Australia at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Infobox Olympics Australia
games=1956 Summer
competitors=325 (279 men, 46 women)
sports=
flagbearer=Mervyn Wood (rower)
gold=13
silver=8
bronze=19
total=35
rank=3

Australia was the host nation for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Australian riders also competed in the equestrian events held in Stockholm, Sweden earlier that year, because of Australian quarantine restrictions. Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games.

Medalists

Gold

* Betty Cuthbert — Athletics, Women's 100 metres

* Betty Cuthbert — Athletics, Women's 200 metres

* Shirley Strickland — Athletics, Women's 80 m Hurdles

* Norma Croker, Betty Cuthbert, Fleur Wenham, and Shirley Strickland — Athletics, Women's 4x100 m Relay

* Joey Browne and Anthony Marchant — Cycling, Men's 2000 m Tandem

* Jon Henricks — Swimming, Men's 100 m Freestyle

* Murray Rose — Swimming, Men's 400 m Freestyle

* Murray Rose — Swimming, Men's 1500 m Freestyle

* David Theile — Swimming, Men's 100 m Backstroke

* John Devitt, Jon Henricks, Kevin O'Halloran, and Murray Rose — Swimming, Men's 4x200 m Freestyle Relay

* Dawn Fraser — Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle

* Lorraine Crapp — Swimming, Women's 400 m Freestyle

* Lorraine Crapp, Dawn Fraser, Faith Leech, and Sandra Morgan — Swimming, Women's 4x100 m Freestyle Relay

Silver

* Graham Gipson, Kevan Gosper, Leon Gregory, and David Lean — Athletics, Men's 4x400 m Relay

* Chilla Porter — Athletics, Men's High Jump

* Stuart MacKenzie — Rowing, Men's Single Sculls

* John Devitt — Swimming, Men's 100 m Freestyle

* John Monckton — Swimming, Men's 100 m Backstroke

* Lorraine Crapp — Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle

* Dawn Fraser — Swimming, Women's 400 m Freestyle

* John Scott and Roland Tasker — Sailing, Men's Sharpie 12 m²

Bronze

* Hector Hogan — Athletics, Men's 100 metres

* John Landy — Athletics, Men's 1500 metres

* Allan Lawrence — Athletics, Men's 10.000 metres

* Norma Thrower — Athletics, Women's 80 m Hurdles

* Marlene Mathews — Athletics, Women's 100 metres

* Marlene Mathews — Athletics, Women's 200 metres

* Kevin Hogarth — Boxing, Men's Welterweight

* Walter Brown and Dennis Green — Canoeing, Men's K2 10,000 m Kayak Pairs

* Dick Ploog — Cycling, Men's 1000 m Sprint (Scratch)

* Murray Riley and Mervyn Wood — Rowing, Men's Double Sculls

* Michael Aikman, Angus Benfield, David Boykett, Bryan Doyle, Harold Hewitt, James Howden, Walter Howell, Garth Manton, and Adrian Monger — Rowing, Men's Eights

* Gary Chapman — Swimming, Men's 100 m Freestyle

* Faith Leech — Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle
* Douglas Buxton, Devereaux Mytton and Jock Sturrock — Sailing, Men's 5½ Meter Class

Results and competitors by event

=Athletics=

Men's 110m Hurdles
*James Joyce:* Heat — 14.7s (→ did not advance)

*Kenneth Doubleday:* Heat — 14.8s (→ did not advance)

*John Chittick:* Heat — 14.9s (→ did not advance)

Men's Marathon
*John Russell — 2:41:44 (→ 18th place)
*Keith Ollerenshaw — 2:48:12 (→ 25th place)
*Les Perry — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Basketball

Men's Team Competition

*Preliminary Round::* Lost to Brazil (66-89) :* Lost to Chile (56-78):* Defeated Thailand (87-48) :* Lost to Formosa (73-86) :* Defeated Singapore (98-74) Classification Matches::* 9th/12th place: Lost to Canada (83-38):* 11th/12th place: Lost to Formosa (87-70) → 12th place
*Team Roster::* Peter Demos :* Geoff Heskett:* Peter Bumbers:* Stan Dargis:* Inga Freidenfelds:* Colin Burdett:* George Dancis:* Peter Sutton:* Algis Ignatavicius:* Merv Moy:* Ken Finch:* Bruce Flick
*Head Coach: Ken Watson

=Cycling=

Men's 1.000m Scratch Sprint
*Dick Ploog — Bronze Medal

Men's 1.000m Time Trial
*Warren Scarfe — 1:12.1 (→ 4th place)

Men's 4.000m Team Pursuit
*Cliff Burvill
Frank Brazier
Roy Moore
Warren Scarfe — 9th place

Men's 2.000m Tandem
*Anthony Marchant
Joey Browne — Gold Medal

Men's Individual Road Race
*John O'Sullivan — 5:36:58 (→ 41st place)
*Jim Nevin — 5:47:02 (→ 44th place)
*Ed Nestor — did not finish (→ no ranking)
*Jack Trickey — did not finish (→ no ranking)

=Diving=

Men's 3m Springboard
*Arthur Winther :* Preliminary Round — 71.04 (→ did not advance, 17th place)

*Joseph McCann :* Preliminary Round — 69.18 (→ did not advance, 19th place)

*Ronald Faulds :* Preliminary Round — 68.84 (→ did not advance, 20th place)

Men's 10m Platform
*Francis Murphy :* Preliminary Round — 66.29 (→ did not advance, 17th place)

*William Tully :* Preliminary Round — 65.49 (→ did not advance, 18th place)

*Barry Holmes :* Preliminary Round — 58.01 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)

Women's 3m Springboard
*Barbara McAulay :* Preliminary Round — 60.19 (→ did not advance, 13th place)

*Roslyn Barton :* Preliminary Round — 58.50 (→ did not advance, 15th place)

*Pat Howard :* Preliminary Round — 53.89 (→ did not advance, 17th place)

Women's 10m Platform
*Barbara McAulay :* Preliminary Round — 45.67 (→ did not advance, 14th place)

*Roslyn Barton :* Preliminary Round — 41.96 (→ did not advance, 15th place)

*Adele Price :* Preliminary Round — 35.28 (→ did not advance, 18th place)

Hockey

Men's Team Competition

*Team Roster:* Alan Barblett:* Geoffrey Bennett:* Brian Booth:* Kevin Carton:* Kenneth Clarke:* Ian Dick:* John Dwyer:* Maurice Foley:* Louis Hailey:* Glen Jobson:* Dennis Kemp:* Keith Leeson:* Donald Mecklem:* Eric Pearce:* Gordon Pearce