1917 in Australia
Monarch	George V
Governor-General	Ronald Munro-Ferguson
Prime Minister	Billy Hughes
Population	4,940,815
Elections	Federal, New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria

See also: 1916 in Australia, other events of 1917, 1918 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.

"As of 1917 Australia's population was still only 5 million, with most people living in scattered rural areas. The sea voyage to Britain took two months, and land transport within Australia itself was slow."^[1]

Incumbents

• Monarch – King George V
• Governor-General – The Right Hon. Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson
• Prime Minister – Billy Hughes

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – William Holman
• Premier of South Australia – Crawford Vaughan (until July 14), then Archibald Peake
• Premier of Queensland – T. J. Ryan
• Premier of Tasmania – Walter Lee
• Premier of Western Australia – Frank Wilson (until June 28), then Henry Lefroy
• Premier of Victoria – Sir Alexander Peacock (until November 29), then John Bowser

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Gerald Strickland (until October 28)
• Governor of South Australia – Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Galway
• Governor of Queensland – Major Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir William Ellison-Macartney (until 31 March), then Sir Francis Newdegate (from July 6)
• Governor of Western Australia – Major General Sir Harry Barron (until February 27), then Sir William Ellison-Macartney (from April 9)
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Arthur Stanley

Events

• March 20 – Lieutenant Frank Hubert McNamara becomes the first Australian airman to receive the Victoria Cross.
• May 5 – A federal election is held. The incumbent Nationalist government led by Billy Hughes is returned to power.
• May 5 – Queenslanders reject a referendum to abolish the state's Legislative Council.^[2]
• August 2 – The General Strike of 1917 begins, a massive industrial action involving over 100,000 workers in support of railway workers in Sydney.
• October 17 – The two halves of the Trans-Australian Railway meet.
• November 15 – A general election is held in Victoria. The Commonwealth Liberal Party led by John Bowser defeats the incumbent Labour government led by Sir Alexander Peacock.
• November 29 – The "Warwick Incident" takes place in the town of Warwick, Queensland. A man throws an egg at Prime Minister Billy Hughes, and the refusal of Queensland Police to arrest him leads to the forming of the Commonwealth Police Force.^[3]
• December 12 – The Royal Australian Navy battlecruiser HMAS Australia is damaged in a collision with the British cruiser HMS Repulse.
• December 20 – The second plebiscite on the issue of military conscription was held; it was defeated.

Arts and literature

• Foundation of Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA), the peak body for Australia’s live entertainment and performing arts industry.

Film

• 19 March - Our friends the Hayseeds released in Sydney. The film made by Beaumont Smith was Australia's first substantial film comedy.

Sport

• Westcourt wins the Melbourne Cup
• The Sheffield Shield was not contested due to the war.

Births

• February 17 – Harry Gibbs, Chief Justice of the High Court (d. 2005)
• March 11 – Nancy Cato, writer (d. 2000)
• March 14 – John McCallum, actor
• March 21 – Frank Hardy, novelist (Power Without Glory) (d. 1994)
• March 25 – Barbara Jefferis, author (d. 2004)
• April 22 – Sidney Nolan, artist (d. 1992)
• April 30 – Mervyn Wood, Olympic rower (d. 2006)
• May 3 – James Penberthy, composer (d. 1999)
• May 15 – Ron Saggers, cricketer (d. 1987)
• May 25 – James Plimsoll, Governor of Tasmania from 1982–1987 (d. 1987)
• June 2 – Peggy Antonio, female Test cricketer (d. 2002)
• July 14 – Pat Moran, statistician (d. 1988)
• July 17 – Jack Beale, politician and first Environment Minister (d. 2006)
• August 19 – Laurie Aarons, leader of the Australian Communist Party (d. 2005)
• August 20 – Dudley Erwin, politician (d. 1984)
• September 7 – John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• September 12 – Charles Jones, politician (d. 2003)
• September 19 – Paterson Clarence Hughes, RAF pilot (d. 1940)
• September 30 – Kim Edward Beazley, Federal politician (d. 2007)
• October 2 – Phil Ridings, cricketer (d. 1998)
• October 5 – Kenneth Jacobs, Chief Justice of the High Court
• October 17 – Sumner Locke Elliott, novelist (d. 1991)
• October 20 – D'Arcy Niland, novelist
• November 22 – Jon Cleary, novelist
• December 8 – Ian Johnson, cricketer (d. 1998)
• December 12 – Xavier Connor, jurist (d. 2005)
• December 25 – Noel Walker, NSW politician (d. 1986)
• December 31 – Pat Hills, NSW politician (d. 1992)

Deaths

• March 31 – Joseph Cullen (b. 1849), NSW and WA politician
• April 5 – E. H. Coombe (b. 1858), South Australian politician
• May 6 – Thomas Joseph Carr (b. 1839), Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne
• May 24 – Les Darcy (b. 1895), boxer
• August 15 – John Haynes (b. 1850), NSW politician
• August 26 – William Lane (b. 1861), journalist and labour movement pioneer
• September 17 – Edward Petherick (b. 1847), book collector
• October 31 – Tibby Cotter (b. 1884), cricketer
• November 10 – Harry Trott (b. 1866), cricketer
• December 20 – Frederick McCubbin (b. 1855), painter

See also

• 1917
• 1910s

References