See also: 1939 in Australia, other events of 1940, 1941 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.

Incumbents

• Monarch King George VI
• Governor-General Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie
• Prime Minister Robert Menzies

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 takes part in the sinking of the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni
• 1 August The first of sixty Bathurst class corvettes, HMAS Bathurst, 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 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.
• 26 October Double-decker buses replace the last cable trams in Melbourne.

Science and technology

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.

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

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
• 27 February Bill Hunter, actor
• 1 March Robin Gray, Premier of Tasmania (1982 1989)
• 8 March Don Barker, actor
• 19 March Andrew Taylor, poet
• 20 March Paul Neville, politician
• 12 April Jack Hibberd, playwright
• 16 April Marion Halligan, writer
• 26 April Ian Geoghegan, race car driver (died 2003)
• 15 June Ken Fletcher, tennis player (died 2006)
• 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
• 3 October Diana Warnock, radio broadcaster and politician
• 4 October Ian Kiernan, environmentalist, 1994 Australian of the Year
• 5 October Bob Cowper, cricketer
• 15 October Peter C. Doherty, medical researcher, Nobel Prize recipient
• 19 October Ian Causley, politician
• 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)

Deaths

• 3 February John Henry Michell, mathematician
• 8 March Michael Kelly (born 1850), Catholic Archbishop of Sydney (1911 1940)
• 16 April Herbert James Carter (born 1858), entomologist
• 22 June Monty Noble (born 1873), cricketer
• 23 June Hugh Denis Macrossan (born 1881), Queensland politician and judge
• 6 July Michael O'Connor (born 1865), WA politician
• 22 July Sir George Fuller (born 1861), Premier of New South Wales (1921)
• 30 July Arthur Merric Boyd (born 1862), painter
• 30 July Archibald Watson (born 1849), surgeon and professor of anatomy
• 13 August Geoffrey Street (born 1894), politician
• 13 August Henry Gullett (born 1878), politician
• 13 August James Fairbairn (born 1897), politician
• 13 August Sir Brudenell White (born 1876), Chief of the General Staff
• 9 September Percy Abbott (born 1869), politician
• 11 September Issy Smith (born 1890), soldier and Victoria Cross recipient
• 22 September Robert Blackwood
• 2 October Albert Green, politician
• 14 October Helen de Guerry Simpson (born 1897), novelist
• 25 October Thomas Waddell (born 1854), Premier of New South Wales (1904)
• 31 October Frank Anstey (born 1865), politician
• 2 November Colin Rankin (born 1869), soldier, politician, cane farmer and company director
• 3 November James Fowler, politician
• 23 November Stanley Argyle (born 1867), Premier of Victoria (1932 1935)