1937 in Australia

← 1936 1935 1934 1937 in Australia → 1938 1939 1940
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
See also:	1937 in Australian literature Other events of 1937 Federal election Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1937 in Australia.

1937 in Australia
Monarch	George VI
Governor-General	Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
Prime minister	Joseph Lyons
Population	6,835,536
Elections	Federal, VIC, TAS

Incumbents

Joseph Lyons

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

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Bertram Stevens
• Premier of Queensland – William Forgan Smith
• Premier of South Australia – Richard L. Butler
• Premier of Tasmania – Albert Ogilvie
• Premier of Victoria – Albert Dunstan
• Premier of Western Australia – John Willcock

State Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst (from 8 April)
• 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 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 (excluding those deemed full-blooded) in white culture. ^[1]
• 23 October – The ACTU calls on the government to boycott trade with Japan, following the Japanese invasion of China.

Arts and literature

Main article: 1937 in Australian 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 (122) to 12.18 (90).
• 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 (died 1998)
• 21 January
  • Peter Gallagher, rugby league footballer (died 2003)
  • Michael Beahan, Labor Senator for Western Australia (died 2022)
• 25 January – John Watson, Liberal Senator for Tasmania
• 4 February – John Devitt, Olympic swimmer (died 2023)
• 19 February
  • Lee Harding, science fiction writer (died 2023)
  • Colin Ridgway, NFL American footballer (died 1993)
• 20 February – Robert Evans, minister and amateur astronomer (died 2022)
• 21 February – Ron Clarke, Olympic athlete (died 2015)
• 3 March – Kevin O'Halloran, Olympic swimmer (died 1976)
• 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 (died 2015)
• 11 June – Robin Warren, Nobel Prize-winning pathologist (died 2024)
• 7 July Jocelyn Newman, politician (died 2018)
• 26 July
  • Alan Cadman, politician
  • Guy Green, Governor of Tasmania (1995–2003)
• 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 (died 1978)
• 18 September – Barry Muir, rugby league footballer (died 2022)
• 3 October – John Hodges, Minister for Immigration (1982–1983) (died 2024)
• 7 October – Colin Guest, cricketer (died 2018)
• 10 October – Bruce Devlin, golfer
• 21 November – John Kerin, politician (died 2023)
• 12 December
  • Michael Jeffery, Governor-General of Australia (died 2020)
  • Judy Tegart, tennis player
• 17 December – Kerry Packer, businessman (died 2005)

Deaths

George Prendergast

• 11 February – Walter Burley Griffin, architect of Canberra (born in the United States and died in India) (b. 1876)
• 18 March – Walter Wilson Froggatt, geologist and economic entomologist (b. 1858)
• 7 May – Christina Jane Corrie, Queensland politician and suffragette (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1867) ^[2]
• 9 June – Charles Chewings, geologist and anthropologist (b. 1859)
• 10 July – Thomas Brentnall, accountant and musician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1846)
• 22 July – Ted McDonald, cricketer and Australian rules footballer (Essendon, Fitzroy) (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1891)
• 28 July – Sir George Hyde, 7th Naval Member and Chief of the Australian Naval Staff (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1877)
• 14 August – Bruce Smith, New South Wales politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1851)
• 28 August – George Prendergast, 28th Premier of Victoria (b. 1854)
• 28 September – William Ramsay Smith, physician and anthropologist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1859)
• 2 October – Sir Granville Ryrie, New South Wales politician, diplomat and soldier (b. 1865)
• 8 October – Dame Eadith Walker, philanthropist and heiress (b. 1861) ^[3]
• 4 November – Alfred Walter Campbell, neurologist (b. 1868)
• 6 November – William Moore, art and drama critic (b. 1868)
• 17 November – Jack Worrall, cricketer and Australian rules footballer (Fitzroy) (b. 1861)
• 19 November – Rayner Hoff, sculptor (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1894)
• 27 November – Walter Howchin, geologist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1845)
• 11 December – Godfrey Irving, 8th Chief of the General Staff (b. 1867)
• 16 December – Sir Murray Bourchier, 5th Deputy Premier of Victoria and soldier (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1881)

See also

• List of Australian films of the 1930s

References

1. Aboriginal welfare: initial conference of Commonwealth and state Aboriginal authorities held at Canberra, 21st to 23rd April, 1937. 1937.
2. "Death of Mrs. A. J. Thynne". The Courier-Mail . Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 8 May 1937. p. 15. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
3. MacCulloch, Jennifer, "Walker, Dame Eadith Campbell (1861–1937)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 29 October 2020