1950's Australia's timeline

1950'S Australia

Period: Jan 1, 1950 to Dec 31, 1959

Frank Sedgman Defeats Ken Mcgregor

Jan 30, 1950

Petrol Rationing ends

Feb 8, 1950

Filming starts in Australia

Apr 5, 1950

Chips Rafferty starts forming Australia's filming company

Communist Party Outlawed

Apr 27, 1950

Menzies introduces legislation to outlaw communist party.

Butter Rationing Ends

Jun 16, 1950

Australia's Worst Air disaster

Jun 26, 1950

28 people die in ANA Skymaster crash South-East of Perth.

Australian Troops sent to Korean war

Jul 26, 1950

Australia's 2nd Davis Cup

Aug 20, 1950

Win awarded to Frank Sedgman 1st, Ken Mcgreogr 2nd, and John Bromwich 3rd.

Communist Party Raided

Oct 24, 1950

Commonwealth Police raid communist party

Joan Sutherland wins Mobil

Oct 31, 1950

Coloratura Soprano Joan Sutherland wins mobil quest.

Myxomotosis successfuly trialed

Feb 2, 1951

CSIRO reports successful trial of myxomotosis.

Communist Ban Unconstitutional

Mar 9, 1951

Communist ban declared unconstitutional.

Fashion

Jun 4, 1951

The latest womans fashions are short dresses over full skirts and stiff petticoats.

School of Air Opens

Jun 8, 1951

Official opening of School of Air.

Ben Chiffley dies

Jun 14, 1951

Former President Ben Chiffley dies.

National ServiceStarts

Aug 6, 1951

ANZUS treaty signed

Sep 1, 1951

Australian Boxer World Champion

Nov 15, 1951

Boxer Jimmy Carruthers becomes Boxing World Champion.

Australia Retains Davis Cup

Dec 30, 1951

Australia retains the davis cup after beating the US

Train Crash

Mar 7, 1952

10 people killed and 137 injured at train crash at Benalah.

Australia wins 6 Olympic Gold Medals

Aug 3, 1952

Women win 4 Olympic gold medals while Men win 2.

William Morris Hughes Dies

Oct 28, 1952

Former Prime minister William Morris Hughes dies

Lang Hangcock discovers iron ore

Nov 30, 1952

Lang Hangcock discovers iron ore inHamersly Range.

Korean war ends

Jul 27, 1953

Australian Troops come back from Korean war .
258 killed in action
977 wounded
4 missing

British test bombs

Oct 15, 1953

first 2 atomic bombs droppped at Woomera by British.

Operation Totem

Oct 27, 1953

British drop another atomic bomb at Woomera , known as operation totem.

Oil Discovered

Dec 4, 1953

Oil is discovered in the Exmulf Gulf

Queen Elizibeth Arrives

Jan 3, 1954

Queen Elizibeth arrives with Prince Phillip for Royal tour.

Australiana Flag raised

Feb 13, 1954

Australiana Flag raised in Princess Elizibeth Land making it the worlds most Southern settlement.

George Howard breaks law

Apr 13, 1954

George Howard breaks white mans law which prohibits aborigines to be on hotel premises.

John Landy breaks record

Jun 21, 1954

John Landy breaks record by running 1 mile in 3min and 58 sec.

World Premier of Jedda

Jan 3, 1955

World Premier of Charles Chauvel's film Jedda

NSW hotels adopt extended hours

Feb 1, 1955

NSW is now the 4th state to accepted extended hours they are now open untill 10pm as oposed to the earlier 6pm of other states.

Arrival of 1,000,000 post war migrant

Nov 8, 1955

The arrival of Australia's i millionth post war migrant

Barbara Porrit.

Town of Elizibeth officially opened

Nov 11, 1955

Summer of the 17th Doll opens in theatre

Nov 28, 1955

Summer of the 17th Doll by Ray Lawler opens in theatre

Australian Troops in Malaysia

Jan 1, 1956

Australian troops take part in Malaysia's first action against communist guerillas.

Circular Quay loop opens

Jan 14, 1956

The circular quay loop of the underground tunells opens in Sydney.

Shearers Strike

Jan 25, 1956

Shearers strike when wages are decreased by 5%.

Sir Eugene Goosens leaves Australia

May 26, 1956

Sir Eugene Goosens leaves Australia after being fined 100 pounds for importing prohibited goods, incident photographs and films.

Polia vaccine starts

Jun 12, 1956

Start of free mass vaccination program with Salk polio vaccine.

