Famous Australians Born in Jnuary

Birth

Death

A little Information about them

Michael Witt

01-01-1984

Australian footballer (NRL, Rugby Union, Super League), male centrefold Cleo magazine Nov 2006, featured in the 2009 Gods of Football calendar for the McGrath Foundation charity fund raiser, and appeared in the 2006 calendar League of Their Own to raise money for the Koori Kids foundation

Nicolle Dickson

01-01-1969

Australian actress (Home and Away, Australian Celebrity Survivor 2006), Logie Award 1989

Judy Stone

01-01-1942

Australian pop singer (Tears from Now, Born a Woman, Mare Mare Mare, Hasta Manana, Silver Wings and Golden Rings), regular TV appearances on Brian Henderson’s Bandstand, the Bee Gees sung backup on her 1963 single It Takes a Lot (to Make Me Cry)

Brode Dalle, Bree Joanna Robinson

01-01-1979

Australian singer, songwriter, guitarist, lead singer of punk rock bands The Distillers and Spinnerette

Peter Duncan

01-01-1945

Australian politician, South Australia (1984-96), served in both state and national parliament and as a minister in both, member Australian Labor Party

Caroline Mary James

01-01-1938

Australian television and radio journalist (Australian Story, Four Corners, Search for Meaning), first female reporter for This Day Tonight, Logie Award 1973, Order of Australia (OA) 1988, Australian Living Treasure 1997, Ambassador for Reconciliation in 1998

Shirley Strachan Graeme Strachan

02-01-1952

2001

Australian rock singer (Every Little Bit Hurts, Tracks of My Tears, Nothing But the Best), lead singer of Australian rock group Skyhooks, nicknamed “Shirley” by his surfer friends for his long, very curly Shirley Temple style hair, hosted children’s TV series Shirl’s Neighbourhood, died while piloting a helicopter

Lawrence Wackett

02-01-1896

1982

Australian aircraft pioneer and engineer, regarded as “father of the Australian aircraft industry“, known for his mechanical inventions he modified plane armament to help save lives during WWI, designed the first flying boat wholly designed and constructed in Australia (1925), Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Force Cross

Chris Cheney

02-01-1975

Australian rock musician, record producer, studio owner, lead vocalist of the band The Living End (All Torn Down, Second Solution, Pictures in the Mirror), APRA Award for 2009 Song of the Year White Noise

Ed Casey

02-01-1933

2006

Australian politician, leader of Australian Labor Party in Queensland (1978-82), member for Mackay (1969-95)

Charles ‘Bud’    Tingwell

03-01-1923

2009

Australian film, TV and radio actor, appearing in over 100 films (Smithy, Desert Rats, King of the Coral Sea, Miss Marple series, Homicide, Breaker Morant, Puberty Blues, The Castle, The Dish, Changi), Member Order of Australia 1999, Logie Hall of Fame 1994

Mel Gibson, Mel Colm-cille Gerard    Gibson

03-01-1956

Irish-American-Australian actor (Mad Max, Gallipoli, Tim, Year of Living Dangerously, Braveheart, Pocahontas, Mrs Soffel, Tequila Sunrise, Lethal Weapon, Bird on a Wire, Air America, Hamlet, Forever Young,  Maverick, Ransom, Conspiracy Theory, The Bounty, Payback,  The Patriot, What Women Want, We Were Soldiers, Signs, Edge of Darkness), 1995 Oscar (Braveheart- best Picture, Best Director), AFI Award (Australian Film Institute) for Best Actor (Tim in 1979, Gallipoli in 1981)

Blanche d’Alpuget

03-01-1944

Australian biographer (Hawke The Prime Minister), novelist (Turtle Beach was made into a feature film in 1989), 2nd wife of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke

Henry Handel Richardson, Ethel Richardson

03-01-1870

1946

Australia author, novelist (The Coat, The Getting of Wisdom, Fortunes of Richard Mahony), her home Lake View House at Chiltern Victoria is owned by the National Trust and open to the public

William Deane

04-01-1931

Australian judge and 22nd Governor-General of Australia (1996-2001), Deane was in the majority of the court  who recognised native title in the 1992 landmark Mabo case, Sydney Peace Prize 2001, knighted in 1982

