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| Australian Timeline: 1960s |
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January
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Holden releases a new model, the FB, which
features a new design (info).
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February 3
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The first National Conference of Australian
Churches held in Melbourne.
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February 15
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Dr Herbert Vere Evatt, leader of the Federal Labor Party, appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
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February 25
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Australia and the US sign an agreement to build three space tracking station at various locations around the country.
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February 26
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Seven people die as a train carrying 200 passengers plunges off a bridge near Bogantungan, Qld, as it collapsed.
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March 8
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Arthur Calwell becomes the Federal Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Australian Labor Party.
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March 26
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A cyclone causes serious damage to the town of Carnarvon, WA.
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April 10
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Composer and conductor Arthur Benjamin dies at the Middlesex Hospital, England, age 66.
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April 21
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The Commonwealth Police Force comes into being.
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April 22
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Severe flooding of the Derwent River damages parts of Hobart.
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May 19
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Telephone tapping becomes illegal, except for national security purposes.
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May 24
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Totalisator Agency Boards (TAB) established to help stamp out SP betting on horse races.
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June 4
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Hobart is the last capital city to enjoy both commercial and national television stations.
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June 5
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Bauxite deposits discovered in the Darling Ranges near Perth, WA.
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August 15
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The Consumer Price Index is compiled for the first time.
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October 10
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Poker machine mechanic Stephen Bradley is arrested in Colombo, Ceylon, for the murder of Graeme Thorne. Bradley and his wife and children had sold up and were travelling aboard SS Himalaya to Britain.
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October 14
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14 years after construction commenced, Sydney's Warragamba Dam opens.
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October 21
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Sir Macfarlane Burnet becomes the joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work on acquired immunological tolerance.
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August 29
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Jack Brabham becomes the Formula One Motor racing world champion for the second successive year after winning the Portuguese Grand Prix.
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November 17
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BHP and the WA Government announce plans to expand BHP's operations at Kwinana, which includes the construction of an iron and steel plant.
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November 7
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The Federal Treasurer Harold Holt imposes credit restriction on the Australian financial sector that brings on a credit squeeze.
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November 25
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The establishment of the National library in Canberra gains Government approval.
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December 11
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The feature film, 'The Sundowners', based on a Jon Cleary novel, becomes the most successful Australian made film in overseas markets.
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January 1
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Legislation directs that all future television commercials are to be Australian made.
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January 2
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Oral contraceptives for women go on sale.
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February 10
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The 1960 credit squeeze causes General Motors Holden to lay off 2,600 employees in response to a downturn in sales.
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February 25
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Sydney's tram era comes to an end as the last tram, to La Perouse, makes its last run.
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March 2
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Fire destroys the Western Australian south-west towns of Karridale, Pemberton and Augusta.
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April 30
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A referendum on the abolition of the New South Wales upper house (Legislative Council) rejects the proposal.
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May 13
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Australia sells its first consignment of wheat to China.
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June 9
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Australia's first moving footways opens in Sydney. It is an underground footway linking the Domain Car Park with College Street and Hyde Park.
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June 21
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P&O ocean liner SS Canberra arrives at Station Pier, Melbourne, on her maiden voyage carrying 2,238 passengers. SS Canberra was built service P&O's Britain-Australia run. It was built by Harland & Wolff, the Belfast-based firm who had built the Titanic, Britannic and Olympic for the White Star Line.
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June 21
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An RAF Avro Vulcan jet fighter becomes the first plane to fly non-stop from Britain to Australia with three aerial fuellings.
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June
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The level of unemployment reaches 110,401, or 2.6 percent of the workforce, its highest level since World War II.
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July 26
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Australia sells its share in Tasman Empire Airways to New Zealand. It eventually becomes part of Air New Zealand.
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August 9
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The last passenger liner to service the ports on the Australian coastline, SS Manoora, is withdrawn from service.
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August 19
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The ABC current affairs programme, Four Corners, is first aired.
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November 2
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Alcohol breath tests become permissible as evidence in a court of law in Victoria.
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November 13
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The finding of the largest iron ore deposits in the country in the Pilbara region of Western Australia is made public.
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November 30
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A Vickers Viscount aircraft crashes into Botany Bay, Sydney, on takeoff, killing 15 people.
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November 30
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Entertainer Frank Sinatra performs to a sell-out crowd at Sydney Stadium.
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December
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The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies formed in Canberra.
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December 4
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Oil discovered at Moonie, Qld, in what would become Australia's first commercially viable oilfield.
