1978 in Australia explained

The following lists events that happened during 1978 in Australia.

Governor-General:	Sir Zelman Cowen
Pm:	Malcolm Fraser
Population:	14,192,234
Australian:	Alan Bond and Galarrwuy Yunupingu
Elections:	NSW

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Sir Zelman Cowen
• Prime Minister – Malcolm Fraser
  • Deputy Prime Minister – Doug Anthony
  • Opposition Leader – Bill Hayden
• Chief Justice – Sir Garfield Barwick

State and territory leaders

• Premier of New South Wales – Neville Wran
  • Opposition Leader – Peter Coleman (until 7 October), then John Mason
• Premier of Queensland – Joh Bjelke-Petersen
  • Opposition Leader – Tom Burns (until 28 November), then Ed Casey
• Premier of South Australia – Don Dunstan
  • Opposition Leader – David Tonkin
• Premier of Tasmania – Doug Lowe
  • Opposition Leader – Max Bingham
• Premier of Victoria – Rupert Hamer
  • Opposition Leader – Frank Wilkes
• Premier of Western Australia – Sir Charles Court
  • Opposition Leader – Colin Jamieson (until 21 February), then Ron Davies
• Majority Leader/Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Paul Everingham
  • Opposition Leader – Jon Isaacs

Governors and administrators

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Roden Cutler
• Governor of Queensland – Sir James Ramsay
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Keith Seaman
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Stanley Burbury
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Henry Winneke
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Wallace Kyle
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – Desmond O'Leary
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – John England (from 1 June)

Events

January

• 1 January –
  • Another Vietnamese refugee boat arrives at night, from a camp off the Malaysian coast.^[1]
  • The Festival of Sydney begins.
  • A jail warder, Victor Sullivan is struck on the head by a prisoner at Parramatta Jail.
• 2 January – Senator Neville Bonner attacks the Queensland Government over delays in its housing reconstruction programme for Mornington Island, which was ravaged by Cyclone Ted more than a year ago.^[2]
• 3 January –
  • Bela Csidei, a prominent Sydney businessman, is alleged in the Darwin Magistrates' Court to have been involved in growing marijuana in the Northern Territory.^[3]
  • Acting Health Minister Mr McLeay reiterates the Federal Government's election promise to keep the Medibank levy and ceiling at the same level for the next six months.
  • Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen announces that he will ask churches throughout Queensland to hold a day of prayer for rain, suggesting a date of 15 January.^[4]
• 4 January –
  • The Australian dollar is devalued from 89.4 to 89.2 due to a drop in the US dollar to bring the effect devaluation since November 1976 to 15.3%.^[5]
  • Acting Prime Minister Doug Anthony announces that the Federal Government knew that Arab nations operated a blacklist for more than 20 years and that some Australian companies were on it, but that the Government had never been told officially that certain companies were being boycotted.^[6]
• 5 January –
  • Corrective Services Commissioner, W. McGeechan, talks 120 maximum security prisoners back into their cells after a 5-hour protest sit-in at Parramatta jail.^[7]
  • Aboriginal Senator Neville Bonner makes a complaint to the Queensland State Licensing Commission about the Mount Isa hotel which refused him service on Boxing Day.^[8]
  • Immigration and Ethnic Affairs Minister Michael MacKellar reverses a department decision thereby allowing a Uruguayan woman to join her widowed brother, Ruben Molina, in Sydney.^[9]
• 18 January – New South Wales Premier Neville Wran meets with prison union officials about their demand that Bathurst Jail be reopened to relieve over crowding and staff shortages in other prisons.

February

• 13 February – Terrorism arrives in Australia for the very first time with the Sydney Hilton bombing killing 3 people and injuring 11 others.^[10]

March

• 14 March – Stephen Matthews, aged 20, swept from the Natural Bridge off Albany, by a King Wave. Rescued by whale ship, the Cheynes II. First recorded survival of someone swept into the sea at The Gap and Natural Bridge.^[11]
• 30 March – Commonwealth Police (Federal Police) begin arresting 180 Greek-Australians said to be involved in a conspiracy to defraud the Department of Social Security.^[12]

April

• 4 April – Cyclone Alby kills 5 people in Western Australia.^[13]

May

• 15 May –
  • Australia's longest serving prime minister Robert Menzies dies.^[14]
  • Australia's first Timezone arcade opens in Perth.

June

• 24 June – The inaugural Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, a gay rights march is held in Oxford Street, Sydney to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York.^[15]
• 25 June – Trudie Adams disappears from the Surf Life Saving Club in Newport, New South Wales.^[16]

July

• 1 July – The Northern Territory attains self-government; Majority Leader Paul Everingham becomes the inaugural Chief Minister.^[17]

August

• 25 August – Michelle Pope and Stephen Lapthorne disappear. Still missing .^[18]

October

• 7 October – The ALP New South Wales state government of Neville Wran is re-elected with a massively increased majority, leading to his win being dubbed as a "Wranslide".^[19]
• 8 October – Australia's Ken Warby sets the world water speed record to 510 km/h (317.60 mph) at Blowering Dam, New South Wales.^[20]
• 21 October - Cessna pilot Frederick Valentich disappears while flying over Bass Strait.^[21]

November

• 21 November – Last day of commercial whaling in Australia. No sperm whales caught that day by the chaser ships (Cheynes II, III and IV) operated by the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company at Albany, Western Australia. The last whale caught by an Australian whaling company was the day before, 20 November.

