Incumbents

• Monarch
  Monarchy in Australia
  The Monarchy of Australia is a form of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of Australia. The monarchy is a constitutional one modelled on the Westminster style of parliamentary government, incorporating features unique to the Constitution of Australia.The present monarch is...
  
   – Edward VII
• Governor General
  Governor-General of Australia
  The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
  
   – John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun
  John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow
  John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC , also known as Viscount Aithrie before 1873 and as The 7th Earl of Hopetoun between 1873 and 1902, was a Scottish aristocrat, politician and colonial administrator. He is best known for his brief and controversial tenure as the...
  
   (until 29 January), then Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson
  Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson
  Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, GCMG, PC , the second Governor-General of Australia, was born at Chapel House, Twickenham, in Surrey, England. Named after his father's late friend Arthur Hallam, he was the elder son of Alfred Tennyson, the most popular and prominent poet of late Victorian...
  
  
• Prime Minister
  Prime Minister of Australia
  The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
  
   – Edmund Barton
  Edmund Barton
  Sir Edmund Barton, GCMG, KC , Australian politician and judge, was the first Prime Minister of Australia and a founding justice of the High Court of Australia....
  
   (until 24 September), then Alfred Deakin
  Alfred Deakin
  Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...
  
  

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – John See
  John See
  Sir John See, KCMG was a member of the New South Wales Legislature from 26 November 1880 to 15 June 1901, and was then Premier of New South Wales from 1901 to 1904....
  
  
• Premier of Queensland – Robert Philp
  Robert Philp
  Sir Robert Philp, KCMG was a Queensland businessman and politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1899 to September 1903 and again from November 1907 to February 1908.-Early life:...
  
   (until 17 September), then Arthur Morgan
  Arthur Morgan (Queensland politician)
  Sir Arthur Morgan was the Premier of Queensland, Australia from 1903 to 1906.Morgan was born in Warwick, Queensland, the fourth son of James Morgan and his wife Kate, née Barton...
  
  
• Premier of South Australia – John Jenkins
  John Jenkins (Australian politician)
  John Greeley Jenkins was an American-Australian politician and Premier of South Australia.Jenkins was the fourth son of Evan Jenkins and Mary Davis of South Wales, was born in Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Wyoming Seminary, Pa., and after working on his father's farm, became in 1872 a...
  
  

• Premier of Tasmania – Elliott Lewis
  Elliott Lewis
  Sir Neil Elliott Lewis, KCMG , Australian politician, was Premier of Tasmania on three occasions. He was also a member of the first Australian federal ministry, led by Edmund Barton....
  
   (until 9 April), then William Propsting
  William Propsting
  William Bispham Propsting, CMG was an Australian politician and member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, who served as Premier of Tasmania from 9 April 1903 to 11 July 1904.-Early life:...
  
  
• Premier of Western Australia
  Premier of Western Australia
  The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
  
   – Walter James
  Walter James
  Sir Walter Hartwell James KCMG KC was the fifth Premier of Western Australia and an ardent supporter of the federation movement....
  
  
• Premier of Victoria
  Premiers of Victoria
  The Premier of Victoria is the leader of the government in the Australian state of Victoria. The Premier is appointed by the Governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Legislative Assembly....
  
   – William Irvine
  William Irvine (Australian politician)
  Sir William Hill Irvine GCMG , Australian politician and judge, was the 21st Premier of Victoria. Irvine was born in Newry in County Down, Ireland, into a Scottish-Presbyterian family...
  
  

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Admiral Sir Harry Rawson
  Harry Rawson
  Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson, GCB, GCMG RN , is chiefly remembered for overseeing the British Benin Expedition of 1897 that burned and looted the city of the Kingdom of Benin, now in Nigeria...
  
  
• Governor of Queensland – Major General Sir Herbert Chermside
  Herbert Chermside
  Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Charles Chermside GCMG, CB was a British soldier who served as Governor of Queensland in Australia from 1902 to 1904.-Early life and education:...
  
  
• Governor of South Australia – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson
  Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson
  Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, GCMG, PC , the second Governor-General of Australia, was born at Chapel House, Twickenham, in Surrey, England. Named after his father's late friend Arthur Hallam, he was the elder son of Alfred Tennyson, the most popular and prominent poet of late Victorian...
  
   (until 17 July)
• Governor of Tasmania – Captain Sir Arthur Havelock
  Arthur Havelock
  Sir Arthur Elibank Havelock, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE was a career British colonial governor, serving as Governor of Sierra Leone from 1880, of Natal, of Madras, of Ceylon from 1890 to 1895, and of Tasmania from 1901 to 1904....
  
  
• Governor of Western Australia
  Governor of Western Australia
  The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
  
   – Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford
  Frederick Bedford
  Admiral Sir Frederick George Denham Bedford GCB, GCVO was Governor of Western Austria from 24 March 1903 to 22 April 1909.-Naval career:Bedford joined the Royal Navy at the age of 14, and later served in the Crimean War....
  