William John Wills

05-01-1834

1861

English-Australian surveyor, explorer, worked as a digger in the gold fields, as a shepherd at the Ram Station, member of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition which was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, Burke and Wills both died before completing the expedition

Athol Guy

05-01-1940

Australian singer, member of Australian group The Seekers, Liberal member for Gisborne in Victorian Legislative Assembly (1971-79)

Harold Charles Gatty

05-01-1903

Australian inventor, aviator, navigator, in 1931 as navigator with pilot Wiley Post set the record for aerial circumnavigation of the world flying 24,903 km (15,747 mi) in 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes, prepared navigation charts for Lindburgh’s 1930 record-setting cross-country flight, Gatty is credited with inventing an air sextant (artificial horizon), an aerochronometer, and Gatty drift sight (ground speed indicator), received the Distinguished Flying Cross from US President Hoover in 1932, offered US citizenship but turned it down

Murray Rose

06-01-1939

2012

Australian swimmer, actor (Ride the Wild Surf, Ice Station Zebra), sports commentator, Rose set records in the 400 metre, 800 metre and 1500 metre men’s freestyle swimming, Olympic medallist at 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics (3 gold) and 1960 Rome Summer Olympics (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

Hugh Mahon

06-01-1857

1931

Irish-Australian journalist and politician, attacked British policy towards Ireland at an open-air meeting in 1920 in Melbourne, this resulted in House of Representatives passing a resolution that Mahon had made “seditious and disloyal utterances at a public meeting” and expelled him from the Federal Parliament – in 1987 the Parliamentary Privileges Act was passed preventing the Parliament from ever expelling a member again 

David Fleay

06-01-1907

1993

Australian naturalist, pioneered the captive breeding of endangered species, first captive breeding of the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) (1943), as well as many others, 2 animals bear his name: Fleay’s Barred Frog (Mixophyes fleayi) and Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquala audax fleayii)

Ben Cropp

07-01-1936

Australian documentary film-maker (150 wildlife documentaries), conservationist (former shark hunter)

Wilmot Hudson Fysh

07-01-1895

1974

Australian aviator, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his services to aerial warfare, arrived in Gallipoli 2 weeks after initial Anzacs arrived in 1915,  in Australia in 1919 driving a Model T Ford his party was the first to travel across the Gulf of Carpentaria with a car taking 51 days to go from Longreach to Katherine, on 16 November 1920 at the Brisbane’s Gresham Hotel Fysh with 4 others started Australian airline Qantas (Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services) with an initial capital of ŁA6,700 (Ł5,360 sterlings), Fysh was knighted in 1953

Steve Jacobs

08-01-1967

Australian television presenter, actor (All Together Now, Just Kidding, In Melbourne Tonight, Today)

John Curtin

08-01-1885

1945

14th Prime Minister of Australia (1941-45) Australian Labor Party, US General Douglas MacArthur said of Curtin that “the preservation of Australia from invasion will be his immemorial monument”, 6 weeks before Darwin was bombed by Japan (1942) the Melbourne Herald published Curtin’s New Year’s message which changed Australia’s relationship with the UK and partnership with the USA in the war effort making for the first time Australia’s survival our number one priority

Rachel Friend

08-01-1970

Australian actress (Neighbours, Frog Dreaming) journalist, (The Midday Show, Today Show, Sky News), Logie Award 1990

Paul Hester

08-01-1959

2005

Australian musician, drummer for the bands Split Enz, Crowded House, and Largest Living Things, TV personality (Hessie’s Shed), played “Paul the Cook” on the Aussie kids TV show The Wiggles

Adriana Xenides

09-01-1956

2010

Australian TV personality, listed in Guinness Book of Records as the longest running game show host in Australia (18 years on Wheel of Fortune), she also appeared on Beauty and the Beast and Celebrity Big Brother Australia 2002, Vanna White holds game show host record in US with over 25 years

Brian Harradine

09-01-1935

Australian politician, expelled from the ALP (Australian Labor Party) he later became a Senator for Tasmania as an independent, Harradine is the longest-serving independent federal politician in Australian history (1975-2005)

