Electric Commission to construct a dam flooding the lake.
July 1 July – The postcode system of postal address coding is introduced throughout Australia.Australia Post – Our History . Retrieved 16 December 2007
August 1 August – Qantas drops the word 'Empire' from its name.About Qantas – Our Company: History . Retrieved 16 December 2007
September 9 September – Proposed changes to Queensland laws governing public demonstrations results in 3,500 people protesting in the streets of Brisbane. Queensland Police arrest 114 people.The Meagre Harvest: The Australian Women's Movement 1950s–1990s Google Books by Gisela. Retrieved 16 December 2007 16 September – The U.S. Naval Communication Station North West Cape near Exmouth, Western Australia is declared operational. 28 September – amendments to the South Australian Licensing Act came into effect ending the era of the Six o'clock swill in Australia
October 1 October – The NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service is established.NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 40th anniversary . Retrieved 16 December 2007 20 October – Australia unlinks the Australian dollar from British currency, when the British government makes a decision to devalue the pound sterling.IndexFOREX Australian Dollar currency profile . Retrieved 16 December 2007
November 10 November – The Nauru Independence Act 1967 received royal assent, allowing the Australian-administered UN Trust Territory of Nauru to proceed to independence on 31 January 1968. 27 November – Singer John Farnham, then known as Johnny Farnham, releases Sadie (The Cleaning Lady). It was his first Number 1.
December 14 December – South Australia's Simpson Desert Conservation Park and Queensland's Simpson Desert National Park are proclaimed.Simpson Desert Conservation Park History . Retrieved 16 December 2007 17 December – Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears while swimming in heavy surf at Cheviot Beach, near Portsea, Victoria.The Harold Holt Murder . Retrieved 16 December 2007 19 December – Following the disappearance and presumed death of Holt, Country Party leader John McEwen is sworn in as interim Prime Minister pending the election of a new government leader by the Coalition parties. 20 December – John McEwen announced he will not serve in a government led by Liberal Party deputy leader William McMahon, Harold Holt's presumed successor, triggering a leadership crisis for the Coalition.
Unknown and general dates Holden exports its 100,000th car and launches its first compact sedan, the Torana. Sydney is rocked by a series of brutal underworld killings as rival gangs battle for control of the city's lucrative gambling and prostitution rackets Bomber aircraft from No. 2 Squadron RAAF Canberra are deployed to Phan Rang airbase in South Vietnam Federal Cabinet decides to drop the word 'British' from the cover of Australian passports, and agrees that it will have to amend the Nationality and Citizenship Act to change the designation 'British subject' on the inside of passports. Australia Square Tower, Australia's first true skyscraper, is completed.Top of the town , Sydney Morning Herald, 15 May 2004. In an exceptionally dry year across Victoria, South Australia and southwestern New South Wales, Melbourne records only and Adelaide only ,Adelaide West Terrace (023000) Monthly Rainfall , Adelaide Kent Town (023090) Monthly Rainfall in both cases this being the driest year on record by a substantial margin. Acquisition of Land Act 1967 is passed by the Parliament of Queensland
Science and technology 17 March – Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station is opened near Canberra.Honeysuckle Creek – Epilogue . Retrieved 16 December 2007 April – Dung beetles released between Broome, Western Australia and Townsville, Queensland in the Australian Dung Beetle Project, led by Dr. George BornemisszaBornemissza, G. F. (1976), The Australian dung beetle project 1965–1975, Australian Meat Research Committee Review 30:1–30 of the CSIRO in an attempt to control the buffalo fly.Dung Beetle – Part 2 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 December 2007 1 May – Health authorities begin the first national polio immunisation campaign using the new Sabin oral vaccine developed by Dr Jonas Salk.Polio in Australia . Retrieved 16 December 2007 29 November – Australia's first satellite, WRESAT, is launched on an American Redstone rocket from Woomera, South Australia.Wresat – Australia's First Satellite . Retrieved 16 December 2007
Culture
Arts and literature
26 July – The Groop wins Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds 30 July – Melbourne's La Mama Theatre opens. 1 November – National Gallery of Australia established by the Commonwealth Government with an announcement by prime minister Harold Holt that the Government would construct the building November – The song "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" sung by Johnny Farnham is released. December – National Gallery of Victoria building designed by Roy Grounds opens Thomas Keneally's novel Bring Larks and Heroes wins the Miles Franklin Award Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock is published Judy Cassab's portrait of Margo Lewers wins the Archibald Prize Museum of the Riverina established in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales Christina Stead's Cotters' England published John Brack's Nude With Dressing Gown is painted
Film
Interaction: Moving and Painting (dir. Gil Brealy) wins the AFI Award for Best Film Journey Out of Darkness (dir. James Trainor) The Pudding Thieves (dir. Brian Davies) Robbery (dir. Peter Yates) Shades Of Puffing Billy (dir. Antonio Colacino) Wheels Across A Wilderness (dir. Malcolm Leyland) Forgotten Cinema (dir. Anthony Buckley), the influential documentary about the rise and fall of the Australian feature film industry
Television 10 April – The ninth Logie Awards are held on board the TSS Fairstar cruise ship. Graham Kennedy wins his third Gold Logie. 10 April – This Day Tonight, Australia's first national nightly TV current affairs program, premieres on ABC-TV, hosted by Bill Peach. 25 June – The ABC participates in the historic Our World broadcast, the world's first live, international, satellite television production.