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| Australian Timeline: 1940s |
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January 1
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The Commonwealth government lays down plans to reconstruct Darwin and the surrounding areas.
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January 31
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Australian journalist and Radio 2UE broadcaster,
Mike Carlton, born.
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February 1
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Australia agrees to send troop to occupy Japan as
part of a British Commonwealth Occupational Force.
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February 27
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Manpower controls by the Manpower Directorate
abolished.
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February
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The Federal Government announces a drive for
British and non-British immigration.
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March 3
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Eight die in flooding across north Queensland.
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March 31
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Arthur Fadden 're-launches' The Country Party of Australia.
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April 4
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National Security Act becomes law.
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May 11
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Australia's air links with the world are renewed with the re-opening of the England to Australia flying boat service.
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June
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The RAAF 's Gloster Meteor F4, Australia's first jet powered aircraft, is launched at Laverton, Vic.
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July 10
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Proceedings in the Federal House of Representatives are broadcast by ABC Radio for the first time.
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July 19
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Orange, NSW, proclaimed a city.
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July
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Australia's eight year drought breaks.
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August 8
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Australia to continue its mandate over New Guinea under a united Nations trusteeship agreement.
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September 1
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Consumer goods shortages in evidence as the nation runs out of socks.
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September 3
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World wool sales resume as the first post-war wool sale is held in Sydney.
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September 30
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A Federal referendum approves the granting of Commonwealth control over social security but rejects the granting of greater control over employment and the marketing of primary products overseas.
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September 30
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The Chifley Labor Government is returned to power in a Federal Election.
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November 6
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Australia's 18th Federal Parliament opens.
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November 22
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The Federal Government commits to the establishment of a rocket range in Australia for weapons testing.
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November 23
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The Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, announces Assisted Passage schemes to greatly increase the number of immigrants from Britain and Continental Europe to Australia.
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December 19
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The Japanese ship Koei Maru docks at the Port of Melbourne and takes aboard 2,000 Japanese prisoners of war who are homeward bound.
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January 18
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Former war artist William Dargie wins his fourth Archibald Prize for a portrait painting.
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January 21
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Wartime restrictions on Stock Market share prices lifted.
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February 1
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Popular singer Normie Rowe born in Melbourne.
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February 13
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Successful rainmaking experiments conducted over the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.
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February 15
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A referendum in Australia opts to keep 6.00 pm closing of hotels rather than the proposed 10 pm closing.
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February 21
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Former Labour Premier of NSW, William McKell, appointed as Australia's Governor-General amid great protest from the Federal Opposition claiming 'Jobs for the Boys'.
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March 22
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Pop group Easybeats founding member, guitarist and songwriter Harry Vanda, born Johannas Vandenberg in Holland.
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March
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A joint Coal Board takes control of the national coalmining industry.
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May 5
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A trail derailment at Camp Mountain, Qld, leaves 16 dead and 38 injured.
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May 15
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Northern Territory granted a measure of self government.
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May 25
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Australia joins the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction.
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May 26
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A free passage migration scheme is launched for former US and British servicemen and their wives wishing to migrate to Australia.
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June 24
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Australia joins a number of other nations over Japan's increased whaling activities in Antarctic waters.
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July 1
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The 40-hour working week is introduced into all NSW employment awards.
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July 3
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The wartime rationing of sugar ends.
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August 12
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Air navigation charges are first imposed.
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September 24
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Wollongong, NSW, is proclaimed a city.
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October 16
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The Federal Government announces plans for the establishment of an aluminium industry near Launceston, Tas.
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October 29
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A five year defence plan introduces a new recruitment drive for Australia's permanent defence forces.
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November 1
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The island of Nauru becomes a United Nations Trusteeship Territory. Australia, New Zealand and Britain share in its administration.
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November 29
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The first intake of European migrants from Europe, many of whom are refugees, arrive in Fremantle, WA. The group consists of 843 people from the Baltic States who arrived aboard the Royal Mail Line's SS Asturias, while it was still commissioned as an American Army transport ship.
