1937 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1937 in Australia.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George VI
• Governor-General – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
• Prime Minister – Joseph Lyons
• Chief Justice – Sir John Latham

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Bertram Stevens
• Premier of Queensland – William Forgan Smith
• Premier of South Australia – Richard L. Butler
• Premier of Tasmania – Albert Ogilvie
• Premier of Victoria – Albert Dunstan
• Premier of Western Australia – John Willcock

State Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst (from 8 April)
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Leslie Orme Wilson
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Winston Dugan
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ernest Clark
• Governor of Victoria – William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield
• Governor of Western Australia – none appointed

Events

• 9 February – Cairns is hit by a tropical cyclone.
• 15 February – An explosion kills 13 men at the State Coal Mine in Wonthaggi, Victoria.
• 20 February – A general election is held in Tasmania. The incumbent Labor government led by Albert Ogilvie is returned to power.
• 1 March – Bernard O'Reilly locates the wreckage of an Airlines of Australia Stinson airliner, VH-UHH City of Brisbane, in the McPherson Range in southern Queensland. Two survivors are rescued, five others did not survive.
• 20 April – Regular airmail services begin between Australia and the USA.
• 21-23 April - The first conference of Commonwealth and State Aboriginal authorities is held in Canberra. The conference sees several resolutions pass with the aim of assimilating Australian Aboriginals (excluding those deemed full-blooded) in white culture.
• 23 October – The ACTU calls on the government to boycott trade with Japan, following the Japanese invasion of China.

Arts and literature

• 24 June – The Commonwealth Literature Censorship Board replaces the Book Censorship Advisory Committee, and temporarily lifts the ban on Ulysses by James Joyce.
• Sunbaker by photographer Max Dupain

Sport

• 3 March – Captained by Don Bradman, Australia defeats England in the Fifth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, retaining The Ashes.
• 25 September – Geelong become premiers of the 1937 VFL season, defeating Collingwood 18.14 (122) to 12.18 (90).
• 19 November – Hubert Opperman completes an epic bicycle ride from Fremantle, Western Australia to Sydney, taking 13 days, 10 hours and 11 minutes.
• Eastern Suburbs win the premiership in a shortened 1937 NSWRFL season. University finish in last place for the fourth year in a row, and voluntarily withdraw from the premiership at the end of the season.

Births

• 16 January – Lorraine Bayly, actor (died 2026)
• 19 January – John Lions, computer scientist and academic (died 1998)
• 21 January
• Peter Gallagher, rugby league footballer (died 2003)
• Michael Beahan, Labor Senator for Western Australia (died 2022)
• 25 January – John Watson, Liberal Senator for Tasmania (died 2025)
• 4 February – John Devitt, Olympic swimmer (died 2023)
• 7 February – Daryl Jackson, architect (died 2026)
• 19 February
• Lee Harding, science fiction writer (died 2023)
• Colin Ridgway, NFL American footballer (died 1993)
• 20 February – Robert Evans, minister and amateur astronomer (died 2022)
• 21 February – Ron Clarke, Olympic athlete (died 2015)
• 3 March – Kevin O'Halloran, Olympic swimmer (died 1976)
• 7 April – Louise Faulkner, missing woman
• 13 April – Col Joye, entertainer (died 2025)
• 19 April – Lindsay Fox, businessman
• 27 May – Peter Pinne, writer and composer
• 1 June – Colleen McCullough, novelist (died 2015)
• 11 June – Robin Warren, Nobel Prize-winning pathologist (died 2024)
• 7 July Jocelyn Newman, politician (died 2018)
• 26 July
• Alan Cadman, politician
• Guy Green, Governor of Tasmania (1995–2003) (died 2025)
• 28 August – Tony Marchant, Olympic track cyclist
• 1 September – Ian Callinan, High Court judge
• 4 September – Dawn Fraser, Olympic swimmer
• 17 September – Gary Chapman, Olympic swimmer (died 1978)
• 18 September – Barry Muir, rugby league footballer (died 2022)
• 3 October – John Hodges, Minister for Immigration (1982–1983) (died 2024)
• 7 October – Colin Guest, cricketer (died 2018)
• 10 October – Bruce Devlin, golfer
• 21 November – John Kerin, politician (died 2023)
• 12 December
• Michael Jeffery, Governor-General of Australia (died 2020)
• Judy Tegart, tennis player
• 17 December – Kerry Packer, businessman (died 2005)

Deaths

• 11 February – Walter Burley Griffin, architect of Canberra (born in the United States and died in India) (b. 1876)
• 18 March – Walter Wilson Froggatt, geologist and economic entomologist (b. 1858)
• 7 May – Christina Jane Corrie, Queensland politician and suffragette (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1867)
• 9 June – Charles Chewings, geologist and anthropologist (b. 1859)
• 10 July – Thomas Brentnall, accountant and musician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1846)
• 22 July – Ted McDonald, cricketer and Australian rules footballer (Essendon, Fitzroy) (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1891)
• 28 July – Sir George Hyde, 7th Naval Member and Chief of the Australian Naval Staff (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1877)
• 14 August – Bruce Smith, New South Wales politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1851)
• 28 August – George Prendergast, 28th Premier of Victoria (b. 1854)
• 28 September – William Ramsay Smith, physician and anthropologist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1859)
• 2 October – Sir Granville Ryrie, New South Wales politician, diplomat and soldier (b. 1865)
• 8 October – Dame Eadith Walker, philanthropist and heiress (b. 1861)
• 4 November – Alfred Walter Campbell, neurologist (b. 1868)
• 6 November – William Moore, art and drama critic (b. 1868)
• 17 November – Jack Worrall, cricketer and Australian rules footballer (Fitzroy) (b. 1861)
• 19 November – Rayner Hoff, sculptor (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1894)
• 27 November – Walter Howchin, geologist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1845)
• 11 December – Godfrey Irving, 8th Chief of the General Staff (b. 1867)
• 16 December – Sir Murray Bourchier, 5th Deputy Premier of Victoria and soldier (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1881)

See also

• List of Australian films of the 1930s

References