1978 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1978 in Australia.

← 1977 1976 1975 1978 in Australia → 1979 1980 1981
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	Other events of 1978 Timeline of Australian history

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Sir Zelman Cowen
• Prime Minister – Malcolm Fraser
  • Deputy Prime Minister – Doug Anthony
  • Opposition Leader – Bill Hayden
• Chief Justice – Sir Garfield Barwick

• Premier of New South Wales – Neville Wran
  • Opposition Leader – Peter Coleman (until 7 October), then John Mason
• Premier of Queensland – Joh Bjelke-Petersen
  • Opposition Leader – Tom Burns (until 28 November), then Ed Casey
• Premier of South Australia – Don Dunstan
  • Opposition Leader – David Tonkin
• Premier of Tasmania – Doug Lowe
  • Opposition Leader – Max Bingham
• Premier of Victoria – Rupert Hamer
  • Opposition Leader – Frank Wilkes
• Premier of Western Australia – Sir Charles Court
  • Opposition Leader – Colin Jamieson (until 21 February), then Ron Davies
• Majority Leader/Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Paul Everingham
  • Opposition Leader – Jon Isaacs

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Roden Cutler
• Governor of Queensland – Sir James Ramsay
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Keith Seaman
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Stanley Burbury
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Henry Winneke
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Wallace Kyle
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – Desmond O'Leary
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – John England (from 1 June)

• 1 January –
  • Another Vietnamese refugee boat arrives at night, from a camp off the Malaysian coast.^[1]
  • The Festival of Sydney begins.
  • A jail warder, Victor Sullivan is struck on the head by a prisoner at Parramatta Jail.
• 2 January – Senator Neville Bonner attacks the Queensland Government over delays in its housing reconstruction programme for Mornington Island, which was ravaged by Cyclone Ted more than a year ago.^[2]
• 3 January –
  • Bela Csidei, a prominent Sydney businessman, is alleged in the Darwin Magistrates' Court to have been involved in growing marijuana in the Northern Territory.^[3]
  • Acting Health Minister Mr McLeay reiterates the Federal Government's election promise to keep the Medibank levy and ceiling at the same level for the next six months.
  • Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen announces that he will ask churches throughout Queensland to hold a day of prayer for rain, suggesting a date of 15 January.^[4]
• 4 January –
  • The Australian dollar is devalued from 89.4 to 89.2 due to a drop in the US dollar to bring the effect devaluation since November 1976 to 15.3%.^[5]
  • Acting Prime Minister Doug Anthony announces that the Federal Government knew that Arab nations operated a blacklist for more than 20 years and that some Australian companies were on it, but that the Government had never been told officially that certain companies were being boycotted.^[6]
• 5 January –
  • Corrective Services Commissioner, W. McGeechan, talks 120 maximum security prisoners back into their cells after a 5-hour protest sit-in at Parramatta jail.^[7]
  • Aboriginal Senator Neville Bonner makes a complaint to the Queensland State Licensing Commission about the Mount Isa hotel which refused him service on Boxing Day.^[8]
  • Immigration and Ethnic Affairs Minister Michael MacKellar reverses a department decision thereby allowing a Uruguayan woman to join her widowed brother, Ruben Molina, in Sydney.^[9]
• 18 January – New South Wales Premier Neville Wran meets with prison union officials about their demand that Bathurst Jail be reopened to relieve over crowding and staff shortages in other prisons.

• 13 February – Terrorism arrives in Australia for the very first time with the Sydney Hilton bombing killing 3 people and injuring 11 others.^[10]

• 14 March – Stephen Matthews, aged 20, swept from the Natural Bridge off Albany, by a King Wave. Rescued by whale ship, the Cheynes II. First recorded survival of someone swept into the sea at The Gap and Natural Bridge.^[11]
• 30 March – Commonwealth Police (Federal Police) begin arresting 180 Greek-Australians said to be involved in a conspiracy to defraud the Department of Social Security.^[12]

• 4 April – Cyclone Alby kills 5 people in Western Australia.^[13]

• 15 May –
  • Australia's longest serving prime minister Robert Menzies dies.^[14]
  • Australia's first Timezone arcade opens in Perth.^{[citation needed]}

• 24 June – The inaugural Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, a gay rights march is held in Oxford Street, Sydney to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York.^[15]
• 25 June – Trudie Adams disappears from the Surf Life Saving Club in Newport, New South Wales.^[16]