Australian premiere of A Town Like Alice

Jul 25, 1956

Poker machines in clubs legalized

Jul 31, 1956

Cabinet decides to legalise poker machines in clubs.

First television broadcast

Sep 16, 1956

First television broadcast from TCN-9.

Operation Buffalo

Sep 27, 1956

Britain explodes first of the Operation Buffalo series of 4 atomic texts.

Democratic Labor Party formed

Sep 30, 1956

Shearers' strike ends

Oct 13, 1956

Shearers' strike ends when the wage rate is increased.

ABC's first broadcast

Nov 5, 1956

Inauguration of the the ABC's first television broadcast by Prime Minister Menzies.

16th Olympic Games

Nov 22, 1956

The Duke of Edinburgh opens the 16th Olympic Games.

First drive in Cinema

Dec 1, 1956

Sydney's first drive-in cinemas open at French's Forest and Chullora.

Woman's day launched

Dec 24, 1956

The Fairfax Group launches the magazine Woman's Day .

Sydney Opera House comp. won

Jan 30, 1957

Joern Utzon wins Sydney Opera House design competition.

Equal Pay for Female workers Begins

Mar 24, 1957

Australia's union movement steps up campaign for equal pay for women workers.

First Tonight show

May 6, 1957

First In Melbourne Tonight Show (IMT) starring Graham Kennedy on .

Hungarian refugees arrive

May 10, 1957

Operation Antler

Sep 14, 1957

Britain conducts first of three "Operation Antler" nuclear weapons tests.

Remains of bounty found

Sep 30, 1957

Remains of The Bounty found off Pitcairn Island .

Operation Antler Ends

Oct 9, 1957

Britain explodes its first balloon-borne atomic bomb, the last in the "Operation Antler" series

Severe drought

Oct 13, 1957

Severe drought throughout Australia. Government prepares to import wheat from Canada to meet shortfalls.

Formation of the National Civic Council,

Dec 1, 1957

Formation of the National Civic Council, chaired by Mr B.A. Santamaria, which grew out of the organisation known as "The Movement", pledging to fight communist influence in trade unions.

New shows

Dec 20, 1957

Quiz show Pick a Box starts on TV, They're a Weird Mob, by Nino Culotta (John O'Grady) published, also Voss by Patrick White and On the Beach by Nevi Shute.

QANTAS international services commence

Jan 14, 1958

Greek Riot

Jan 26, 1958

Thousands of Greek men riot when the bridal ship Castel Felice is 9 hours late.

200,000 turn out to greet the Queen Mother

Feb 18, 1958

2UE publishes first Australian Top 40 chart

Mar 1, 1958

Australia's biggest reservoir is completed

May 11, 1958

Australia's biggest reservoir, Lake Eucumbene, is completed

New Record

Aug 7, 1958

New world record for the mile as runner Herb Elliott clocks in at 3 mins 54.5 secs

Sir Douglas Mawson dies

Oct 14, 1958

Antarctic explorer, Sir Douglas Mawson, dies at the age of 76

wreck found

Oct 27, 1958

The 27-year-old wreckage of the Southern Cloud passenger plane is discovered in the Snowy Mountains

Menzies Government wins fifth term

Nov 22, 1958

Biggest building in Australia opens

Dec 11, 1958

ICI Building opens in Melbourne. It is the tallest building in Australia .The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) opens

Filming On the Beach

Jan 2, 1959

Actors Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner arrive to film On the Beach

Darwin becomes a city

Jan 26, 1959

Opening of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl

Feb 12, 1959

Australia's population reaches 10M

Mar 10, 1959

Reserve Bank

Apr 23, 1959

The Reserve Bank formed to take over the central banking function of the Commonwealth Bank

Snowy starts

May 4, 1959

The Snowy Mountain Scheme's first big power station, Tumut 1, begins operation

Billy Graham has 150k people turn out

May 10, 1959

150,000 people turn out to see American evangelist Billy Graham

Sir Ian Clunies-Ross dies

Jun 20, 1959

Sir Ian Clunies-Ross, chairman of the CSIRO, dies aged 60

Albert Namatjira dies

Aug 8, 1959

Artist Albert Namatjira, aged 57, dies after a heart attack following influenza

St george win season

Aug 15, 1959

St George finish the season unbeaten as they defeat Manly in the Rugby League Grand Final

Antipodeans first exhibition

Nov 4, 1959

The Antipodeans hold their first exhibition. The artists include Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, John Brack, David Boyd, Robert Dickerson, John Percival and Clifton Pugh