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December 15
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Robert Gordon Menzies' Liberal Government is returned to power with a majority of just one seat after a General Election. Before the poll it had a majority of 32 seats.
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January 16
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Film maker and photographer Frank Hurley dies in Sydney, age 76
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January 17
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Bushfires surrounding Melbourne cause the loss of 8 lives and extensive property damage.
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January 20
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Banks in all states except Victoria decide to close on Saturday mornings.
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March 1
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Sydney's first freeway, the Cahill Expressway, including the tunnel under the Botanic Gardens, opens to traffic.
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March 3
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Labor wins its seventh successive state election in NSW.
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March 30
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All Australian Aborigines given the right to vote.
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April 13
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The standard gauge rail link between Melbourne and Sydney is completed, allowing the Southern Aurora to travel the full journey without passengers having to change trains at Albury.
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May 3
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Australian physics scientist Sir Mark Oliphant criticises the United States over its current testing of atomic bombs near Christmas Island in the Central Pacific.
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May 9
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As Vietnam becomes embroiled in civil war, Australia's Minister for External affairs, Garfield Barwick, announces Australia's willingness to be involved in the conflict if invited.
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July 6
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Heather Blundell (Heather Pamela McKay) wins the British Squash Championship. The championship is the unofficial world title.
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July 10
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Melbourne's new King Street Bridge is closed when cracks and slumping of sections of it are found.
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July 18
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Champion walker Kerry Saxby-Junna born Kerry Saxby.
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July 29
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Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War escalates with the departure from Australia of a team 30 advisers sent to Saigon to train South Vietnamese troops. An Air Force squadron is also sent to Thailand at the request of that country to assist it in maintaining its 'territorial integrity'.
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August 15
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A territorial dispute between Indonesia and Australia over West New Guinea (Irian Jaya) is defused when the United Nations determines that the former Dutch colony will become Indonesian territory in May 1963.
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September 10
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A ban on Aborigines consuming alcohol in New South Wales is lifted.
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September 26
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The yacht Gretel, in Australia's first challenge of the America's Cup, loses the series.
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November 4
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The Queensland branch of the Labor Party merges with the Democratic Labor Party.
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December 13
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The last morse code telegram in New South Wales is sent from Sydney to Bombala.
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January 1
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Cyclone Annie kills two people north of Brisbane.
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February 8
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Soviet Embassy staff member Ivan Skripov is expelled from Australia for engaging in espionage activities.
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April 1
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The satirical weekly magazine Oz begins publication.
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April 1
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Long Service Leave is increased in New South Wales to three months after 15 years of service.
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April 2
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Playwright Jeremy Johnson born.
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April 4
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Licences are granted for a commercial third television station in Melbourne and Sydney. These licences were awarded to Channel 10.
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April 19
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Three weeks annual leave granted to the majority of Australian workers.
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April 29
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The wreck of the Dutch merchantman, Gilt Dragon, is discovered on the WA coast near Ledge Point, close to the 307th anniversary of its sinking.
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April 30
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Mining of bauxite commences at Weipa, Qld.
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July 16
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Australia's exports top £1,070 million for the 1962-63 financial year, a record high.
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August 5
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Australia and Japan sign a major trade agreement.
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August 15
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Australia decides to sign the International Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
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August
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Holden releases a new model, the EH, which features a newly designed body.
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September 1
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Uniformity on marriage laws is brought to all states.
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September 25
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Australia pledges military aid to the newly created independent South-east Asian state of Malaysia.
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October 18
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Neurophysicist Sir John Carew Eccles wins the year's Nobel Prize for Medicine, sharing the honour with Huxley and Hodgkin.
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November 7
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The Controversial Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Daniel Mannix, dies age 99. Mannix was known for his strong opposition to conscription and communism.
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December 1
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The Liberal Government of Robert Gordon Menzies is returned with an increased majority in a Federal Election.
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December 13
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University student and Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins leads a 'Freedom Ride' through rural Aboriginal communities.
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January 13
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Cyclone Audrey brings floodwaters to south-west Queensland and New South Wales.
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February 4
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Cyclone Dora leaves a trail of damage across north-west Queensland.
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February 20
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Northern Territory Aborigines granted full citizenship.
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March 15
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Australian jurist and politician Sir Percy Spender appointed as President of the International Court of Justice.
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April 22
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The Minister for External Affairs, Garfield Barwick, is appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.
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June 13
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Beatlemania hits Australia as the Liverpool-based pop group The Beatles begin their short tour of Australia.
