See also: 1920 in Australia, other events of 1921, 1922 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.

Incumbents

• Monarch King George V
• Governor-General Henry Forster
• Prime Minister Billy Hughes

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales John Storey (until 5 October), then James Dooley (from 10 October until 20 December), then George Fuller (for 7 hours on 20 December), then James Dooley
• Premier of Queensland Ted Theodore
• Premier of South Australia Henry Barwell
• Premier of Tasmania Walter Lee
• Premier of Victoria Harry Lawson
• Premier of Western Australia James Mitchell

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales Sir Walter Davidson
• Governor of Queensland Sir Matthew Nathan
• Governor of South Australia Sir William Weigall
• Governor of Tasmania Sir William Allardyce
• Governor of Victoria George Rous, 3rd Earl of Stradbroke (from 21 February)
• Governor of Western Australia Sir Francis Newdegate

Events

• 7 March The Commonwealth Department of Health is formed.
• 12 March Edith Cowan becomes the first female parliamentarian in Australia, when she is elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council.
• 22 March New South Wales MP Percy Brookfield is shot and killed when he tackles a crazed gunman at the train station in Riverton, South Australia.
• 31 March The Royal Australian Air Force is established.^[1]
• 9 May Australia assumes responsibility for administration of the Territory of New Guinea, following a League of Nations mandate divesting Germany of its colonies as required by the Treaty of Versailles.
• 30 August A general election is held in Victoria. Harry Lawson of the Nationalist Party is returned as premier, although in a minority government.
• 26 October The first group of Barnardo's Boys arrived in Sydney.
• 13 November The cartoon character Ginger Meggs makes his first appearance, in a Sunday Sun comic strip "Us Fellers" drawn by cartoonist Jimmy Bancks.
• 30 December Twelve-year-old Alma Tirtschke is raped and murdered in Melbourne, in what becomes known as the Gun Alley Murder.
• 31 December Walter Burley Griffin is removed as director of construction for Canberra after disagreements over his supervisory role.

Science and technology

Arts and literature

• William McInnes wins the inaugural Archibald Prize for portraiture

Film

Sport

• Sister Olive wins the Melbourne Cup
• New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield
• In Test Cricket, Australia defeated England in The Ashes series
• A Le Fevre wins the Australian Open Championship in golf

Births

• 3 January Vasey Houghton, politician and conservationist (died 2001)
• 9 January Bunney Brooke, actor (Number 96) (died 2000)
• 16 February Bill Knott, NSW politician
• 4 March Walter Campbell, Governor of Queensland (died 2004)
• 12 March Norman Foster, politician (died 2006)
• 29 March Sam Loxton, cricketer
• 1 April Harold James Frith, ornithologist
• 13 April Max Harris, writer (Angry Penguins) (died 1995)
• 13 May George Petersen, Labor politician (died 2000)
• 28 May Tom Uren, Labor politician
• 3 June Forbes Carlile, swimming coach and Olympic pentathlete
• 19 June Patricia Wrightson, children's author
• 22 July Ronald N. Bracewell, physicist and radio astronomer (died 2007)
• 31 July John Makepeace Bennett, computer scientist
• 20 August Jack Wilson, cricketer (died 1985)
• 21 November Betty Wilson, cricketer
• 24 November Allan Ashbolt, journalist (died 2005)
• 26 December Donald Horne, journalist and writer (died 2005)

Deaths

• 14 January Edward Hamersley (born 1835 or 1836), WA politician
• 27 January Maurice Vincent Buckley (born 1891), soldier and Victoria Cross recipient
• 14 March Gustave Barnes (born 1877), artist
• 21 May Oswald Watt (born 1878), aviator
• 6 June William Mark Forster (born 1846), philanthropist
• 18 June G. H. Gibson (born 1846), writer and satirist
• 2 July Edwin Evans (born 1849), cricketer
• 12 July Harry Hawker (born 1889), aviation pioneer
• 26 July Howard Vernon (born 1845), actor
• 1 August T. J. Ryan (born 1876), Premier of Queensland (1915 1919)
• 23 August Frank Hann (born 1846), explorer
• 13 September James Hebblethwaite (born 1857), poet
• 5 October John Storey (born 1869), Premier of New South Wales (1920 1921)
• 30 October James Murdoch (born 1856), Scottish journalist
• 6 November Robert Logan Jack (born 1845), geologist
• 17 November John McLaren (born 1886), cricketer
• 24 December William Curran, cricketer

References