1939 in Australia

Incumbents

• Monarch – George VI
• Governor-General – Alexander Hore-Ruvthen, 1st Baron Gowrie
• Prime Minister – Joseph Lyons, then Sir Earle Page, then Robert Menzies
• Chief Justice – Sir John Latham

  State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Bertram Stevens then Alexander Mair
• Premier of Queensland – William Forgan Smith
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford IV
• Premier of Tasmania – Albert Ogilvie, then Edmund Dwyer-Gray, then 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 Winston Dugan, then Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ernest Clark
• Governor of Victoria – William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield, then Sir Winston Dugan
• Governor of Western Australia – none appointed

  Events

• 13 January – The bushfires of Black Friday kill 70 people in Victoria.
• 27 March – The first CAC Wirraway training aircraft, A20-3, takes to the air at Fishermans Bend, Victoria.
• 7 April – Prime Minister Joseph Lyons dies of a sudden heart attack, the first Prime Minister to die in office. Sir Earle Page, the leader of the Country Party is appointed caretaker Prime Minister until the United Australia Party can elect a new leader.
• 26 April – Robert Menzies is elected leader of the United Australia Party, and is sworn in as Prime Minister.
• 10 June – Premier of Tasmania Albert Ogilvie dies in office. Edmund Dwyer-Gray acts as Premier until he is officially elected as leader of the Labor Party in Tasmania on 6 July.
• 3 September – World War II begins. Australia declares war on Germany, following the United Kingdom and British Dominions' declaration of same, after the German invasion of Poland.
• 15 September – Robert Menzies announces a new War Cabinet.
• 1 December – Australia agrees to take 15,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Europe, following the German occupation of Austria and Czechoslovakia.
• 18 December – Edmund Dwyer-Gray steps aside as Premier of Tasmania, by prior arrangement with Robert Cosgrove to assume the premiership.

  Arts and literature

• Max Meldrum wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of The Hon G J Bell, Speaker of the House of Representatives

  Sport

• Rivette wins the Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup
• Mosaic wins the Cox Plate
• South Australia wins the Sheffield Shield
• The Balmain club wins the 1939 NSWRFL premiership

  Births

• 6 January – Murray Rose, swimmer
• 9 January – Rik Kemp, cartoonist
• 29 January – Germaine Greer, academic and feminist
• 13 February – Andrew Peacock, politician
• 13 February – Allan Pearson, Australian farmer and rural businessmen
• 25 February – Gerald Murnane, writer
• 5 March – Tony Rundle, Premier of Tasmania
• 4 April – Alex George, botanist
• 7 April – Brett Whiteley, artist
• 12 April – Johnny Raper, rugby league footballer
• 20 April – Elspeth Ballantyne, actress
• 10 May – Peter Wilenski, public servant
• 12 May – Reg Gasnier, rugby league footballer
• 24 May – Alan Hayes, Australian rules footballer
• 5 June – Ron Baensch, racing cyclist
• 21 June
• * Marshall Younger, Australian rules footballer
• * Ken Catchpole, rugby union footballer
• 25 June
• * David Ramage, rower
• * Brian Lowe, Australian rules footballer
• 10 July – Garry Young, Australian rules footballer
• 12 July
• *Phillip Adams, broadcaster and writer
• *Helen Frith, athlete
• 13 July – John Sinclair, conservationist
• 21 July – Barbara Scott, politician
• 24 July –
• *John Anderson, sailor
• *Thomas Anderson, sailor
• 26 July – John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia
• 5 September – George Lazenby, actor
• 7 October – Clive James, writer and social commentator
• 8 October – Paul Hogan, comedian and actor
• 9 October – John Pilger, journalist and filmmaker
• 26 October – Barry Cunningham, politician
• 9 November – Philip Cummins, judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria
• 11 November – Lloyd McDermott, barrister and rugby union player
• 25 November – Ian Smith, politician
• 22 December – Silvia Smith, politician
• 26 December – Fred Schepisi, film director

  Deaths

• 14 February – James Webb, NSW politician
• 9 March – Edwin Greenslade Murphy, journalist and poet
• 7 April – Joseph Lyons, Prime Minister of Australia and Premier of Tasmania
• 25 April – Sir Charles Powers, High Court judge
• 25 April – Francis Clarke, politician
• 10 June – Albert Ogilvie, Premier of Tasmania
• 6 August – James MacCallum Smith, WA politician
• 11 August – Margaret Windeyer, Australian librarian and feminist
• 30 August – Edward Sydney Simpson, mineralogist and geochemist
• 3 October – Henry Augustus Ellis, physician and federalist
• 22 October – Sir John Langdon Bonython, politician and journalist
• 15 November – William Hill, politician
• 6 December – Sir Ernest Scott, historian