1912 in Australia

File:Andrew Fisher 1912 (b&w).jpg]]

• Monarch – George V
• Governor-General – The Right Hon. Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman
• Prime Minister – Andrew Fisher
• Chief Justice – Samuel Griffith

• Premier of New South Wales – James McGowen
• Premier of Queensland – Digby Denham
• Premier of South Australia – John Verran (until 17 February), then Archibald Peake
• Premier of Tasmania – Elliott Lewis (until 14 June), then Albert Solomon
• Premier of Victoria – John Murray (until 18 May), then William Watt
• Premier of Western Australia – John Scaddan

• Governor of New South Wales – Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford
• Governor of Queensland – Sir William MacGregor
• Governor of South Australia – Admiral Sir Day Bosanquet
• Governor of Tasmania – Major General Sir Harry Barron
• Governor of Victoria – Sir John Fuller
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Gerald Strickland

• 6 January – First aircraft crash in Australia, between Mount Druitt and Rooty Hill.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15300592 |title=AEROPLANE MISHAP. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=8 January 1912 |access-date=23 January 2012 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}[http://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/our-city/history/the-region/important-dates_home.cfm Important Dates: Blacktown – The Region] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506104005/http://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/our-city/history/the-region/important-dates_home.cfm |date=6 May 2008 }}, Blacktown City Council.
• 18 January – Tramway Employees Association members are dismissed for wearing union badges to work—the ensuing protest marks the beginning of the 1912 Brisbane general strike.{{cite news|last=Moore|first=Tony|title=Brisbane's great strike remembered|url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbanes-great-strike-remembered-20120118-1q64v.html|access-date=23 January 2012|newspaper=Brisbane Times|date=18 January 2012}}
• 4 February – Police officers and special constables attack protesters and strikers at Market Square in Brisbane during the 1912 Brisbane general strike. The day becomes known as "Baton Friday" and later, "Black Friday".
• 20 or 21 March – The {{SS|Koombana}} sinks off Western Australia during a cyclone, killing around 150 people.[http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/wrecks/koombana Shipwreck Database: Koombana], Western Australian Museum.
• 13 April – Francis Birtles becomes the first person to cross the Nullarbor Plain by car.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article72910906 |title=FROM FREMANTLE TO SYDNEY. |newspaper=The Horsham Times |location=Vic. |date=16 April 1912 |access-date=23 January 2012 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• 24 April – The NSW government grants {{convert|43|acre|ha}} of land for the construction of a zoological garden, later known as Taronga Park.[http://www.taronga.org.au/about-us/history/taronga-zoo/taronga-zoo Taronga Zoo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504130608/http://www.taronga.org.au/about-us/history/taronga-zoo/taronga-zoo |date=4 May 2012 }}, Taronga Conservation Society.
• 30 May – The light cruiser {{HMAS|Melbourne|1912|6}} is launched in England.[http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_12588.asp HMAS Melbourne (1913-1928)], Australian War Memorial.
• 15 July – The first branches of the Commonwealth Bank open in Melbourne and country Victoria. The Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher, is the bank's first account holder and depositor.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39915517 |title=THE COMMONWEALTH BANK. |newspaper=The Cairns Post |location=Qld. |date=16 July 1912 |access-date=23 January 2012 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• 19 September – An amended version of the coat of arms of Australia is granted Royal Assent by George V. The Golden Wattle is declared Australia's floral emblem.
• 10 October – The Maternity Allowance Act 1912 is passed, granting a "Baby Bonus" of five pounds to the mother of every child born in Australia (indigenous mothers and other non-citizens are excluded).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65274110 |title=MATERNITY ALLOWANCE. |newspaper=Gippsland Times |location=Vic. |date=23 September 1912 |access-date=23 January 2012 |page=3 Edition: MORNINGS. |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
• 12 October – Forty-two people die in the North Mount Lyell Disaster on the west coast of Tasmania.

{{main|1912 in Australian literature}}

• 29 January – New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield.
• 5 May to 27 July – Australia sends women to the Olympic Games, the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, for the first time. Australasia won 2 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals. Fanny Durack won the 100 metres freestyle. Australasia won the men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay.
• 17 August – The 1912 NSWRFL Premiership is won by Eastern Suburbs, who defeated Glebe 6–4.
• 28 September – The Essendon Bombers win the VFL Grand Final—their second consecutive premiership—defeating South Melbourne Swans 5.17 (47) to 4.9 (33).
• 5 November – Piastre wins the Melbourne Cup.

• 5 January – Doris Carter, athlete (died 1999)
• 3 February – Jack Metcalfe, athlete (died 1994)
• 7 February – Russell Drysdale, artist (died 1981)
• 12 March – Kylie Tennant, writer (died 1988)
• 28 May – Patrick White, writer (died 1990)
• 4 June – William Dargie, painter (died 2003)
• 1 August – David Brand, Premier of Western Australia (died 1979)
• 1 August – Damien Parer, war photographer (died 1944)
• 2 August – Gwen Plumb, entertainer (died 2002)
• 18 November – Vic Hey (died 1995), rugby league footballer and coach
• 11 December – Eric Joseph Wright, gp, medical administrator and public servant (died 1979)

• 23 January – Martin Howy Irving, rower and educationist (born and died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1831)
• 10 February – Thomas Reibey, 11th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1821)
• 20 February – Albert Bythesea Weigall, headmaster (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1840)
• 11 March – Sir William Zeal, Victorian politician and railway engineer (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1830)
• 3 April – Philip Argall, cricketer (b. 1855)
• 20 April – Charles Harper, Western Australian politician, pastoralist and newspaper proprietor (b. 1842)
• 21 May – Mick Grace, Australian rules footballer (Fitzroy, Carlton, St Kilda) (b. 1874)
• 5 June – Francis James Gillen, anthropologist and ethnologist (b. 1855)
• 25 June – William Guilfoyle, landscape gardener and botanist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1840)
• 27 June – George Bonnor, cricketer (b. 1855)
• 29 June – Frederick Henry Piesse, Western Australian politician, businessman and farmer (b. 1853)
• 13 September – Joseph Furphy, author and poet (b. 1843)
• 29 September – James Charles Cox, physician and conchologist (b. 1834)
• 18 November – Richard O'Connor, New South Wales politician and inaugural High Court justice (b. 1851)
• 16 December – George Rignold, actor (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1839)

• List of Australian films of the 1910s

{{reflist}}

{{Years in Australia}}

{{Oceania topic|1912 in|countries_only=yes}}

Australia

Category:Years of the 20th century in Australia