Arts and literature

See main article: 1978 in Australian literature.

• Brett Whiteley wins the Archibald Prize with Art, Life and the other thing.^[22]
• Jessica Anderson's novel Tirra Lirra By the River wins the Miles Franklin Award.^[23]
• Helen Garner becomes the first woman to win the National Book Council Award for her novel Monkey Grip, selected as Book of the Year.^[24]

Film

• Blue Fin^[25]
• Little Boy Lost

Sport

• 7 March – Western Australia wins the 1977–78 Sheffield Shield season.^[26]
• 6 May – Melbourne and St Kilda set a still-standing record VFL/AFL aggregate score of 52.33 (345).
• 1 July – Footscray kick a record VFL score of 33.15 (213) beating the previous record by three points. Kelvin Templeton and Ian Dunstan combine for 22 of the 33 goals.
• 6 August – James Langford wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:19:29 in Caboolture.^[27]
• 19 September – After a controversial NSWRFL finals series with two draws, Manly thrash Cronulla 16–0 to win their fourth premiership with Graham Eadie dominating.^[28] Newtown finish in last position, claiming their third straight and final wooden spoon before their departure from the premiership five years later.
• 30 September – Hawthorn 18.13 (121) defeats North Melbourne 15.13 (103) for its fourth VFL premiership.^[29]
• 7 November – Arwon wins the Melbourne Cup.^[30]
• 30 December – Apollo claims line honours in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.^[31]

Births

• 4 January – Paul Licuria, Australian rules footballer
• 14 January – James Mathison, TV host
• 25 January – Jason Johnson, Australian rules footballer
• 1 February – Tim Harding, singer (Hi 5)
• 2 February – Annabel Ellwood, tennis player
• 7 February – Frank Drmic, basketball player
• 8 February – Mick de Brenni, politician
• 16 February – Lance Thompson, rugby league player (d. 2018)
• 1 March – Gavin Woods, water polo player
• 14 March – Karyne Di Marco, hammer thrower
• 18 March – Brooke Hanson, swimmer
• 4 April – Sam Moran, singer (The Wiggles)
• 16 April – Matthew Lloyd, footballer and coach
• 2 June – Luke Williamson, rugby league player
• 30 June – Ben Cousins, AFL Footballer
• 8 August – Kate Ritchie, actress, radio & television personality
• 16 August – Ben Galea, rugby player
• 11 September – Ben Lee, singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor
• 18 September – Melanie Gibbons, politician
• 20 September – Scott Minto, rugby league player
• 22 September – Harry Kewell, soccer player
• 20 October – Michael Johns, Australian singer (d. 2014)
• 25 October – Matt Shirvington, track and field athlete
• November – Allyson McConnell, convicted killer who drowned her two children in Alberta, Canada^[32]
• 22 November – Steven King, plays with Geelong Football Club
• 2 December – Peter Moylan, baseball player
• Fiona McFarlane - author^[33]

Deaths

• 9 January – Eddie Gilbert, (born 1905), Queensland cricketer^[34]
• 5 February – Frank McIver, (born 1904), soccer player and administrator
• 14 May – Sir Robert Menzies, (born 1894), Prime Minister of Australia^[14]
• 27 July – Bob Heffron, (born 1890), Premier of New South Wales^[35]
• 18 September – Dame Alice Berry, (born 1900), social activist^[36]
• 6 October – Johnny O'Keefe, (born 1935), rock and roll singer^[37]

