-
-
Martin Luther King begins a drive to register black voters.
-
The first hydrofoil ferry service begins on Sydney Harbour
-
France announces it will convert $150 million of its currency to gold on this day in history.
-
Dawn Fraser becomes youngest person to be named Australian of the Year
-
Queensland Police are given the power to arrest without warrant and ban anyone aiding the striking Mount Isa Mines workers.
-
U.S. starts bombing North Vietnam, Vietnam War.
-
Prince Philip opens the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra.
-
Charles Perkins leads The Freedom Ride, which travels through country NSW, protesting the racial discrimination against Aboriginal people.
-
The Amateur Swimming Union of Australia stuns the nation with its decision that Olympic champion and 1964 Australian of the Year Dawn Fraser will be banned from all amateur competition for ten years.
-
The Australian Labor Party wins the South Australian election, taking government for the first time in 32 years.
-
The first drawing of the national service conscription lottery.
-
Police raid Melbourne's Austral Bookshop and seize copies of The Trial of Lady Chatterley, a banned book containing obscene material.
-
Prime Minister Menzies commits Australian troops to fight in Vietnam.
-
The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is defeated in the NSW state election after 24 years in government and the Liberal Party, led by Robin Askin takes power.
-
The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment leaves for Vietnam on HMAS Sydney.
-
Melbourne: Students protest over Springbok rugby team tour
-
London: Prime Minister Menzies declares that Australia is at war with Vietnam
-
The ALP deletes "White Australia" from its immigration policy.
-
Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy tests and other such requirements that tended to restrict black voting become illegal.
-
Tokyo: The Sydney Symphony Orchestra performs to sell out audience
-
London: The Australian ballet Company takes 49 curtain calls after its overseas debut.
-
Canberra: Lake Burley Griffin officially opened
-
100,000 anti-war protesters nationwide in 80 cities
-
Kevin Arthur Wheatley dies in Vietnam while defending a wounded comrade. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry.
