Celebrating Our Heroes
celebrating our heroes
Famous Australian February Birthdays
February 1 to 15 February 16 to 29
Were you or someone you know born in February? You'll find below some notable Australian politicians, footballers, actors, musicians, athletes and even our Man From Snowy River, Banjo Paterson, that have February birthdays.
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| Birth | Death | Born in February | A little bit about them . . . |
| 16 Feb 1929 | -2010 | Peter Porter | Australian poet (Possible Worlds, Max Is Missing, Better Than God, Automatic Oracle, Dragons in Their Pleasant Places), 2002 Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, 1990 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal |
| 16 Feb 1967 | Alyssa Jane Cook | Australian actress (E Street, Above the Law, Home and Away, Beauty and the Beast), Alyssa's daughter Georgia-May Davis is a member of Young Talent Time | |
| 16 Feb 1973 | Cathy Freeman Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman |
Australian athlete, at age 16 became first Aboriginal to win a Gold Medal at the Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games medallist (silver 1996, gold 2000), Commonwealth Games medallist (gold 1990, silver and 2 gold 1994, gold 2002), World Championships (gold 1999, gold 1992, bronze 1995), dramatically lit the Olympic Flame at Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, Australian of the Year 1998, tattooed mid-way between her shoulder and elbow on the side facing spectators when she runs it says "Cos I'm Free" | |
| 17 Feb 1848 | -1920 | Louisa Lawson | Australian suffragist, writer (An Australian Song, The Digger's Daughter, A Woman's Love), published monthly The Dawn was Australia's first journal produced solely by women (1888-1905), Louisa is considered the Mother of Suffrage in NSW when in 1902 women were finally given the vote (unfortunately did not include Indigenous Australians), mother of famed Aussie poet Henry Lawson |
| 17 Feb 1864 | -1941 | Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton Paterson |
Australian poet (Waltzing Matilda, The Man From Snowy River, Clancy of the Overflow, A Dream of the Melbourne Cup, his image appears on the $10 note and in 1981 a postal stamp, more information on our Banjo Paterson page plus over 30 poems and stories |
| 17 Feb 1909 | -1979 | Marjorie Lawrence | Australian soprano who performed all over the world (Paris, Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Mexico), her autobiography was made into the 1955 film Interrupted Melody, she was stricken with polio in 1941 with paralysis in both legs undertook Sister Kenny's treatment of muscle stimulation, during WWII sitting in a chair she performed charity concerts to entertain the troops in Australia, was awarded the cross of the Legion d'honneur for her work in France |
| 17 Feb 1934 | Barry Humphries John Barry Humphries |
Australian comedian, TV host, best known for his delightful comedic alter ego Dame Edna Everage (Dame Edna Experience, Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch, Dame Edna The Royal Tour), Tony Award 2000, Barry collects books and reportedly has over 20,000 in his in his London house, he was the voice of Bruce the Shark in the 2003 film Finding Nemo | |
| 17 Feb 1962 | -1999 | David McComb | Australian singer, songwriter of the band The Triffids (Bury Me Deep in Love, Raining Pleasure, Falling Over You), APRA named his 1986 song Wild Open Road as one of the 30 greatest Australian songs of all time, author (Beautiful Waste: Poems by David McComb) |
| 18 Feb 1883 | -1956 | Jessie Litchfield Jessie Sinclair Phillips |
Australian author and Northern Territory pioneer, mother of seven she published Far North Memories (1930) about her experiences, was the Darwin press representative for a variety of papers including Reuters, first Justice of the Peace in the Northern Territory (1955), her ashes were scattered over Darwin |
| 18 Feb 1967 | Andrew Daddo | Australian author (Flushed, Good Night Me, Youse Two, It's All Good), TV personality (Worlds Greatest Commercials, The Great Outdoors, The One), did the voice-over for The Apprentice Australia, brother of Cameron and Lochie Daddo (actors, TV personality) | |
| 18 Feb 1970 | Tammy McIntosh | Australian actress (All Saints, Police Rescue, Flying Doctors, Stingers, Farscape, Sea Patrol) | |
