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The following lists events that happened during1952 in Australia.

← 1951 1950 1949 1952 in Australia → 1953 1954 1955
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	1952 in Australian literature Other events of 1952 Timeline of Australian history

• Monarch –George VI (until 6 February), thenElizabeth II
• Governor-General –Sir William McKell
• Prime Minister –Robert Menzies
• Chief Justice –Sir John Latham (until 7 April) thenSir Owen Dixon

• Premier of New South Wales –James McGirr (until 2 April), thenJoseph Cahill
• Premier of Queensland –Ned Hanlon (until 17 January), thenVince Gair
• Premier of South Australia –Thomas Playford IV
• Premier of Tasmania –Robert Cosgrove
• Premier of Victoria –John McDonald (until 28 October), thenThomas Hollway (until 31 October), thenJohn McDonald (until 17 December), thenJohn Cain I
• Premier of Western Australia –Ross McLarty

• Governor of New South Wales –Sir John Northcott
• Governor of Queensland –Sir John Lavarack
• Governor of South Australia –Sir Charles Norrie (until 19 June)
• Governor of Tasmania –Sir Ronald Cross, 1st Baronet
• Governor of Victoria –Sir Dallas Brooks
• Governor of Western Australia –Sir Charles Gairdner

• 20 January – The first express trains run betweenMelbourne andAdelaide, following the completion of a railway between the two cities.
• 6 February –King George VI dies, and is succeeded asQueen of Australia by his daughter,Elizabeth II.
• 18 April –Owen Dixon becomes Chief Justice of theHigh Court of Australia.
• 29 April – TheANZUS Treaty betweenAustralia,New Zealand and theUnited States comes into force.
• 14–18 June – Disastrous floods in the southeast corner leave 600 homeless and render a major rail line nearMoss Vale unusable throughout the winter^[1]
  • The winter season is especially wet in the southeast of the continent, being the wettest on record in Melbourne and the fifth wettest on record in Sydney
• 1 September –Qantas Empire Airways commences the first air service between Australia andSouth Africa.
• 19 September –Betty Shanks is murdered in Brisbane.^[2][3] The case ultimately becomes Queensland's oldest unsolved murder.^[4]
• 28 October –Premier of VictoriaJohn McDonald resigns after theVictorian Legislative Council refusessupply.Thomas Hollway forms ashort-lived ministry which lasts four days.
• 30 November –Lang Hancock discovers the world's largest deposit ofiron ore in theHamersley Range ofWestern Australia'sPilbara region.
• 6 December – Astate election is held inVictoria.

• 3 October – The first British nuclear test in Australia,Operation Hurricane, commences on theMonte Bello Islands with the detonation of an atomic bomb of 25 kilotons yield.

• 28 April –Joan Sutherland makes her debut atCovent Garden
• William Dargie wins theArchibald Prize with his portrait ofEssington Lewis
• Frank Hinder wins theBlake Prize for Religious Art with his workFlight into Egypt

• Athletics
  • 16 February –Robert Prentice wins his second men's national marathon title, clocking 3:19:26 inMelbourne.
  • Olympics:Marjorie Jackson wins gold medals in the Women's 100m and 200m
  • Olympics:Shirley Strickland wins the gold medal in the 80m Hurdles
• Cricket
  • New South Wales wins theSheffield Shield
• Cycling
  • Olympics:Russell Mockridge wins the gold medal in the Men's 1000m Time Trial
  • Olympics:Lionel Cox andRussell Mockridge win the gold medal in the Men's 2000m tandem
• Football
  • 14 and 16 June – for the only time in its history, theVFL plays matches for premiership points in country centres. Three other games are the first played interstate for premiership points since1904 but flooding rains affect attendances and cause one game to be postponed and played under lights.
  • Victorian Football League premiership:Geelong defeatedCollingwood 86-40
  • South Australian National Football League premiership: won byNorth Adelaide
• Rugby
  • Bledisloe Cup: retained by theAll Blacks
  • Brisbane Rugby League premiership:Wests defeatedBrothers 15-14
  • New South Wales Rugby League premiership:Wests defeatedSouth Sydney 22-12
• Golf
  • Australian Open: won byNorman Von Nida
  • Australian PGA Championship: won byWilliam C Holder
• Horse racing
  • Peshawar wins theCaulfield Cup
  • Hydrogen wins theCox Plate
  • Dalray wins theMelbourne Cup
• Motor racing
  • TheAustralian Grand Prix was held atBathurst and won byDoug Whiteford driving aTalbot-Lago
• Swimming
  • Olympics:John Davies wins the gold medal in the Men's 200m breaststroke
• Tennis
  • Australian Open men's singles:Ken McGregor defeatsFrank Sedgman 7-5 12-10 2–6 6-2
  • Australian Open women's singles:Thelma Coyne Long defeatsHelen Angwin 6-2 6-3
  • Davis Cup:Australia defeats theUnited States 4–1 in the1952 Davis Cup final
  • Wimbledon:Ken McGregor andFrank Sedgman win theMen's Doubles
  • Wimbledon:Frank Sedgman wins theMen's Singles
• Yachting
  • Nocturne takes line honours andIngrid wins on handicap in theSydney to Hobart Yacht Race

• 2 January –Graeme Strachan (died 2001), singer
• 20 January –Patrick Smith (died 2023), sports journalist^[5]
• 6 February –Ric Charlesworth, sportsman
• 1 March –Leigh Matthews, Australian Rules football player and coach
• 6 March –Ian Cooke, field hockey player
• 2 May –Campbell McComas (died 2005), impersonator and broadcaster
• 6 June –Ross Stretton (died 2005), ballet dancer
• 11 June –Tony Barnett, basketball player
• 15 June –Clare Martin, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
• 25 June –Peter Farmer, hammer thrower
• 28 June –Ken Gillespie, Vice Chief of the Defence Force (2005–2008), Chief of Army (2008–2011)
• 28 July –Glenn A. Baker, music historian
• 7 October –Graham Yallop, cricketer
• 2 September –Pru Goward, politician
• 4 September –Tom Maher, basketball coach
• 12 October –Trevor Chappell, cricketer
• 22 October –John Howard (Australian actor), stage and screenactor
• 18 November –Peter Beattie, Premier of Queensland
• 18 December –Frank Holden, entertainer
• 19 December –Andrew Fraser, politician
• (Unknown Date) –Bethany Lee, actress

• 28 March–Rose Hanigan, Australian Sister of Mercy, hospital founder and administrator (b.1864)^[6]
• 12 June –Sir Harry Lawson, 27thPremier of Victoria (b.1875)
• 24 June –Sir George Pearce, Western Australian politician (b.1870)
• 22 July –James Vinton Smith, Victorian politician (b.1897)
• 27 July –Roland Pope, cricketer, ophthalmologist and philanthropist (b.1864)
• 14 September –Sir John McPhee, 27thPremier of Tasmania (b.1878)
• 4 October –Sir Keith Murdoch, journalist, businessman and news proprietor (b.1885)
• 12 October –Madge Connor, police officer (born inIreland) (b.1874)
• 28 October –Billy Hughes, 7thPrime Minister of Australia (born in theUnited Kingdom) (b.1862)
• 30 November –Elizabeth Kenny, nurse (b.1880)
• 14 December –Colin William Wright, cattle breeder, grazier, local government councillor and local government head (b.1867)^[7]

• List of Australian films of the 1950s

• 1952 in Australia
• 1952 by country
• Years of the 20th century in Australia

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Australian English from July 2011
• All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
• Use dmy dates from February 2020
• Articles needing additional references from October 2022
• All articles needing additional references