See also: 1940 in Australia, other events of 1941, 1942 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 (until 28 August), then Arthur Fadden (until 7 October), then John Curtin

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales Alexander Mair (until 16 May), then William McKell
• Premier of Queensland William Forgan Smith
• Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford
• Premier of Tasmania Robert Cosgrove
• Premier of Victoria Albert Dunstan
• Premier of Western Australia John Willcock

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

• 25 March The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) is formed.
• 31 March The Siege of Tobruk begins.
• 7 April The Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) is formed.
• 10 May A general election is held in New South Wales. The ALP led by William McKell defeats the incumbent United Australia Party and Premier Alexander Mair.
• 12 May The Daily Mirror newspaper is first published in Sydney.
• 30 June HMAS Waterhen sinks off Libya the first Australian naval vessel lost in the war.
• 3 October Prime Minister Arthur Fadden resigns following the rejection of his budget by two independent MPs.
• 7 October John Curtin is sworn in as Prime Minister after Arthur Fadden's government loses majority support in the House of Representatives.
• 11 November The Australian War Memorial is opened in Canberra.
• 19 November The light cruiser HMAS Sydney engages the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran in an hour-long battle off the coast of Western Australia. Both ships are sunk, the Sydney going down with 645 crew.
• 9 December Australia declares war on Japan, and the Axis powers of Finland, Hungary and Romania.
• 13 December A general election is held in Tasmania. The Labor Party led by Robert Cosgrove is returned to power.

Arts and literature

• William Dargie wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Sir James Elder, KBE
• The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark is published.

Sport

• 27 September Melbourne wins the 45th VFL Premiership, defeating Essendon 19.13 (127) to 13.20 (98).
• 4 November Skipton wins the Melbourne Cup.

• Velocity wins the Caulfield Cup
• Beau Vite wins the Cox Plate
• The Sheffield Shield is not contested due to war

Births

• 29 January Maggie Kirkpatrick, actress
• 2 February John Cornell, actor and producer
• 4 February Russell Cooper, Premier of Queensland (1989)
• 11 March Kim Santow, NSW Supreme Court judge
• 29 March Michael Thornhill, film producer, screenwriter and film director
• 31 March Faith Leech, swimmer
• 10 April Wendy Fatin, politician
• 17 April Bill Landeryou, politician
• 24 April John Williams, classical guitarist
• 11 May Ian Redpath, cricketer
• 18 May Lobby Loyde, rock music guitarist (died 2007)
• 31 May Julian Croft, poet
• 4 June Kenneth G. Ross, playwright
• 24 June Graham McKenzie, cricketer
• 28 June Harry Quick, politician
• 31 July Heather McKay, squash player
• 1 September Graeme Langlands, rugby league footballer and coach of the 1960s and 1970s
• 22 September Murray Bail, writer
• 27 September Gay Kayler, country music singer
• 3 October John Elliott, businessman
• 14 October David Kemp, politician
• 16 October Genevieve Lloyd, philosopher and feminist
• 25 October Helen Reddy, singer
• 28 October Fred Chaney, WA politician
• 7 November Willi Sawall, race walker
• 16 November Max Gillies, actor
• 13 December Dixie Willis, middle distance runner

Deaths

• 18 March Harry Boan (born 1860), founder of Boans department store
• 1 April John Chamberlain (born 1884), cricketer
• 5 April Banjo Paterson (born 1864), bush poet, author and journalist
• 12 April James Boyd (born 1867), politician
• 15 April Emily Pelloe (born 1878), botanical illustrator
• 4 May Chris McKivat (born 1879), rugby union and league player
• 8 May Alexander Hay (born 1865), politician
• 15 June John Lynch (born 1862), politician
• 24 June Francis Anderson (born 1858), philosopher
• 1 July Francis Birtles (born 1881), adventurer
• 7 July Randolph Bedford (born 1868), writer and Queensland politician
• 27 July James Ronald (born 1861), politician
• 31 July Ron Barassi, Sr. (born 1913), Australian rules footballer
• 1 August James Drake (born 1850), member of the first federal ministry
• 23 August Jack O'Connor (born 1875), cricketer
• 30 August Gregan McMahon (born 1874), actor and theatrical producer
• 31 August Thomas Bavin (born 1874), Premier of New South Wales (1927 1930)
• 1 September Millice Culpin (born 1846), politician
• 5 September George Marchant (born 1857), soft drink manufacturer
• 1 October John Longstaff (born 1861), artist
• 18 November Chris Watson (born 1867), Prime Minister of Australia (1904)
• 19 November Joseph Burnett (born 1899), captain of HMAS Sydney