Australia at the 1956 Summer Olympics
IOC code	AUS
NOC	Australian Olympic Committee
Website	www.olympics.com.au
inMelbourne/Stockholm
Competitors	294 (250 men, 44 women)
Flag bearer	Mervyn Wood (rower)
Medals Ranked 3rd	Gold 13 Silver 8 Bronze 14 Total 35
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games ––––  Australasia (1908–1912)

Australia was the host nation for the1956 Summer Olympics inMelbourne,Australia. However, due to Australian quarantine restrictions theequestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden. 294 competitors, 250 men and 44 women, took part in 140 events in 18 sports.^[1]

• Betty Cuthbert – athletics, women's 100 metres
• Betty Cuthbert – athletics, women's 200 metres
• Shirley Strickland – athletics, women's 80 m Hurdles
• Norma Croker,Betty Cuthbert,Fleur Wenham, andShirley Strickland – athletics, women's 4 × 100 m Relay
• Joey Browne andAnthony Marchant — Cycling, men's 2000 m Tandem
• Jon Henricks — Swimming, men's 100 m Freestyle
• Murray Rose — Swimming, men's 400 m Freestyle
• Murray Rose — Swimming, men's 1500 m Freestyle
• David Theile — Swimming, men's 100 m Backstroke
• John Devitt,Jon Henricks,Kevin O'Halloran, andMurray Rose — Swimming, men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay
• Dawn Fraser — Swimming, women's 100 m Freestyle
• Lorraine Crapp — Swimming, women's 400 m Freestyle
• Lorraine Crapp,Dawn Fraser,Faith Leech, andSandra Morgan — Swimming, women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

• Graham Gipson,Kevan Gosper,Leon Gregory, andDavid Lean – athletics, men's 4 × 400 m Relay
• Chilla Porter – athletics, men's High Jump
• Stuart Mackenzie – rowing, men's Single Sculls
• John Devitt — Swimming, men's 100 m Freestyle
• John Monckton — Swimming, men's 100 m Backstroke
• Lorraine Crapp — Swimming, women's 100 m Freestyle
• Dawn Fraser — Swimming, women's 400 m Freestyle
• John Scott andRoland Tasker — Sailing, men's Sharpie 12 m²

• Hector Hogan – athletics, men's 100 metres
• John Landy – athletics, men's 1500 metres
• Allan Lawrence – athletics, men's 10.000 metres
• Norma Thrower – athletics, women's 80 m Hurdles
• Marlene Mathews – athletics, women's 100 metres
• Marlene Mathews – athletics, women's 200 metres
• Kevin Hogarth — Boxing, men's Welterweight
• Walter Brown andDennis Green – canoeing, men's K2 10,000 m Kayak Pairs
• Dick Ploog — Cycling, men's 1000 m Sprint (Scratch)
• Murray Riley andMervyn Wood – rowing, men's Double Sculls
• Michael Aikman,Angus Benfield,David Boykett,Bryan Doyle,Harold Hewitt,Jim Howden,Walter Howell,Garth Manton, andAdrian Monger – rowing, men's Eights
• Gary Chapman — Swimming, men's 100 m Freestyle
• Faith Leech — Swimming, women's 100 m Freestyle
• Douglas Buxton,Devereaux Mytton, Ernest Wagstaff andJock Sturrock — Sailing, men's 5½ Meter Class

