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1955 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1955 in Australia.

Incumbents

State Premiers

State Governors

Events

January

  • 1 January – A cyclone hits Roebourne, Western Australia causing extensive damage.
  • 2 January –
  • Bushfires burn through the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia destroying many properties, including the vice-regal summer residence of South Australian governor Sir Robert George.
  • Bushfires burn through Victoria, destroying properties and stock with towns in the far west of the state such as Dergholm, Casterton, Tarrenlea and Merino suffering the worst losses.
  • About 100 protestors from the Australian League for a Non-Divided Ireland gather at Melbourne's Spencer Street railway station awaiting the arrival of Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Lord Brookeborough from Adelaide on The Overland.
  • A 34-year-old man, a 12-year-old-boy and an 8-year-old boy drown in three separate incidents at Palm Beach, Cowan Creek and Lane Cove River.
  • 3 January –
  • A tidal wave reportedly occurs at Nubeena, Tasmania flooding roads, causing dinghies to be torn from their moorings and vessels to be swept into the bay.
  • As New South Wales experiences a severe heatwave, water consumption in Sydney reaches a record high with some residents unable to access water as service reservoirs struggle to keep up with demand.
  • 4 January –
  • Three people are killed when a light plane crashes into a mountainside near Yarra Glen, 15 minutes after taking off from Moorabbin Airport enroute to Canberra. Those killed were the 26-year-old pilot, a 25-year-old CSIRO typist and a 22-year-old first year diplomatic cadet with the Department of External Affairs.
  • A family is killed when their car collides with a semi-trailer on the Hume Highway near Wagga Wagga.
  • Lieutenant-General Sir Iven Mackay and his wife are injured in a car accident near Gosford.
  • 7 January – Women's Royal Australian Naval Service director Blair Bowden arrives in Sydney on her last official visit ahead of her final day of service on 14 January 1955.
  • 14 January – A 19-year-old National Service trainee is killed when his Tiger Moth aircraft crashes after colliding with another 3000 feet above Werribee.
  • 31 January – Six people are killed and 16 others injured when a truck carrying two families consisting of 22 people plunged into a ravine after it lost control down the Toowoomba Range. A 40-year-old man and three of his children aged 11, 3 and 18 months were all killed in the accident along with another man, aged 45, and one of his children - a 15-year-old daughter.

February

March

  • 14 March – A 40-year-old woman and a 2-year-old son are killed, and a rail motor derailed when the woman's car collided with the train at a level crossing at Molong on the Great Western Highway near Dubbo.

April

May

June

  • 19 June – Minister for Trade and Customs, Senator O'Sullivan confirms the federal government has abandoned with control of tea with merchants now free to resume private trading of tea making their own arrangements with tea producing countries.

July

  • A 5,500-ton freighter carrying 7,800 tons of coal is run onto a reef in Port Phillip Bay to prevent it from sinking after it struck rocks while traversing The Rip.

August

  • August – Widespread floods and exceedingly persistent rainfall effect the southern fringe of the continent.
  • 9 August – Margaret Telfer becomes the first woman to be appointed as a registrar of any Australian university when University of Sydney vice chancellor Stephen Henry Roberts announces her appointment.
  • 12 August – The aircraft carrier HMAS Vengeance is returned to the British Royal Navy.
  • 21 August – The Consolidated Zinc Corporation announced it has discovered bauxite at Weipa, Queensland.
  • 22 August – The mayor of the Victorian town of Daylesford collapses and dies during a town hall meeting.

September

October

November

December

Science and technology

Arts and literature

Film and television

  • 3 January – Jedda, a film by Charles Chauvel premieres in Darwin.
  • 5 January – A list of applicants vying for commercial television licences for Sydney and Melbourne is released by postmaster-general Hubert Lawrence Anthony. There are eight applicants competing for the two Sydney licences, while there are four applicants for the Melbourne licences. Among the applicants are federal opposition leader Doc Evatt and AWU general-secretary, Tom Dougherty who are applying for licences in both cities as "joint and provisional trustees of the Australian Workers Union and the Australian Labor Party".
  • 7 January – Australian actor John McCallum returns to Australia for the first time in 8 years, bringing his wife Googie Withers with him. After their arrival in Australia, McCallum confirms he plans to make a film in Australian within a few months.
  • 1 February – As the Australian Broadcasting Control Board commences the hearing of applicants for the two available Sydney television licences, managing director of Amalgamated Television Services Clive Ogilvy tells the board that he could have television programs on the air within 18 months if their bid was successful.

Sport and recreation

Births

Deaths

See also

References