# 1940 in Australia

"none" is preferred when the title alone is adequate; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
The following lists events that happened during 1940 in Australia.

## Incumbents

* Monarch – George VI
* Governor-General – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie
* Prime Minister – Robert Menzies
* Chief Justice – Sir John Latham

### State Governors

* Governor of New South Wales – John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst
* Governor of Queensland – Sir Leslie Orme Wilson
* Governor of South Australia – Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey
* Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ernest Clark
* Governor of Victoria – Sir Winston Dugan
* Governor of Western Australia – none appointed

## Events

* 28 February – The Australian 7th Division is formed.
* 16 March – A state election is held in Victoria. The Country Party led by Albert Dunstan is returned to government.
* 14 June – The Volunteer Defence Corps is formed, a militia force based on the British Home Guard.
* 6 July – The Story Bridge is opened in Brisbane.
* 19 July – The Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney takes part in the sinking of the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni
* 1 August – The first of sixty Bathurst-class corvettes, HMAS Bathurst, is launched in Sydney.
* 13 August – An RAAF Lockheed Hudson crashes near Canberra, killing three members of Cabinet and the Chief of the General Staff.
* 3 September – The heavy cruiser HMAS Australia takes part in Operation Menace off Dakar.
* 6 September – The British prison ship HMT Dunera docks in Sydney, carrying refugees and prisoners of war considered a danger to British security, for internment in Hay and Tatura.
* 21 September – The 1940 federal election results in a hung parliament, with Prime Minister Robert Menzies remaining in office at the head of a minority government.
* 16 October – Country Party leader Archie Cameron resigns and is succeeded by Arthur Fadden as acting leader.
* 26 October – Double-decker buses replace the last cable trams in Melbourne.

## Arts and literature

* Max Meldrum wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Dr J Forbes McKenzie
* The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead is published.
* The Magic Basket a musical play for children by Alfred Wheeler is published

## Film

* Forty Thousand Horsemen, directed by Charles Chauvel and starring Chips Rafferty, is released

## Sport

* Old Rowley wins the Melbourne Cup
* Beaulivre wins the Caulfield Cup
* Beau Vite wins the Cox Plate
* New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield
* Eastern Suburbs win the 1940 NSWRFL season, defeating Canterbury-Bankstown 24–14. Western Suburbs finish in last place, claiming the wooden spoon.

## Births

* 5 January – Athol Guy, musician
* 19 January – Paul Calvert, Liberal Senator for Tasmania
* 17 February – Marilyn Jones, ballet dancer
* 22 February – Neil Brown, politician
* 24 February – Ian Shelton, Australian rules football player (died 2021)
* 27 February – Bill Hunter, actor (died 2011)
* 1 March – Robin Gray, Premier of Tasmania (1982–1989)
* 8 March – Don Barker, actor
* 19 March – Andrew Taylor, poet
* 20 March – Paul Neville, politician (died 2019)
* 12 April – Jack Hibberd, playwright (died 2024)
* 16 April – Marion Halligan, writer (died 2024)
* 24 April – Trevor Kent, actor (died 1989)
* 26 April – Ian Geoghegan, race car driver (died 2003)
* 15 June – Ken Fletcher, tennis player (died 2006)
* 17 June – Alan Murray, Australian golfer (died 2019)
* 23 June – Diana Trask, country music singer
* 25 June – Judy Amoore, athlete
* 29 June – Ken Done, artist
* 3 August – Judith Troeth, Liberal Senator for Victoria
* 16 August – Bruce Beresford, film director
* 18 August – Jan Owen, poet
* 31 August – Jack Thompson, actor
* 9 September – Hugh Morgan, businessman
* 13 September – Kerry Stokes, chairman of the Seven Network
* 15 September – Allan Andrews, NSW politician
* 21 September – John Pochee, jazz musician (died 2022)
* 3 October – Diana Warnock, radio broadcaster and politician
* 4 October – Ian Kiernan, environmentalist, 1994 Australian of the Year (died 2018)
* 5 October – Bob Cowper, cricketer
* 15 October – Peter C. Doherty, medical researcher, Nobel Prize recipient
* 19 October – Ian Causley, politician (died 2020)
* 21 October – Peter Arnison, Governor of Queensland (1997–2003)
* 1 November – John Bell, actor and theatre director
* 4 November – John Sanderson, Governor of Western Australia (2000–2005)
* 12 November – John Dowd, NSW politician
* 7 December – Robin Miller, aviator and nurse (died 1975)
* 19 December – Jane Mathews, judge (died 2019)

## Deaths

* 3 February – John Henry Michell, mathematician (b. 1863)
* 5 February – Bill Wilks, New South Wales politician (b. 1863)
* 8 March – Michael Kelly, Catholic archbishop (b. 1850)
* 16 April – Herbert James Carter, entomologist (b. 1858)
* 20 April – Sir Ernest Gaunt, naval admiral (b. 1865)
* 22 June – Monty Noble, cricketer (b. 1873)
* 23 June – Hugh Denis Macrossan, Queensland politician and judge (b. 1881)
* 6 July – Michael O'Connor, Western Australian politician (b. 1865)
* 22 July – Sir George Fuller, 22nd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1861)
* 27 July – Bluey Wilkinson, speedway rider (b. 1911)
* 30 July
** Arthur Merric Boyd, painter (b. 1862)
** Archibald Watson, surgeon and professor of anatomy (b. 1849)
* 13 August
** James Fairbairn, Victorian politician (b. 1897)
** Henry Gullett, Victorian politician (b. 1878)
** Geoffrey Street, Victorian politician (b. 1894)
** Sir Brudenell White, 10th Chief of the General Staff (b. 1876)
* 9 September – Percy Abbott, New South Wales politician (b. 1869)
* 11 September – Issy Smith, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1890)
* 22 September – Robert Blackwood, New South Wales politician (b. 1861)
* 2 October – Albert Green, Western Australian politician (b. 1869)
* 14 October – Helen de Guerry Simpson, novelist (b. 1897)
* 25 October – Thomas Waddell, 15th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1854)
* 31 October
** Frank Anstey, Victorian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1865)
** John Keating, Tasmanian politician (b. 1872)
* 2 November – Colin Rankin, Queensland politician and soldier (b. 1869)
* 3 November – James Fowler, Western Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1863)
* 23 November – Sir Stanley Argyle, 32nd Premier of Victoria (b. 1867)
* 11 December – Belle Golding, feminist, suffragist and labour activist (b. 1864)
* 20 December – Tom Foster, composer (b. 1870)