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July
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WA Petroleum discovers gas and oil on Barrow Island, WA, during test drills.
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August 20
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Australia joins Intelsat with 12 other nations.
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September
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The Duchess of Kent (Katharine Lucy Mary Windsor, née Worsley) visits New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT.
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October 19 - 24
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Tokyo Olympic Games: 5,151 athletes (678 women, 4,473 men) from 93 nations met in Tokyo for the XVIII Olympic Games. Australia was represented by 250 athletes (208 men and 42 women). Australia's medal tally: 6 gold, 2 silver, 10 bronze.
Gold wedals wins: Dawn Fraser (100m freestyle); Betty Cuthbert (400m); Kevin Berry (200m butterfly); Ian O'Brien (200m breaststroke); Rob Windle (1500m freestyle); Bill Northam, Peter O'Donnell and James Sargeant (sailing 5.5m class). Northam, at age 59, was a grandfather. He was the oldest gold medallist in Tokyo and remains Australia's oldest Olympic champion.
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October 20
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The first episode of the long-running Australia police drama, Homicide, airs on HSV-7 Melbourne. The first episode - 'The Stunt' - starred Terry McDermott, Lex Mitchell and John (Jack) Fegan and guest starred Ian Turpie, Gordon Glenwright, Susan Haworth, Lawrence Beck and John Derum. A total of 509 episodes were made between 1964 and 1976.
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November 10
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Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announces the reintroduction of conscription, prompted by the perceived threat of Indonesian aggression in Papua New Guinea, and the insurgence of communism throughout South-East Asia, particularly in Laos and south Vietnam.
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November 14
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Industrial action by miners close the Mt Isa copper mines, Qld.
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December 10
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A state of emergency is declared in Mt Isa, Qld, in an effort to resolve the industrial dispute.
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December 22
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Victoria becomes the first state to introduce Consumer Protection laws.
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December 24
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The Labor Premier of Queensland, Vince Gair, is elected to the Federal Senate.
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December 31
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Test drilling in Bass Strait strikes oil and gas.
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January 7
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A hydrofoil is introduced to the Sydney Harbour ferry fleet.
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January 27
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Mt Isa Police given the power to arrest on site and without a warrant anyone aiding the strike in the mines.
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February 18
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Members of the Student Action for Aborigines Council gets a 1955 local council bylaw repealed that prohibited Aboriginal children at Moree, NSW, from using the town's swimming pool.
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February 23
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The new Federal Mint in Canberra is opened by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip.
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February 26
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Mt Isa mine workers begin to go back to work.
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March 10
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The first National Service birthday-draw held.
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March 2
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Champion swimmer Dawn Fraser is banned from competitive swimming for ten years for allegedly stealing a Japanese flag from the palace of the Japanese Emperor during the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
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March 7
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The Qantas Boeing 707 passenger jet 'City of Townsville' completes the first continuous flight across the Pacific. It roughly followed the course taken 37 years earlier by Charles Kingsford Smith in Southern Cross. The 'City of Townsville' of later purchased by actor John Travolta.
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March
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Bushfires burn throughout southern NSW and Victoria, taking 11 lives.
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May 4
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A contingent of 800 Australian troops are the first to leave Australia to join the Vietnam War.
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August 17
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A free trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand signed.
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September 9
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Dame Roma Flinders Mitchell is appointed to the Supreme Court of South Australia, becoming the first woman judge in Australia.
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September 24
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The Oberon class HMAS Oxley, Australia's first modern submarine, is launched at Greenock, Scotland.
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October 8
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Australian Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies has been made Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the first time in its 900 year history that this ancient honour has been granted to someone outside of Britain. The honorary position implies custodianship of the five ancient ports of Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover and Winchelsea.
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November 7
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Four miners die in an underground fire at a Bulli, NSW, coalmine.
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November 16
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Australia imposes economic sanctions against Rhodesia because of its unilateral declaration of independence.
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December 10
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The XP Ford Falcon wins Wheels magazine's Car of the Year award.
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December 15
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The Sydney - Newcastle expressway opens.
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January 1
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Free trade between Australia and New Zealand commences.
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January 20
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Australia's longest serving Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies, retires. He is replaced by Harold Holt. During his terms of office Menzies was given a variety of nicknames, including Ming the Merciless to Pig Iron Bob.
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January 26
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The Beaumont Children - Jane, 9, her sister Anna, age 7, and their brother Grant, age 4 - disappear from a busy beachside lawn at Glenelg, SA, on Australia Day. Despite ongoing investigations, the mystery of their disappearance has never been solved.
