1909 in Australia

← 1908 1907 1906 1909 in Australia → 1910 1911 1912
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	1909 in Australian literature Other events of 1909 Timeline of Australian history

1909 in Australia
Monarch	Edward VII
Governor-General	William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley
Prime minister	Alfred Deakin
Population	4,272,439
Elections	Queensland, Tasmania

The following lists events that happened during 1909 in the Commonwealth of Australia.

Incumbents

Andrew Fisher

Alfred Deakin

• Monarch – Edward VII
• Governor-General – William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley
• Prime Minister – Andrew Fisher (until 2 June), then Alfred Deakin
• Chief Justice – Samuel Griffith

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Charles Wade
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Price (until 5 June), then Archibald Peake
• Premier of Queensland – William Kidston
• Premier of Tasmania – John Evans (until 19 June), then Sir Elliott Lewis (until 20 October), then John Earle (until 27 October), then Sir Elliott Lewis
• Premier of Western Australia – Sir Newton Moore
• Premier of Victoria – Sir Thomas Bent (until 8 January), then John Murray

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Admiral Sir Harry Rawson (until 24 March), then Frederic Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford (from 28 May)
• Governor of South Australia – Sir George Le Hunte (until 2 January), then Sir Day Bosanquet (from 29 March)
• Governor of Queensland – Frederic Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford (until 26 May), then Sir William MacGregor (from 2 December)
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Gerald Strickland (until 20 May), then Sir Harry Barron (from 29 September)
• Governor of Western Australia – Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford (until 23 April), then Sir Gerald Strickland (from 31 May)
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael

Events

• 8 January – Sir Thomas Bent retires as Premier of Victoria, and is replaced by John Murray.
• 9 March – Electric trams begin operation in Adelaide.
• 31 March – Victoria is the last Australian state to grant women's suffrage.
• 30 April – Tasmania begins to use the Hare-Clark single transferable vote method in the 1909 general election.
• 26 May – The Protectionist Party and the Free Trade Party merge to form the Fusion Party, led by Alfred Deakin.
• 2 June – The Labor government of Andrew Fisher is ousted from office by Alfred Deakin's Fusion Party, and Deakin becomes Prime Minister for the third time.
• 5 June – Steam trams begin operation in Rockhampton, Queensland.
• 18 to 21 August – Disastrous floods strike Victoria.
• 6 October – Martha Rendell becomes the last woman to be hanged in Western Australia.
• 9 October – John Earle becomes Premier of Tasmania, leading Tasmania's first Labor government, however Earle's minority government only lasts a week.
• 6 December - the Newcastle–Bolgart Railway was opened.
• 10 December – The University of Queensland is established.
• 14 December – New South Wales passes law ceding land to the Commonwealth for construction of the national capital, Canberra.
• 21 December – British Field Marshal Lord Kitchener arrives in Darwin after an invitation from Alfred Deakin to review Australia's military and defence plans.
• 24 December – Former Prime Minister Sir George Reid resigns from Parliament to become Australia's first High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Science and technology

• 16 July – The first powered aeroplane flight in Australia is made.

Arts and literature

Main article: 1909 in Australian literature

Sport

• 29 January – New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield
• 15 June – Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's and form the Imperial Cricket Conference.
• 21 August – Andrew Wood wins the inaugural men's national marathon title, clocking 2:59:15 in Brisbane. Though billed as the Australasian Championships, the Australian Athletic Union did not consider it to be the official championship.
• 31 August – The first interstate ice hockey competition is held in Melbourne.
• 14 September - The 1909 NSWRFL season culminates in the grand final which was forfeited by Balmain to make South Sydney back-to-back premiers
• 29 October – The South Melbourne Swans defeat the Carlton Blues 4.14 (38) to 4.12 (36) in the 1909 VFL Grand Final.
• 2 November – Prince Foote wins the Melbourne Cup.

Births

• 19 January – Leon Goldsworthy, explosives expert (died 1994)
• 8 February – Elisabeth Murdoch, philanthropist (died 2012)
• 13 February – Reginald Ansett, businessman and aviator (died 1981)
• 2 March – Percival Bazeley, scientist (died 1991)
• 19 March – Nell Hall Hopman, tennis player (died 1968)
• 26 March – Chips Rafferty, actor (died 1971) ^[1]
• 9 April – Robert Helpmann, dancer and choreographer (died 1986)
• 23 May – William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle, Governor General of Australia (died 1991)
• 15 June – Cyril Walsh, High Court judge (died 1973)
• 20 June – Errol Flynn, Australian actor (died 1959)
• 23 June – Keith Virtue, aviator (died 1980)
• 26 June – Mavis Thorpe Clark, novelist, writer (died 1999)
• 6 July – Eric Reece, Premier of Tasmania (died 1999)
• 13 August – Brian Lawrance, bandleader (died 1983) ^[2]
• 9 September – Decima Norman, athlete (died 1983)
• 10 September – Dorothy Hill, geologist (died 1998)
• 3 December – Stanley Burbury, Governor of Tasmania (died 1995)

Deaths

Thomas Price

• 9 February – Charles Conder, artist (born and died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1868)
• 4 March – Max Hirsch, Victorian politician, businessman and economist (born in Prussia and died in Russia) (b. 1852)
• 14 March – William Charles Kernot, engineer (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1845)
• 6 April – Sir Julian Salomons, 5th Chief Justice of New South Wales (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1835)
• 18 April – William Saumarez Smith, Anglican archbishop (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1836)
• 28 April – Henry D'Esterre Taylor, banker and federationist (b. 1853)
• 23 May – Elias Solomon, Western Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1839)
• 31 May – Thomas Price, 24th Premier of South Australia (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1852)
• 29 June – Sir George Shenton, Western Australian politician (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1842)
• 4 July – Alfred Compigne, Queensland politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1818)
• 23 July – Sir Frederick Holder, 19th Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
• 8 August – Mary MacKillop, religious sister (b. 1842)
• 18 September – Mary Lee, suffragette and social reformer (born in Ireland) (b. 1821)
• 6 October – Martha Rendell, convicted murderer (b. 1871)
• 10 November – George Essex Evans, poet (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1863)
• 6 December – Sir William Henry Bundey, South Australian politician and judge (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1838)

References

1. A. F. Pike (1996). John Ritchie (ed.). Goffage, John William Pilbean (1909–1971). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 14. Melbourne University Press. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
2. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/464K