5 January – The Connellan air disaster takes place which is Australia's only aircraft suicide attack.[3] Carried out by a disgruntled former employee of Connellan Airways, the attack claims the lives of five people including the pilot.[3]
10 January – The Easey Street murders take place, an unsolved crime in which two women were brutally raped and stabbed to death in their home in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Collingwood.[4][5]
18 January – Australia experiences its worst
railway disaster at Granville, near Sydney, in which 83 people died.[6][7]
7 February - 418 refugees of the Vietnam War arrive in Melbourne. The refugees, from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, left refugee camps around Bangkok for the largest airlift of war victims from Thailand.[9]
27 February - ABBA arrive in Australia for their live concert tour around the country starting at the Sydney Showground.[10]
9 March - Queen Elizabeth II arrives in Brisbane as part of her Silver Jubilee goodwill tour.[12]
13 March - ABBA In Australia tour concludes.
15 March -
The former Australian consul to Timor Jim Dunn prepares to testify to the United States Congress on Indonesian atrocities.[13] The Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik responds by threatening that his Government would allow "demonstrations and other mass actions" against the Australian Embassy to continue if further agitation against alleged Indonesian atrocities were allowed.[14]
Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock presents a 24-page speech to Federal Parliament in which he outlines a new direction in foreign policies based on Australia's richness in a world of want.[15] He says population and resources would be central future policies, as well as making attacks on Soviet Union military expansion.[15]
Federal Cabinet approves an agreement with the United States for the construction of the controversial Omega navigation station at a predicted cost of $15 million.[16]
31 March - The Conciliation and Arbitration Commission’s wage decision is handed down.[17] The Commission indicates it would hold an inquiry into various aspects of wage fixation.[17] The Commission introduces a $5.70 a week increase on prices, prompting Federal Treasurer Phillip Lynch to say that the decision would retard the fight against inflation.[17]
April
13 April - The Premiers' Conference is held in Canberra where all governments commit to a three-month prices and wages freeze.[18]
United States president Jimmy Carter gives the Australian Government his personal assurance that US agencies (in particular the Central Intelligence Agency) were not engaged in improper activities in Australia, an issue that had resurfaced in the espionage trial of Christopher Boyce in the United States.[24] Fraser included this information in a statement to the House of Representatives on 24 May.[24]
John Howard tables a white paper on the future of the manufacturing industry in parliament.[25] The paper noted that despite the growth of mining, manufacturing still employed more than 1.3 million people in 1975, of whom 0.5 million had been born overseas.[25] Manufacturing depended substantially on tariff protection and other government assistance, as well as facing ever-increasing competition from other countries, particularly in Asia.[25]
June
15 June - The Gleneagles Agreement is unanimously approved by the Commonwealth of Nations at a meeting at Gleneagles, Auchterarder, Scotland. Commonwealth Presidents and Prime Ministers agree, as part of their support for the international campaign against apartheid, to discourage contact and competition between their sportsmen and sporting organisations, teams or individuals from South Africa.[26]
Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser meets with United States president Jimmy Carter in Washington.[29] Fraser is impressed by Carter 'as a decisive man' who would be 'setting American objectives in the great humanitarian issues'.[29] Carter undertakes to consult Australia before any agreement was concluded with the Soviet Union on arms limitation in the Indian Ocean.[29]
7 August - At the Association of South-East Asian Nations meeting in Kuala Lumpur, prime minister Malcolm Fraser offers ASEAN leaders a package of increased bilateral aid of $250 million, as well as an extra $10 million for joint development projects, but claimed Australia could do nothing in its present economic circumstances to reduce trade barriers against their countries' products.[33][34]
9 August - A board of inquiry into Housing Commission land deals is appointed by the Victorian Government with the power to investigate Cabinet decisions and to call Ministers to give evidence.[35]
11 August - A 24-hour strike by postal staff at Melbourne's two biggest parcel centres stops more than 25,000 parcels being handled.[36][37]
15 August - Cabinet decided that Australia would negotiate bilateral safeguards agreements with purchasers covering both present and future use of the uranium. Australia would seek an understanding with other exporters on the application and enforcement of safeguards, but this would not constitute a commercial cartel to control price or quantity.