   (from 24 March)
• Governor of Victoria – Sir George Clarke
  George Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe
  George Sydenham Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe GCSI, GCIE, GCMG, GBE was a British colonial administrator and British Army officer.-Background and education:Clarke was born in Lincolnshire...
  
   (until 24 November)

Events

• 20 February – The Flag of Australia
  Flag of Australia
  The flag of Australia is a defaced Blue Ensign: a blue field with the Union Flag in the canton , and a large white seven-pointed star known as the Commonwealth Star in the lower hoist quarter...
  
  , altered so that the stars of the Southern Cross (except the smallest one) have seven points each, is approved by King Edward VII
  Edward VII of the United Kingdom
  Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
  
  .
• 6 October – The High Court of Australia
  High Court of Australia
  The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
  
   convenes for the first time.
• 24 November – Sir George Clarke
  George Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe
  George Sydenham Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe GCSI, GCIE, GCMG, GBE was a British colonial administrator and British Army officer.-Background and education:Clarke was born in Lincolnshire...
  
   retires as Governor of Victoria. Sir John Madden
  John Madden (jurist)
  Sir John Madden GCMG , Irish-Australian jurist and politician, was the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria....
  
  , the lieutenant governor, acts in his place until the appointment of a new governor.
• 16 December – Australia's second federal election is held, the first in the world in which women were permitted to vote and stand for parliament. The incumbent Protectionist Party
  Protectionist Party
  The Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1889 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. It argued that Australia needed protective tariffs to allow Australian industry to grow and provide employment. It had its greatest strength in Victoria and in...
  
   led by Alfred Deakin
  Alfred Deakin
  Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...
  
   defeated the opposition Free Trade Party
  Free Trade Party
  The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states and renamed the Anti-Socialist Party in 1906, was an Australian political party, formally organised between 1889 and 1909...
  
   led by George Reid
  George Reid (Australian politician)
  Sir George Houstoun Reid, GCB, GCMG, KC was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and the fourth Prime Minister of Australia....
  
  . Vida Goldstein
  Vida Goldstein
  Vida Jane Mary Goldstein was an early Australian feminist politician who campaigned for women's suffrage and social reform.-Early years:...
  
   becomes the first woman in the British Empire
  British Empire
  The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
  
   to stand for a national parliament. She was unsuccessful in her bid for a seat in the Senate.
• 18 December – The first train runs from Rockhampton
  Rockhampton, Queensland
  Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
  
   to Brisbane
  Brisbane
  Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
  
  .

Arts and literature

• Edward Officer wins the Wynne Prize
  Wynne Prize
  The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. One of Australia's longest running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne...
  
   with Glenora
• The Austral Society
  Austral Society
  The Austral Society was founded in 1903 due to the influence of The Toowoomba poet George Essex Evans to promote Australian Arts and Culture. The Society ceased in 1911....
  
   was founded due to the influence of The Toowoomba poet George Essex Evans
  George Essex Evans
  -Biography:Evans was born in London on 18 June 1863. Both his parents were Welsh. Evans's father, John Evans, Q.C., died in 1864 when Evans was only a few months old. John Evans, who was the Treasurer of the Inner Temple and a member of the House of Commons, left his family a fortune of 60 000...
  
  

Sport

• Lord Cardigan wins the Melbourne Cup
  Melbourne Cup
  The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
  
  
• New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield
  Pura Cup
  The Sheffield Shield is the domestic cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Prior to the Shield being established, a number of intercolonial matches were played. The Shield, donated by Lord Sheffield, was first contested during...
  
  

Births

• 21 January – John Carew Eccles
  John Carew Eccles
  John Carew Eccles, AC FRS FRACP FRSNZ FAAS was an Australian neurophysiologist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synapse. He shared the prize with Andrew Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin....
  
   (d. 1997), neurophysiologist and Nobel Prize winner
• 22 April – Daphne Akhurst
  Daphne Akhurst
  Daphne Jessie Akhurst Cozens was an Australian tennis player. According to Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Cozens was ranked World No. 3 in 1928....
  
   (d. 1933), tennis player
• 22 June – Garfield Barwick
  Garfield Barwick
  Sir Garfield Edward John Barwick, was the Attorney-General of Australia , Minister for External Affairs and the seventh and longest serving Chief Justice of Australia...
  
   (d. 1997), Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia

Deaths

• 9 February – Charles Duffy
  Charles Gavan Duffy
  Additional Reading*, Allen & Unwin, 1973.*John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.*Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922....
  
   (b. 1816), 8th Premier of Victoria
• 12 September – Duncan Gillies
  Duncan Gillies
  Duncan Gillies , Australian colonial politician, was the 14th Premier of Victoria.Gillies was born at Overnewton near Glasgow, Scotland, where his father had a market garden. He was sent to the high school until he was about 14, when he entered an office in Glasgow...
  
  (b. 1834), 14th Premier of Victoria