Morris Gleitzman

09-01-1953

British-Australian children’s author of over 30 books (Two Weeks with the Queen, Misery Guts, Puppy Fat, Toad Rage, Boy Overboard, Blabber Mouth, Belly Flop)

Robert Drewe

09-01-1943

Australian author (Savage Crows, Our Sunshine, Grace, The Shark Net), Our Sunshine was made into the retitled film Ned Kelly starring Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom and Naomi Watts

Burnum Burnum, Harry Penrith

10-01-1936

1997

Australian Aboriginal activist, actor (Dark Age, Ground Zero, Marsupials The Howling III), as a University of Tasmania student in the 60s he led a successful movement to reclaim remains of Truganini (last full blood Palawa she died in 1876) from the Tasmanian Museum for later cremation, he was strongly committed to the welfare of Aboriginal Australians, Jannali Reserve renamed Burnum Burnum Reserve in his honour (2005)

Albert Jacka

10-01-1893

1932

Australian soldier (1914-1920), first Australian World War I Imperial Victoria Cross recipient (highest decoration for gallantry “in the face of the enemy”), the VC was presented to him by King George V at Windsor Castle, received for his actions during the Gallipoli Campaign, Jacka’s Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, mayor of St. Kilda (1929-1931), suburb of Jacka in Canberra is named in his honour

Holly Brisley

11-01-1978

Australian actress (Home and Away, Garage Days, The Crop, Scooby-Doo, Mermaids), TV personality (Agro’s Cartoon Connection, Big Brother The Insider, The Wright Stuff), 3rd place finish on Dancing with the Stars (2005)

Betty Churcher Elizabeth Ann Cameron

11-01-1931

Australian artist and educator, director of the National Gallery of Australia (1990-97), art critic for The Australian newspaper, Dean of School of Art and Design RMIT University (1982-90), hosted several TV programs on art, author (Art of War), Betty’s son Peter Churcher was Australia’s official war artist in the War on Terrorism in 2002

Nora Heysen

11-01-1911

2003

Australian artist, first woman to win the prestigious Archibald Prize (1938) with her portrait of Madame Elink Schuuman (wife of Consul-General for the Netherlands), first Australian woman appointed as an official war artist completing over 170 works of art depicting women working during the war, some of the places her artwork can be seen is at the National Gallery of Australia, Australian War Memorial, National Library of Australia

Daryl Braithwaite

11-01-1949

Australian singer, lead vocalist of Sherbet (Can You Feel It Baby), solo artist (You’re My World, Old Sid, The Horses)

Charles Yelverton O’Connor

11-01-1843

1902

Irish-Australian engineer, responsible for construction of Fremantle Harbour and the Goldfields Pipeline carrying water 530 km (330 miles) from Perth to Kalgoorlie, the constant unfounded accusations by the press and public so depressed O’Connor that he took his own life, CY O’Connor College of TAFE in WA was named in his honour

Rod Taylor, Rodney Sturt Taylor

11-01-1930

Australian actor (Time Machine, The Birds, Long John Silver, Top Gun, World Without End, Giant, Raintree County, Do Not Disturb, A Gathering of Eagles, Glass Bottom Boat, Hotel), the voice of Pongo in One Hundred and One Dalmatians

Lewis Fiander

12-01-1938

Australian actor (Dr Phibes Rises Again, Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Not Now Comrade, Pride and Prejudice)

Annie Jones, Annika Jancso

13-01-1967

Australian actress (Neighbours, Jackaroo, Snowy, Underbelly Files ), Logie Awards (1991, 1989)

Joh Bejlke-Petersen Johannes Bjelke-Petersen

13-01-1911

2005

Australian politician, longest-serving Premier of Queensland (1968-87), one of the best known and most controversial political figures in Australia, his abolishing state inheritance taxes led to retired people moving to Queensland which caused other states to eventually abolishing it too, in the High Court case Koowarta v Bjelke-Petersen (1976-88) the courts found his policy discriminated against Aboriginal people when he blocked a proposed sale of pastoral property to them

Roy Cazaly

13-01-1893

1963

Australian rules footballer, famous for his high marks and ruck work which caused fans to yell “Up there Cazaly”, phrase was used as a battle cry by Australian forces during WWII

