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First flight
Brisbane: First flight for Kingsford Smith's and Charles Ulm's Australian National Airways arrives from Sydney -
air service
Australian National Airways begins a Sydney-Brisbane air service (Sydney-Melbourne service begins 1 June). -
plane
Sir Douglas Mawson, in a plane from the British-Australian-New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition, discovers MacRobertson Land. -
Legendary Cricketer
New South Wales batsman Don Bradman scores a world record first-class individual innings of 452 not out in a Sheffield Shield match against Queensland -
Tennis
Melbourne: H. Hopman and J. Crawford win Doubles Championship tennis at Kooyong -
Gypsy Moth plane
Francis Chichester arrives in Sydney in his Gypsy Moth plane after a solo flight from London -
ACER
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) established in Melbourne. -
Spencer Street Bridge
Spencer Street Bridge, Melbourne, opened. -
Amy Johnson
Most of Darwin turns out to see flyer Amy Johnson after her epic solo flight from London -
harbour bridge
Sydney: The 2 spans of the Sydney Harbour Bridge are joined -
Cricket
London: Cricket - Australia wins Fifth Test and retains The Ashes from England. Don Bradman scores 232 and Bill Ponsford 110 -
VFL
Collingwood defeats Geelong to win 4th successive VFL grand final, and their 9th Premiership in total -
Phar Lap
Phar Lap wins his first Melbourne Cup -
phone
Perth: Phone line links Perth with the rest of the country -
christmas
Melbourne: Sidney Myer provides Christmas dinner for 12,000 people at the Exhibition Building -
antarctic
Sir Douglas Mawson charts 4,000 miles of Antarctic coastline and claims 42% of the icy mass for Australia -
Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge opens -
labor government
The Labor government falls and Joseph Lyons becomes Prime Minister -
referendum
Western Australia votes at a rerefendum to secede from the Commonwealth, but the vote is ignored by both the Commonwealth and British governments -
Thylacine
The last Thylacine dies -
Dad and Dave
The radio series Dad and Dave begins -
The first national conference of Indigenous Australians
The first national conference of Indigenous Australians was held at the Australian Hall, Sydney, to mark a 'Day of Mourning' and protest during the 150th Australia Day anniversary of colonial settlement. The conference was initiated by William Cooper, founder of the Australian Aborigines League (AAL), and The Aborigines Progressive Association (APA), led by William Ferguson, and Jack Patten. Participants called for Aboriginal land and citizenship rights. -
Empire Games
Sydney hosts the Empire Games, the forerunner to the Commonwealth Games -
various
Xavier Herbert won the Commonwealth sesquicentennial (150 years) literary prize for his novel Capricornia.
Daisy Bates (1863-1951), a social worker in Aboriginal communities and an anthropologist, published her book The Passing of the Aborigines.
Many of Bates's views and stories were sensationalist and incorrect, and many Aboriginal people indicated ambivalence about her and her work. -
iron
All exports of iron ore from Australia to Japan were suspended as Japan was seen as militaristic. -
various
The federal government announced that refugees from (Nazi) Germany were to be relocated in Australia.
A direct radio–telephone link was set up between Canberra and Washington as a sign of closer US–Australian government cooperation.
Albert Namatjira, an Indigenous artist, held his first exhibition of paintings in Melbourne. All 41 pieces sold within three days of the opening. -
Black Friday bushfires
Victoria is devastated by the Black Friday bushfires -
Government
Prime Minister Joseph Lyons dies in office and is replaced by Robert Menzies and the first Menzies Government -
Second World War
Australia enters the Second World War following the German Invasion of Poland. The 2nd Australian Imperial Force is raised