1955 in Australia

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The following lists events that happened during 1955 in Australia.

← 1954 1953 1952 1955 in Australia → 1956 1957 1958
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	Other events of 1955 Federal election Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Sir William Slim
• Prime Minister – Robert Menzies
• Sir Owen Dixon

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Joseph Cahill
• Premier of Queensland – Vince Gair
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford IV
• Premier of Tasmania – Robert Cosgrove
• John Cain I (until 7 June), then Henry Bolte
• Albert Hawke

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir John Northcott
• Governor of Queensland – Sir John Lavarack
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Robert George
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ronald Cross, 1st Baronet
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Dallas Brooks
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Charles Gairdner

Events

• 19 February – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established at a meeting in Bangkok.^[1]
• 22–28 February – 1955 Hunter Valley floods: Enormous flooding of the Hunter River and adjacent areas of the Murray–Darling basin causes loss of life and set many rainfall and streamflow records.
• 19 April –
  Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), predecessor of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP)
  .
• 28 May – A
  Liberal and Country Party, led by Henry Bolte
  .
• August – Widespread floods and exceedingly persistent rainfall effect the southern fringe of the continent.
• 12 August – The aircraft carrier HMAS Vengeance is returned to the British Royal Navy.^[2]
• 21 August – The Consolidated Zinc Corporation announced it has discovered
  Weipa, Queensland.^[3]
• 28 October – The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne is commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy.^[2]
• 6 November – The 1955 Queensland Road Racing Championship is held at Southport.^[4]
• 16 November – The Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth, South Australia is established.
• 23 November – The Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean are transferred from British to Australian control.
• 10 December –
  Country Party led by Arthur Fadden defeat the Labor Party led by H. V. Evatt. Malcolm Fraser first enters Parliament as Liberal member for Wannon
  .

• The Guthega power station becomes the first to generate electricity in the Snowy Mountains Scheme

Arts and literature

• 28 November – Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll receives its stage premiere by the Union Theatre Repertory Company in Melbourne with the playwright in a leading role; this is influential as the first authentically naturalistic modern drama in the theatre of Australia^[5]
• 19 December – Dame Edna Everage makes her first stage appearance, in Melbourne
• John Brack paints The Car and Collins St., 5 pm in Oakleigh, Victoria
• Ivor Hele wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Robert Campbell Esq.
• Blake Prize for Religious Art
  with his work St John and Scenes from the Apocalypse
• Patrick White's novel The Tree of Man is published
• Alan Marshall
  's childhood autobiography I Can Jump Puddles is published

Film

• Jedda, a film by Charles Chauvel, is released

Sport and recreation

• Board games
• 19 January – Australian debut of Scrabble
• Cricket
  • Sheffield Shield
  • Australia 3–1 in The Ashes
• Football
  • Port Adelaide
  • Victorian Football League premiership: Melbourne defeated Collingwood
    64–36
• Rugby
  • All Blacks
  • Brisbane Rugby League premiership: Valleys defeat Brothers 17–7
  • New South Wales Rugby League premiership: South Sydney defeat Newtown 12–11
• Golf
  • Australian Open: won by Bobby Locke
  • Australian PGA Championship: won by Ossie Pickworth
• Horse racing
  • Rising Fast wins the Caulfield Cup
  • Kingster wins the
    Cox Plate
  • Toparoa wins the Melbourne Cup
• Motor racing
  • The Australian Grand Prix is held at Port Wakefield and won by Jack Brabham driving a Cooper Bristol
• Tennis
  • Australian Open men's singles: Ken Rosewall defeats Lew Hoad
    9–7 6–4 6–4
  • Beryl Penrose Collier defeats Thelma Coyne Long
    6–4 6–3
  • Davis Cup: Australia defeats the United States 5–0 in the 1955 Davis Cup final
  • Gentlemen's Doubles
• Yachting
  • Even takes line honours and Moonbi wins on handicap in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Births

• 1 January – Mario Andreacchio, film director
• 6 January – Graham Murray (died 2013), rugby league footballer and coach
• 13 January – Paul Kelly, rock musician
• 10 February – Greg Norman, golfer
• 4 March – Tim Costello, Baptist minister and CEO of World Vision
• 6 April - Ray Blacklock (died 2020), rugby league footballer
• 23 April – Judy Davis, actress
• 3 May – David Hookes (died 2004), cricketer
• 31 May – Tommy Emmanuel, guitarist
• 23 June – Alan J. Gow, motorsport executive
• 5 July – Peter McNamara, tennis player
• 24 July –
  David Smith
  , race walker
• 26 July – Ron Peno (died 2023), rock singer/songwriter
• 27 July – Allan Border, cricketer
• 5 August – Robert Flower (died 2014), footballer
• 19 August – Mary-Anne Fahey, actress and comedian
• 18 September - Jim Saleam, far right activist
• 5 October – Wilbur Wilde, saxophonist
• 8 October – Paul Lennon, Premier of Tasmania
• 24 October – Katherine Knight, murderer
• 30 November – Deborra-Lee Furness, actress and producer
• 11 December – David Atkins, actor and dancer
• 19 December– Lincoln Hall (died 2012), mountain climber

Deaths

• 10 May – John Radecki, stained-glass artist (born in Poland) (b. 1865
  )
• 6 June – Max Meldrum, artist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1875
  )
• 1 August – Charles Shaw, journalist and novelist (b. 1900
  )
• P.C. Anderson, golfer and educator (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1871
  )
• 5 September – Haydn Bunton Sr., Australian rules footballer (Fitzroy) (b. 1911
  )
• 11 November – Harry Cobby, military aviator (b. 1894
  )
• 19 December – Sir Keith Smith, aviator (b. 1890
  )

• List of Australian films of the 1950s

References