Australian history 1950-1975

Introduction

Timeline

1950:
- Menzies outlaws the Communist Party as Australia enters the Korean War
- the Communist-led Waterside Workers' Federation successfully challenges the Communist Party Dissolution Act
- women under federal awards granted 75% of male wage (previously 54%)
- Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) introduced
- Myxomatosis introduced to combat rabbit plague
1951:
- National service training established for all 18yr olds as part of the Citizen Military Forces (CMF)
- ANZUS alliance formed; Aust. Financial Review newspaper 1st published; Chiko Roll invented in Bendigo;
- Menzies introduces the Commonwealth scholarship scheme for free university education while also providing for a means-tested allowance, ushering in a new class of university graduates and the development of a tertiary educated middle class
1952:
- Honolulu Conference of 3-power Pacific Council (Aust, NZ, US); 1st Brit. atomic tests in Monte Bello Is. WA;
- two airline policy instituted to maintain competition between ANA and TAA;
- Paula Stafford a sensation by appearing in a bikini
1953:
- oil discovered on NW Shelf
- voluntary health scheme introduced with Govt subsidised health benefit societies to cover health costs
1954:
- SEATO pact signed; Queen Eliz. II & Prince Philip tour Australia; Vladimir Petrov seeks political asylum;
- uranium discovered near Mt Isa
1955:
- splinter group of right-wing ALP split over communist policies & form the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) in 1956
- polio vaccine introduced; “The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll” published; Victa lawnmower invented;
1956:
- Melbourne Olympic Games;
- B&W commercial TV starts;
- Barry Humphries creates “Edna Everage”;
- subscriber trunk dialing introduced in Sydney & Melbourne;
- Sir Eugene Goossens, conductor of Sydney Symphony Orchestra has suitcase of pornography seized by customs.
1957:
- Ansett takes over ANA to form Ansett-ANA. Utzon wins design for an opera house for Sydney;
- “They're a weird mob” published by Nino Culotta;
- Namatjira, Aboriginal artit jailed for 6 mths with hard labour for supplying liquor to fellow Aborigines;
- Rolf Harris & his 'wobble board' in “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport”
1958:
- TV expanded into all states; Channel 9 commences “Bandstand”;
- Slim Dusty's “Pub with no beer” - 1st Australian-recorded song to make the charts in England;
- Melbourne's Monash University established; Aust's 1st nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights;
- 1st Australian political election to be covered by TV.
- Aust. Labour Party was still a very divided sectarian party of Freemasons vs Catholics
- Australian private school system was a very divided Protestant vs Catholic system which flowed over into societal cultures, and it was uncommon for Catholics and Protestants to marry each other, and in many cases even socialise or talk to each other.
1959:
- Aust. pop. reaches 10million; National Service Scheme of 1951 abolished;
- work begins on Sydney Opera House; Myer Music Bowl opens; Perth's Narrows Bridge & Kwinana Feeeway opens;
- Aboriginal social security:
  - a range of exclusionary provisions that had limited the rights of Aboriginals to receive social security benefits on the basis that they were not part of Aust. polity were, with the exception of child endowment, repealed & replaced by one provision which denied access to those deemed 'nomadic or primitive' - this last provision was repealed in 1966.
1960:
- Pilbara iron ore mining possible after bans on iron ore exports lifted
- DH Lawrence's “Lady Chatterley's Lover” banned;
- the famous tied cricket test Aust vs West Indies at the Gabba, Brisbane.
1961:
- McBride's papers on thalidomide presented;
- Fed Govt forces banks to savagely cut overdraft amounts causing hardship
- Menzies narrowly avoids losing the Federal election with a majority of only 1 seat
- CSL realise that their Salk polio vaccines since 1956 were contaminated with potentially carcinogenic SM40 monkey virus, but decide to still vaccinate millions of children until it was replaced with oral Sabin vaccine in 1965.
1962:
- Commonwealth Games held in Perth;
- Sydney's 1st freeway (Cahill) opens; Aborigines get right to vote in federal elections if they enroll;
1963:
- workers get 3 weeks paid annual leave;
- Menzies, a Presbyterian, turns around his falling popularity by providing Federal funding to private schools including catholic schools and thereby winning many of the Catholic labour voters, to be voted into yet another term of office
- Ord River Irrigation Scheme stage 1 completed;
1964:
- The Australian becomes Aust's 1st national daily newspaper;
- National Service introduced as RAAF is sent to Vietnam;
- Lionel Rose becomes world bantam-weight boxing champion; Beatles tour Australia; oil in Bass Strait;