Men

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Ted Allsopp	20 km walk	—						1:35:43.0	10
	50 km walk	—						DSQ
James Bailey	800 m	1:51.1	1Q	—		1:51.4	7	Did not advance
Jim Bailey	1500 m	DNS		Did not advance
Ron Blackney	3000 m steeplechase	9:16.0	10	—				DNF
Bill Butchart	800 m	1:51.6	3Q	—		1:53.8	4Q	1:52.0	8
Gavin Carragher	100 m	11.36	4	Did not advance
John Chittick	110 m hurdles	15.18	5	Did not advance
Ronald Crawford	20 km walk	—						1:39:35.0	13
	50 km walk	—						5:22:36.0	13
Kenneth Doubleday	110 m hurdles	14.98	5	Did not advance
Graham Gipson	200 m	22.06	3	Did not advance
	400 m	47.87	2Q	47.45	4	Did not advance
Geoff Goodacre	400 m hurdles	52.5	3	Did not advance
John Goodman	400 m	48.73	4	Did not advance
Kevan Gosper	400 m	48.07	1Q	46.83	1Q	46.45	4	Did not advance
Hec Hogan	100 m	10.72	1Q	10.78	1Q	10.62	3Q	10.77
	200 m	21.97	2Q	21.90	4	Did not advance
Bob Joyce	110 m hurdles	15.02	6	Did not advance
Don Keane	20 km walk	Did not advance						1:33:52.0	6
Ray Land	100 m	11.05	2Q	11.15	6	Did not advance
John Landy	1500 m	3:48.6	3Q	—				3:42.0
	5000 metres	DNS		Did not advance
Allan Lawrence	5000 metres	14:14.67	1Q	—				DNS
	10000 metres	—						28:53.6
David Lean	400 m hurdles	51.4	2Q	—		51.4	2Q	51.8	5
Mervyn Lincoln	1500 m	3:45.4	1Q	—				3:51.9	12
Donald MacMillan	800 m	1:53.4	4	Did not advance
Keith Ollerenshaw	Marathon	—						2:48:12	25
Ross Parker	400 m hurdles	53.5	1Q	—		52.6	6	Did not advance
Les Perry	Marathon	—						DNF
David Power	10000 metres	—						29:49.6	7
Neil Robbins	3000 m steeplechase	8:55.62	5Q	—				8:50.36	7
John Russell	Marathon	—						2:41:44	18
Ray Smith	50 km walk	—						4:56:08.0	6
Dave Stephens	10000 metres	—						NT	20
Albie Thomas	5000 metres	14:14.41	1Q	—				14:05.03	5
Graham Thomas	3000 m steeplechase	9:09.80	10	—				DNF
Douglas Winston	200 m	22.20	3	Did not advance
Gavin Carragher Edward McGlynn Ray Land Hector Hogan	4×100 m relay	40.72	1Q	—		40.72	4	Did not advance
Leon Gregory Graham Gipson Kevan Gosper David Lean John Goodman	4×400 m relay	3:10.57	2Q	—				3:06.19

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
James Achurch	Javelin throw	57.09	21	Did not advance
Vesmonis Balodis	Discus throw	44.24	20	Did not advance
Ian Bruce	Long jump	6.91	23	Did not advance
Martin Crowe	Hammer throw	48.43	21	Did not advance
Peter Denton	Pole vault	3.85	18	Did not advance
Barry Donath	Shot put	16.57	4Q	16.52	9
Neville Gadsen	Hammer throw	48.84	20	Did not advance
Bob Grant	Javelin throw	65.76	16	Did not advance
Ronald Gray	Triple jump	14.46	25	Did not advance
Robert Hanlin	Shot put	15.62	11Q	16.08	11
Hugh Jack	Long jump	6.90	24	Did not advance
Charlie Morris	Hammer throw	49.35	19	Did not advance
Mike Moroney	Long jump	7.09	19	Did not advance
Brian Oliver	Triple jump	14.74	23	Did not advance
Bruce Peever	Pole vault	3.85	17	Did not advance
Chilla Porter	High jump	1.92	4Q	2.10
Maurice Rich	Triple jump	14.26	27	Did not advance
Colin Ridgway	High jump	1.92	16Q	2.00	7
John Vernon		1.82	24	Did not advance

Combined events –Decathlon

Women

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Gloria Cooke	80 m hurdles	11.4	3Q	—		11.1	3Q	11.4	6
Betty Cuthbert	100 m	11.4OR	1Q	—		12.0	2Q	11.5
	200 m	23.5	1Q	—		23.6	1Q	23.4
Norma Croker	200 m	24.9	2Q	—		24.3	3Q	24.0	4
Marlene Mathews-Willard	100 m	11.5	1Q	—		11.6	1Q	11.7
	200 m	24.0	1Q	—		24.3	2Q	23.8
Shirley Strickland de la Hunty	100 m	11.7	3	Did not advance
	80 m hurdles	10.8	1Q	—		10.8	1Q	10.7
Norma Thrower	80 m hurdles	10.8OR	1Q	—		11.0	2Q	11.0
Norma Croker Betty Cuthbert Fleur Mellor Shirley Strickland de la Hunty	4×100 m relay	44.9WR	1Q	—				44.5WR

