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| Australian Timeline: 1980s |
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January 11
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Australia imposes sanctions against the Soviet Union after it invades Afghanistan.
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January 17
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Ansett employee Debbie Wardley becomes Australia's first commercial pilot.
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January 24
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The first section of Melbourne's underground railway city loop opens.
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January
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Veterans of the Vietnam war begin their campaign for a full investigation into the effects of Agent Orange.
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February 22
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Thirteen people die when a twin-engine King Air Beechcraft plane crashes and explodes at Sydney Airport.
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May 1
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Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi takes over the Australian operations of car manufacturer Chrysler Australia.
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May 15
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The feature film 'Breaker Morant' has its premiere screening in Adelaide, SA.
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May 24
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An Australian team goes to the Moscow Olympic Games, in defiance of the Federal Government which requested that the team boycott the games in protest against the Soviet invasion and continued occupancy of Afghanistan. Australia competed with New Zealand as a joint team, which includes 122 Australian athletes. Australia's medal tally: 2 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze medals.
Gold medal wins: Neil Brooks, Peter Evans, Mark Kerry and Mark Tonelli (mens 4x100m medley relay); Michelle Ford (womens 800m freestyle)
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June 24
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Family Court judge, Justice David Opas, dies after being shot by an unknown assailant at his Sydney home.
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June 24
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Candice Elizabeth Reed becomes Australia's first test tube baby.
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June 26
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Australian Richard Thorp, of the US firm Mitchell, Guirgola and Thorp, wins a competition to design the new PParliament House, Canberra.
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June
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Scientists uncover the world's oldest known fossil of a bacterium, estimated by them as being approx. 3.5 billion years old, near Marble Bar, WA.
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July 1
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Women are allowed to join surf clubs as full members for the first time.
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July 6
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Australian tennis player Evonne Fay Cawley (nee Goolagong) wins her second Wimbledon singles final.
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August 18
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10-week old Azaria Chamberlain goes missing near Ayers Rock. Her mother, Lindy, is later charged with the murder of her daughter. The child's father, Seventh Day Adventist Pastor Michael Chamberlain, is charged as an accessory.
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October 1
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Bob Hawke resigns as president of the ACTU to pursue a career in Federal politics. He is replaces by Cliff Nolan.
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October 19
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The Fraser Liberal government is returned to office in a Federal Election in a comfortable win, but with a reduced majority.
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November 16
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Australian World Formula One Racing Champion Alan Jones wins the Australian Grand Prix at Calder Raceway, Melbourne.
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November 20
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Australia's twenty third Prime Minister, John McEwan, dies, age 80.
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December 18
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The Turkish Consul to Australia, Sarik Aryyak, is assassinated on the street outside the Turkish consulate at Dover Heights in suburban Sydney.
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December 26
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A $250,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction over a spate of bombings of Woolworths stores. It is the largest reward offered in Australia's history. Woolworth's Town Hall store in Sydney was bombed on Christmas Eve, becoming the third of the company's stores to be bombed in nine days.
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January 1
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NSW's Wran Government abolishes death duties two years after the Federal Government abolished them.
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January 30
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Sir Henry Gibbs appointed as the next Chief Justice of the High Court in the wake of Sir Garfield Barwick's resignation.
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Feburary 14
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Australia withdraws its recognition of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime in Kampuchea.
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February
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Mary Genevieve Gaudron becomes the first woman in Australia to occupy the position of NSW Solicitor-General. In 1987, she became one of the youngest judges to have been appointed in Australia, and the first female High Court judge.
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April 13
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A committee into governmental functions, known as the Razor Gang, submits its findings.
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April 16
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Government funding for electoral campaigns introduced in New South Wales.
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May 9
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Aissisted Passage to Australia is restricted to refugees.
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June 18
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The 4 millionth Holden car rolls of the GMH assembly line.
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June 23
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Mining of mineral sand on Moreton Island is given the green light by the Queensland Government.
