Incumbents

• Monarch
  Monarchy in Australia
  The Monarchy of Australia is a form of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of Australia. The monarchy is a constitutional one modelled on the Westminster style of parliamentary government, incorporating features unique to the Constitution of Australia.The present monarch is...
  
   – King George V
  George V of the United Kingdom
  George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
  
  
• Governor General
  Governor-General of Australia
  The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
  
   – Henry Forster
• Prime Minister
  Prime Minister of Australia
  The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
  
   – Billy Hughes
  Billy Hughes
  William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
  
   (until 8 February), then Stanley Bruce
  Stanley Bruce
  Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC , was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was the second Australian granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, but the first whose peerage was formally created...
  
  

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – George Fuller
  George Fuller (Australian politician)
  Sir George Warburton Fuller KCMG was Premier of New South Wales, Australia on two occasions during the 1920s. His first term of office lasted less than one day ; his second lasted from 13 April 1922 to 17 June 1925.-Early life:Fuller was born in Kiama, New South Wales and was educated at Kiama...
  
  
• Premier of Queensland – Ted Theodore
  Ted Theodore
  Edward Granville Theodore was an Australian politician. He was Premier of Queensland 1919–25, a federal politician representing a New South Wales seat 1927–31, and Federal Treasurer 1929–30.-Early life:...
  
  
• Premier of South Australia – Henry Barwell
  Henry Barwell
  Sir Henry Newman Barwell KCMG was the 28th Premier of South Australia.Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Barwell was educated at St Peter's College and Adelaide University, graduating in law...
  
  
• Premier of Tasmania – John Hayes
  John Hayes (Australian politician)
  John Blyth Hayes was Premier of Tasmania from 12 August 1922 to 14 August 1923. Hayes was also the President of the Australian Senate from 1 July 1938 to 30 June 1941.Hayes was born in Bridgewater, and died in Launceston....
  
   (until 13 August), then Sir Walter Lee
  Walter Lee (Australian politician)
  Sir Walter Henry Lee KCMG was an Australian politician and member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. He was Premier of Tasmania on three occasions: from 15 April 1916 to 12 August 1922; from 14 August 1923 to 25 October 1923; and from 15 March 1934 to 22 June 1934.Lee was born in Longford in...
  
   (until 25 October), then Joseph Lyons
  Joseph Lyons
  Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
  
  
• Premier of Victoria – Harry Lawson
  Harry Lawson
  Sir Harry Sutherland Wightman Lawson KCMG , Australian politician, was the 27th Premier of Victoria.Lawson was born in Dunolly, the son of a Presbyterian clergyman of Scottish descent. He was educated at a local school and then briefly Scotch College in Melbourne. He was a noted Australian rules...
  
  
• Premier of Western Australia
  Premier of Western Australia
  The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
  
   – James Mitchell
  James Mitchell (Australian politician)
  Sir James Mitchell GCMG was the 13th Premier of Western Australia, serving on two occasions, the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia for 15 years and the 22nd Governor of Western Australia....
  
  

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Walter Davidson
  Walter Edward Davidson
  Sir Walter Edward Davidson KCMG was a colonial Administrator and diplomat. He served periods as Governor of the Seychelles, Governor of Newfoundland and as Governor of New South Wales, in which he died in office....
  
   (until 16 September)
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Matthew Nathan
  Matthew Nathan
  Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan GCMG, PC was a British soldier and civil servant, who variously served as the Governor of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Queensland...
  
  
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Tom Bridges
• Governor of Tasmania – none appointed
• Governor of Victoria – George Rous, 3rd Earl of Stradbroke
  George Rous, 3rd Earl of Stradbroke
  George Edward John Mowbray Rous, 3rd Earl of Stradbroke KCMG CB CVO CBE VD TD was a British noble and the 15th Governor of Victoria, Australia....
  
  
• Governor of Western Australia
  Governor of Western Australia
  The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
  
   – Sir Francis Newdegate
  Francis Newdegate
  Sir Francis Alexander Newdigate Newdegate GCMG was Governor of Tasmania from 1917 to 1920, and Governor of Western Australia from 1920 to 1924....
  
