Australia first competed at the Games, then titled the British Empire Games, in 1930; and is one of only six countries to have sent athletes to every Commonwealth Games. The others are Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales. Australian athletes competed for Australasia at the 1911 Festival of the Empire, the forerunner to the British Empire Games. Five of the 21 games have been hosted by Australia, with the city of Gold Coast hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Australia has placed first at 13 out of the 21 games (compared with England 7 and Canada 1) and has been in the top three for all meets except the first games in 1930. In all but one of the 18 Commonwealth Games held so far (excluding the 1978 Games), the Australian flag bearer has gone on to win a gold medal. List of Games Host Nation Bids Games Staged Australia has hosted the Commonwealth Games on four occasions but have only won once via an international vote. That vote was for the host of the 2018 games, won by the Gold Coast. Sydney 1938 was simply awarded. Perth 1962 was a contest between Adelaide and Perth which Adelaide originally won at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Adelaide first won 13 votes to Perth's 3. Two years later that was overturned by the Australian Commonwealth Games Association prior to the 1958 British Empire Games in Cardiff, Wales. A New Vote awarded Perth with a 9 to 7 vote. Brisbane 1982 was awarded after Lagos, Nigeria; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Birmingham, England all withdrew prior to the Bid vote that took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada during the 1976 Summer Olympics. Melbourne 2006 was awarded to the city after Wellington, New Zealand withdrew their bid prior to the Bid Lodgement Deadline. Failed bid Results Medals Overall Medal Tally Positions are calculated by the number of gold medals earned, then the number of silvers is taken into consideration and then the number of bronze. Figures from Commonwealth Games Foundation website. Those represented in bold are the highest scoring medal tally for each individual medal. The 2006 Games saw the highest overall medal tally, including the highest number of silver and bronze medals. The 1994 Games remains the Games with the highest number of gold medals won for Australia. Games Summary 1911 Festival of the Empire Australasian athletes representation Commonwealth Games Overall