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February 1
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Hotel trading hours in Victoria are extended from 6.00 pm 10.00 pm.
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February 1
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Drunk driving laws introduced in which driving a vehicle with a blood alcohol level above 0.05 percent is a criminal offence.
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March 9
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Australia's immigration laws are relaxed to allow non-European residents to apply for citizenship after five years instead of 15 years.
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April 25
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Australia sends its first 4,500-man task force to take part in the Vietnam War. Australia is bitterly divided over its involvement in the conflict.
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June 16
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Australia becomes one of nine founding member countries of The Asian and Pacific Council.
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July 1
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Prime Minister Harold Holt further divides the nation over Australia's involvement in the escalating Vietnam War when he states that Australia will go "All The Way With LBJ" - Lyndon B. Johnson, the President of the United States of America.
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June 21
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The Federal Opposition Leader, Arthur Calwell, is shot by a youth with a sawn-off shotgun in Mosman while preparing to leave his home to address an anti-Vietnam War rally. He was not badly injured.
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June 30
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A national census is held, revealing Australia's full-blood Aboriginal population is 80,207.
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August 13
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A fire kills 30 residents of a Salvation Army men's convalescent home in Melbourne and destroys the home.
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August
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Hundred of Aborigines on stations at Newcastle Waters and Wave Hill, NT, walk off their jobs to support their claim for legal control of their own tribal lands. A month later, the Gutindji tribe appeal to the United Nations to intervene in the dispute and what they see as discrimination against them because of race and colour.
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October 22
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NSW Premier Robert Askin is alleged to have told his driver to "run over the bastards" when the motorcade he was travelling in with US President Lyndon B. Johnson was accosted by anti-Vietnam War protesters.
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November 25
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Hundreds of commuters were left stranded when Qantas pilots began an International strike.
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November 26
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A map of Britain was televised in the first satellite telecast between Britain and Australia though the Carnarvon OTC station, WA.
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November 28
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Harold Holt is elected as Prime Minister in a General Election, returning him to power after taking over as Prime Minister and head of the Liberal Party on Robert Gordon Menzies' retirement.
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December 10
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A helicopter on charter to the ABC hits Goldfields House at Circular Quay, Sydney, and crashes, killing three people.
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December 23
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Prime Minister Harold Holt announces plans to increase the number of Australian troops fighting in Vietnam to 6,300.
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February 9
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Bushfires engulfing Hobart take 59 lives and destroy 1,300 homes and buildings.
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March 30
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The South East Asia Commonwealth telephone cable (Seacom) is opened, linking Australia with Singapore and Malaysia.
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March
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The third Intelsat communications satellite is launched over the Atlantic Ocean.
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April 29
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The state of NSW votes no in a State Referendum over the formation of a new state in northern New South Wales.
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April
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Large scale release of the dung beetle by the CSIRO begins to eradicate the buffalo fly.
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May 27
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A 90.8 percent of voters in a referendum vote 'yes' to giving the Federal Government increased powers over Aborigines affairs and for Aborigines to be included in census counts.
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May 31
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Oil is struck in the Kingfisher field in Bass Strait, significantly increasing locally known reserves.
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June 30
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Qualified disabled persons begin receiving a disability allowance.
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June
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Over 5,000 work on the construction of an emergency seawall on the Gold Coast, Qld, during severe storms.
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July 1
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Postcodes are introduced to assist in the sorting of mail by new electronic equipment.
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September 9
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Police attack protesters who took to the streets of Brisbane CBD over the refusal of the Queensland Government to permit street meetings without a permit. Many students and lecturers from Queensland University took part, 114 of whom were arrested after being kicked, punched and dragged by the hair to police wagons.
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September
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Intelsat launches its fourth communications satellite, over the Pacific Ocean.
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October 30
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New South Wales businesses are permitted to close down to give employees an annual holiday.
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November 26
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The Liberal Government loses power in the Senate after Senate elections. The Democratic Labor Pary (DLP) holds the balance of power.
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December 18
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Australia's twenty-second Prime Minister, Harold Holt disappears while swimming at Cheviot Beach on Mornington Peninsula and is feared drowned, age 59. His body was never recovered. A memorial service is held in his honour on 22nd December at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. Rumours and conspiracy theories about his death abound.
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December 27
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A third Australian infantry battalion and a tank squadron arrive in Vietnam for active service.
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January 30
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A 12 mile (19.3 km) fishing limit is imposed around the coast of Australia.