  

Events

• 8 February – Billy Hughes
  Billy Hughes
  William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
  
   resigns as Prime Minister
  Prime Minister of Australia
  The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
  
  , after the Country Party
  National Party of Australia
  The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
  
   refuses to govern in coalition with him as the leader of the Nationalist Party
  Nationalist Party of Australia
  The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...
  
  . Hughes is succeeded by his Treasurer
  Treasurer of Australia
  The Treasurer of Australia is the minister in the Government of Australia responsible for government expenditure and revenue raising. He is the head of the Department of the Treasury. The Treasurer plays a key role in the economic policy of the government...
  
  , Stanley Bruce
  Stanley Bruce
  Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC , was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was the second Australian granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, but the first whose peerage was formally created...
  
  .
• 25 April – The first Anzac Day
  ANZAC Day
  Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all...
  
   dawn service is held in Albany, Western Australia
  Albany, Western Australia
  Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
  
  .
• 28 April – Construction commences on the Sydney Harbour Bridge
  Sydney Harbour Bridge
  The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...
  
  .
• 14 August – John Hayes
  John Hayes (Australian politician)
  John Blyth Hayes was Premier of Tasmania from 12 August 1922 to 14 August 1923. Hayes was also the President of the Australian Senate from 1 July 1938 to 30 June 1941.Hayes was born in Bridgewater, and died in Launceston....
  
   resigns as Premier of Tasmania after failing to resolve Tasmania's financial crisis. Sir Walter Lee
  Walter Lee (Australian politician)
  Sir Walter Henry Lee KCMG was an Australian politician and member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. He was Premier of Tasmania on three occasions: from 15 April 1916 to 12 August 1922; from 14 August 1923 to 25 October 1923; and from 15 March 1934 to 22 June 1934.Lee was born in Longford in...
  
   becomes Premier for the second time.
• 7 September – Harry Lawson
  Harry Lawson
  Sir Harry Sutherland Wightman Lawson KCMG , Australian politician, was the 27th Premier of Victoria.Lawson was born in Dunolly, the son of a Presbyterian clergyman of Scottish descent. He was educated at a local school and then briefly Scotch College in Melbourne. He was a noted Australian rules...
  
   assumes office for a second term as Premier of Victoria, forming a National
  Nationalist Party of Australia
  The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...
  
  -Country
  National Party of Australia
  The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
  
   Party ministry.
• 10 October – Telephone link between Sydney
  Sydney
  Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
  
   and Brisbane
  Brisbane
  Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
  
   officially opened.
• 12 October – Cairns, Queensland
  Cairns, Queensland
  Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia, founded 1876. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns, then-current Governor of Queensland. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was...
  
   is proclaimed a city.
• 14 October – Severe floods in Melbourne
  Melbourne
  Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
  
  , two people drown.
• 25 October – Sir Walter Lee
  Walter Lee (Australian politician)
  Sir Walter Henry Lee KCMG was an Australian politician and member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. He was Premier of Tasmania on three occasions: from 15 April 1916 to 12 August 1922; from 14 August 1923 to 25 October 1923; and from 15 March 1934 to 22 June 1934.Lee was born in Longford in...
  
   is defeated in a no-confidence motion, and Joseph Lyons
  Joseph Lyons
  Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
  
   becomes Premier of Tasmania.
• 31 October – The Marble Bar
  Marble Bar, Western Australia
  -North Pole:An ironically named locality nearby is known as North Pole , no doubt for its heat. It is the location of rock formations considered to have evidence that puts the origin of life on earth back to 3,400–3,500 mya, due to stromatolites in particular rock sequences...
  
   heat wave
  Heat wave
  A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity. There is no universal definition of a heat wave; the term is relative to the usual weather in the area...
  
   begins, which by 7 April 1924 will hold the world record for the longest number of consecutive days (160) in which a temperature above 100°Fahrenheit (37.8°Celsius) was recorded.
• 1 November – The 1923 Victorian Police strike
  1923 Victorian Police strike
  The 1923 Victorian Police strike occurred in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. On the eve of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival in November 1923, half the police force in Melbourne went on strike over the operation of a supervisory system using labour spies...
  
   begins, with half of the Victoria Police
  Victoria Police
  Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of Victoria, Australia. , the Victoria Police has over 12,190 sworn members, along with over 400 recruits, reservists and Protective Service Officers, and over 2,900 civilian staff across 393 police stations.-Early history:The Victoria Police...
  
   force standing down over the use of labour spies
  Labor spies
  Labor spies are persons recruited or employed for the purpose of gathering intelligence, committing sabotage, sowing dissent, or engaging in other similar activities, typically within the context of an employer/labor organization relationship....
  