Paul Maurice Kelly

13-01-1955

Australian singer, songwriter, musician, bands (Dots, Coloured Girls, Messengers, Stormwater Boys), 2001 AFI (Australian Film Institute) Award, APRA Awards (1991, ’99, ’02), Kelly’s biography is How to Make Gravy, ARIA Hall of Fame 1997, and  8 ARIA Awards (1988, ’96, ’97, ’98, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006)

Frank Costigan Francis Xavier Costigan

14-01-1931

2009

Australian barrister, most famous for chairing the Costigan Royal Commission investigating union criminality allegations of tax evasion and organized crime, was brother Peter Costigan (former Lord Mayor of Melbourne)

George Foster Pearce

14-01-1870

1952

Australian politician, Western Australian Senator (1901-1938), at the time of his death was last surviving member of the Senate of the first Australian Parliament, Minister of Defence (1908-21, 1932-34), RAAF Base Pearce is named after him

J.F. Archibald, Jules Francois, Archibald, John Feltham Archibald

14-01-1856

1919

Australian journalist and publisher, was co-owner and editor of The Bulletin, founder of Australia’s most prestigious art award the Archibald Prize, at his death he bequest funds for Archibald Fountain in Sydney’s Hyde Park and funds for Archibald Prize

Paul Chubb, Paul Dunford

14-01-1949

2002

Australian actor (Rafferty’s Rules, Dirty Deeds, Hoodwink, Bodyline, Brass Monkeys, Water Rats, The Farm, Bullseye)

Mary Helen MacKillop, St Mary of the Cross      MacKillop

15-01-1842

1909

Australian nun and teacher, she co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart whose emphasis is on education for the rural poor. The church officially recognized miracles attributed to her intercession, thus resulting her canonisation at the Vatican on 17 Oct 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. She is currently the only Australian recognized by the Catholic Church as a saint.

Greg Inglis

15-01-1987

Australian rugby league footballer (Melbourne Storm, South Sydney Rabbitohs), 2008 Indigenous Team of the Century, Wally Lewis Medalist, Golden Boot Award, Clive Churchill Medalist

Miriam Beatrice Hyde

15-01-1913

2005

Australian composer (Valley of Rocks, Kelso Overture), concert pianist, poet (Bliss of Solitude) wrote almost 500 poems, author (Complete Accord)her 90th birthday was celebrated with concerts and broadcasts Australia wide

Charles Halliley Kellaway

16-01-1889

1952

Australian medical researcher, advocate, regimental medical officer in Flanders 1917, awarded a Military Cross for fortitude under fire, formed a Royal Commission into Bundaberg Tragedy (12 children died following diphtheria immunisation) vindicating the programme, most notable for his experiments and programs in Australian snake venoms.

Lorraine Daphne Bayly

16-01-1937

Australian actress (The Sullivans), presenter in children’s TV show Play School (1966-1978), Member of the Order of Australia 2001, Logie 1978

Clem Jones

16-01-1918

2007

Australian politician, longest serving Lord Mayor of Brisbane (1961-1975), Australian Labor Party, in 1960s led council to connect sewers to most of the city getting rid of outhouses and septic tanks, 1968 converted tramway routes to diesel bus, won bid for 1982 Commonwealth Games, after leaving office in 1975 appointed Chairman of Darwin Reconstruction Commission for the rebuilding of Darwin after its near destruction by Cyclone Tracy, in his will he left A$5 million to fund a campaign for the legalisation of euthanasia, other money for stem cell research and to prevent or cure macular degeneration

Brian Castro

16-01-1950

Australian author (Birds of Passage, Double-Wolf, Street to Street, After China, Bath Fugues)

Greg Page, Gregory John Page

16-01-1972

Australian musician and actor, best known as the original lead vocalist and founding member of the children’s band The Wiggles (yellow shirt Wiggles who did magic tricks), as a teenager sang with the Australian band The Cockroaches, studied Early Childhood Education at Macquarie University which inspired him to jointly create The Wiggles, owned 4th largest collection of Elvis memorabile in the world which Greg donated (est. value $1.5 million) to a new Elvis museum in Parks, NSW in 2008.