- HMAS Melbourne collides with HMAS Voyager off Jervis bay, NSW killing 82.
1965:
- Menzies announces he will send troops to Vietnam - 1st arrive in May 1966;
- Sabin oral polio vaccination program launched after testing in Tasmania - national campaign in 1967;
- “Lolita” & “Lady Chatterley's Lover” removed from banned list but Henry Miller's books still banned
1966:
- Menzies resigns after record 16yrs in office - replaced by Harold Holt who endorsed Australia's alliance with US in Vietnam by “All the way with LBJ”
- opposition leader Calwell shot at & wounded while addressing an anti-Vietnam war rally
- Prince Charles attends Timbertop school, an annexe of Geelong Grammar;
- Crown of Thorns starfish plague threaten the Great Barrier Reef;
- pubs allowed to open till 10pm instead of 6pm in Victoria;
- decimal currency
- Jean Shrimpton's mini-skirt of 1965 becomes accepted fashion & introduced new fashion accessory - the pantyhose
1967:
- pop. almost 12million; Ronald Ryan sentenced to death - the last person executed in Australia;
- Whitlam becomes leader of ALP; referendum votes by 91% to end all discrimination against Aborigines;
- PM Harold Holt disappears whilst surfing off Portsea;
- Aust. Workers Union joins ACTU
- $5 note introduced; postcode system for mail introduced;
- 1967 referendum resulted in Aboriginal people being counted in the Census & the Commonwealth would be granted power to make laws for Aboriginal people.
1968:
- 8,000 Australians in Vietnam war; conscription enforced;
- Aust's 1st heart transplant operation; KFC introduced;
- Lionel Rose wins world bantamweight title becoming Australia's 1st aboriginal champion.
1969:
- Famechon wins world featherweight boxing title; HMAS Melbourne collides with a US destroyer in the Phillipines, killing 73 US officers & sailors
- mining company Poseidon NL announces discovery of nickel find in WA, shares rocket from $1 to $280 by Feb 1970, then slump disastrously. By the end of the 70's, Aust. produced 11% of world nickel.
- standard gauge railway completed creating a complete & unbroken line from Sydney to Perth
- Mt Newman begins iron ore production - the world's largest open cut iron ore mine
- Brisbane is the 1st capital city to get natural gas, soon followed by Melbourne & Adelaide
- rock opera “Hair”
1970:
- Indian-Pacific train passenger service starts - longest stretch of straight track in the world - 478km b/n Ooldea & Nurina
- anti-war rallies force Australia to reduce troop numbers in Vietnam
- British research satellite launched from Woomera rocket range, SA
- Westgate Bridge span collapses during construction killing 35 & injuring 19;
- seatbelts become compulsory in Victoria (other states followed in 1971)
- Germaine Greer's “The Female Eunuch”; Pope Paul IV visits Australia;
- McDonald's & Pizza Hut arrive in Australia
1971:
- 72% of Victorian pop. live in Melbourne; 85% Australian pop. are urban;
- Gorton faces a “no-confidence” motion, & as chairman of the liberals casts the deciding vote against himself. He is replaced by McMahon as PM.
- Evonne Cawley nee Goolagong wins Wimbledon tennis from Margaret Court.
- R rating film censorship introduced;
- Qld premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen declares state of emergency for 1 month in anticipation of anti-apartheid protests during the visit by Springbok Sth African rugby union team.
- Brisbane's suburban railways are electrified
1972:
- Cleo magazine 1st published, complete with discreetly nude male centrefold
- Whitlam becomes PM, ending 23 years of Coalition rule; Melbourne's 1st stainless steel trains;
- Lake Pedder flooded despite protestation & a moratorium being recomended by the Fed. Committee of Inquiry;
- Snedden becomes Liberal leader after McMahon resigns.
- Shane Gould sets Olympic swimming records for 100, 200 & 400m freestyle at age 15.
- last Aust. troops withdrawn from Vietnam where 420 were killed; National Service Scheme abolished;
- Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme completed.
1973:
- Sydney Opera House opens after 16yrs construction at cost $100m (original estimate $7m)
- Aust's 1st legal casino opens at Wrest Point, Tasmania
- Cosmo magazine 1st published; $50 note; voting age dropped from 21 to 18yrs;
- Bob Hawke, president of ACTU becomes ALP president despite possible conflict of interests.
- Melbourne's Bourke St closed to traffic to become a mall;
1974:
- Brisbane suffers its worst floods since 1893 when more than 600mm rain fell on the city in 3 days killing 15 people and flooding a third of the city leaving $200m damage bill.
- Tasmania's Gordon Dam completed.
- Molly Meldrum hosts ABC's “Countdown” program;
- Australia adopts the metric system with road signs being changed.
- Bankcard credit system introduced
- “Advance Australia Fair” becomes national anthem in place of “God Save The Queen”
- Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin on Christmas Day killing 50 with 16 missing at sea;