Field events

Men's Team Competition

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil	2	2	0	167	125	+42	4	Quarterfinals
2	Chile	2	1	1	137	134	+3	3
3	Australia(H)	2	0	2	122	167	−45	2	9th–15th classification round

Brazil	89–66	Australia
Scoring by half: 50–35, 39–31

Chile	78–56	Australia
Scoring by half: 37–27, 41–29

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Formosa	3	3	0	218	189	+29	6	9th–12th classification playoffs
2	Australia(H)	3	2	1	258	208	+50	5
3	Singapore	3	1	2	200	215	−15	4	13th–16th classification playoffs
4	Thailand	3	0	3	150	214	−64	3

Australia	87–48	Thailand
Scoring by half:48–23,39–25

Australia	73–86	Formosa
Scoring by half:40–39, 33–47

Australia	98–74	Singapore
Scoring by half:48–36,50–38

01.12

Canada

83–38

Australia

01.12

Formosa

87–70

Australia

Team Roster

• • Peter Demos
  • Geoff Heskett
  • Peter Bumbers
  • Stan Dargis
  • Inga Freidenfelds
  • Colin Burdett
  • George Dancis
  • Peter Sutton
  • Algis Ignatavicius
  • Merv Moy
  • Ken Finch
  • Bruce Flick
• Head coach:Ken Watson

Men

Athlete	Event	1 Round	2 Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Warner Batchelor	Flyweight	BYE	Henryk Kukier (POL) W P	John Caldwell (IRL) L P	Did not advance		5
Robert Bath	Bantamweight	Henry Jayasuriya (CEY) W P	Song Soon-Chun (KOR) L P	Did not advance
Noel Hazard	Featherweight	BYE	Thomas Nicholls (GBR) L P	Did not advance
William Griffiths	Lightweight	BYE	Louis Molina (USA) L P	Did not advance
Max Carlos	Light Welterweight	BYE	Joseph Shaw (USA) L P	Did not advance
Kevin Hogarth	Welterweight	Graham Finlay (NZL) W P	—	András Dori (HUN) W P	Fred Tiedt (IRL) L P	—
Peter Read	Light Middleweight	José Torres (USA) L P	Did not advance
Howard Richter	Middleweight	Július Torma (TCH) L P	Did not advance
Anthony Madigan	Light Heavyweight	BYE		Romualdas Murauskas (URS) L P	Did not advance

Men

Athlete	Event	Heats		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Bryan Harper	C-1 1000 m	—		5:37.6	7
	C-1 10000 m	—		1:02:12.1	9
William Jones Thomas Ohman	C-2 1000 m	5:04.6	2Q	5:03.0	5
	C-2 10000 m	—		56:18.6	7
Barry Stuart	K-1 1000 m	4:30.1	3Q	4:30.7	9
Max Baldwin	K-1 10000 m	—		51:49.7	9
Walter Brown Dennis Green	K-2 1000 m	4:03.0	1Q	3:59.1	7
	K-2 10000 m	—		43:43.2

Women

Road

1000m time trial

Sprint

Athlete	Event	Heats	Repechage 1	Repechage finals	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Time Speed (km/h)	Rank	Opposition Time Speed (km/h)	Opposition Time Speed (km/h)	Opposition Time Speed (km/h)	Opposition Time Speed (km/h)	Rank
Dick Ploog	Men's sprint	Godefroid (BEL)  Văn Phước (VIE) W 11.40WR	BYE		Disney (USA) W 12.411.6	Pesenti (ITA) L 12.2	Johnston (NZL) W 11.6 11.4

Tandem

Athlete	Event	Heats	Repechage	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Time Speed (km/h)	Opposition Time Speed (km/h)	Opposition Time Speed (km/h)	Opposition Time Speed (km/h)	Opposition Time Speed (km/h)	Rank
Anthony Marchant Joey Browne	Tandem	Robinson Shardelow (RSA)  Neuser Ziegler (EUA) L	Fouček Machek (TCH) L	Robinson Shardelow (RSA) W 10.8	Pinarello Ogna (ITA) W 10.8	Fouček Machek (TCH) W10.8

Pursuit

Athlete	Event	Qualification	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Time	Opposition Time	Opposition Time	Opposition Time	Rank
Cliff Burvill Frank Brazier Roy Moore Warren Scarfe	Men's team pursuit	France (FRA) L OT	Did not advance			9

Men

Women

21 fencers, 18 men and 3 women, represented Australia in 1956.

