1941 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1941 in Australia.

1941 in Australia
Monarch	George VI
Governor-General	Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
Prime minister	Robert Menzies, Arthur Fadden, John Curtin
Population	7,109,898
Elections	QLD, NSW, SA, TAS

← 1940 1939 1938 1941 in Australia → 1942 1943 1944
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	Other events of 1941 Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

Robert Menzies

Arthur Fadden

John Curtin

• Monarch – George VI
• Governor-General – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie
• Prime Minister – Robert Menzies (until 28 August), then Arthur Fadden (until 7 October), then John Curtin
• Chief Justice – Sir John Latham

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Alexander Mair (until 16 May), then William McKell
• Premier of Queensland – William Forgan Smith
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford
• Premier of Tasmania – Robert Cosgrove
• Premier of Victoria – Albert Dunstan
• Premier of Western Australia – John Willcock

State Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Leslie Orme Wilson
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ernest Clark
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Winston Dugan
• Governor of Western Australia – none appointed

Events

• 25 March – The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) is formed.
• 31 March – The Siege of Tobruk begins.
• 7 April – The Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) is formed.
• 10 May – A general election is held in New South Wales. The ALP led by William McKell defeats the incumbent United Australia Party and Premier Alexander Mair.
• 12 May – The Daily Mirror newspaper is first published in Sydney.
• 30 June – HMAS Waterhen sinks off Libya – the first Australian naval vessel lost in the war.
• 3 October – Prime Minister Arthur Fadden resigns following the rejection of his budget by two independent MPs.
• 7 October – John Curtin is sworn in as Prime Minister after Arthur Fadden's government loses majority support in the House of Representatives.
• 11 November – The Australian War Memorial is opened in Canberra.
• 19 November – The light cruiser HMAS Sydney engages the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran in an hour-long battle off the coast of Western Australia. Both ships are sunk, the Sydney going down with 645 crew.
• 9 December – Australia declares war on Japan, and the Axis powers of Finland, Hungary and Romania.
• 13 December – A general election is held in Tasmania. The Labor Party led by Robert Cosgrove is returned to power.

Arts and literature

Main article: 1941 in Australian literature

• William Dargie wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Sir James Elder, KBE
• The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark is published.

Sport

• 27 September – Melbourne wins the 45th VFL Premiership, defeating Essendon 19.13 (127) to 13.20 (98).
• 4 November – Skipton wins the Melbourne Cup.
• Velocity wins the Caulfield Cup
• Beau Vite wins the Cox Plate
• The Sheffield Shield is not contested due to war

Births

• 23 January – Jock R. Anderson, economist and academic
• 29 January – Maggie Kirkpatrick, actress
• 2 February – John Cornell, actor and producer
• 4 February – Russell Cooper, Premier of Queensland (1989)
• 11 March – Kim Santow, NSW Supreme Court judge (died 2008)
• 29 March – Michael Thornhill, film producer, screenwriter and film director
• 31 March – Faith Leech, swimmer (died 2013)
• 10 April – Wendy Fatin, politician
• 17 April – Bill Landeryou, politician (died 2019)
• 24 April – John Williams, classical guitarist
• 11 May – Ian Redpath, cricketer
• 18 May – Lobby Loyde, rock music guitarist (died 2007)
• 31 May – Julian Croft, poet
• 4 June – Kenneth G. Ross, playwright
• 24 June – Graham McKenzie, cricketer
• 28 June – Harry Quick, politician
• 31 July – Heather McKay, squash player
• 1 September – Graeme Langlands, rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. and coached in the 1970s (died 2018)
• 22 September – Murray Bail, writer
• 27 September – Gay Kayler, country music singer
• 3 October – John Elliott, businessman
• 5 October – Earle Bailey, politician
• 14 October – David Kemp, politician
• 16 October – Genevieve Lloyd, philosopher and feminist
• 25 October – Helen Reddy, singer
• 28 October – Fred Chaney, WA politician
• 7 November – Willi Sawall, race walker
• 16 November – Max Gillies, actor
• 21 November - Milton Black, famous Astrologer
• 13 December – Dixie Willis, middle distance runner
• 15 December – Richard Neville, writer (died 2016)

Deaths

• 18 March – Harry Boan (born 1860), founder of Boans department store
• 1 April – John Chamberlain (born 1884), cricketer
• 5 April – Banjo Paterson (born 1864), bush poet, author and journalist
• 12 April – James Boyd (born 1867), politician
• 15 April – Emily Pelloe (born 1878), botanical illustrator
• 4 May – Chris McKivat (born 1879), rugby union and league player
• 8 May – Alexander Hay (born 1865), politician
• 15 June – John Lynch (born 1862), politician
• 24 June – Francis Anderson (born 1858), philosopher
• 1 July – Francis Birtles (born 1881), adventurer
• 7 July – Randolph Bedford (born 1868), writer and Queensland politician
• 27 July – James Ronald (born 1861), politician
• 31 July – Ron Barassi, Sr. (born 1913), Australian rules footballer
• 1 August – James Drake (born 1850), member of the first federal ministry
• 23 August – Jack O'Connor (born 1875), cricketer
• 30 August – Gregan McMahon (born 1874), actor and theatrical producer
• 31 August – Thomas Bavin (born 1874), Premier of New South Wales (1927–1930)
• 1 September – Millice Culpin (born 1846), politician
• 5 September – George Marchant (born 1857), soft drink manufacturer
• 1 October – John Longstaff (born 1861), artist
• 18 November – Chris Watson (born 1867), Prime Minister of Australia (1904)
• 19 November – Joseph Burnett (born 1899), captain of HMAS Sydney
• Raimund Pechotsch musical composer

See also

• List of Australian films of the 1940s