16 August - Federal Treasurer Philip Lynch presents the 1977–78 budget, with a predicted deficit of $2.21 billion.[38] It reduces personal income tax scales from seven to three (32 per cent, 46 per cent and 60 per cent) and also provides personal tax cuts to operate from 1 February 1978.[38]
17 August - Federal Treasurer
National Press Club of Australia and blames the Arbitration Commission for the lack of improvement in unemployment for its failure to restrain wages through its decisions.[39]
21 August - Mail services returns to normal following the end of a national postal dispute.[40]
23 August - Cabinet makes its final decisions on uranium mining in Australia, endorsing the main findings of the Fox inquiry unless there were 'compelling reasons' for departing from them.[41] It was agreed that mining could proceed, subject to environmental controls and a stringent nuclear safeguards regime.[41] The Ranger Uranium Mine could be developed without further environmental assessment, but the other two mines in the Alligator River region – Jabiluka and Koongarra – would not be approved for a considerable time.[41] Cabinet also agreed on the staged establishment of Kakadu National Park, although the Ranger, Jabiluka and Koongarra uranium leases were to be excluded from it.[41]
Victoria experiences a statewide 24-hour stoppage of train, tram and tramway bus services due to a strike by 20,000 public transport workers - the third strike in a month.[45]
Federal Attorney-General Bob Ellicott quits the Fraser ministry after a row with Cabinet over the conspiracy case against former Labor Ministers.[46] Senator Peter Durack is appointed in his place.[46]
15 September -
The
ACTU congress resolves to ban the mining and export of uranium from mid-November unless the Government agrees to hold a referendum on the issue.[47] The referendum proposal is not favoured by the Australian Labor Party, most of whose parliamentary leaders are inclined to support mining.[47]
The Indian High Commissioner Shri Jagdish Chand Ajmani's military attaché Colonel Iqbal Singh and his wife are attacked by a member of the Indian Ananda Marga sect.[48]
An employee of Air India’s Melbourne office is stabbed by a man who left a threatening letter, allegedly from the Ananda Marga-affiliated Universal Proutist Revolutionary Federation.[51]
Cabinet decides to review the management of explosives by Commonwealth agencies and to provide 203 more Commonwealth police for diplomatic security work, while foreign missions in Australia are urged to upgrade their security.
7 May - Hawthorn set two VFL records when they kick 41 behinds and have a total of 66 scoring shots against St Kilda. These totals remain six ahead of the second-most behinds and scoring shots.
England defeat a weakened Australia team 3–0 in The Ashes test series
17 September - St. George and minor premiers Parramatta play a 9–9 draw after 100 minutes in the 1977 NSWRL Grand Final.[75] It is the first Grand Final to be tied after 100 minutes including extra time.[75]Newtown finish in last position, claiming their second straight wooden spoon.
^ abcWithington, David; Basile, Vincent; Gratton, Michelle; Borschmann, Gregg (1 April 2023). "Indexation in danger". The Age. p. 1. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
^Bowers, Peter; Frykberg, Ian; Martin, Keith (14 April 1977). "Seven govts united". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
^Gordon, Michael; Carman, Gerry (13 August 1977). "Mail row: formula for peace". The Age. p. 3. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
^ abBowers, Peter; Sketetee, Mike; Pierce, J N (17 August 1977). "Down goes personal tax". The Sydney Morning Herald. pp. 1, 8–12. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
^Gratton, Michelle (18 August 1977). "Lynch hits pay bench". The Age. p. 1. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
^"Saturday TV - November 19, 1977". The Age. 17 November 1977. p. 47. Retrieved 25 December 2023. ABV-2; 6.0: COUNTDOWN - ABC pop music series: Inc. film of Prince Charles launching Countdown Silver Jubilee Top 20 Album...
^"Rains keeps NSW fourth in Shield". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 March 1977. p. 15. Victoria had 91 points from eight games with two wins and six draws to finish behind Western Australia who had 138 points.
^Mossop, Brian; O'Reilly, Bill (13 March 1977). "Jaw smashed and McCosker is out". The Sun-Herald. pp. 76–77. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
^ ab"Aust runners are sixth". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 March 1977. p. 16. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
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