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August 1
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The Wage Indexation system is abandoned by the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.
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September 25
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After 3 1/2 years in construction, Sydney Tower is completed.
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October 1
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The National Bark of Australia and the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney merge to form the National Bank Australia.
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December 12
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A Tasmanian referendum on the damming of the Franklin River returns a 45 percent informal vote.
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January 16
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Sydnedy's First Opera in the Park is held in Sydney's Domain as part of the Festival of Sydney. Joan Sutherland is featured.
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April 3
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The Labor Party led by John Cain takes office in Victoria after 27 years on Opposition.
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April 8
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The XPT train is introduced in New South Wales. The first service links Sydney with Dubbo.
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April 22
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Artist Fred Williams dies, age 55.
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May 6
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A deal is struck to provide television to rural areas of Australia through Aussat.
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May 27
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Victorian Premier John Cain declares his state will be nuclear free.
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June 30
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Australia's biggest uranium mining project, the $500 million Jabiluka Mine, is given the go-ahead by the Northern Land Council, NT.
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June
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The NSW replaces the Court of Petty Sessions with local courts.
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September 30 - October 9
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Brisbane hosts the Commonwealth Games. Australia wins 39 gold, 39 silver and 29 bronze medals.
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October 8
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The number of jobless Australians reaches 500,000 for the first time since the 1930s Great Depression.
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October 16
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The National Country Party changes its name to the National Party.
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October 29
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Retrospective legislation is passed to recover company tax evaded through 'Bottom of the Harbour' schemes.
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October 30
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34-year old Lindy Chamberlain is convicted of murder in the disappearance and suspected death of her daughter, Azaria.
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December 1
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The Fraser Government makes the Freedom Of Information Act law.
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December 15
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Conservation begin blockades to stop work commencing on the Gordon-below-Franklin River Dam, Tas.
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December 17
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Random breath testing of motorists is introduced in New South Wales.
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January 28
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Australia's nineteenth Prime Minister, Francis Michael Forde, dies in Brisbane age 93. He was Prime Minister for only eight days.
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February 4
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Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser calls an early Federal Election for both houses in Canberra, unaware that at the very same time, Bill Hayden is resigning as leader of the Federal Opposition in Brisbane, to be replaced by Bob Hawke.
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February 7
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Unemployment increases by 250,000 in 12 months, reaching 602,000.
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March 7
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The ALP wins the Federal Election; Bob Hawke becomes Prime Minister.
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March 22
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A 47-month long drought affecting all parts of Australia begins to ease with rain starting in the north.
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April 15
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A National Economic Summit of political, business, trade union and community leaders establishes a new spirit of consensus.
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April
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BLF National Secretary Norm Gallagher spends 52 days in gaol for Contempt of Court.
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May 5
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61 year old Victorian potato farmer Cliff Young wins the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne Marathon.
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May 18
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Approval is given to set up a Royal Commission to investigate Agent Orange and other chemical agents used during the Vietnam War.
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July 11
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Australia records its first AIDS related death in Melbourne.
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September 9
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The publicly funded national health scheme, Medicare, is launched.
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October 17
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BHP announces large oil finds in the Timor Sea.
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November 8
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In spite of opposition from the left wing of the party, Federal Labor supports the expansion of uranium mining in Australia, giving the green light to the Roxby Downs uranium mine, SA, and two new mines at Ranger, NT.
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November
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The NSW Police Department calls for the legalisation of prostitution in Sydney's commercial districts.
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December 17
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Federal Sex Discrimination Bill passed by the Senate.
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January 21
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Author Alan Marshall ('I Can Jump Puddles') dies, age 82.
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February 22
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The High Court rules that Lindy and Michael Chamberlain do not have the right to appeal their sentences over the disappearance and death of their daughter Azaria.
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March 27
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The Victorian Government legalises prostitution.
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May 8
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14-year old Fiona Coote becomes Australia's first successful heart transplant patient at Sydney's St Vincent Hospital.
