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.

Incumbents

Monarch – George V
Governor-General – Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson
Prime Minister – Billy Hughes
Chief Justice – Samuel Griffith

State premiers

Premier of New South Wales – William Holman
Premier of Queensland – T. J. Ryan
Premier of South Australia – Archibald Peake
Premier of Tasmania – Walter Lee
Premier of Victoria – John Bowser, then Harry Lawson
Premier of Western Australia – Sir Henry Lefroy

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

May Gibbs publishes Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.
Norman Lindsay publishes The Magic Pudding.

Sport

3 August – The South Sydney Rabbitohs win the New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1918.
7 September – The South Melbourne Swans defeat the Collingwood Magpies 9.8 to 7.15, becoming premiers of the 1918 VFL season.
12 November – Night Watch wins the Melbourne Cup.

Births

16 January – Clem Jones, Lord Mayor of Brisbane
26 January – Amy Witting, novelist
8 February – Charles Birch, geneticist
5 March – John Billings, doctor who developed the Billings Method
14 March – John McCallum, actor
18 March – David Zeidler, chemist and industrialist
19 March – Jim Brown, NSW politician
11 April – Francis Hassett, Australian Army general
18 April – Harry Firth, racing driver
21 April – Francis James, publisher
5 July – Brian James, actor
16 July – Jim Vickers-Willis, Australian journalist
26 July – Richard Arthur Blackburn, Chief Justice of the ACT
24 August – Sandy Pearson, soldier
4 September – John Carrick, politician
5 September
* Bob Katter, Sr., Country Party politician
* Buddy Williams, country musician
13 September – Eric McClintock, businessman and public servant
14 October – Thelma Coyne Long, tennis player
14 October – Doug Ring, cricketer
13 December – Jack Emanuel, George Cross recipient
15 December – Pauline Neura Reilly, ornithologist

Deaths

23 February – Alexander Bolton, New South Wales politician
11 May – George Elmslie, 25th Premier of Victoria
14 July – James White, sculptor
2 September – Sir John Forrest, 1st Premier of Western Australia and explorer
12 September – Sir George Reid, 4th Prime Minister of Australia and 12th Premier of New South Wales
10 October – Henry Dobson, 17th Premier of Tasmania
12 October – Mary Hannay Foott, poet
30 October – Chester Manifold, Victorian politician
7 December – Frank Wilson, 9th Premier of Western Australia