Bille Brown, William Gerard Brown

16-01-1952

2013

Australian playwright and actor (film – The Dish, The Beach, Oscar and Lucinda, At World’s End, Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Trader), (TV – Indiana Jones Chronicles, All Saints, Big Sky, Medivac, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Wild Boys, Heartbeat, Blackjack, The Kennedys), long time friend Geoffrey Rush delivered the eulogy at a public memorial service held after a private funeral

May Gibbs, Cecilia May Gibbs

17-01-1877

1969

British-Australian children’s author, illustrator, and cartoonist, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie published in 1918, bequeathed the copyright from the designs of her bush characters and stories to Northcott Disability Services (formerly The NSW Society for Crippled Children) and Spastic Centre of NSW, balance of her estate left to the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund.

Rick Kelly

17-01-1983

Australian race car driver, winner in Australian Drivers Championship 2001, Bathurst 1000 in 2003 and 2004, V8Supercar Championship Series 2006

Norman James Kaye

17-01-1927

2007

Australian actor (Turtle Beach, Oscar and Lucinda, Moulin Rouge, Lonely Hearts), 1983 AFI Award

Leigh Whannell

17-01-1977

Australian screenwriter (Saw, Dead Silence, Death Sentence, Insidious), producer, actor (Neighbours, Matrix Reloaded, Blue Heelers, Saw, Insidious)

Ita Clare Buttrose

17-01-1942

Australian journalist and businesswoman, at only 23 women’s editor of the Telegraph, founding editor of Australian magazine Cleo in 1972 featuring Jack Thompson as the first male nude centrefold, editor of Australian Women’s Weekly (1975-8), left both Packers’ publications for rival Rupert Murdoch’s offer of Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph (1981-4), author (Guide to Australian Etiquette, Motherguilt, What is Love, How Much is Enough, A Passionate Life, Early Edition: My First Forty Years), Australian of the Year 2013

Elizabeth “Liz” Ellis

17-01-1973

Australian netball player, Commonwealth Games – silver medal 2006, gold medals 1998, 2002, Netball World Championships – silver 2003, gold in 1995, 1999, 2007

Susan Mary Kiefel

17-01-1954

Australian lawyer and judge, 2007 became Justice of the High Court of Australia, in 1987 was first female Queens Counsel in Queensland

Dale Begg Smith

18-01-1985

Australian freestyle skier, Winter Olympics – gold 2006, silver 2010, youngest to win Olympic Gold in men’s freestyle mogul skiing, FIS World Ski Championships – gold & silver 2007, bronze 2005

Damien Leo Leith

18-01-1976

Irish-Australian singer-songwriter (Night of My Life, Where We Land), Australian Idol winner 2006, ARIA Award 2007, original composition Come to Me went Gold (35,000 copies sold) within 72 hours of its release and Platinum (70,000 copies shipped) in its first week, first Australian Idol winner to have 2 consecutive #1 albums.

Michael Tunn

18-01-1974

Australian radio announcer (Triple J, Three D Radio) television presenter (ABC’s The Afternoon Show)

Paul Keating

19-01-1944

24th Prime Minister of Australia (1991-96) Australian Labor Party member, in his youth he managed the rock band The Ramrods, introduced national superannuation scheme, delivered in 1992 what is considered among the greatest speeches in Australian political history – the Redfern Speech on Aboriginal reconciliation, moved to introduce mandatory detention for asylum seekers

Johnny O’Keefe, JOK, John Michael O’Keefe

19-01-1935

1978

Australian singer (Wild One, Move Baby Move, It’s Too Late), host & resident band (ABC’s live Six O’Clock Rock), 1988 posthumously inducted into ARIA Hall of Fame, in his memory a 5 metre tall monument The Wild One dedicated at Twin Towns Services Club, Coolangatta/Tweed Heads in 2004

Rex Ingamells

19-01-1913

1955

Australian poet (Camels, Days of Delight, Macquarie Harbour) and teacher, founder of the Jindyworobak movement which was a nationalistic Australian literary movement whose aim was to promote Indigenous Australian ideas and customs. The name comes from a Woiwurrung word meaning “to join” or “to annex”.