• 1 July – The Northern Territory attains self-government; Majority Leader Paul Everingham becomes the inaugural Chief Minister.^[17]

• 25 August – Michelle Pope and Stephen Lapthorne disappear. Still missing as of 3 August 2015^[update].^[18][19]

• 7 October – The ALP New South Wales state government of Neville Wran is re-elected with a massively increased majority, leading to his win being dubbed as a "Wranslide".^[20]
• 8 October – Australia's Ken Warby sets the world water speed record to 510 km/h (317.60 mph) at Blowering Dam, New South Wales.^[21]
• 21 October - Cessna pilot Frederick Valentich disappears while flying over Bass Strait.^[22]

• 21 November – Last day of commercial whaling in Australia.^{[citation needed]} No sperm whales caught that day by the chaser ships (Cheynes II, III and IV) operated by the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company at Albany, Western Australia.^{[citation needed]} The last whale caught by an Australian whaling company was the day before, 20 November.^{[citation needed]}

• Brett Whiteley wins the Archibald Prize with Art, Life and the other thing.^[23]
• Jessica Anderson's novel Tirra Lirra By the River wins the Miles Franklin Award.^[24]
• Helen Garner becomes the first woman to win the National Book Council Award for her novel Monkey Grip, selected as Book of the Year.^[25]

• Blue Fin^[26]
• Little Boy Lost

• 7 March – Western Australia wins the 1977–78 Sheffield Shield season.^[27]
• 6 May – Melbourne and St Kilda set a still-standing record VFL/AFL aggregate score of 52.33 (345).^{[citation needed]}
• 1 July – Footscray kick a record VFL score of 33.15 (213) beating the previous record by three points.^{[citation needed]} Kelvin Templeton and Ian Dunstan combine for 22 of the 33 goals.^{[citation needed]}
• 6 August – James Langford wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:19:29 in Caboolture.^[28]
• 19 September – After a controversial NSWRFL finals series with two draws, Manly thrash Cronulla 16–0 to win their fourth premiership with Graham Eadie dominating.^[29] Newtown finish in last position, claiming their third straight and final wooden spoon before their departure from the premiership five years later.
• 30 September – Hawthorn 18.13 (121) defeats North Melbourne 15.13 (103) for its fourth VFL premiership.^[30]
• 7 November – Arwon wins the Melbourne Cup.^[31]
• 30 December – Apollo claims line honours in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.^[32]

• 4 January – Paul Licuria, Australian rules footballer
• 14 January – James Mathison, TV host
• 25 January – Jason Johnson, Australian rules footballer
• 1 February – Tim Harding, singer (Hi 5)
• 2 February – Annabel Ellwood, tennis player
• 7 February – Frank Drmic, basketball player
• 8 February – Mick de Brenni, politician
• 16 February – Lance Thompson, rugby league player (d. 2018)
• 1 March – Gavin Woods, water polo player
• 14 March – Karyne Di Marco, hammer thrower
• 18 March – Brooke Hanson, swimmer
• 4 April – Sam Moran, singer (The Wiggles)
• 16 April – Matthew Lloyd, footballer and coach
• 2 June – Luke Williamson, rugby league player
• 30 June – Ben Cousins, AFL Footballer
• 8 August – Kate Ritchie, actress, radio & television personality
• 16 August – Ben Galea, rugby player
• 11 September – Ben Lee, singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor
• 18 September – Melanie Gibbons, politician
• 20 September – Scott Minto, rugby league player
• 22 September – Harry Kewell, soccer player
• 20 October – Michael Johns, Australian singer (d. 2014)
• 25 October – Matt Shirvington, track and field athlete
• November – Allyson McConnell, convicted killer who drowned her two children in Alberta, Canada^[33]
• 22 November – Steven King, plays with Geelong Football Club
• 2 December – Peter Moylan, baseball player
• Fiona McFarlane - author^[34]

• 9 January – Eddie Gilbert, (born 1905), Queensland cricketer^[35]
• 5 February – Frank McIver, (born 1904), soccer player and administrator^{[citation needed]}
• 14 May – Robert Menzies, (born 1894), Prime Minister of Australia^[14]
• 27 July – Robert Heffron, (born 1890), Premier of New South Wales^[36][37]
• 6 October – Johnny O'Keefe, (born 1935), Australian rock and roll singer^[38]

• 1978 in Australian television
• List of Australian films of 1978