1918 in Australia

1918 in Australia
Monarchy	George V
Governor-General	Ronald Munro-Ferguson
Prime minister	Billy Hughes
Population	5,029,403
Elections	South Australia, Queensland

Decades:	1890s; 1900s; 1910s; 1920s; 1930s;
See also:	Other events of 1918; Timeline of Australian history;

1918 in Australia was dominated by national participation in World War I. The Australian Corps, formed at the beginning of the year from the five divisions of the First Australian Imperial Force, played a significant role in the Allied victory.

Incumbents

Billy Hughes

Monarch – George V
Governor-General – Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson
Prime Minister – Billy Hughes
Chief Justice – Samuel Griffith

State premiers

Premier of New South Wales – William Holman
Premier of Queensland – T. J. Ryan
Premier of South Australia – Archibald Peake
Premier of Tasmania – Walter Lee
Premier of Victoria – John Bowser (until 21 March), then Harry Lawson
Premier of Western Australia – Sir Henry Lefroy

State governors

Governor of New South Wales – Walter Edward Davidson (from 18 February)
Governor of Queensland – Hamilton Goold-Adams
Governor of South Australia – Sir Henry Galway
Governor of Tasmania – Francis Newdegate
Governor of Victoria – Sir Arthur Stanley
Governor of Western Australia – William Ellison-Macartney

Events

8 January – Billy Hughes resigns as Prime Minister of Australia as promised following the defeat of the 1917 plebiscite on conscription. He is immediately sworn in again by the Governor-General as there are no alternative candidates.
21 January – Thirty people are killed when the Mackay cyclone strikes the town of Mackay in Queensland.
2 February – The Brighton tornado, the strongest storms ever recorded in Melbourne, strike the suburb of Brighton, killing two people.
10 March – The 1918 Innisfail cyclone made landfall in the area around Innisfail
21 March – John Bowser resigns as Premier of Victoria after his railway estimates bill is defeated in parliament. Harry Lawson forms a composite ministry of Liberal factions, including Bowser as Chief Secretary and Minister for Public Health.
3 August – Australia House, Australia's high commission to the United Kingdom, opens in London.
22 September – The Prime Minister Billy Hughes makes the first direct radio telephone call between England and Australia, calling Sydney from London.
6 October – Australia's first electric train service begins, between Newmarket and Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.
26 October – A by-election is held in the Division of Swan following the death of the sitting member, Sir John Forrest. The youngest ever MP, Edwin Corboy, is elected to parliament.
17 December – The Darwin Rebellion takes place, with 1,000 demonstrators demanding the resignation of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John A. Gilruth.

World War I events

1 January – The Australian Corps is formed from the five AIF divisions on the Western Front.
21 March – The Australian Corps commences fighting to stop the German offensive Operation Michael, the German advance near Amiens.
25 April – Australian forces recapture Villers-Bretonneux from the German army helping to stop Operation Georgette.
31 May – John Monash takes command of the Australia Corps.
4 July – John Monash leads an attack on Hamel, regarded as one of the most prepared battles of the entire war.
8 August – The Battle of Amiens begins with British, Australian and Canadian troops participating in a successful offensive – General Erich Ludendorff described it as "the black day of the German Army".
12 August – King George V knights John Monash on the battlefield, the first British commander to be knighted in that way for 200 years.
18 September – Forces led by John Monash attack the Hindenburg Line in the Battle of the Hindenburg Line capturing 4,300 German troops.
1 October – Australian troops capture Damascus.
5 October – The last Australian operation in the Battle of the Hindenburg Line taking the village of Montbrehain with the line cleared by 10 October.
11 November – Germany signs an Armistice to end World War I.
10 December – Royal Australian Navy ships sail to the Black Sea to assist the White Army in the Russian Civil War.

Arts and literature

May Gibbs publishes Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.
Norman Lindsay publishes The Magic Pudding.

Sport

3 August – The South Sydney Rabbitohs win the New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1918.
7 September – The South Melbourne Swans defeat the Collingwood Magpies 9.8 (62) to 7.15 (57), becoming premiers of the 1918 VFL season.
12 November – Night Watch wins the Melbourne Cup.

Births

16 January – Clem Jones, Lord Mayor of Brisbane (died 2007)
26 January – Amy Witting, novelist (died 2001)
8 February – Charles Birch, geneticist (died 2009)
5 March – John Billings, doctor who developed the Billings Method (died 2007)
18 March – David Zeidler, chemist and industrialist (died 1998)
19 March – Jim Brown, NSW politician (died 1999)
11 April – Francis Hassett, Australian Army general (died 2008)
18 April – Harry Firth, race car driver (died 2014)
21 April – Francis James, publisher (died 1992)
26 July – Richard Arthur Blackburn, Chief Justice of the ACT (died 1987)
24 August – Sandy Pearson, soldier (died 2012)
4 September – John Carrick, politician (died 2018)
5 September – Bob Katter, Sr., Country Party politician (died 1990)
14 October – Thelma Coyne Long, tennis player (died 2015)
14 October – Doug Ring, cricketer (died 2003)
15 December – Pauline Neura Reilly, ornithologist (died 2011)

Deaths

23 February – Alexander Bolton (born 1847), politician
11 May – George Elmslie (born 1861), 25th Premier of Victoria and first Labor Premier[1]
14 July – James White (born 1861), sculptor
12 September – Sir George Reid (born 1845), Premier of NSW (1894–1899) and Prime Minister (1904–1905)
10 October – Henry Dobson (born 1841), Premier of Tasmania (1892–1894)
12 October – Mary Hannay Foott (born 1846), poet
7 December – Frank Wilson (born 1859), Premier of Western Australia (1910–1911)

References

Jones, Barry O., "Elmslie, George Alexander (1861–1918)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 29 October 2020

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[1] Jones, Barry O., "Elmslie, George Alexander (1861–1918)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 29 October 2020

Years in Australia (1788–present)
18th century	1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800
19th century	1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Timeline of Australian history

1918 in Oceania
Sovereign states	Australia Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
Associated states of New Zealand	Cook Islands Niue