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December 13
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Elections are held in the Northern Territory for its Legislative Council.
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January 1
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40-hour working week for all Australian workers introduced.
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January 28
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Australia's Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, announces that all 'coloured' people who found refuge in Australia during the war must leave.
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February 16
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The Northern Territory's Legislative Assembly sits for the first time.
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February 17
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Federal Government announces a new disabilities rehabilitation scheme.
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February 18
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Federal Government votes to increase the size of the House of Representatives from 75 to 122 members. The senate will also be increased in size by 24 seats to 60.
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February 27
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A state of emergency is declared in Queensland as a railway workers' strike enters its sixth week.
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March 5
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The Federal Government announces its target of a 100,000 strong military force.
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April 25
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British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines Ltd launches an air service between Australia and the US and Canada using Douglas DC-4 aircraft.
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May 12
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The Victorian Government announced plan to begin open-cut coal mining at Morwell.
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June 11
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BHP announces plans to enlarge its operations at Whyalla, SA.
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June 19
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Theatrical producer George Sorlie dies, age 63.
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June 21
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Boxer Lionel Rose born at Jackson's Track near Warragul, Vic..
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June 22
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Many wartime rations lifted or reduced significantly.
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September 23
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The Minister for External Affairs, Dr Herbert Vere Evatt is elected as President of the United Nations General Assembly.
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September 24
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The Federal Government announces its plans to eradicate tuberculosis in Australia within 20 years.
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October 1
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The Australian and New Zealand Governments acquire rights to mine phosphate on Christmas Island.
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November 6
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A NSW miners' strike, said to have been instigated by communists within the union movement, comes to an end after 4 weeks.
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December 13
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The greatest batsman the cricket world has ever seen - Don Bradman - retires from the sport on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of his entering first class cricket.
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December 16
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Australia takes delivery of its first aircraft carrier - the 14,000 tonne HMS Terrible (R93) - under the commission of HMAS Sydney III.
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December 17
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The Federal Government begins to assist the states in the care of the mentally ill.
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December 20
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Stevie Wright, lead singer of the sixties pop group, The Easybeats, born in England.
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January 1
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The ships of the Australian Navy are re-designated HM Australian Fleet. rather than His Majesty's Australian Squadron.
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January 26
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Australian citizenship declared. Up until this date, all Australians were British subjects.
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February 10
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Minister for Immigration Arthur Calwell defends Australia's White Australia Policy in the light of the deporting of in excess of 5,000 non-European refugees of Asian-Pacific origin.
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February 16
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Decision made to join Papua and New Guinea as one territory.
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February 19
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Australian Shipping Line (ASL), the nation's only national shipping line, is formed.
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February
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The ABC begins broadcasting the radio serial 'Blue Hills' by Gwen Meredith.
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March 4
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Voting rights extended into Aboriginal communities.
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March 15
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The Australian Broadcasting Control Board is established.
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May 19
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A Royal Commission is established to investigate the activities of the Communist Party.
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May
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The Commonwealth Whaling Commission is established to help build up the whaling industry.
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June 7
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Petrol rationing ceases.
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August 1
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September is declared Anti-Communist Month by the Returned Servicemen's League (RSL).
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August 15
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A national coal strike which brought the nation's industry almost to a stand still, ends as the rank and file ignore the pleas of communist union leaders to keep striking.
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September 21
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The Australian pound is devalued against the American dollar.
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October 11
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Artist Sydney George Ure Smith dies, age 62.
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October 18
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Lawrence Sharkey, the leader of the Communist Party of Australia, is gaoled for three years for sedition.
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November 22
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Hamilton, Vic, proclaimed a city.
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December 16
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Ben Chifley 's Labor government loses a Federal Election and is replaced by a Liberal and Country Party coalition Government led by Robert Gordon Menzies.
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