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June 4
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Surgeons in NSW public hospitals strike over the introduction of Medicare.
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July 5
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Mrs Pearl Watson, the wife of a Family Court Judge, Justice Ray Watson, is killed by a bomb intended for her husband.
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July 28 - August 12
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Australia does well at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, winning 24 medals, including four golds. Australia is represented by 249 athletes (174 men and a record 75 women). Australia's medal tally: 4 gold, 8 silver, 12 bronze.
Gold medal wins: Michael Grenda, Kevin Nichols, Michael Turtur and Dean Woods (cycling 4000m team pursuit quartet); Jon Sieben (200m butterfly); Glynis Nunn (800m); Dean Lukin (weightlifting super-heavyweight division)
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August 1
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Universal anti-discrimination laws come into effect.
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August 21
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The Federal Budget is televised for the first time.
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August 28
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The NSW Government bans X-rated videos.
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September 7
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Hayden Haitana, the trainer of the racehorse Fine Cotton, is arrested on fixing charges.
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September 18
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A 50-year old farmer pleads guilty to conspiring to murder anti-drugs crusader Donald Mackay.
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September 24
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Secret papers in the Petrov Affair are made public 30 years after the event.
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November 2
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The Costigan Royal Commission into the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers' Union hands down its 11 volume report.
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November
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The NSW Police Department calls for the legalisation of prostitution in Sydney's commercial districts.
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November 26
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The first televised pre-election debate, involving Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock is broadcast.
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december 2
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The Labor Government under Bob Hawke is returned to power in a Federal Election but with a surprisingly reduced majority.
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December 18
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Justic Lionel Murphy refuses to resign as a result of criminal proceedings being brought against him.
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January 14
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Bushfires in Victoria and South Australia take 5 lives.
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February 1
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Stereo AM broadcasting begins.
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February 6
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The ANZUS Alliance comes under threat as Australia supports the US MX missile project, which distances New Zealand from the other participants because of its strong anti-nuclear policy.
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March 15
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Former Chief Stependary Magistrate, Murray Frederick Farquhar, is sentenced to four years imprisonment for peverting the cause of justice.
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March 21
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Queensland enacts anti-strike legislation.
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April 1
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Over 300,000 people across the country march in anti-nulclear demonstrations.
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April 2
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Actor Dame Doris Filton dies, age 87.
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April 19
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The Federal Government introduces controversial assests tests for pensioners.
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April 28
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The Australian dollars collapses, falling to a low of 63 cents to the US dollar.
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June 2
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The Empress of Australia makes its final voyage across Bass Strait between Melbourne and Devonport, Tas.
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June 14
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Builders Labourers' Federation general secretary Norm Gallagher is sent to gaol for receiving secret commissions.
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July 7
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Coober Pedy becomes Australia's first town to get its water via a desalination plant.
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August 23
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The Agent Royal Commission into the effects of the defoliant Agent Orange on Australians who served in Vietnam is released.
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August 25
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Bond Corporation's $1.2 billion takeover of Castlemaine Tooheys breweries becomes the biggest corporate buyout in Australian history.
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October 12
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Canon Right Rev. Allistair Arthur Malcolm is ordained as Australia's first Aboriginal bishop.
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October 26
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Ayers Rock is given back to its original owners, the Mutitjulu Aborigines, and is to be known by its Aboriginal name, Uluru.
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November 29
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Justice Lionel Murphy wins an appeal against his conviction for atempting to pervert the cause of justice.
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November
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Victoria celebrates its 150th anniversary.
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December 6
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The release of the McClelland Royal Commission report into the British nuclear weapons testing at Maralinga further strains Australia's relationship with Britain over the latter's failure to provide adequate protection and to adequately address plutonium contamination in the area. The report also found that Prime Minister Robert Menzies 'lent Australia to the United Kingdom' without the knowledge or consent of the Federal Cabinet.
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