Men

Ranks given are within the pool.

Fencer	Event	Elimination round		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Laurence Harding-Smith	Men's épée			did not advance
Ivan Lund				did not advance
Richard Stone				did not advance
Brian McCowage	Men's foil			did not advance
David McKenzie				did not advance
Michael Sichel				did not advance
Leslie Fadgyas	Men's sabre	Darè (ITA)  Hoskyns (GBR)  Van Der Auwera (BEL)  Asselin (CAN)  del Carmen (COL)	3Q	Pawłowski (POL)  Darè (ITA)  Worth (USA)  Kuznetsov (URS)  Cooperman (GBR)  Gamot (FRA)	7	did not advance			25
Graham McKenzie		Ferrari (ITA)  Porebski (GBR)  Kwartler (USA)  Yanguas (COL)	4Q	Kárpáti (HUN)  Roulot (FRA)  Zabłocki (POL)  Stratmann (GER)  Nyilas (USA)  Hoskyns (GBR)	7	did not advance			24
Sandor Szoke		Narduzzi (ITA)  Goliardi (URU)  Worth (USA)  Ramos (MEX)  Sano (JPN)	6	did not advance					30
James Wolfensohn Ivan Lund Keith Hackshall Hilbert Van Dijk	Team épée	Great Britain (GBR) L 3-9  Italy (ITA) L 5-11  United States (USA) L	4	did not advance					9
Ray Buckingham Brian McCowage Rod Steel David McKenzie Michael Sichel Tom Cross	Team foil	United States (USA) L 3-13  Hungary (HUN) L 8-8	3	did not advance					8
Leslie Fadgyas Alexander Martonffy Emeric Santo Leslie Kovacs Sandor Szoke	Team sabre	France (FRA) L 1-9  Soviet Union (URS) L 2-14	3	did not advance					8

Women

Ranks given are within the pool.

Fencer	Event	Elimination round		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Joy Hardon	Women's foil	Sheen (GBR)  Orban-Szabo (ROU)  Garilhe (FRA)  Lachmann (DEN)  Rastvorova (URS)  Goodrich (USA)  Nyári-Kovács (HUN)	8	did not advance			23
Lois Joseph		York-Romary (USA)  Müller-Preis (AUT)  Colombetti-Peroncini (ITA)  Roldán (MEX)  Orb-Lazăr (ROU)  Shitikova (URS)  Veronnet (FRA)	8	did not advance			22
Denise O'Brien		Mitchell (USA)  Yefimova (URS)  Sákovicsné Dömölky (HUN)  Delbarre (FRA)  Cesari (ITA)  Glen-Haig (GBR)	7	did not advance			19

27 November 1956
12:00

Australia	2–0	Japan
McMillan 26' (pen.) Loughran 61'	Report

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Attendance: 3,568

Referee: Reginald Lund (New Zealand)

1 December 1956
12:00

Australia	2–4	India
Morrow 17',41'	Report	D'Souza 9',33',50' Krishnaswamy 80'

Melbourne Cricket Ground,Melbourne

Attendance: 7,413

Referee: Chris Wensveen (Indonesia)

Head coach:Richard Telfer

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB	Age	Caps	Club	Tournament games	Tournament goals	Minutes played	Sub off	Sub on	Cards yellow/red
1	GK	Billy Henderson	November 23, 1929	26	5	Granville	0	0	0	0	0	0/0
2	GK	Ron Lord	August 25, 1929	27	1	Auburn	2	0	180	0	0
3	FW	Col Kitching	November 11, 1933	22	2		0	0	0	0	0	0/0
4	MF	Pete Stone			0	Bankstown	0	0	0	0	0	0/0
5	MF	Ted Smith	September 24, 1935	21	0		2	0	180	0	0
6		George Arthur	1925	31	0	Wallsend FC	2	0	180	0	0
7		Bill Harburn			0		0	0	0	0	0	0/0
8		Alwyn Warren	November 1, 1931	25	1		2	0	180	0	0
9		Alastair Rattray	February 16, 1925	31	0		0	0	0	0	0	0/0
10		Alec Beattie			0		0	0	0	0	0	0/0
11	DF	Bob Bignall	March 14, 1922	34	5	Corrimal	2	0	180	0	0
12	DF	John Pettigrew	October 31, 1934	21	1		2	0	180	0	0
13	MF	Francis Loughran	January 31, 1931	25	3	Moreland F.C.	2	1	180	0	0
14		Bob Wemyss	July 1, 1928	28	0		0	0	0	0	0	0/0
15	MF	Jack Lennard	April 2, 1930	26	3	Cessnock	2	0	180	0	0
16	MF	Brian Vogler	May 30, 1932	24	0		0	0	0	0	0	0/0
17	FW	Bruce Morrow	May 5, 1936	20	0	Wallsend FC	2	2	180	0	0
18		Con Purser	August 2, 1931	25	1	North Perth	0	0	0	0	0	0/0
19	FW	Graham McMillan	January 21, 1936	20	0		2	1	180	0	0
20		Cliff Sander	November 11, 1931	25	6		2	0	180	0	0

