1937 in Australia

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 assimiliating 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)
 * 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)