1908 in Australia.html



See also: 1907 in Australia, Other events of 1908, 1909 in Australia, Timeline of Australian history.

Incumbents

• Monarch – King Edward VII
• Governor General – The Right Hon. Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote (until 9 September), then The Right Hon. William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley
• Prime Minister – Alfred Deakin (until 13 November), then Andrew Fisher

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Charles Wade
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Price
• Premier of Queensland – Robert Philp (until 18 February), then William Kidston
• Premier of Tasmania – John Evans
• Premier of Western Australia – Newton Moore
• Premier of Victoria – (Sir) Thomas Bent

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Admiral Sir Harry Rawson
• Governor of South Australia – Sir George Ruvthen Le Hunte
• Governor of Queensland – Frederic Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Gerald Strickland
• Governor of Western Australia – Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford
• Governor of Victoria – Major General Sir Reginald Talbot (until 6 July), then Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael (from July 27)

Events

• March 10 – Australians Douglas Mawson and Edgeworth David accompanied by Ernest Shackleton and others are the first people to scale Mount Erebus in Antarctica.
• March 30 - Commonwealth Quarantine service came into operation and took over quarantine stations in every state.
• April 20 – 44 are killed and 400 injured in the Sunshine train disaster.
• May 7 – The Coat of Arms of Australia are granted Royal Assent.
• August - Boys in Australia first participated in the scouting movement, within a year of scouting starting in England¹
• August 20 – The Great White Fleet, the first visit by the U.S. Navy to Australia, arrives in Sydney.²
• October 8 – The capital of Australia is chosen, settling a feud between rivals Melbourne and Sydney.
• November 13 – The Australian Labor Party withdraws its support for the minority government of Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, forcing his replacement with Andrew Fisher.²
• November 18 – The Victorian government passes the Adult Suffrage Bill 1908, granting female suffrage for the first time.³
• December 15 – The Invalid and Old Age Pensions Act is passed, which sets up a national aged pension scheme.
• December 29 – A general election is held in Victoria. The government of Sir Thomas Bent is returned to power.³

Science and Technology

• January 1 – The Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology formally commences operation.
• February 3 - first trans-Tasman radio transmission (via HMS Powerful in Tasman Sea)

Arts and Literature

• May 16 – The Commonwealth Literary Fund is established.²
• Henry Handel Richardson's first novel Maurice Guest is published
• We of the Never Never by Mrs Aeneas Gunn is published
• The poem My Country by Dorothea Mackellar first published

Film

• February 2 – The Limelight Department of the Salvation Army films Grand Memorial Service, a film of the funeral of Major Kenneth McLeod, the Director of the Bayswater Boys' Home. The funeral was held at the Kew cemetery in Melbourne.⁴

Sport

• January 31 – Victoria wins the 1907-08 Sheffield Shield.
• February 11 – Australia regains The Ashes with a 308 run victory over England.
• April 20 – The first New South Wales Rugby League premiership begins in Sydney.
• November 3 – Lord Nolan wins the Melbourne Cup.
• At the 1908 Summer Olympics held in London, Australia formed a team with New Zealand and competed as Australasia. They won a gold medal for rugby football, a silver medal for middleweight boxing, and in swimming : a silver medal for men's 400 metre freestyle , bronze medal for men's 1500 metre freestyle - both won by Frank Beaurepaire

Births

• February 23 – William McMahon, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
• May 15 – Kevin Ellis, NSW politician (d. 1975)
• May 20 – Henry Bolte, Premier of Victoria (d. 1990)
• July 10 – John Armstrong, ALP senator (d. 1977)
• August 5 – Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
• August 26 – Alexandra Hasluck, author and social historian
• August 27 – Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
• November 3 – Eddie Scarf, Australian boxer and wrestler (d. 1980)

Deaths

• January 22 - Clara Seekamp, actress and newspaper editor (b. c. 1819)
• February 14 - David Syme, newspaper proprietor (b. 1827)
• February 29 – John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, first Governor-General of Australia
• March 7 – Alfred William Howitt, anthropologist (b. 1830)
• May 11 – Charles Kingston, Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
• October 2 - John Gowing, retailer (cofounder of Gowings) (b. 1835)
• October 20 – Vaiben Solomon, Premier of South Australia (b. 1853)
• November 14 – Ernest Favenc, explorer (b. 1845)
• November 18 – Pierce Galliard Smith, priest (b. 1826)

References