  . Rioting and looting takes place in the Melbourne city centre.

Sport

• 20 October – Essendon
  Essendon Football Club
  The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
  
   wins the Premiership of the 1923 VFL season
  1923 VFL season
  Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1923.-Premiership season:In 1923, the VFL competition had nine teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on...
  
  , defeating Fitzroy
  Fitzroy Football Club
  The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
  
   8.15 (63) to 6.10 (46) at the MCG
  Melbourne Cricket Ground
  The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
  
  .
• Bitalli wins the Melbourne Cup
  Melbourne Cup
  The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
  
  
• Wynette wins the Caulfield Cup
  Caulfield Cup
  The Caulfield Cup, one of Australia's richest Thoroughbred horse races and the richest of its type in the world is held annually by the Melbourne Racing Club. The race is a handicap like the Melbourne Cup, which means that horses that compete in the Caulfield Cup are capable of running on the...
  
  
• New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield
  Pura Cup
  The Sheffield Shield is the domestic cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Prior to the Shield being established, a number of intercolonial matches were played. The Shield, donated by Lord Sheffield, was first contested during...
  
  

Births

• 3 January – Bud Tingwell, actor (d. 2009)
• 15 March – Lou Richards
  Lou Richards
  Lewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards is a retired Australian rules footballer, who played 250 games with the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League between 1941 and 1955...
  
  , Australian Rules footballer and media personality
• 21 May – Dorothy Hewett
  Dorothy Hewett
  Dorothy Coade Hewett was an Australian feminist poet, novelist, librettist and playwright. She was also a member of the Communist Party of Australia, though she clashed on many occasions with the party's leadership.-Early life:Hewett was born in Perth and was brought up on a sheep and wheat farm...
  
  , poet and playwright (d. 2002)
• 15 June – Ninian Stephen
  Ninian Stephen
  Sir Ninian Martin Stephen, is a retired politician and judge, who served as the 20th Governor-General of Australia and as a Justice in the High Court of Australia.-Early life:...
  
  , Governor General of Australia
• 25 June – Harry Seidler
  Harry Seidler
  Harry Seidler, AC OBE was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauhaus in Australia.Harry Seidler designed more than 180 buildings and he...
  
  , architect (d. 2006)
• 28 July – Theo Bruce
  Theo Bruce
  Theo Bruce was an Australian athlete who mainly competed in the men's long jump. He represented Australia at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, where he won the silver medal in his specialty.Competition in the long jump was particularly keen at the London Games. Willie Steele of the U.S...
  
  , long jumper (d. 2002)
• 4 August – Reg Grundy
  Reg Grundy
  Reginald Roy "Reg" Grundy, AC, OBE is one of the most successful Australian entrepreneurs, and media and television moguls of his generation.He was the only child born to Roy Grundy and Lillian Lees...
  
  , media owner
• 15 October – Lindsay Thompson
  Lindsay Thompson
  Lindsay Hamilton Simpson Thompson AO, CMG , Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 40th Premier of Victoria from June 1981 to April 1982...
  
  , Premier of Victoria (d. 2008)

Deaths

• 20 February – Abraham Tobias Boas
  Abraham Tobias Boas
  Abraham Tobias was a rabbi of a Hebrew congregation in Adelaide, South Australia.-Early life:Boas was born at Amsterdam, Holland, son of Tobias Eliesar Boas, rabbi, and his wife Eva Salomon Levi, née Linse. Boas was educated at Amsterdam Theological Seminary and studied theology under a well-known...
  
   (b. 1844), Adelaide rabbi
• 22 February – John Jenkins
  John Jenkins (Australian politician)
  John Greeley Jenkins was an American-Australian politician and Premier of South Australia.Jenkins was the fourth son of Evan Jenkins and Mary Davis of South Wales, was born in Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Wyoming Seminary, Pa., and after working on his father's farm, became in 1872 a...
  
