1922 in Australia

← 1921 1920 1919 1922 in Australia → 1923 1924 1925
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
See also:	1922 in Australian literature Other events of 1922 Federal election Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1922 in Australia.

1922 in Australia
Monarch	George V
Governor-General	Henry Forster
Prime minister	Billy Hughes
Population	5,569,889
Elections	Federal, New South Wales, Tasmania

Incumbents

Billy Hughes

• Monarch – George V
• Governor-General – Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster of Lepe
• Prime Minister – Billy Hughes
• Chief Justice – Adrian Knox

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – James Dooley (until 13 April), then George Fuller
• Premier of Queensland – Ted Theodore
• Premier of South Australia – Henry Barwell
• Premier of Tasmania – Walter Lee (until 12 August), then John Hayes
• Premier of Western Australia – James Mitchell
• Premier of Victoria – Harry Lawson

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Walter Davidson
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Matthew Nathan
• Governor of South Australia – Sir William Weigall (until 24 April), then Sir Tom Bridges (from 4 December)
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir William Allardyce
• Governor of Victoria – George Rous, 3rd Earl of Stradbroke
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Francis Newdegate

Events

• 14 February – Women are allowed to stand for parliament in Tasmania.
• 22 March – The Queensland Legislative Council, the upper house of the Parliament of Queensland is abolished.
• 10 June – A general election is held in Tasmania, which results in a hung parliament.
• 3 July – Queensland abolishes capital punishment, the first state in Australia to do so. The Legislative Assembly of Queensland voted 33 to 30 to abolish the death penalty. ^{[1] [2] [3]}
• 12 August – The Country Party and the Nationalist Party form a coalition government in Tasmania, with John Hayes as Premier.

Science and technology

• 21 September – A total solar eclipse occurs over Australia, allowing scientists to test Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. ^[4]

Arts and literature

Main article: 1922 in Australian literature

• 4 May – British author D. H. Lawrence arrives in Australia for a three-month holiday, where he will meet Mollie Skinner and write the novel Kangaroo .

Sport

• 28 February – Victoria wins the Sheffield Shield.
• 30 September – Fitzroy wins the 1922 VFL Grand Final, defeating Collingwood 11.13 (79) to 9.14 (68).
• 7 November – King Ingoda wins the Melbourne Cup.
• The 1922 NSWRFL Premiership is won by North Sydney, who defeated Glebe 35–3 in the final.

Births

• 5 January – Anthony Synnot, Chief of the Defence Force (died 2001)
• 15 January – Eric Willis, Premier of New South Wales (died 1999)
• 23 January – Tom Lewis, Premier of New South Wales (died 2016)
• 21 February – Fos Williams, Australian rules footballer (died 2001)
• 24 February – Bill Morris, Australian rules footballer (died 1960)
• 14 March – Bob Bignall, soccer player (died 2013)
• 15 March – Hesba Fay Brinsmead, children's author (died 2003)
• 28 March – Neville Bonner, first Indigenous federal MP (died 1999) ^[5]
• 29 March – Mac Holten, Australian rules footballer and politician (died 1996)
• 30 March – John McLeay, Jr., politician (died 2000)
• 10 April – Nancy Millis, microbiologist (died 2012)
• 9 May – Col Hoy, cricket umpire (died 1999)
• 12 May – Arthur Gorrie, Hobby shop proprietor (died 1992)
• 27 June – Milton Clark, Australian rules footballer (died 2018)
• 7 July – Robert Raymond, filmmaker and television pioneer (died 2003)
• 29 July – Mac Wilson, Australian rules footballer (died 1996)
• 1 August – Pat McDonald, actress ( Number 96 ) (died 1990)
• 23 August – Ronald Wilson, High Court justice (died 2005)
• 30 August – Lionel Murphy, Attorney-General and High Court justice (died 1986)
• 25 September – Ted Baldwin, politician (died 2008)
• 26 September – Leonard Teale, actor (died 1994)
• 7 October – Jim McCabe, Victorian politician (died 2019)
• 10 October – Tim McNamara, musician (died 1983)
• 1 November – James Rowland, Chief of Air Force and Governor of New South Wales (died 1999)
• 18 November – Una Hale, operatic soprano (died 2005)
• 4 December – Densey Clyne, naturalist, photographer and writer (died 2019)
• 6 December – Gordon Ada, microbiologist (died 2012)
• 20 December – Geoff Mack, country music singer (died 2017)
• 28 December – Lionel Bowen, politician (died 2012)

Deaths

Frank Tudor

Henry Lawson

• 10 January – Frank Tudor, 6th Federal Leader of the Opposition (b. 1866)
• 14 February – Bertram Stevens, art and literary critic (b. 1872)
• 8 March – Elizabeth, Lady Hope, evangelist (b. 1842)
• 22 March – Arthur Groom, Victorian politician and land agent (b. 1852)
• 4 April – Peter Waite, pastoralist, businessman and philanthropist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1834)
• 7 April – James McGowen, 18th Premier of New South Wales (born in the Indian Ocean) (b. 1855)
• 14 April – Rose Summerfield, feminist and labour activist (died in Paraguay) (b. 1864)
• 24 April – Colin Campbell Ross, wine bar owner and falsely convicted murderer (b. 1892)
• 30 April – Robert Carl Sticht, metallurgist and art collector (born in the United States) (b. 1856)
• 24 May – James Arthur Pollock, physicist (born in Ireland) (b. 1865)
• 25 May – Roy Redgrave, actor (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1873)
• 31 May – Jørgen Jensen, soldier (born in Denmark) (b. 1891)
• 15 June – Alfred Cecil Rowlandson, publisher and bookseller (died in New Zealand) (b. 1865)
• 17 June – Sir Robert Philp, 15th Premier of Queensland (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1922)
• 11 July – Hans Irvine, Victorian politician and winemaker (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1856)
• 23 July – Joseph Edmund Carne, geologist (b. 1855)
• 2 September – Henry Lawson, writer and poet (b. 1867)
• 17 September – Kate Rickards, trapeze artist and musical theatre actress (died in the Red Sea) (b. 1862)
• 26 September – Sir Charles Wade, 17th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1863)
• 4 October – Ellis Rowan, naturalist and illustrator (b. 1848)
• 27 November – Dugald Thomson, New South Wales politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1849)
• 17 December – David Lindsay, explorer and surveyor (b. 1856)

See also

• List of Australian films of the 1920s

References

1. "not logged in" (PDF). espace.library.uq.edu.au. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
2. Lawyers, Creevey Horrell (12 July 2022). "100 YEARS SINCE THE ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY IN QUEENSLAND". Creevey Horrell. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
3. "Path to Abolition: A History of Execution of Queenland" (PDF). media.sclqld.org.au. 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
4. Sherratt, Tim; Young, Victoria (June 1995). "1922 Solar Eclipse in Australia - Testing Einstein's Theory". University of Melbourne .
5. Millar, F. Ann (2010). The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. UNSW Press. p. 356. ISBN   978-0-86840-996-2.