1918 in Australia

1918 in Australia was dominated by national participation in World War I. The Australian Corps, formed at the beginning of the year from the five divisions of the First Australian Imperial Force, played a significant role in the Allied victory.

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Decades:
  • 1890s
  • 1900s
  • 1910s
  • 1920s
  • 1930s
See also:
1918 in Australia
MonarchyGeorge V
Governor-GeneralRonald Munro-Ferguson
Prime ministerBilly Hughes
Population5,029,403
ElectionsSouth Australia, Queensland

Incumbents
Billy Hughes

State premiers

State governors

Events
  • 8 January – Billy Hughes resigns as Prime Minister of Australia as promised following the defeat of the 1917 plebiscite on conscription. He is immediately sworn in again by the Governor-General as there are no alternative candidates.
  • 21 January – Thirty people are killed when the Mackay cyclone strikes the town of Mackay in Queensland.
  • 2 February – The Brighton tornado, the strongest storms ever recorded in Melbourne, strike the suburb of Brighton, killing two people.
  • 10 March – The 1918 Innisfail cyclone made landfall in the area around Innisfail
  • 21 March – John Bowser resigns as Premier of Victoria after his railway estimates bill is defeated in parliament. Harry Lawson forms a composite ministry of Liberal factions, including Bowser as Chief Secretary and Minister for Public Health.
  • 3 August – Australia House, Australia's high commission to the United Kingdom, opens in London.
  • 22 September – The Prime Minister Billy Hughes makes the first direct radio telephone call between England and Australia, calling Sydney from London.
  • 6 October – Australia's first electric train service begins, between Newmarket and Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.
  • 26 October – A by-election is held in the Division of Swan following the death of the sitting member, Sir John Forrest. The youngest ever MP, Edwin Corboy, is elected to parliament.
  • 17 December – The Darwin Rebellion takes place, with 1,000 demonstrators demanding the resignation of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John A. Gilruth.

World War I events
  • 1 January – The Australian Corps is formed from the five AIF divisions on the Western Front.
  • 21 March – The Australian Corps commences fighting to stop the German offensive Operation Michael, the German advance near Amiens.
  • 25 April – Australian forces recapture Villers-Bretonneux from the German army helping to stop Operation Georgette.
  • 31 May – John Monash takes command of the Australia Corps.
  • 4 July – John Monash leads an attack on Hamel, regarded as one of the most prepared battles of the entire war.
  • 8 August – The Battle of Amiens begins with British, Australian and Canadian troops participating in a successful offensive – General Erich Ludendorff described it as "the black day of the German Army".
  • 12 August – King George V knights John Monash on the battlefield, the first British commander to be knighted in that way for 200 years.
  • 18 September – Forces led by John Monash attack the Hindenburg Line in the Battle of the Hindenburg Line capturing 4,300 German troops.
  • 1 October – Australian troops capture Damascus.
  • 5 October – The last Australian operation in the Battle of the Hindenburg Line taking the village of Montbrehain with the line cleared by 10 October.
  • 11 November – Germany signs an Armistice to end World War I.
  • 10 December – Royal Australian Navy ships sail to the Black Sea to assist the White Army in the Russian Civil War.

Arts and literature
Main article: 1918 in Australian literature

Sport

Births
  • 16 January – Clem Jones, Lord Mayor of Brisbane (died 2007)
  • 26 January – Amy Witting, novelist (died 2001)
  • 8 February – Charles Birch, geneticist (died 2009)
  • 5 March – John Billings, doctor who developed the Billings Method (died 2007)
  • 18 March – David Zeidler, chemist and industrialist (died 1998)
  • 19 March – Jim Brown, NSW politician (died 1999)
  • 11 April – Francis Hassett, Australian Army general (died 2008)
  • 18 April – Harry Firth, race car driver (died 2014)
  • 21 April – Francis James, publisher (died 1992)
  • 26 July – Richard Arthur Blackburn, Chief Justice of the ACT (died 1987)
  • 24 August – Sandy Pearson, soldier (died 2012)
  • 4 September – John Carrick, politician (died 2018)
  • 5 September – Bob Katter, Sr., Country Party politician (died 1990)
  • 14 October – Thelma Coyne Long, tennis player (died 2015)
  • 14 October – Doug Ring, cricketer (died 2003)
  • 15 December – Pauline Neura Reilly, ornithologist (died 2011)

Deaths
  • 23 February – Alexander Bolton (born 1847), politician
  • 14 July – James White (born 1861), sculptor
  • 12 September – Sir George Reid (born 1845), Premier of NSW (1894–1899) and Prime Minister (1904–1905)
  • 10 October – Henry Dobson (born 1841), Premier of Tasmania (1892–1894)
  • 12 October – Mary Hannay Foott (born 1846), poet
  • 7 December – Frank Wilson (born 1859), Premier of Western Australia (1910–1911)

See also

References
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