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1968

By 1968, Australia's population had reached 12 million.
In 1968 Peakhurst High School saw its first senior students in 5th Form, with a new senior uniform.

 

Our leaders in 1968

  • Prime Minister – John McEwen (acting, until 10 January), John Gorton (from 10 January)

  • Governor General – The Lord Casey

  • Premier of New South Wales – Robert Askin

  • Premier of South Australia – Don Dunstan (until 17 April), then Steele Hall

  • Premier of Queensland – Frank Nicklin (until 17 January), then Jack Pizzey (until 31 July), then Gordon Chalk (until 8 July), then Joh Bjelke-Petersen

  • Premier of Tasmania – Eric Reece

  • Premier of Western Australia – David Brand

  • Premier of Victoria – Henry Bolte

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Major Events in 1968

January

  • World Champion Boxer, Lionel Rose, is named Australian of the Year

  • Members of English rock groups The Who and Small Faces are escorted by police from a plane at Melbourne's Essendon Airport, after the pilot diverts the flight citing the bands' behaviour

February

  • Boxer Lionel Rose beats Japan's Fighting Harada in Tokyo to become world bantamweight champion

March

  • Vietnam War – My Lai Massacre: American troops kill scores of civilians. The story will first become public in November 1969 and will help undermine public support for the U.S. efforts in Vietnam

April

  • American evangelist Billy Graham begins a tour of Australia

  • Fluoridation of Sydney's water supply begins

May

  • Three Australian journalists are killed by the Viet Cong in Saigon

June

  • Journalist Simon Townsend, future host of Simon Townsend's Wonder World, is granted exemption from military service after lodging a fifth appeal against his imprisonment and court martial for conscientious objection

  • British comedian Tony Hancock commits suicide in his Sydney hotel room

July

  • Fifty students are arrested during an anti-Vietnam War protest in Martin Place, Sydney

  • Forty five people are arrested during an anti-war protest outside the U.S. consulate in St Kilda Road, Melbourne

  • The Premier of Queensland, Jack Pizzey, dies in office

August

  • The standard gauge rail line between Perth and Kalgoorlie is completed

  • The National Gallery of Victoria is opened in Melbourne

September

  • The South Sydney Rabbitohs defeated Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the NSWRL Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

October

  • The Postmaster-General's Department decreases the number of mail deliveries per day from two to one

  • Australia participates in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, coming ninth in the medal tally with 5 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze medals (17 in total).

November

  • The airline Ansett-ANA is renamed Ansett

December

  • A referendum is held in Tasmania to allow the granting of Australia's first casino license to the Wrest Point Hotel. The referendum is passed.

 

 

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