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Great Britain	4	2	2	0	6	4	+2	6	Advanced toSemi-finals
2	Australia(H)	4	2	0	2	6	5	+1	4
3	Malaya	3	0	2	1	5	6	−1	2
4	Kenya	3	0	2	1	2	4	−2	2

23 November 1956 14:30 Australia  2–0  Kenya Dick 5' E. Pearce 64' Report Umpires: Ernst-Ludwig Nack (GER) K. Hamilton (NZL)

26 November 1956 16:00 Malaya  2–3  Australia Aman 32', 63' Report Spackman 12' E. Pearce 18', 51' Umpires: Birendra Ghosh (IND) Gian Singh (IND)

29 November 1956 16:00 Australia  1–2  Great Britain E. Pearce 60' Report Forster 18', 50' Umpires: Gian Singh (IND) Birendra Ghosh (IND)

• At the conclusion of the pool stage, Australia and Great Britain finished equal on points, resulting in a play–off match to determine number one position in the pool.

1 December 1956 14:00 Australia  0–1  Great Britain Report Conroy 55' Umpires: Gian Singh (IND) Birendra Ghosh (IND)

• Team Roster
  • Alan Barblett
  • Geoffrey Bennett
  • Brian Booth
  • Kevin Carton
  • Kenneth Clarke
  • Ian Dick
  • John Dwyer
  • Maurice Foley
  • Louis Hailey
  • Glen Jobson
  • Dennis Kemp
  • Keith Leeson
  • Donald Mecklem
  • Eric Pearce
  • Gordon Pearce
  • Melville Pearce
  • Kenneth Reid
  • Raymond Whiteside

Three male pentathletes represented Australia in 1956.

Individual

• Neville Sayers
• Sven Coomer
• George Nicoll

Team

• Neville Sayers
• Sven Coomer
• George Nicoll

Australia had 26 male rowers participate in all sevenrowing events in 1956.^[2]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heats		Repechage		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Stuart Mackenzie	Single sculls	7:28.8	2Q	BYE		9:19.5	2Q	8:07.7
Murray Riley Mervyn Wood	Double sculls	7:01.2	3R	8:12.2	1Q	BYE		7:37.4
Peter Raper Maurice Grace	Coxless pair	7:37.2	2Q	BYE		8:48.2	2Q	8:22.2	4
Robert Duncan Bruce Dickson John Cockbill	Coxed pair	8:15.9	2Q	BYE		9:37.7	3	Did not advance
John Harrison Peter Evatt Geoff Williamson Dave Anderson	Coxless four	6:52.7	3R	8:10.4	1Q	8:22.4	4	Did not advance
Gordon Cowey Kevin McMahon Reg Libbis Ian Allen John Jenkinson	Coxed four	7:01.9	2Q	BYE		7:59.8	2Q	7:31.1	4
Michael Aikman David Boykett Angus Benfield Jim Howden Garth Manton Walter Howell Adrian Monger Bryan Doyle Harold Hewitt	Eight	6:05.8	1Q	BYE		6:55.6	2Q	6:39,2

Open

Athlete	Event	Race							Net points	Final rank
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Colin Ryrie	Finn	4	13	11	DNF	7	14	5	2965	10
Rolly Tasker John Scott	12m² Sharpie	1	2	2	1	2	2	DSQ	6086
Robert French Jack Downey	Star	8	9	12	6	11	9	11	1409	9
Graham Horace Drane Brian Carolan Jim Carolan	Dragon	2	10	14	4	4	4	9	3769	5
Jock Sturrock Devereaux Mytton Douglas Buxton	5.5 Metre	4	4	2	4	1	3	4	4022

Twelve shooters represented Australia in 1956.