| 19 Feb 1946 | Peter Hudson | Australian rules footballer, kicked 1,874 goals in senior matches (1963-1981), averaged over 7 goals a game over his entire career, All Australian 1966 & 1969, Australian Football Hall of Fame 1996 | |
| 19 Feb 1971 | Lisa McCune | Australian actress (Blue Heelers, Sea Patrol), Logie Award 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 | |
| 20 Feb 1934 | Neil Kerley Donald Neil Kerley |
Australian football player and coach, only South Australian National Football League coach to win premierships at four clubs over three decades, Australian Football Hall of Fame 1997 | |
| 21 Feb 1937 | Ronald William Clarke | Australian athlete, Mayor of Gold Coast Queensland (2004), multiple record-breaking distance runner, during a 44-day European tour broke 12 world records (1965), bronze medal 1964 Olympics, Commonwealth Games 2 silver medals in 1966, 1 silver medal 1962 and 1970, at age 19 was chosen to light the Olympic Flame during Opening Ceremony 1956 Melbourne Olympics, at age 69 was chosen to be one of the four final runners who carried the Queen's Baton at Opening Ceremony Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games | |
| 22 Feb 1962 | -2006 | Steve Irwin Stephen Robert Irwin |
Australian naturalist, wildlife expert and documentary host (The Crocodile Hunter), zoo owner
(Australia Zoo), originally his parent's zoo was called Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park but was renamed Australia
Zoo in 1992, first episode of The Crocodile Hunter was actually film of Steve and Terri's honeymoon spent
trapping crocodiles together, Steve died 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while
filming an underwater documentary (Ocean's Deadliest), Steve was survived by his wife Terri Raines Irwin and
their children Bindi Sue Irwin (born 24 July 1998) and Robert Clarence Irwin (born 1 December 2003), two newly
discovered animals have been named after Steve – in 1997 Irwin's turtle (Elseya irwini) and the rare species
of Queensland air-breathing land snail (Crikey steveirwini) in 2009 .. editor – yes, it's true |
| 23 Feb 1890 | -1925 | Lottie Lyell Charlotte Edith Cox |
Australian actress, screenwriter, filmmaker, known as Australia's first film star (Captain Midnight, The Bush King, The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole, 'Neath Austral Skies, Australia Calls, The Sentimental Bloke, Ginger Mick), her acting and writing spanned the early years of Australian silent film 1911 to 1925 |
| 23 Feb 1891 | -1978 | Harold Horder | Australian rugby league player, regarded as one of the greatest winger to play the game, named one of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908-2007), Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame 2004 |
| 23 Feb 1908 | -1988 | William McMahon | 20th Prime Minister of Australia (1971-72), Australian Liberal Party, longest serving Prime Minister to have never won an election, longest continuously serving government minister in Australian history (21.5 years) |
| 24 Feb 1942 | David K Williamson | Australian playwright (also screenplays and teleplays) (Removalists, Stork, Gallipoli, Duet for Four, Phar Lap, Year of Living Dangerously), Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award 1977, 1981, 1987, 2009, Sydney Theatre Company box office revenue from his plays has grown to well over a million dollars each year (1998-2005), he is one of Australia's best-known playwrights | |
| 24 Feb 1942 | Colin Bond | Australian race car driver, 1st place Australian Rally Championship 1971, 1972, and 1974, V8 Supercar Hall of Fame 2002 | |
| 24 Feb 1964 | Russell Ingall | Australian race car driver, British Formula Ford Champion 1993, won 1995 and 1997 Bathurst 1000, won V8 Supercar Championship Series 2005 | |
| 24 Feb 1976 | Bradley McGee | Australian racing cyclist, Olympics (gold and silver 2004, bronze 2000, 2 bronze 1996), Commonwealth Games (2 gold 1994, 2 gold 1998, gold 2002) | |
| 24 Feb 1977 | Jason Akermanis | Australian rules footballer, All-Australian team 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, Brownlow Medal 2001, to communicate with his wife Megan's hearing-impaired parents he learned Auslan (sign language of the Australian deaf community) | |
| 24 Feb 1981 | Lleyton Glynn Hewitt | Australian tennis player, won 2000 US Open men's doubles, 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon men's singles, Tennis Masters Cup 2001, 2002, member of Australian Davis Cup team that won the Davis Cup in 1999 and 2003, Young Australian of the Year 2003 | |