   (b. 1851), Premier of South Australia (1901–1905)
• 18 March – Thomas Allwright Dibbs
  Thomas Allwright Dibbs
  Thomas Allwright Dibbs was an Australian banker.Dibbs was born in George Street, Sydney, the second son of Captain John Dibbs of St Andrews, Scotland, and brother of New South Wales Premier Sir George Dibbs. His father died when he was a boy, and at the age of 14 Dibbs entered the service of the...
  
   (b. 1832), banker
• 2 June – Ted Banfield
  Edmund James Banfield
  Edmund James "Ted" Banfield was an author and naturalist, best known for his book Confessions of a Beachcomber.-Early life:...
  
   (b. 1852), naturalist and author (Confessions of a Beachcomber)
• 4 June – Hume Nisbet
  Hume Nisbet
  James Hume Nisbet was a Scottish-Australian author and artist.Nisbet was born at Stirling, Scotland. At 16 years of age he came to Australia and stayed about seven years, during which he travelled widely. On returning to Scotland he was for eight years art master in the Watt College and the old...
  
   (b. 1849), artist
• 6 June – Sir Denison Miller
  Denison Miller
  Sir Denison Samuel King Miller KCMG, was the first governor of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.-Early life:Miller was born at Fairy Meadow, near Wollongong, New South Wales, the son of Samuel King Miller, head teacher of the Deniliquin public school and his wife Sarah Isabella, née Jones where...
  
   (b. 1860), first governor of the Commonwealth Bank
• 30 June – John Henry Nicholson
  John Henry Nicholson
  John Henry Nicholson was an Australian teacher and writer.Nicholson was the son of John Nicholson, an oriental scholar of distinction, and the first English friend of Ludwig Leichhardt Nicholson was born at Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, was educated at Croft House academy, and emigrated to New...
  
   (b. 1838), teacher and writer
• 26 July – Bella Guerin
  Bella Guerin
  Julia Margaret Guerin Halloran Lavender , known popularly as Bella Guerin, was an Australian feminist, women's activist...
  
   (b. 1858), feminist and suffragist
• 22 August – James Burns (b. 1846), shipowner
• 30 August – Sir Pope Alexander Cooper
  Pope Alexander Cooper
  Sir Pope Alexander Cooper KCMG was an attorney-general and a chief judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland, Australia.-Early life:...
  
   (b. 1848), chief justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland
• 14 September – Edward Millen
  Edward Millen
  Edward Davis Millen was an Australian journalist and politician who served as the first Minister for Repatriation....
  
   (b. 1860), journalist and politician
• 26 September – Charles Scrivener
  Charles Scrivener
  Charles Robert Scrivener was an Australian surveyor, and the person who surveyed numerous sites in New South Wales for the selection of a site for the Australian Capital Territory and Australia's capital city, Canberra....
  
   (b. 1855), surveyor of Canberra
• 5 November – Dowell Philip O'Reilly
  Dowell Philip O'Reilly
  Dowell Philip O'Reilly was an Australian poet, short story writer and politician.-Early life:O'Reilly was born at Sydney. His father, Rev. Thomas O'Reilly, was a well known clergyman of the Church of England, who came of a family with many military and naval associations...
  
   (b. 1865), poet, writer and politician
• 27 November – Penleigh Boyd
  Penleigh Boyd
  Theodore Penleigh Boyd was an Australian artist.Penleigh Boyd was a member of the Boyd artistic dynasty: his parents Arthur Merric Boyd and Emma Minnie Boyd were well-known artists of the day, and his brothers included Merric Boyd the ceramacist and the novelist Martin Boyd...
  
   (b. 1890), artist
• 15 December – Frank Morton
  Frank Morton
  Frank Morton was a journalist and poet, active in Australia.Morton was born at Bromley, Kent, England, the son of James Morton, a plumber,and his wife Rhoda, née Hookham.. He was educated at a private school at Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire where he obtained a good grounding in the classics and...
  
   (b. 1869), journalist and poet
• 23 December – Sir John Gordon
  John Hannah Gordon
  Sir John Hannah Gordon was a Scottish-Australian judge and politician.Gordon was born at Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, Scotland, the eldest son of the Rev. James Gordon, preacher of the Free Church, and his wife Margaret, née Leonard. The family migrated to South Australia in 1859 where Rev...
  
  (b. 1850), judge and politician