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Australia establishes first permanent Antarctic base at Mawson Petrov Commission into Soviet espionage in Australia Queen Elizabeth 11 visits Australia Australian union membership peaks at 61% of workforceUranium strike at Mary Kathleen First main-line diesel trains in Western Australia First drive-in theatre in Australia at Burwood, Melbourne "Call Me Madam" plays in Australia "Happy Little Vegemites" jingle airs for the first time
The Petrov Affair
Vladimir Petrov was a colonel in the Soviet secret police. He and his wife,
Evdokia, were stationed in the Canberra embassy. In April 1954, Vladimir
Petrov (without telling his wife) accepted asylum in Australia in exchange
for documents providing evidence of Soviet espionage.
Soviet secret
service agents were sent to Australia to escort Evdokia back to Russia but
Australian ASIO agents removed her from the plane at a refuelling stop in
Darwin.
Shortly before the 1954 election, Prime Minister Menzies claimed
that the Petrov documents provided evidence of an extensive spy ring including staff
members of the leader of the Opposition Labor Party, Dr Evatt. The
Labor Party unexpectedly lost the election and Evatt accused Menzies of
arranging the whole affair for political purposes. This led to a split in
the Labor Party which was largely responsible for keeping it out of power
until 1972.
The Petrov documents were made public in 1984. There had been
no major Soviet spy ring.
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