Abstract Kimberley virus (KIMV) is an arthropod-borne rhabdovirus that was isolated in 1973 and on several subsequent occasions from healthy cattle, mosquitoes ( Culex annulirostris ) and biting midges ( Culicoides brevitarsis ) in Australia. Malakal virus (MALV) is an antigenically related rhabdovirus isolated in 1963 from mosquitoes ( Mansonia uniformis ) in Sudan. We report here the complete genome sequences of KIMV (15442 nt) and MALV (15444 nt). The genomes have a similar organisation (3′-l-N-P-M-G-GNS -α1-α2-β-γ-L-t-5′) to that of bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV). High levels of amino acid identity in each gene, similar gene expression profiles, clustering in phylogenetic analyses of the N, P, G and L proteins, and strong cross-neutralisation indicate that KIMV and MALV are geographic variants of the same ephemerovirus that, like BEFV, occurs in Africa, Asia and Australia.