1940 in Australia

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 (1934) takes part in the sinking of the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni
 * 1 August – The first of sixty Bathurst-class corvettes, HMAS Bathurst (J158), 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 (1927) 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
 * 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)