1954 in Australia

File:Portrait Menzies 1950s.jpg]]

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

• Premier of New South Wales – Joseph Cahill
• Premier of Queensland – Vince Gair

• 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 Western Australia – Sir Charles Gairdner

• 3 February – Elizabeth II arrives in Sydney on her first visit as monarch
• 13 February – Mawson Station in the Australian Antarctic Territory is established
• During February, a cyclone hits the Gold Coast and northern New South Wales, killing 26[https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20090317054300/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/96122/20090317-1643/www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/c20thc/cyclone3.html Bureau of Meteorology]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
• 1 March - Adelaide and large parts of southern South Australia are shaken by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake, resulting in the injuries of 16 people, and a damage bill of £17 million (2017: $578 million).
• 3 April – Vladimir Petrov, a Soviet diplomat, defects to Australia, sparking the Petrov Affair
• Shirley Bliss wins the Miss Australia Quest
• On 31 October, the first Vickers Viscount aircraft delivered to Australia crashed at Mangalore Airport while on a training flight only days after its arrival in Australia, killing 3 of the 7 people on board.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23458910 "Viscount Crashes"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716065618/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23458910 |date=16 July 2024 }} The Argus - 1 November 1954, p.1 (National Library of Australia) Retrieved 2012-07-01

• The Australian Academy of Science is established.

{{main|1954 in Australian literature}}

File:Woman modelling streetwear, Australia 1954.jpg

• Ivor Hele wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Rt Hon R G Menzies, PC, CH, QC, MP
• Charles Bannon wins the Blake Prize for Religious Art with his work Judas Iscariot
• Overland literary magazine is founded, edited by Stephen Murray-Smith

• Cricket
• New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield
• Football
• Brisbane Rugby League premiership: Wests defeated Brothers 35-18
• New South Wales Rugby League premiership: South Sydney defeated Newtown 23-15
• South Australian National Football League premiership: won by Port Adelaide
• Victorian Football League premiership: Footscray defeated Melbourne 102-51
• Golf
• Australian Open: won by Ossie Pickworth
• Australian PGA Championship: won by Kel Nagle
• Horse racing
• Rising Fast wins the Caulfield Cup
• Rising Fast wins the Cox Plate
• Rising Fast wins the Melbourne Cup
• Motor racing
• The Australian Grand Prix was held at Southport and won by Lex Davison driving a HWM Jaguar
• Tennis
• Australian Open men's singles: Mervyn Rose defeats Rex Hartwig 6-2 0–6 6-4 6-2
• Australian Open women's singles: Thelma Coyne Long defeats Jenny Staley Hoad 6-3 6-4
• Davis Cup: Australia is defeated by the United States 2–3 in the 1954 Davis Cup final
• Wimbledon: Rex Hartwig and Mervyn Rose win the Gentlemen's Pairs
• Wimbledon: Jaroslav Drobný defeats Ken Rosewall 13–11 4–6 6–2 9–7 in the Gentlemen's Singles
• Yachting
• Kurrewa IV takes line honours and Solveig IV wins on handicap in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

• 10 January – Greg Towns, footballer
• 25 January – Kay Cottee, sailor
• 26 January – Kim Hughes, cricketer
• 26 March - Clive Palmer, businessman and politician
• 27 April – Mark Holden, singer and media personality
• 1 May – Garry Who, actor and comedian
• 2 May – Don Cameron, water polo player and coach
• 19 May – Phil Rudd, musician
• 27 May – Pauline Hanson, politician
• 17 June – Kerry Greenwood, novelist and lawyer (died 2025){{Cite web |title=Kerry Greenwood |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A22250 |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=AustLit: Discover Australian Stories |publisher=The University of Queensland}}
• 30 June – Wayne Swan, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
• 2 July – Scott W. Sloan, professor of civil engineering (died 2019)
• 11 July – Paul Blackwell, actor (died 2019)
• 11 August – Wally Carr, boxer (died 2019)
• 12 August – Rob Borbidge, Premier of Queensland
• 2 September – Gai Waterhouse, horse trainer
• 13 September – Steve Kilbey, musician
• 20 September – James Moloney, author
• 27 September – Ray Hadley, 2GB radio announcer
• 13 October – Banduk Marika, Indigenous artist and printmaker (died 2021)
• 15 October – Steve Bracks, 44th Premier of Victoria
• 24 October – Malcolm Turnbull, 29th Prime Minister of Australia
• 12 November – Paul McNamee, tennis player
• 22 November – Carol Tomcala, sports shooter{{cite web |title=Carol TOMCALA - Olympic Shooting {{!}} Australia |url=https://www.olympic.org/carol-tomcala |website=International Olympic Committee |access-date=27 February 2020 |language=en |date=17 June 2016 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202004715/https://www.olympic.org/carol-tomcala |url-status=live }}
• 26 November – Jacki MacDonald, media personality
• 29 November – Steve Rogers (died 2006), Rugby league footballer

• 10 January – Chester Wilmot, war correspondent (b. 1911)
• 19 September – Miles Franklin, writer and feminist (b. 1879)
• 14 November – Inigo Owen Jones, meteorologist and farmer (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1872)
• 22 November – Roy Rene, comedian (b. 1891)

• List of Australian films of the 1950s

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{{Years in Australia}}

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Australia

Category:Years of the 20th century in Australia