See also

• 1978 in Australian television
• List of Australian films of 1978

Notes and References

1. News: 38 refugees in latest boat to reach Darwin. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 2 January 1978. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229083611/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-38-refugees-in/137601009/. live.
2. News: Senator 'disgusted' at Aboriginal homes delay. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2. 3 January 1978.
3. News: Csidei named in drug case. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 4 January 1978. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229084157/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-csidei-named-i/137601071/. live.
4. News: Rain prayers suggested. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 4 January 1978. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229084403/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-rain-prayers-s/137601105/. live.
5. News: Value of $ cut again. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 5 January 1978. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229084846/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-value-of-cut/137601140/. live.
6. News: Govt knew of Arab blacklist But it appears to have had little effect, says Anthony. The Sydney Morning Herald. 3. 5 January 1978.
7. News: Allison. Colin. McGeechan talks angry prisoners back to cells. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 6 January 1978. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229090236/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-mcgeechan-talk/137601201/. live.
8. News: Isa Hotel complaint. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2. 6 January 1978. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229090238/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-isa-hotel-comp/137601229/. live.
9. News: Lukas. Isabel. Immigration Dept refusal reversed by minister. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2. 6 January 1978. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229090237/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-sister-allowed/137601260/. live.
10. News: Bowers. Peter. Brown. Malcolm. 14 February 1978. Fraser calls troops. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229090213/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-fraser-calls-t/137601321/. live.
11. Web site: The Natural Bridge. GlobeVista. 2008. 2014-02-08. 14 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140114050738/http://www.westaustralianvista.com/The_Natural_Bridge_in_Albany.html. live.
12. Web site: Grabosky . Peter. N. . Chapter 6: The great social security conspiracy case . Wayward Governance: Illegality and its Control in the Public Sector . Australian Institute of Criminology . 7 August 2015 . 0 642 14605 5 . 93–112 . 1989 .
13. News: 6 April 1978. Five dead in storm: fires rage on. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229091739/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-five-dead-in-s/137601372/. live.
14. News: Bowers. Peter. 16 May 1978. Menzies dies at 83. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229090851/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-menzies-dies-a/137601411/. live.
15. Web site: 2022. First gay Mardi Gras. National Museum Australia. 29 December 2023. 29 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231229092200/https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/first-gay-mardi-gras. live.
16. News: 29 June 1978. Hunt for girl, 18, goes on. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2. 29 December 2023.
17. News: Mellor. Bill. 2 July 1978. Darwin wakes with a capital hangover. The Sun-Herald. 3. 1 January 2024. 1 January 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240101034643/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-darwin-wakes-w/137799677/. live.
18. News: Findlay. Tracey . Police renew appeal for information on local couple missing 30 years . 7 August 2015 . . Daily Telegraph-NewsLocal . 3 August 2015.
19. News: Owens. Warren. 8 October 1978. Wran back - and how!. The Sun-Herald. 1. 30 December 2023.
20. News: Robertson. David. 9 October 1978. The fastest man afloat: Warby breaks own record. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230005638/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-the-fastest-ma/137651135/. live.
21. News: Murdoch. Lindsay. 23 October 1978. Pilot tells of UFO then vanishes. The Age. 1. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230005641/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-pilot-tells-of-ufo-then-vanishes/137651290/. live.
22. News: Harper. Catherine. 16 December 1978. Brett Whiteley takes an art hat trick. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 30 December 2023.
23. News: 3 May 1979. Literary award to 'late starter'. The Sydney Morning Herald. 3. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230085831/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-literary-award/137671336/. live.
24. News: Sayers. Stuart. 13 October 1978. Expatriate grips the novel prize. The Age. 2. 30 December 2023.
25. News: DuBose. Martha. 16 November 1978. Could it become a gift tradition?. The Sydney Morning Herald. 8. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230064950/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-could-it-becom/137655510/. live.
26. News: 8 March 1978. Sheffield Shield: final standing. The Sydney Morning Herald. 42. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230093719/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-sheffield-shie/137671683/. live.
27. News: 7 August 1978. Veteran Langford turns clock back in marathon. The Sydney Morning Herald. 31. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230093716/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-veteran-langfo/137671847/. live.
28. News: Clarkson. Alan. 20 September 1978. Finally it's Manly... grandly. The Sydney Morning Herald. 28. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230093719/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-finally-its-m/137671799/. live.
29. News: 1 October 1978. 100,000 at VFL final. The Sun-Herald. 2. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230093720/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-100000-at-vfl/137671755/. live.
30. News: Bourke. Tony. 8 November 1978. Arwon turns up trumps for Nowra. The Age. 1. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230093715/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-arwon-turns-up-trumps-for-nowra/137671562/. live.
31. News: Herbert. Adrian. 31 December 1978. Apollo first to Hobart - second line honour victory for skipper. The Sun-Herald. 2. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230093718/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-apollo-first-t/137671502/. live.
32. https://web.archive.org/web/20100204161526/http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Parents%2Bboys%2Bfound%2Bdead%2BAlberta%2Bhome%2Bwere%2Bcustody%2Bdispute/2513132/story.html Boys found dead were at centre of custody fight
33. Web site: Fiona McFarlane. https://web.archive.org/web/20180226212115/http://www.swansea.ac.uk/dylan-thomas-prize/archive/2017-shortlist/fiona-mcfarlane/. dead. 26 February 2018. www.swansea.ac.uk. 27 February 2018.
34. News: 10 January 1978. Famous Qld bowler dies. The Sydney Morning Herald. 26. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230015757/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-famous-qld-bow/137655109/. live.
35. News: 28 July 1978. R J Heffron dies at 87. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230015757/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-r-j-heffron-di/137654763/. live.
36. Web site: Biography - Dame Alice Miriam Berry - Australian Dictionary of Biography. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305152309/http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/berry-dame-alice-miriam-9496. dead. 2016-03-05. 2016-03-05. 2017-10-22.
37. News: 7 October 1978. Johnny O'Keefe, rock star, dies. The Sydney Morning Herald. 1. 30 December 2023. 30 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231230015746/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-johnny-okeefe/137654507/. live.