1960's

Start of a new era

Jan 1, 1960

This is the start of a new era. The era of 1960

Army Training

Jun 30, 1960

Compulsory national service training for men ends.

Crown of Thorns

Dec 10, 1960

Crown of thorns startfish starts destorying the great barrier reef.

Commercials

Jan 1, 1961

Federal Government directs all future TV commercials to be made in Australia.

Fined

Dec 12, 1961

Woman fined for being "unsuitably dressed" wearing a bikini at Bondi Beach

Bushfires

Jan 17, 1962

Busfhires rage through the Great Divide and the Dandenong Ranges on the edge of Melboune, killing 8 people and destroying hundreds of houses.

Trainline

Apr 12, 1962

The Southern Aurora arrives from Sydney on the new uniform-gauge line that now links the 2 states.

Nobel Prize

Oct 17, 1963

The Australian scientist Sir John Carew Eccles is awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work on the central portions of the nerve cell membrane.

Boat Crash

Feb 11, 1964

The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with the destroyer HMAS Voyager, cutting it in half and killing 82 of the Voyager's officers and crew in the worst peacetime naval disaster in Australian history.

Supreme Court

Sep 23, 1965

Roma Mitchell is Australia's first woman judge, after her appointment to the South Australian Supreme Court Bench

Vietnam

Apr 19, 1966

The first Australian conscripts fly out for Vietnam. Anti conscription and anti-Vietnam War demonstrators could not get near the RAAF base at Richmond.

Aborigines

May 27, 1967

90% of white Australians vote in referendum for proposal to count aborigines in the census and to allow the federal government to make special laws for them.

Detained

Jun 14, 1968

Pacifist Simon Townsend (later TV entertainer) granted exemption from National Service after being detained at Ingleburn Army Camp on bread and water rations

Withdrawal

Dec 16, 1969

Prime Minister Gorton announces phased withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam.