Minister Doug Anthony announces that the Federal Government knew that Arab nations operated a blacklist for more than 20 years and that some Australian companies were on it, but that the Government had never been told officially that certain companies were being boycotted. 5 January – Corrective Services Commissioner, W. McGeechan, talks 120 maximum security prisoners back into their cells after a 5-hour protest sit-in at Parramatta jail. Aboriginal Senator Neville Bonner makes a complaint to the Queensland State Licensing Commission about the Mount Isa hotel which refused him service on Boxing Day. Immigration and Ethnic Affairs Minister Michael MacKellar reverses a department decision thereby allowing a Uruguayan woman to join her widowed brother, Ruben Molina, in Sydney. 18 January – New South Wales Premier Neville Wran meets with prison union officials about their demand that Bathurst Jail be reopened to relieve over crowding and staff shortages in other prisons. February 13 February – Terrorism arrives in Australia for the very first time with the Sydney Hilton bombing killing 3 people and injuring 11 others. March 14 March – Stephen Matthews, aged 20, swept from the Natural Bridge off Albany, by a King Wave. Rescued by whale ship, the Cheynes II. First recorded survival of someone swept into the sea at The Gap and Natural Bridge. 30 March – Commonwealth Police (Federal Police) begin arresting 180 Greek-Australians said to be involved in a conspiracy to defraud the Department of Social Security. April 4 April – Cyclone Alby kills 5 people in Western Australia. May 15 May – Australia's longest serving prime minister Sir Robert Menzies dies. June 24 June – The inaugural Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, a gay rights march is held in Oxford Street, Sydney to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York. 25 June – Trudie Adams disappears from the Surf Life Saving Club in Newport, New South Wales. July 1 July – The Northern Territory attains self-government; Majority Leader Paul Everingham becomes the inaugural Chief Minister. August 25 August – Michelle Pope and Stephen Lapthorne disappear. Still missing . October 7 October – The ALP government of Neville Wran is re-elected with a massively increased majority, leading to his win being dubbed as a "Wranslide". 8 October – Australia's Ken Warby sets the world water speed record to 510 km/h (317.60 mph) at Blowering Dam, New South Wales. 21 October