Edmund Barton

19-01-1849

1920

1st Prime Minister of Australia (1901-03) Australian Protectionist Party, resigned as Prime Minister to become a judge of Australia’s High Court

Rove McManus

21-01-1974

Australian stand-up comedian, television host (Rove LA, Rove, RMIT’s Loft Live, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?), radio host (Triple J), cameo voice of a crab in 2003 animated film Finding Nemo, won 16  Logie awards 2009, 08, 07, 06, 05, 04, 03, 02

Clive Churchill

21-01-1927

1985

Australian rugby league footballer, won five premierships with Sydney Rabbitohs player (1950, 51, 52, 54, 55) and three as coach, most capped Australian Kangaroos player, one of Australia’s most successful coaches, Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame 2002, Clive Churchill Medal named in his honour

John Batman

21-01-1801

1839

Australian grazier, businessman and explorer, the foundling settlement of Melbourne, involved in slaughter of a Tasmanian Aborigine family group, first 19th century white to acknowledge that Aborigines owned land, only native-born Australian to have founded a state capital city (Melbourne)

Abi Tucker, Abigail Anne Tucker

22-01-1973

Australian singer (Dreamworld, One December Moon), actress (Heartbreak High, Secret Life of Us, McLeod’s Daughters, Wog Boy)

Damian Walshe-Howling

22-01-1971

Australian actor (Underbelly, Blue Heelers, Wilfred, Neighbours, Secret Life of Us, Marshall Law, Stingers, All Saints, Terra Nova, Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms), in film (Ned Kelly, Macbeth, He Died with a Felafel in His Hand), AFI Award 2008

Michael Hutchence Michael Kelland John     Hutchence

22-01-1960

1997

Australian musician (Max Q, INXS) and actor (Dogs in Space, Frankenstein Unbound, Limp), founding member and lead singer of rock band INXS (1977-1997), ARIA Awards 2001, 1994, 92, 89, 87

Norman Gilroy

22-01-1896

1977

Australian clergyman, at age 19 served in the Gallipoli campaign WWI in 1915 as junior wireless officer on board the Hessen (Bulla), first Australian-born Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (1946-1971), first Roman Catholic Cardinal to receive a knighthood since the Protestant Reformation (1969)  Australian of the Year 1970

Harry George Hawker

22-01-1889

1921

Australian aviation pioneer, one month after getting his pilot license at age 23 he won the Michelin Trophy for flight endurance with a flight lasting 8 hours 23 minutes, set a 1914 altitude record of 12,900 feet, chief test pilot for Sopwith, co-founded Hawker Aircraft, he died when his plane crashed while practicing for the Aerial Derby, Australian postage stamp issued in his honour in 1978

Rebekah Elmaloglou

23-01-1974

Australian actress (Mad Max III, Mack the Knife, Limbo, Princess Kate, The Sum of Us, Neighbours, Home and Away), cousin of Judi Dench

Fred Willims, Frederick Ronald Williams

23-01-1927

1982

Australian painter and printmaker, one of Australia’s most important artists and major landscape painter, more than 70 solo exhibitions in Australian galleries, 1977 solo exhibition at Museum of Modern Art in New York, his 1965 painting Upwey Landscape sold at a 2006 Christies auction in Australia for $1,987,700, in 2007 another auction house broke their sales record with his 1965 Landscape with Water Ponds selling for $1,860,000

Jenny Kee, Jennifer Margaret Kee

24-01-1947

Australian fashion designer, her boutique Flamingo Park (closed 1995) sold her pure Aussie wool knitted jumpers, Lady Di owned one of her knitted koala jumpers, Jenny and her daughter are survivors of the Granville rail disaster 18 January 1977

Kay Cottee, Kay McLaren

25-01-1954

Australian sailor, at age 34 was the first woman to sail alone non-stop around the world in her 11metre (37 foot) yacht Blackmores First Lady, took 189 days in 1988 and set 7 world records, first solo trip round Cape Horn by an Australian woman, fastest trip around the world by a woman, also helped raise over one million dollars for Life Education Centres, her yacht Blackmores First Lady was placed on permanent display at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Australian of the Year 1988

Ros Kelly, Roslyn Joan Raw Kelly

25-01-1948

Australian politician, first Australian Federal MP to give birth while in office (1983), first female Labor minister from the House of Representatives

Russell Reading      Braddon

25-01-1921

1995

Australian author (Piddingtons, Year of the Angry Rabbit, When the Enemy Is Tired, Funnelweb, End of Hate, Hundred Days of Darien, All the Queen’s Men), in The Naked Island (published 1952 sold more than 1 million copies) he wrote about his four years as a Japanese prisoner of war (WWII) in Pudu and Changi prisons

Ethel Sybil Turner, Ethel Mary Burwell, Ethel Curlewis (married) pen name Dame Durden

25-01-1873

1958

Australian author (Seven Little Australians, Family at Misrule, Miss Bobbie, Little Larrikin, Three Little Maids, Little Mother Meg), started her writing career at 18, founded a journal for young people the Parthenon, wrote children’s columns (Illustrated Sydney News, Town and Country Journal), wrote more than 40 novels about children who were adventurous and independent

Rebecca Ritters

26-01-1984

Australian actress (Neighbours, Pig’s Breakfast, Blue Heelers, Coronation Street, All Saints)

Nic Testoni, Nicolas John Testoni

27-01-1972

Australian actor, 1996 Logie Award winning role of Travis Nash in Home and Away (1995-99), wrote film Mr Patterns

John Eccles

27-01-1903

1997

Australian neurophysiologist, 1963 Nobel Prize in Medicine co-recipient for his work on the synapse, co-author The Self and It’s Brain (1977), Australian of the Year 1963

Stephen Paul Hatton

28-01-1948

Australian politician, first politician in the Northern Territory to have a university degree, played an important role in the failed referendum for statehood, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (1986-1988), Member for Nightcliff (1983-2001), Country Liberal Party

Stephanie Gilmore

29-01-1988

Australian professional surfer, ASP World Tour Champion (2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007)

Isabel Lucas

29-01-1985

Australian actress (Home and Away, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Daybreakers, The Pacific, Immortals, Red Dawn)

Lynne McGranger 

29-01-1953

Australian actress, best known for her role since 1992 as Irene Roberts in Home and Away

Molly Meldrum, Ian Alexander Meldrum

29-01-1943

Australian music critic, journalist, producer (Russell Morris The Real Thing, Ronnie Burns Smiley, Colleen Hewett Day by Day, Supernaut I Like It Both Ways, Ferrets Don’t Fall in Love), TV show Countdown (1974-87) most successful and popular Australian music program, travelling widely overseas he became friends with many of the top pop and rock stars giving Countdown international exclusives, began his music career as a roadie for friend’s band The Groop, wrote for weekly pop music newspaper Go-Set (1966-74), widely recognized for his trademark Stetson hat (not an Akubra) worn since the 1980s, given nickname “Molly” by friend & Melbourne radio DJ Stan Rofe, ARIA Award 1993, APRA Award 1984, Logie Award 2012

Germaine Greer

29-01-1939

Australian social activist, author (Female Eunich, The Whole Woman, Shakespeare’s Wife), selectively choosing her facts about issues attracts considerable controversy

Matthew Werkmeister

30-01-1992

Australian actor, best known for his 6 years as Zeke Kinski in Neighbours

Shirley Hazzard

30-01-1931

Australian author (Transit of Venus, Bay of Noon, Great Fire, Defeat of an Ideal, Countenance of Truth), Miles Franklin Award (2004), O. Henry Award (1977), National Book Award (2003)

Portia de Rossi

31-01-1973

Australian-American actress (Sirens, Scream 2, Cursed, Too Something, Astoria, Alley McBeal, Arrested Development, Better Off Ted, Nip/Tuck), married TV host Ellen DeGeneres (16 Aug 2008)

Robert Grubb

31-01-1950

Australian actor (My Brillian Career, Gallipoli, Phar Lap: Heart of a Nation, Robbery Under Arms, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, The Flying Doctors)

Eric Henry Stoneley Burhop

31-01-1911

1980

Australian physicist, established Australia’s first research programme into nuclear physics (1937), in 1944 went to USA to join Manhattan Project to develop atomic bomb, after WWII involved in large-scale international projects on atomic research, founder of British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (1969), Joliot-Curie Medal from World Peace Council (1966), Lenin Peace Prize (1972)