1937 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1937 in Australia.

Incumbents

Monarch – George VI
Governor-General – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
Prime Minister – Joseph Lyons
Chief Justice – Sir John Latham

State Premiers

State Governors

Governor of New South Wales – John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst
Governor of Queensland – Sir Leslie Orme Wilson
Governor of South Australia – Sir Winston Dugan
Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ernest Clark
Governor of Victoria – William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield
Governor of Western Australia – ''none appointed''

Events

9 February – Cairns is hit by a tropical cyclone.
15 February – An explosion kills 13 men at the State Coal Mine in Wonthaggi, Victoria.
20 February – A general election is held in Tasmania. The incumbent [Australian Australian Labor Party|Labor Party|Labor] government led by Albert Ogilvie is returned to power.
1 March – Bernard O'Reilly locates the wreckage of an Airlines of Australia Stinson airliner, VH-UHH City of Brisbane, in the McPherson Range in southern Queensland. Two survivors are rescued, five others did not survive.
20 April – Regular airmail services begin between Australia and the USA.
21-23 April - The first conference of Commonwealth and State Aboriginal authorities is held in Canberra. The conference sees several resolutions pass with the aim of assimilating Australian Aboriginals in white culture.
23 October – The ACTU calls on the government to boycott trade with Japan, following the Japanese invasion of China.

Arts and literature

24 June – The Commonwealth Literature Censorship Board replaces the Book Censorship Advisory Committee, and temporarily lifts the ban on Ulysses by James Joyce.Sunbaker by photographer Max Dupain

Sport

3 March – Captained by Don Bradman, Australia defeats England in the Fifth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, retaining The Ashes.
25 September – Geelong become premiers of the 1937 VFL season, defeating Collingwood 18.14 to 12.18.
19 November – Hubert Opperman completes an epic bicycle ride from Fremantle, Western Australia to Sydney, taking 13 days, 10 hours and 11 minutes.
Eastern Suburbs win the premiership in a shortened 1937 NSWRFL season. University finish in last place for the fourth year in a row, and voluntarily withdraw from the premiership at the end of the season.

Births

16 January – Lorraine Bayly, actor
19 January – John Lions, computer scientist and academic
21 January
*Peter Gallagher, rugby league footballer
*Michael Beahan, Labor Senator for Western Australia
25 January – John Watson, Liberal Senator for Tasmania
4 February – John Devitt, Olympic swimmer
19 February
*Lee Harding, science fiction writer
*Colin Ridgway, NFL American footballer
20 February – Robert Evans, minister and amateur astronomer
21 February – Ron Clarke, Olympic athlete
3 March – Kevin O'Halloran, Olympic swimmer
7 April – Louise Faulkner, missing woman
13 April – Col Joye, entertainer
19 April – Lindsay Fox, businessman
27 May – Peter Pinne, writer and composer
1 June – Colleen McCullough, novelist
11 June – Robin Warren, Nobel Prize-winning pathologist
7 July Jocelyn Newman, politician
26 July
*Alan Cadman, politician
*Guy Green, Governor of Tasmania
28 August – Tony Marchant, Olympic track cyclist
1 September – Ian Callinan, High Court judge
4 September – Dawn Fraser, Olympic swimmer
17 September – Gary Chapman, Olympic swimmer
18 September – Barry Muir, rugby league footballer
3 October – John Hodges, Minister for Immigration
7 October – Colin Guest, cricketer
10 October – Bruce Devlin, golfer
21 November – John Kerin, politician
12 December
*Michael Jeffery, Governor-General of Australia
*Judy Tegart, tennis player
17 December – Kerry Packer, businessman

Deaths

11 February – Walter Burley Griffin, architect of Canberra
18 March – Walter Wilson Froggatt, geologist and economic entomologist
7 May – Christina Jane Corrie, Queensland politician and suffragette
9 June – Charles Chewings, geologist and anthropologist
10 July – Thomas Brentnall, accountant and musician
22 July – Ted McDonald, cricketer and Australian rules footballer
28 July – Sir George Hyde, 7th Naval Member and Chief of the Australian Naval Staff
14 August – Bruce Smith, New South Wales politician
28 August – George Prendergast, 28th Premier of Victoria
28 September – William Ramsay Smith, physician and anthropologist
2 October – Sir Granville Ryrie, New South Wales politician, diplomat and soldier
8 October – Dame Eadith Walker, philanthropist and heiress
4 November – Alfred Walter Campbell, neurologist
6 November – William Moore, art and drama critic
17 November – Jack Worrall, cricketer and Australian rules footballer
19 November – Rayner Hoff, sculptor
27 November – Walter Howchin, geologist
11 December – Godfrey Irving, 8th Chief of the General Staff
16 December – Sir Murray Bourchier, 5th Deputy Premier of Victoria and soldier