# 1937 in Australia

"none" is preferred when the title alone is adequate; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
The following lists events that happened during 1937 in Australia.

## Incumbents

* Monarch – George VI
* Governor-General – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
* Prime Minister – Joseph Lyons
* Chief Justice – Sir John Latham

### State Premiers

* Premier of New South Wales – Bertram Stevens
* Premier of Queensland – William Forgan Smith
* Premier of South Australia – Richard L. Butler
* Premier of Tasmania – Albert Ogilvie
* Premier of Victoria – Albert Dunstan
* Premier of Western Australia – John Willcock

### State Governors

* Governor of New South Wales – John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst (from 8 April)
* Governor of Queensland – Sir Leslie Orme Wilson
* Governor of South Australia – Sir Winston Dugan
* Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ernest Clark
* Governor of Victoria – William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield
* Governor of Western Australia – none appointed

## Events

* 9 February – Cairns is hit by a tropical cyclone.
* 15 February – An explosion kills 13 men at the State Coal Mine in Wonthaggi, Victoria.
* 20 February – A general election is held in Tasmania. The incumbent Labor government led by Albert Ogilvie is returned to power.
* 1 March – Bernard O'Reilly locates the wreckage of an Airlines of Australia Stinson airliner, VH-UHH City of Brisbane, in the McPherson Range in southern Queensland. Two survivors are rescued, five others did not survive.
* 20 April – Regular airmail services begin between Australia and the USA.
* 21-23 April - The first conference of Commonwealth and State Aboriginal authorities is held in Canberra. The conference sees several resolutions pass with the aim of assimilating Australian Aboriginals (excluding those deemed full-blooded) in white culture.
* 23 October – The ACTU calls on the government to boycott trade with Japan, following the Japanese invasion of China.

## Arts and literature

* 24 June – The Commonwealth Literature Censorship Board replaces the Book Censorship Advisory Committee, and temporarily lifts the ban on Ulysses by James Joyce.
* Sunbaker by photographer Max Dupain

## Sport

* 3 March – Captained by Don Bradman, Australia defeats England in the Fifth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, retaining The Ashes.
* 25 September – Geelong become premiers of the 1937 VFL season, defeating Collingwood 18.14 (122) to 12.18 (90).
* 19 November – Hubert Opperman completes an epic bicycle ride from Fremantle, Western Australia to Sydney, taking 13 days, 10 hours and 11 minutes.
* Eastern Suburbs win the premiership in a shortened 1937 NSWRFL season. University finish in last place for the fourth year in a row, and voluntarily withdraw from the premiership at the end of the season.

## Births

* 16 January – Lorraine Bayly, actor
* 19 January – John Lions, computer scientist and academic (died 1998)
* 21 January
** Peter Gallagher, rugby league footballer (died 2003)
** Michael Beahan, Labor Senator for Western Australia (died 2022)
* 25 January – John Watson, Liberal Senator for Tasmania
* 4 February – John Devitt, Olympic swimmer (died 2023)
* 19 February
** Lee Harding, science fiction writer (died 2023)
** Colin Ridgway, NFL American footballer (died 1993)
* 20 February – Robert Evans, minister and amateur astronomer (died 2022)
* 21 February – Ron Clarke, Olympic athlete (died 2015)
* 3 March – Kevin O'Halloran, Olympic swimmer (died 1976)
* 7 April – Louise Faulkner, missing woman
* 13 April – Col Joye, entertainer
* 19 April – Lindsay Fox, businessman
* 27 May – Peter Pinne, writer and composer
* 1 June – Colleen McCullough, novelist (died 2015)
* 11 June – Robin Warren, Nobel Prize-winning pathologist
* 7 July Jocelyn Newman, politician (died 2018)
* 26 July
** Alan Cadman, politician
** Guy Green, Governor of Tasmania (1995–2003)
* 28 August – Tony Marchant, Olympic track cyclist
* 1 September – Ian Callinan, High Court judge
* 4 September – Dawn Fraser, Olympic swimmer
* 17 September – Gary Chapman, Olympic swimmer (died 1978)
* 18 September – Barry Muir, rugby league footballer (died 2022)
* 3 October – John Hodges, Minister for Immigration (1982–1983) (died 2024)
* 7 October – Colin Guest, cricketer (died 2018)
* 10 October – Bruce Devlin, golfer
* 21 November – John Kerin, politician (died 2023)
* 12 December
** Michael Jeffery, Governor-General of Australia (died 2020)
** Judy Tegart, tennis player
* 17 December – Kerry Packer, businessman (died 2005)

## Deaths

* 11 February – Walter Burley Griffin, architect of Canberra (born in the United States and died in India) (b. 1876)
* 18 March – Walter Wilson Froggatt, geologist and economic entomologist (b. 1858)
* 7 May – Christina Jane Corrie, Queensland politician and suffragette (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1867)
* 9 June – Charles Chewings, geologist and anthropologist (b. 1859)
* 10 July – Thomas Brentnall, accountant and musician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1846)
* 22 July – Ted McDonald, cricketer and Australian rules footballer (Essendon, Fitzroy) (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1891)
* 28 July – Sir George Hyde, 7th Naval Member and Chief of the Australian Naval Staff (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1877)
* 14 August – Bruce Smith, New South Wales politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1851)
* 28 August – George Prendergast, 28th Premier of Victoria (b. 1854)
* 28 September – William Ramsay Smith, physician and anthropologist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1859)
* 2 October – Sir Granville Ryrie, New South Wales politician, diplomat and soldier (b. 1865)
* 8 October – Dame Eadith Walker, philanthropist and heiress (b. 1861)
* 4 November – Alfred Walter Campbell, neurologist (b. 1868)
* 6 November – William Moore, art and drama critic (b. 1868)
* 17 November – Jack Worrall, cricketer and Australian rules footballer (Fitzroy) (b. 1861)
* 19 November – Rayner Hoff, sculptor (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1894)
* 27 November – Walter Howchin, geologist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1845)
* 11 December – Godfrey Irving, 8th Chief of the General Staff (b. 1867)
* 16 December – Sir Murray Bourchier, 5th Deputy Premier of Victoria and soldier (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1881)