1971 in Australia

← 1970 1969 1968 1971 in Australia → 1972 1973 1974
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	Other events of 1971 Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – John Gorton (Until 10 March), then William McMahon
• Governor General – Paul Hasluck

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Robert Askin
• Premier of South Australia – Don Dunstan
• Premier of Queensland – Joh Bjelke-Petersen
• Premier of Tasmania – Angus Bethune
• Premier of Western Australia – David Brand (Until 3 April), then John Tonkin
• Premier of Victoria – Henry Bolte

Events

• Neville Bonner becomes first Indigenous Australian to sit as a member in the Parliament of Australia
• Evonne Goolagong is named Australian of the Year
• 3 January - Sudden hailstorms lash the Sydney area causing widespread damage to houses and properties, as well as traffic chaos and nearly $150,000 worth of damage to fruit and vegetable crops at Cobbity.
  • New South Wales Transport Minister announces that intensified police weekend patrols might become a regular part of the campaign to cut the road toll after 8,148 New South Wales motorists were arrested or charged over the New Year holiday weekend.
• 4 January - Federal Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam says in Port Moresby that Papuan leaders seem to accept completely the Australian Labor Party's timetable for independence of Papua New Guinea. The timetable provides for self-government as soon as a Labor Government comes to power in Australia, and independence in 1976.
  • Immigration Minister Mr Lynch gives a ruling that three Asian doctors at St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, who entered Australia under the private overseas student program, will be sent home, but may apply to return to Australia as migrants conditionally.
• 2 November - President Nixon gave Prime Minister William McMahon an unqualified endorsement of the Anzus alliance, saying that the United States would honour its commitments under the alliance, which he described as one of America's fundamental pillars in the Pacific.
  • Sonia McMahon, wife of Prime Minister McMahon, captures international attention when she wears a daring full-length dress, with a long slit down the sides revealing her legs, to a White House reception. The dress was designed by South Yarra fashion designer Victoria Ciscijo of Valencia House. Sonia McMahon would be most remembered in years to come for this dress.^[1]
• 24 December – Cyclone Althea hits Townsville and surrounding islands, killing 3
• State Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen declares a state of emergency in Queensland in response to escalating protest to the 1971 Springbok tour
• Australia and New Zealand Announce Pull Out Of Troops from Vietnam

Arts and literature

• David Williamson writes The Removalists
• David Ireland's novel The Unknown Industrial Prisoner wins the Miles Franklin Award

Film

• Walkabout
• Wake in Fright

Television

• 4 January – American children's educational TV series Sesame Street premieres on ABC.
• 28 July – Pick-A-Box, hosted by Bob and Dolly Dyer, airs for the final time. It had first been broadcast as a radio program in 1948.

Sport

• 18 September – South Sydney Rabbitohs defeated St George Dragons in the NSWRL Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground; thus winning four premierships in five years.
• 25 September – Derek Clayton wins his third men's national marathon title, clocking 2:11:08.8 in Hobart.
• Silver Knight wins the Melbourne Cup
• South Australia wins the Sheffield Shield
• Kialoa takes line honours in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Pathfinder takes handicap honours
• 1971 Springbok tour

Births

• 17 January – Peter Winter, track and field decathlete
• 26 January – Lee Naylor, track and field athlete
• 14 February – Lisa-Marie Vizaniari, discus thrower
• 19 February – Lisa McCune, actress and singer
• 26 March – Rennae Stubbs, tennis player
• 2 April – Todd Woodbridge, tennis player
• 20 April – Grant Smith, field hockey player
• 4 May – Miles Stewart, triathlete
• 17 May
  • Mark Connors, rugby player
  • Shaun Hart, footballer, coach, and sportscaster
• 3 July - Julian Assange, activist
• 2 September – Gregory Corbitt, field hockey striker
• 18 September – Kate Starre, field hockey midfielder
• 1 October – Andrew O'Keefe, highest-rating television personality
• 20 October – Dannii Minogue, singer, actress and television personality
• 29 October – Matthew Hayden, cricket player
• 10 November - Monique Allen, gymnast
• 14 November – Adam Gilchrist, cricket player
• 19 November – Michelle Andrews, field hockey midfielder
• 6 December – Brendan Garard, field hockey player

Deaths

• 27 May – Chips Rafferty (born 1909), actor
• 30 July – Kenneth Slessor (born 1901), poet
• 16 October – Robin Boyd (born 1919), architect

References