Men

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Gary Chapman	100 metre freestyle	57.8	1Q	56.9	2Q	56.7
John Devitt		57.2	1Q	56.4	2Q	55.8
Murray Garretty	1500 metre freestyle	18:27.4	1Q	—		18:26.5	4
Terry Gathercole	200 metre breaststroke	2:40.2	2Q	—		2:38.7	4
Kevin O'Halloran	400 metre freestyle	4:36.9	1Q	—		4:32.9	4
John Hayres	100 metre backstroke	1:04.4	2Q	1:05.0	2Q	1:05.0	5
Jon Henricks	100 metre freestyle	57.3	1Q	55.7	1Q	55.4WR
John Marshall	200 metre butterfly	2:26.8	2Q	—		2:27.2	5
John Monckton	100 metre backstroke	1:03.4	1Q	1:04.1	1Q	1:03.2
Murray Rose	400 metre freestyle	4:31.7	1Q	—		4:27.3WR
	1500 metre freestyle	18:04.1	1Q	—		17:58.9
David Theile	100 metre backstroke	1:04.3	1Q	1:04.8	2Q	1:02.2WR
Gary Winram	400 metre freestyle	4:34.5	1Q	—		4:34.9	6
	1500 metre freestyle	18:35.7	1Q	—		19:06.2	8
Brian Wilkinson	200 metre butterfly	2:27.2	2Q	—		2:29.7	7
Kevin O'Halloran John Devitt Murray Rose Jon Henricks Gary Chapman Murray Garretty Graham Hamilton	4×200 m freestyle relay	8:40.2	3Q	—		8:23.6WR

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Beverley Bainbridge	100 metre butterfly	1:14.4	1Q	—		1:15.2	5
Gergaynia Beckett	100 metre backstroke	1:14.8	2Q	—		1:14.7	8
Lorraine Crapp	100 metre freestyle	1:03.4	2QOR	1:03.1	2Q	1:02.4
	400 metre freestyle	5:00.2	1Q	—		4:54.6CR
Barbara Evans	200 metre breaststroke	3:03.6	12	Did not advance
Dawn Fraser	100 metre freestyle	1:02.4	1QOR	1:03.0	1Q	1:02.0WR
	400 metre freestyle	5:02.5	1Q	—		5:02.5
Maureen Giles	100 metre butterfly	1:19.4	5	Did not advance
Patricia Huntingford	100 metre backstroke	1:16.0	5	Did not advance
Faith Leech	100 metre freestyle	1:04.9	3Q	1:05.2	3Q	1:05.1
Sandra Morgan	400 metre freestyle	5:07.8	2Q	—		5:14.3	6
Pam Singleton	100 metre backstroke	1:17.0	6	Did not advance
Dawn Fraser Faith Leech Sandra Morgan Lorraine Crapp Margaret Gibson Elizabeth Fraser	4×100 m freestyle relay	4:25.0	1Q	—		4:17.1WR

The preliminary round consisted of a round-robin tournament held in three groups. Each team played the other teams in its group once.

Nation	Pld.	Win	Loss	Tie	GF	GA	Points
Yugoslavia	3	3	0	0	15	5	6
Soviet Union	3	2	1	0	9	6	4
Romania	3	1	2	0	9	9	2
Australia	3	0	3	0	3	16	0

28 November

• 14:00 - Romania def. Australia, 4-2

29 November

• 22:15 - Yugoslavia def. Australia, 9-1

30 November

• 16:00 - Soviet Union def. Australia, 3-0

Rank	Nation	Pld.	Win	Loss	Tie	GF	GA	Points
7	Great Britain	3	3	0	0	21	9	6
8	Romania	3	2	1	0	21	8	4
9	Australia	3	1	2	0	7	11	2
10	Singapore	3	0	3	0	8	29	0

• Great Britain def. Australia, 5-2
• Australia def. Singapore, 3-2
• Romania def. Australia, 4-2

Men

• Nations at the 1956 Summer Olympics
• Australia at the Summer Olympics by year
• 1956 in Australian sport

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata