During the fifties football started moving into what was called
the "Golden Era". The TANFL was formed in the South as a district football
competition and
the three main bodies the NTFA, NWFU and the TANFL resumed playing each other on
a regular basis throughout the fifties except for 1957 when the Australian
carnival was held in Hobart.
Visiting interstate teams became a regular fixture during this
decade with Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, NSW and an Australian
Amateur side all travelling to Tasmania to play representative football.
FIFTIES FOOTBALL LEGENDS
Some of the other significant events in Tasmanian history during
the decade are displayed below;
1951 - Brighton army camp gets first intake of
national service trainees
1951 - Hartz Mountain National Park proclaimed
1951 - Serious bushfires
1951 - Italian and German migrants arrive to work under contract for
Hydro-Electric Commission
1952 - First woman elected to Hobart City Council
1952 - Severe floods
1952 - Government ends free hospital scheme
1952 - Single state licensing body formed for hotels and clubs
1953 - Tasman Limited diesel train service begins between Hobart and northern
towns
1953 - Housing Department created to manage public housing
1953 - Beaconsfield becomes first Australian centre to get fluoridated water
1954 - The Queen becomes first reigning monarch to visit state, accompanied by
Prince Phillip, as part of 150th anniversary celebrations, she unveils monument
to pioneer British settlers
1954 - Hobart Rivulet area damaged as severe floods affect southern and eastern
Tasmania
1954 - Metropolitan Transport Trust formed
1954 - Tattersalls Lotteries moves headquarters from Hobart to Melbourne
1954 - Spouses of property owners get right to vote in Legislative Council
elections
1955 - Royal commission appointed to inquire into University of Tasmania after
request by Professor Sydney Orr
1955 - House of Assembly gets first two women members, Liberals Mabel Miller and
Amelia Best
1955 - Hobart becomes first Australian city to get parking meters
1955 - Proclamation of Lake Pedder National Park (later extended to form
South-West National Park).
1955 - First ingot poured at Bell Bay aluminium refinery
1955 - Labor Party's federal conference in Hobart brings ALP split over
industrial groups to head, leading to formation of Australian Labor Party
(Anti-Communist), later Democratic Labor Party
1955 - Lactos cheese factory opens at Burnie
1956 - University of Tasmania Council dismisses Professor Sydney Orr, alleging
improper conduct by him with female student; Orr launches unsuccessful court
action against university for wrongful dismissal
1956 - Tasmania gets first woman mayor, Dorothy Edwards of Launceston
1957 - Water Act establishes Rivers and Water Supply Commission
1958 - Hobart waterside works block two Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)
members, father Frank Hursey and son Denis, from working in dispute over their
objection to paying union levy that would partly go to ALP; police guard Hurseys
after court order; Supreme Court awards them damages
1959 - Princess of Tasmania becomes first roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry on
Bass Strait run
1959 - High Court verdict in Hursey case upholds unions' right to levy members
for political purposes, expel those who refuse to pay
1959 - Federal Government reduces claimant states to two, Tasmania and Western
Australia.
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