1900 in Australia

← 1899 1898 1897 1900 in Australia → 1901 1902 1903
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	Other events of 1900 Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1900 in Australia.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Queen Victoria

Note: Australia was not yet federalized in 1900, therefore no prime minister existed.

Governors of the Australian colonies

• Governor of New South Wales – William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp
• Governor of Queensland – Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington
• Governor of South Australia – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson
• Governor of Tasmania – Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston (until 14 August)
• Governor of Victoria – Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey (until 31 March)
• Premier of New South Wales – William Lyne
• Premier of South Australia – Frederick Holder
• Premier of Queensland – Robert Philp
• Premier of Tasmania – Elliott Lewis
• Premier of Western Australia – John Forrest
• Premier of Victoria – Allan McLean (until 19 November), then George Turner

Events

• 3 January – Electric lighting is installed on Adelaide streets.
• 25 January – State Labour politicians meet in Sydney to formally found the federal Labour party.
• 25 March – The S.S. Glenelg is wrecked off the Victorian coast, resulting in 31 deaths.
• March to May – Record rainfall and flooding affect the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions of Western Australia
• 9 May – The Sierra Nevada is wrecked off Portsea, Victoria; 23 lives are lost.
• 2 July – Snow falls to extremely low levels in New South Wales, being recorded as low as Forbes.
• 5 July – The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (UK) is passed.
• 24 July – Neville Howse rescues a fallen ally under heavy fire during the Second Boer War, becoming the first Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross.
• 8 August – The first Australian contingents of naval volunteers set sail for China to assist British and international troops during the Boxer Rebellion.
• 17 October – Natural gas is found at Roma in Queensland
• 27 October – Notorious murderer Jimmy Governor is apprehended near Wingham, New South Wales.
• 15 December – Upon his arrival in Australia, the first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, commits the so-called Hopetoun Blunder.

Film

• 14 September – The film Soldiers of the Cross is shown in Melbourne, one of the first films shown in Australia. (IMDb entry)

Literature

Main article: 1900 in Australian literature

Births

• 8 January – Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (died 1982)
• 25 January – Harold Raggatt, public servant (died 1968)
• 7 March – Sir Lorimer Dods, medical pioneer (died 1981)
• 29 March – John McEwen, caretaker Prime Minister (1967–1968) (died 1980)
• 26 April – Alice Berry, social activist (died 1978) ^[1]
• 29 April – Amelia Best, politician (died 1979) ^[2]
• 4 July – Belinda Dann, centenarian, longest-lived member of the Stolen Generation (died 2007). ^[3]
• 29 July – Mary V. Austin, community worker and political activist (died 1986) ^[4]
• 16 August – Ida Browne, geologist and palaeontologist (died 1976) ^[5]
• 9 October – Frank O'Grady, Australian public servant (d. 1981) ^[6]
• 19 October – Bill Ponsford, cricketer (died 1991)
• 20 October – Jack Lindsay, writer (died 1990)
• 3 December – Albert Hawke, Premier of Western Australia (1953–1959) (died 1989)

Deaths

• 17 July – Thomas McIlwraith, former Queensland premier (born 1835)
• 17 November – John Ferris, Australian cricketer (born 1867)

Population

• About 4, 000, 000

See also

• List of Australian films before 1910

References

1. "Biography - Dame Alice Miriam Berry - Australian Dictionary of Biography". 5 March 2016. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
2. "1900". Members of the Parliament of Tasmania . Retrieved 25 August 2022.
3. "Pilbara woman dies at 107". ABC News . 25 October 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
4. Melbourne, National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of. "Austin, Mary Valentine Hall - Woman - The Australian Women's Register". womenaustralia.info. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
5. "Biography - Ida Alison Browne - Australian Dictionary of Biography". 16 February 2017. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
6. Putnis, Peter, "O'Grady, Francis Phillip (1900–1981)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, archived from the original on 21 November 2014