1913 in Australia

← 1912 1911 1910 1913 in Australia → 1914 1915 1916
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	Other events of 1913 Federal election Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1913 in Australia.

Incumbents

Andrew Fisher

Joseph Cook

• Monarch – George V
• Governor-General – Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman
• Prime Minister – Andrew Fisher (until 24 June), then Joseph Cook
• Chief Justice – Samuel Griffith

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – James McGowen (until 29 June), then William Holman
• Premier of Queensland – Digby Denham
• Premier of South Australia – Archibald Peake
• Premier of Tasmania – Albert Solomon
• Premier of Victoria – William Watt (until 9 December), then George Elmslie
• Premier of Western Australia – John Scaddan

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Frederic Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford (until 11 March), then Gerald Strickland (from 14 March)
• Governor of Queensland – William MacGregor
• Governor of South Australia – Day Bosanquet
• Governor of Tasmania – Harry Barron (until 10 March), then William Ellison-Macartney (from 4 June)
• Governor of Victoria – John Fuller
• Governor of Western Australia – Gerald Strickland (until 4 March), then Harry Barron (from 17 March)

Events

• 2 January — Australian philately proper begins in early 1913 with the Kangaroo and Map series of stamps, featuring a kangaroo standing on a map of Australia, and inscribed "AUSTRALIA POSTAGE".
• 12 March — Canberra is named by Gertrude Denman
• 1 May — The first national banknotes were introduced in denominations of 10 shillings, and 1, 5, and 10 pounds.
• 31 May — 1913 Australian referendum contained six questions: Trade and Commerce, Corporations, Industrial Matters, Trusts, Monopolies, Railway Disputes. None of these were carried.
• 21 June — HMAS Australia, commissioned at Portsmouth and sailed to Australia to become the Australian flagship.
• 1 to 31 August — With an average rainfall of 0.24 millimetres or 0.0094 inches, this is the driest area-averaged month over Queensland since at least 1900.^[1]
• Royal Commission appointed to inquire into certain charges against Henry Chinn; Chinn was supervising engineer for the transcontinental railway in Western Australia.
• Royal Commission on Northern Territory railways and ports
• Royal Commission on powellised timber
• Golden Fleece Company established by HC Sleigh; acquired by Caltex in 1981
• The Workers' Educational Association founded; it is Australia's largest non-government adult community education organisation.
• From 1859 until 1913, a squadron of the Royal Navy was maintained in Australian waters.
• Norfolk Island Act 1913 meant that Norfolk Island became an Australia Territory under the authority of the Australian Commonwealth.

Science and technology

• Amalgamation took place between Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd and the Australian Wireless Company forming Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited.
• The first totalisator, an entirely mechanical system invented by the Australian George Julius of Julius Poole & Gibson Pty Ltd, was installed at Ellerslie Racecourse in New Zealand.

Arts and literature

Film

• Moondyne
• Australia Calls, Raymond Longford's last film for Cozens Spencer was released.
• Frank Hurley's actuality film, The Home of the Blizzard, about the Douglas Mawson expedition to Antarctica, was released.

Sport

• The 1913 VFL (now AFL) Premiership was won by Fitzroy
• The 1913 NSWRFL Premiership is won by Eastern Suburbs for the third year in a row.
• Posinatus wins the Melbourne Cup
• South Australia wins the 1912–13 Sheffield Shield
• The Australian cricket team toured USA and Canada in June to August, playing five matches, four in Philadelphia and one in Toronto.

Births

• 24 January – Ray Stehr, rugby league footballer (d. 1983)
• 11 February – Clyde Cameron, Whitlam government minister (d. 2008)
• 20 February – Dame Mary Durack, author and historian (d. 1994)
• 5 March – Darby Munro, jockey (d. 1966)
• 19 March – Smoky Dawson, country music performer (d. 2008)
• 3 April – William Refshauge, soldier and public health administrator (d. 2009)
• 4 April – Dave Brown, rugby league footballer (d. 1974)
• 20 June – David McNicol, public servant and diplomat (d. 2001)
• 2 August – Nancy Phelan, writer (d. 2008)
• 14 August – Hector Crawford, Australian television producer (d. 1991)
• 6 September – Ken Kennedy, speed skater and ice hockey player (d. 1985)
• 2 October – Dame Roma Mitchell, 31st Governor of South Australia (d. 2000)
• 30 October – Edgar Britt, jockey (d. 2017)
• 30 December – Elyne Mitchell, author (d. 2002)

Deaths

• 3 January – Garnet Walch, writer, journalist and publisher (b. 1843)
• 4 February – James Styles, Victorian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1841)
• 18 February – George Lewis Becke, trader and writer (b. 1855)
• 4 June – Ambrose Dyson, illustrator and political cartoonist (b. 1876)
• 6 July – J. C. Williamson, actor (born in the United States and died in France) (b. 1844)
• 20 July – Joseph Vardon, South Australian politician and printer (b. 1843)
• 3 August – Sir William Lyne, 13th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1844)^[2]
• 25 August – William Knox, Victorian politician and businessman (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1850)
• 12 November – Sir John George Davies, Tasmanian politician, newspaper proprietor and cricketer (b. 1846)
• 25 November – Charlie Frazer – Western Australian politician (b. 1880)

See also

• List of Australian films of the 1910s

References