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January 31
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Nauru gains its independence from Australia.
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January
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Uniform censorship laws adopted to cover all states and territories.
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February 2
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Prime Minister John Gorton commits to not increasing the number of Australian troops in Vietnam.
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March 29
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The Australian Resources Bank begins trading.
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March
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Holden releases a new small car, the HB Torana, which began life as an Australian built Vauxhall Viva with Holden badges (photo).
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April 1
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American evangelist Billy Graham returns to Australia for a second crusade (photo).
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April 28
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Australia's first liver transplant is performed at a Sydney hospital.
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May 6
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Four Australian news reporters killed in Vietnam.
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May 10
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The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, begins a three week visit to Australia.
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May 12
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Four year drought over most of New South Wales breaks.
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May 28
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Sydney crime boss Joe Borg killed when his car is blown to bits by a stick of gelignite at Bondi.
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May
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Mineral stocks boom on Australia's Stock Exchange.
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May
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Northern Territory members of the Federal House of Representatives gain full voting rights.
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May
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The Queensland Government rejects an application to mine lime of the Great Barrier Reef.
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June 21
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The Queensland Government announces its plan to close the state's tramways.
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June 24
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Penalties for avoiding National Service are increased.
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July 5
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Mounted Police make a cavalry-like charge on anti-Vietnam War protesters in Melbourne.
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July
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Australia signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty.
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July
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A discovery of human bones at Lake Mungo, NSW, indicates that Aboriginal People or another ethnic group before them occupied Australia anywhere from 25,000 to 40,000 years ago.
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August 15
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The first complete mapping of Australia is completed by the Division of National Mapping.
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October 2
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New South Wales' 10,000-strong body of school teachers strike, with 2,000 of them marching on Parliament House, Sydney, demanding a reduction in class sizes.
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October 12 - 22
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Mexico City Olympic Games: Australia is represented by 235 athletes (111 men and 24 women). Australia's medal tally: 5 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze.
Gold medal wins: Michael Wenden (100m and 200m freestyle); Lyn McClements (100m butterfly); Maureen Caird (80m hurdles). Caird was only 17-years-old and became the youngest athletics champion in the history of the Games. Australia's other athletics champion in 1968 also earned himself a footnote in the record books. Victorian ; Ralph Doubell (800m)
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October 22
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Northern Territory Aborigines gain the same rates of pay and working conditions as other workers.
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October 24
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A team of surgeons at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, successfully perform Australia's first heart transplant surgery on Richard Pye, 57. It was the world's 64th heart transplant operation.
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October 28
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Suburban postal deliveries in capital cities are reduced from two to one delivery a day.
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November 1
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Ansett ANA becomes Ansett Airlines of Australia.
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December 1
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Tasmania abolishes capital punishment.
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December 19
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Breathalyser testing of motorists commences in New South Wales.
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January 2
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Australia signs the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
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January 6
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Double decker railway carriages are introduced onto the Sydney suburban railway system.
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January 10
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Bushfires destroy over 100 homes and kill 23 people in the Geelong, Vic, region.
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February 12
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Townsville Teachers College opens.
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March 17
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Brisbane receives natural gas from Moonie, Qld, becoming the first Australian capital city to use natural gas as a fuel.
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March 26
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The Nimmo Report into the national health insurance industry recommends major changes.
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April 1
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The first shipment of iron ore from the Pilbara leaves Mt Newman, WA, for Japan.
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May 11
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After 35 years in opposition, the Liberal Party wins office in Tasmania.
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May 22
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Clarence O'Shea, secretary of the Victorian Tram and Bus Employees' Union is released from Pentridge Gaol a week after being found guilty of contempt of court.
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May 30
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The Coral Sea Islands, which has a population of three, becomes a territory of Australia.
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July 4
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Thousands of people across Australia use American Independence Day to protect Australia's involvement with the US in the Vietnam War.
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July 21
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A new political party, The Australia Party, is formed.
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August 28
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The 1,672 tonne freighter Noongah is wrecked off Smoky Cape near Kempsey on the NSW coast.
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October 1
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Oz magazine ceasing publication in Australia.
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November 6
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John Grey Gorton 's Federal Liberal Government is returned for another term in a General Election.
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November 12
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The Canberra afternoon newspaper, Canberra News, commences publication.
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November 27
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Author and artist May Gibbs dies, age 93.
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November 29
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The standardisation of the railway line from Sydney to Perth via Broken Hill is completed at Broken Hill.
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December 5
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South Australia legalises abortion.
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