1908 in Australia

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See also:
  • Other events of 1908
  • Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1908 in Australia.

1908 in Australia
MonarchyEdward VII
Governor-GeneralHenry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote, then William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley
Prime ministerAlfred Deakin, then Andrew Fisher
Population4,190,692
Elections, , Western Australia

Incumbents[]

Alfred Deakin
Andrew Fisher
  • Monarch – Edward VII
  • Governor-General – Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote (until 9 September), then William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley
  • Prime Minister – Alfred Deakin (until 13 November), then Andrew Fisher
  • Chief Justice – Samuel Griffith

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 27 July)

Events[]

Great White Fleet in Sydney Harbour, 1908
  • 10 March – Australians Douglas Mawson and Edgeworth David accompanied by Ernest Shackleton and others are the first people to scale Mount Erebus in Antarctica.
  • 30 March – Commonwealth Quarantine service came into operation and took over quarantine stations in every state.
  • 20 April – 44 are killed and 400 injured in the Sunshine train disaster.
  • 7 May – 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 England[1]
  • 20 August – The Great White Fleet, the first visit by the U.S. Navy to Australia, arrives in Sydney.[2]
  • 8 October – The capital of Australia is chosen, settling a feud between rivals Melbourne and Sydney.
  • 13 November – The Australian Labor Party withdraws its support for the minority government of Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, forcing his replacement with Andrew Fisher.[2]
  • 18 November – The Victorian government passes the Adult Suffrage Bill 1908, granting female suffrage for the first time.[3]
  • 15 December – The Invalid and Old Age Pensions Act is passed, which sets up a national aged pension scheme (except for aliens, Aboriginals and naturalized Asiatics not born in Australia)
  • 29 December – A is held in Victoria. The government of Sir Thomas Bent is returned to power.[3]

Science and technology[]

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

Arts and literature[]

Main article: 1908 in Australian literature

Film[]

  • 2 February – 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.[6]

Sport[]

  • 31 January – Victoria wins the 1907–08 Sheffield Shield.
  • 11 February – Australia regains The Ashes with a 308 run victory over England.
  • 20 April – The first New South Wales Rugby League premiership begins in Sydney.
  • July - The 1908 Interstate rugby league series sees the first ever matches between New South Wales and Queensland
  • 29 August – South Sydney win the grand final to become the first NSWRFL premiers
  • 3 November – Lord Nolan wins the Melbourne Cup.
  • At the 1908 Summer Olympics held in London, Australia forms a team with New Zealand and competes as Australasia. They win a gold medal for rugby football, a silver medal for middleweight boxing, and in swimming a silver medal for men's 400-metre freestyle and bronze medal for men's 1500 metre freestyle – both won by Frank Beaurepaire.
  • Australia's national rugby league team sets sail for England on the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain.

Births[]

  • 23 February – William McMahon, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1988)
  • 15 May – Kevin Ellis, NSW politician (died 1975)
  • 20 May – Henry Bolte, Premier of Victoria (died 1990)
  • 10 July – John Armstrong, ALP senator (died 1977)
  • 5 August – Harold Holt, 17th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1967)
  • 10 August – Rica Erickson, Australian botanist (died 2009)
  • 26 August – Alexandra Hasluck, author and social historian (died 1993)
  • 27 August – Donald Bradman, cricketer (died 2001)
  • 10 September – Angus Bethune, Premier of Tasmania (died 2004)
  • 17 October – Wally Prigg, rugby league player (died 1980)
  • 3 November – Eddie Scarf, boxer and wrestler (died 1980)

Deaths[]

  • 14 February – David Syme, newspaper proprietor (born 1827)
  • 29 February – John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, first Governor-General of Australia (born 1860)
  • 7 March – Alfred William Howitt, anthropologist (born 1830)
  • 11 May – Charles Kingston, Premier of South Australia (born 1850)
  • 20 October – Vaiben Louis Solomon, Premier of South Australia (born 1853)
  • 14 November – Ernest Favenc, explorer (born 1845)
  • 18 November – Pierce Galliard Smith, priest (born 1826)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "History of Scouting in Queensland". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Australia's Prime Ministers – Timeline 1901–1910[permanent dead link], National Archives of Australia.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b On These Days – 1901–1910, Parliament of Victoria.
  4. ^ "NEW MUSIC". The Sydney Morning Herald (22, 035). New South Wales, Australia. 31 August 1908. p. 3. Retrieved 14 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ Summerbelle, May, Beaux yeux [music] : waltz / composed by May Summerbelle (in no linguistic content), W.H. Paling & Co., Ltd
  6. ^ Grand Memorial Service, 1908 Archived 25 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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