1917 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1917 in Australia.

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

← 1916 1915 1914 1917 in Australia → 1918 1919 1920
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	Other events of 1917 Federal election Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

Billy Hughes

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

State premiers

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

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Gerald Strickland (until 28 October)
• 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 6 July)
• Governor of Western Australia – Major General Sir Harry Barron (until 27 February), then Sir William Ellison-Macartney (from 9 April)
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Arthur Stanley

Events

• 20 March – Lieutenant Frank Hubert McNamara becomes the first Australian airman to receive the Victoria Cross.
• 5 May – A federal election is held. The incumbent Nationalist government led by Billy Hughes is returned to power.
• 5 May – Queenslanders reject a referendum to abolish the state's Legislative Council.[1]
• 2 August – The General Strike of 1917 begins, a massive industrial action involving over 100,000 workers in support of railway workers in Sydney.
• 17 October – The two-halves of the Trans-Australian Railway meet.
• 15 November – 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.
• 29 November – The "Egg Throwing 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 Service to arrest him leads to the forming of the Commonwealth Police Force.[2]
• 12 December – The Royal Australian Navy battlecruiser HMAS Australia is damaged in a collision with the British cruiser HMS Repulse.
• 20 December – The second plebiscite on the issue of military conscription was held; it was defeated.
• Daniel Mannix becomes a Catholic archbishop of Melbourne. He publicly supports Sinn Féin.

Arts and literature

Main article: 1917 in Australian 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

• The Melbourne Cup is won by Westcourt
• The 1917 NSWRFL Premiership is won by Balmain
• The Sheffield Shield is not contested due to the war

Births

• 17 February – Harry Gibbs, Chief Justice of the High Court (died 2005)
• 11 March – Nancy Cato, writer (died 2000)
• 14 March – John McCallum, actor (died 2010)
• 21 March – Frank Hardy, novelist (Power Without Glory) (died 1994)
• 25 March – Barbara Jefferis, author (died 2004)
• 22 April – Sidney Nolan, artist (died 1992)
• 30 April – Mervyn Wood, Olympic rower (died 2006)
• 3 May – James Penberthy, composer (died 1999)
• 7 May – Lenox Hewitt, public servant (died 2020)
• 15 May – Ron Saggers, cricketer (died 1987)
• 25 May – James Plimsoll, Governor of Tasmania from 1982–1987 (died 1987)
• 2 June – Peggy Antonio, female Test cricketer (died 2002)
• 14 July – Pat Moran, statistician (died 1988)
• 17 July – Jack Beale, politician and first Environment Minister (died 2006)
• 19 August – Laurie Aarons, leader of the Australian Communist Party (died 2005)
• 20 August – Dudley Erwin, politician (died 1984)
• 7 September – John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013)
• 12 September – Charles Jones, politician (died 2003)
• 19 September – Paterson Clarence Hughes, RAF pilot (killed in action 1940)
• 30 September – Kim Beazley Sr., Federal politician (died 2007)
• 2 October – Phil Ridings, cricketer (died 1998)
• 5 October – Kenneth Jacobs, Chief Justice of the High Court (died 2015)
• 17 October – Sumner Locke Elliott, novelist (died 1991)
• 20 October – D'Arcy Niland, novelist (died 1967)
• 21 November – Tom Reynolds, VFL footballer (Essendon and St Kilda) (died 2002)
• 22 November – Jon Cleary, novelist (died 2010)
• 8 December – Ian Johnson, cricketer (died 1998)
• 12 December – Xavier Connor, jurist (died 2005)
• 25 December – Tim Walker, NSW politician (died 1986)
• 31 December – Pat Hills, NSW politician (died 1992)

Deaths

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

See also

• List of Australian films of the 1910s

References

1. Abolition of the Upper House Archived 31 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Parliament of Queensland, 27 March 2001.
2. The Warwick incident, Queensland 1917 Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Queensland State Archives.