| 25 Feb 1845 | -1918 | George Houstoun Reid | 4th Prime Minister of Australia (1904-05), Australian Free Trade Party, born in Scotland and migrated to Australia when he was 7, appointed in 1910 as Australia's first High Commissioner in London |
| 25 Feb 1938 | Herb Elliott Herbert James Elliott |
Australian athlete, environmentalist, humanitarian, gold medal 1960 Olympics, 2 gold medals 1958 Commonwealth Games, one of the bearers of the Olympic Torch at Opening Ceremony 2000 Olympics, he is one of Australia's National Living Treasures | |
| 25 Feb 1963 | Doris Younane | Australian actress (McLeod's Daughters, Heartbreak High, Mortgage, Death in Brunswick, Heartbreak Kid) | |
| 25 Feb 1969 | Kerry Dienelt | Australian softball catcher, bronze medal 1996 and 2000 Olympics, member Australian national team, member NCAA championship squad 1988-1990 | |
| 25 Feb 1970 | Libby Tanner | Australian actress (Pacific Drive, All Saints, fireflies, HeadLand, Scorched, Rescue Special Ops) | |
| 25 Feb 1979 | David Hoflin | Swedish-Australian actor (Ocean Girl, Neighbours, Head Start, Alcatraz) | |
| 26 Feb 1945 | -2006 | Peter Geoffrey Brock | Australian motor racing driver, automotive designer and manufacturing consultant,
motorsports champion, V8 Supercar Hall of Fame 2001, won
1972 Bathurst 500,
Bathurst 1000 – 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980,
1982, 1983, 1984, 1987 |
| 26 Feb 1986 | Teresa Palmer | Australian actress (December Boys, Bedtime Stories, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Take Me Home Tonight) | |
| 27 Feb 1929 | -2008 | Jack Gibson | Australian rugby league footballer and coach, best remembered for his introduction into the sport new coaching innovations and training methods, reporters liked him for his notable quotes such as "The day that God invented Rugby League he didn't do anything else but sit around and feel good", so well respected that when he died a minute's silence was held for him at all rugby league matches that weekend |
| 27 Feb 1936 | Ronald Dale Barassi | Australian Rules footballer and coach, one of the most important figures in the history of Australian football, coached 515 games and 4 premierships, All Australian 1956, 1958, 1961, first player inaugurated into Australian Football Hall of Fame as a Legend (2006) | |
| 27 Feb 1940 | -2011 | Bill Hunter William John Hunter |
Australian actor (Ned Kelly, Gallipoli, Muriel's Wedding, On the Beach, Kangaroo Jack, Australia, Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Strictly Ballroom), AFI Award 1978, Bill's portrait by artist Jason Benjamin won the Packing Room Prize at the Archibald 2005 |
| 27 Feb 1973 | Peter Andre | British-Australian musician (Mysterious Girl, Flava, Behind Closed Doors, Defender, Perfect Night), author (My World in Pictures and Words), released woman's fragrance (Unconditional, Mysterious Girl) | |
| 27 Feb 1977 | James Wan | Malaysian-Australian producer, screenwriter, film director (Saw, Dead Silence, Death Sentence, Insidious) | |
| 28 Feb 1961 | Mark William Latham | Australian politician and author (Latham Diaries, Loner An Inside Labor Tragedy, A Conga Line of Suckholes), Member for Werriwa NSW (ALP) 1994-2005, Leader of the Australian Labor Party 2003-5 | |
| 29 Feb 1852 | -1936 | Frank Gavan Duffy | Irish-Australian judge, fourth Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia (1913-1935), founded Australian Law Times, appointed a Queen's Council (1900), his son Charles Leonard Gavan Duffy became a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Frank's half-brother George Gavan Duffy (1882-1951) was a Judge of the High Court in Ireland |
| 29 Feb 1956 | Jono Coleman Jonathan Harry Coleman |
British-Australian comedian, TV and radio personality (Simon Townsend's Wonder World, Off the Record, Jono & Dano Show, Sunrise, Mornings with Kerri-Anne) voice-overs and narrations for ads (Tooheys, Fosters, Qantas, Air New Zealand, BBC TV), voice of popular Aussie 70s & 80s music radio program My Generation | |
| 29 Feb 1964 | Guy Leech | Australian Ironman surf lifesaving champion, won seven Uncle Toby's Super Series races and twice won The Coolangatta Gold, World Ironman Championships in Vancouver Canada 1986, won Australia's Celebrity Survivor Vanuatu 2006 | |
| 29 Feb 1968 | Frank Woodley Frank Wood |
Australian comedian (Lano and Woodley), regular guest appearances on a variety of Australian shows (Spicks and Specs, Thank God You're Here, Good News Week), co-host Aussie Gold on the Comedy Channel |
