1920 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1920 in Australia.

Incumbents

Monarch – George V
Governor-General – Ronald Munro Ferguson, then Henry Forster
Prime Minister – Billy Hughes
Chief Justice – Adrian Knox

State premiers

Premier of New South Wales – William Holman, then John Storey
Premier of Queensland – Ted Theodore
Premier of South Australia – Archibald Peake, then 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 Hamilton Goold-Adams, then Sir Matthew Nathan
Governor of South Australia – Sir Henry Galway, then Sir William Weigall
Governor of Tasmania – Sir Francis Newdegate, then Sir William Allardyce
Governor of Victoria – Sir Arthur Stanley
Governor of Western Australia – Sir William Ellison-Macartney

Events

22 January – The national Country Party of Australia is formed.
20 March – A 1920 [New South Wales state election|state election] is held in New South Wales. The Labor Party led by John Storey defeats the incumbent Nationalist Party.
2 April – Edward, Prince of Wales arrives in the country to thank Australians for the part they played in World War I.
22 April – The High Court of Australia rules in the case of R v Licensing Court of Brisbane; Ex parte Daniell, that simultaneous obedience was impossible in cases where federal and state law were inconsistent, and that according to the Constitution of Australia, in such cases the state law is invalid.
1 June – Adelaide has its wettest June day on record from a vigorous cold front with 53.6 millimetres setting the scene for the wettest winter on record in the Murray–Darling basin and second-wettest for all of southern Australia.
10 June – Perth has its highest daily rainfall until 1992 with 99.1 millimetres from a vigorous cold front
10 August – The Princes Highway is officially opened.
31 August – The High Court of Australia rules in the case of Amalgamated [Society of Engineers v. Adelaide Steamship Co. Ltd.], commonly known as the "Engineers' Case", that decisions of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court were binding on State governments.
21 October – A state election is held in Victoria. Harry Lawson and the Nationalist Party retain power.
30 October – The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney.
16 November – The Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service, later known as Qantas, is founded in Winton.
3 December – The first successful flight from Melbourne to Perth is completed.
17 December – The authority to issue currency notes is transferred from Treasury (Australia)|Treasury] on the Australian Notes Board.

Sport

28 January – The New South Wales cricket team wins the 1919-20 Sheffield Shield.
20 April to 12 September – Australia competes at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, winning one bronze and two silver medals. It is the first time Australia has competed at the Olympics separately from New Zealand – the two nations had previously competed as a combined Australasia team.
Mid-year the 1920 [Great Britain Lions tour] of Australasia sees the Great Britain national rugby league team play the Ashes series in Australia.
1 September – Balmain Tigers win the New South Wales [Rugby Football League season 1920] by gaining a seven-point lead with three rounds left in the season.
25 September – Victorian Football League Richmond defeat Collingwood 7.10 to 5.5 to win the 1920 VFL grand final.
2 November – Poitrel wins the Melbourne Cup

Births

January - March

27 January – Frank Scully, Victorian politician
3 February – Tony Gaze, fighter pilot and racing driver
19 February – Kevin O'Leary, Northern Territory Supreme Court Chief Justice
26 February – Michael Pate, actor
6 March – Virgil Brennan, fighter pilot
8 March – George Batchelor, mathematician
13 March – Reg Gillard, New South Wales politician
15 March – Donald Watt, cricketer, Australian rules footballer, and rugby league footballer
16 March – Leo McKern, actor
22 March – Robert King, Victorian politician
26 March – Oriel Gray, dramatist and playwright
29 March – Nigel Abbott, Tasmanian politician

April - June

7 April – Allan Cuthbertson, actor
9 April – Don Benson, Australian rules footballer
11 April
* Alfred Deakin Brookes, inaugural Australian Secret Intelligence Service head
* Thomas Pearsall, Tasmanian politician
13 April – Alan Loxton, solicitor
14 April – Eddie Jaku, writer and Holocaust survivor
15 April – George Georges, Queensland politician
16 April – Bill Sidwell, tennis player
10 May – John Brack, painter
12 May
* Douglas Scott, New South Wales politician
* Vince Martin, New South Wales politician
16 May – Valda Aveling, pianist
20 May – Bertie Brownlow, cricketer
29 May – Harold Ball, Australian rules footballer and soldier
30 May – Joe Kirkwood Jr., golfer and actor
8 June – Gwen Harwood, poet and librettist
10 June – Paula Stafford, fashion designer
18 June – Rosemary Dobson, poet
19 June – Robert Klippel, artist and sculptor
20 June – Bill Gunn, 24th Deputy Premier of Queensland

July - September

12 July – Bill Heatley, Queensland politician
15 July – Des Fothergill, Australian rules footballer
19 July – Albert Chowne, military officer and Victoria Cross recipient
20 July – Arthur Boyd, artist
30 July – Keith Leopold, author
31 July – Peter Isaacson, publisher and military pilot
3 August – Max Fatchen, children's writer
5 August – Bill Grayden, Western Australian politician
7 August – Reg Saunders, military officer
11 August – Lady Bjelke-Petersen, Queensland politician
16 August – Jack Mannix, New South Wales politician
18 August – Mervyn Lee, Victorian politician
20 August – Keith Froome, rugby league player
21 August – Joy Hester, artist
1 September – Joyce King, Olympic athlete
12 September – Kevin Brennan, actor
16 September – J. J. C. Smart, philosopher
17 September – Ronald Laurence Hughes, military officer
29 September – Peter Connolly, Queensland politician and Queensland Supreme Court judge
30 September – Russell Fox, author and Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court Chief Judge

October - December

19 October – Nev Hewitt, Queensland politician
23 October – Stuart Clarence Graham, military officer
31 October – Helmut Newton, photographer
3 November – Oodgeroo Noonuccal, poet and activist
8 November – Ken Fry, Australian Capital Territory politician
11 November – John Armitage, New South Wales politician
14 November – Bob Cristofani, cricketer
16 November – Colin Thiele, author
30 November – John Hipwell, architect
4 December – Bill Brown, Victorian politician
7 December – Johnny Lockwood, actor
17 December – Herbert S. Green, physicist
26 December – Noel Desmond Gray, businessman
27 December – Don Grossman, Australian rules footballer
28 December – Arthur Gietzelt, New South Wales politician

Deaths

4 January – Robert Etheridge Jr., paleontologist
7 January – Sir Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia and inaugural High Court justice
10 February – Henry Strangways, 12th Premier of South Australia
20 March – Alexander William Jardine, engineer
6 April – Archibald Peake, 25th Premier of South Australia
28 May – Angus Gibson, Queensland politician
30 May – George Ernest Morrison, journalist and geologist
9 August – Sir Samuel Griffith, 9th Premier of Queensland and 1st Chief Justice of Australia
12 August – Louisa Lawson, writer, poet and feminist
16 August – Henry Daglish, 6th Premier of Western Australia
15 September – Sir Thomas Ewing, New South Wales politician
28 November – Alfred Conroy, New South Wales politician
21 December – Claude Tozer, doctor and cricketer