1919 in Australia
The following lists events that happened during 1919 in Australia.
Incumbents
- Monarch – George V
- Governor-General – Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson
- Prime Minister – Billy Hughes
- Chief Justice – Samuel Griffith then Adrian Knox
State premiers
- Premier of New South Wales – William Holman
- Premier of Queensland – T. J. Ryan, then Ted Theodore
- Premier of South Australia – Archibald Peake
- Premier of Tasmania – Walter Lee
- Premier of Victoria – Harry Lawson
- Premier of Western Australia – Sir Henry Lefroy, then Sir Hal Colebatch, then James Mitchell
State governors
- Governor of New South Wales – Walter Davidson
- Governor of Queensland – Hamilton Goold-Adams
- Governor of South Australia – Sir Henry Galway
- Governor of Tasmania – Francis Newdegate
- Governor of Victoria – Sir Arthur Stanley
- Governor of Western Australia – William Ellison-Macartney
Events
- 8 January – Strike leader Paul Freeman was arrested outside of Dobbyn, Queensland, sparking a chain of events that would lead to his deportation.
- 1 March – The Potts, believed to be the world's longest running cartoon strip drawn by the same artist, is first published in The Sun News-Pictorial.
- 24 March – one of the most notable incidents of the Red Flag Riots occurred in Brisbane, Queensland, when a crowd of returned servicemen clashed with police. The incident had been sparked the previous day by a socialist demonstration against the continued operation of the War Precautions Act, which had angered many of the returned soldiers.
- 1 June – A mutiny breaks out on the Royal Australian Navy battlecruiser shortly after it arrives in Fremantle, Western Australia.
- 28 June – The Treaty of Versailles is signed in France, bringing Australia's involvement in World War I to an end.
- 18 October – Sir Adrian Knox is appointed Chief Justice of the High Court.
- 28 October – The Treaty of Peace Act 1919 receives Royal Assent, confirming Australia's membership as a sovereign nation in the new League of Nations, and indicating Australia's independence from the United Kingdom.
- 10 December – Keith and Ross Smith, piloting a Vickers Vimy, reach Darwin at the end of the first England to Australia flight.
- 19 December – A federal election is held. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Billy Hughes defeats the Australian Labor Party of Frank Tudor.
- 24 December – The Electrical Trades Union of Australia is federally registered under the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1904.
- The worldwide Spanish flu epidemic continues, eventually claiming almost 12,000 lives in Australia.
- At the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 Australian delegates succeed in excluding recognition of the principle of racial equality in the League of Nations Covenant.
Arts and literature
- 10 September – J. F. Archibald, founding editor of The Bulletin dies, bequeathing money which would be used to award the Archibald Prize for portraiture.
- Elioth Gruner wins the Wynne Prize for his work, Spring Frost.
Film
- 4 October – The Sentimental Bloke premieres in Melbourne.
Sport
- Balmain win the 1919 NSWRFL Premiership
- 11 November – Artilleryman wins the Melbourne Cup
- January 1919 – A.R.F. Kingscote wins the Australian Open
Births
- 6 January – Geoffrey Bingham, author and Anglican minister
- 3 February – Bill Alley, cricketer
- 16 February – Keith Carmody, cricketer
- 22 February – Mary Maguire, actress
- 1 March – Reg Sprigg, geologist
- 20 March - Pat Norton, backstroke swimmer
- 25 March – Arthur Wade, NSW politician
- 28 March – Tom Brooks, cricketer
- 10 April – Vernon Wilcox, politician
- 1 May – Lance Barnard, Deputy Prime Minister
- 15 May – Tom Drake-Brockman, politician
- 22 May – Peter Howson, politician
- 28 May – Olga Masters, writer
- 30 May – Jim Miller, Australian rules footballer
- 8 June – Bill Newton, Second World War VC recipient
- 24 June – Fabian McCarthy, rugby union footballer
- 6 July – Edward Kenna, Second World War VC recipient
- 15 July – Harcourt Dowsley, sportsman
- 14 September – Gil Langley, cricketer
- 6 October – Abe Saffron, Sydney crime figure
- 7 October – Zelman Cowen, Governor General of Australia
- 5 November – Thomas O'Dwyer, cricketer
- 19 November – Margaret Whitlam, wife of Gough Whitlam
- 28 November – Keith Miller, pilot and sportsman
- 7 December – Wilfred Arthur, World War II fighter ace
- 10 December – Jean Lee, last woman executed in Australia
- 17 December – Geraldine Halls, mystery novelist
- 29 December – Malcolm Mackay, politician
Deaths
- 9 January – Robert Harper, Victorian politician
- 4 February – Richard Bowyer Smith, inventor
- 20 March – Sir Edward Charles Stirling, anthropologist
- 11 May – Simon Fraser, Australian rules footballer, rower and ice hockey player
- 8 June – Sir Henry Briggs, Western Australian politician
- 21 June – Sir Thomas à Beckett, solicitor and judge
- 25 July – Sir Samuel McCaughey, New South Wales politician, pastoralist and philanthropist
- 30 July – Sir Simon Fraser, Victorian politician, pastoralist and businessman
- 4 August – Dave Gregory, cricketer
- 10 September – J. F. Archibald, publisher and journalist
- 12 September – Sir John Mark Davies, Victorian politician
- 24 September – Frank Laver, cricketer and baseball player
- 29 September – Edward Pulsford, New South Wales politician
- 7 October – Alfred Deakin, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia
- 13 October – Henry Saunders, Western Australian politician
- 25 October – William Kidston, 17th Premier of Queensland
- 2 November – Mephan Ferguson, manufacturer
- 20 December – Sir Philip Fysh, 12th Premier of Tasmania
- 25 December – Sir Edwin Thomas Smith, South Australian politician, brewer and businessman