Governor of Western Australia – Sir Charles Gairdner
Events[]
20 January – The first express trains run between Melbourne and Adelaide, following the completion of a railway between the two cities.
6 February – King George VI dies, and is succeeded as Queen of Australia by his daughter, Elizabeth II.
18 April – Owen Dixon becomes Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.
29 April – The ANZUS Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States comes into force.
14–18 June – Disastrous floods in the southeast corner leave 600 homeless and render a major rail line near Moss Vale unusable throughout the winter[1]
The winter season is especially wet in the southeast of the continent, being the wettest on record in Melbourne and the fifth wettest on record in Sydney
1 September – Qantas Empire Airways commences the first air service between Australia and South Africa.
3 October – The first British nuclear test in Australia, Operation Hurricane, commences on the Monte Bello Islands with the detonation of an atomic bomb of 25 kilotons yield.
Olympics: Russell Mockridge wins the gold medal in the Men's 1000m Time Trial
Olympics: Lionel Cox and Russell Mockridge win the gold medal in the Men's 2000m tandem
Football
14 and 16 June – for the only time in its history, the VFL plays matches for premiership points in country centres. Three other games are the first played interstate for premiership points since 1904 but flooding rains affect attendances and cause one game to be postponed and played under lights.
Victorian Football League premiership: Geelong defeated Collingwood 86-40
South Australian National Football League premiership: won by North Adelaide