1921 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1921 in Australia.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George V
• Governor-General – Henry Forster
• Prime Minister – Billy Hughes
• Chief Justice – Adrian Knox

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

• March – Group Settlement Scheme begins at Manjimup, Western Australia.
• 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.
• 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.
• 3 November – Federal MP Walter Marks told the House of Representatives that Armageddon would occur in 1934.
• 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.

Arts and literature

• William McInnes wins the inaugural Archibald Prize for portraiture
• Droving into the light – Hans Heysen
• Weighing the fleece – George W Lambert
• The White Glove – George W Lambert

Film

The first silent 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
• The 1921 VFL seasonThe Premiership is won by Richmond 5.6.36 to Carlton 4.8.32. Attendance 43,122 at the MCG.
• The 1921 NSWRFL season sees the introduction of the St. George club, replacing Annandale, who departed the league after the 1920 season. The Premiership is won by North Sydney.

Births

• 3 January
• Bob Dawson, Australian rules footballer (died 2023)
• Vasey Houghton, politician and conservationist (died 2001)
• 9 January – Bunney Brooke, actor (Number 96) (died 2000)
• 3 February – John Millett, poet (died 2019)
• 16 February – Bill Knott, NSW politician (died 2013)
• 21 February – Rupert Myers, metallurgist (died 2019)
• 4 March – Walter Campbell, Governor of Queensland (died 2004)
• 12 March – Norm Foster, politician (died 2006)
• 28 April – Robert Furlonger, diplomat and public servant (died 2019)
• 29 March – Sam Loxton, cricketer (died 2011)
• 1 April – Harold James Frith, ornithologist (died 1982)
• 13 April – Max Harris, writer (Angry Penguins) (died 1995)
• 16 April – Guy Warren, painter (died 2024)
• 13 May – George Petersen, Labor politician (died 2000)
• 23 May – Ray Lawler, playwright (died 2024)
• 26 May – Norman Hetherington, artist, puppeteer (died 2010)
• 28 May – Tom Uren, Labor politician (died 2015)
• 3 June – Forbes Carlile, swimming coach and Olympic pentathlete (died 2016)
• 7 June – Myrtle Edwards, cricketer and softball player (died 2010)
• 19 June – Patricia Wrightson, children's author (died 2010)
• 1 July – Teddy Long, Australian rules footballer (died 2008)
• 15 July – Barrie Dexter, senior diplomat (died 2018)
• 21 July – Mary MacLean Hindmarsh, botanist (died 2000)
• 22 July – Ronald N. Bracewell, physicist and radio astronomer (died 2007)
• 31 July – John Makepeace Bennett, computer scientist (died 2010)
• 9 August – Catherine Pym, fencer (died 2018)
• 20 August – Jack Wilson, cricketer (died 1985)
• 21 November – Betty Wilson, cricketer (died 2010)
• 24 November – Allan Ashbolt, journalist (died 2005)
• 26 December – Donald Horne, journalist and writer (died 2005)

Deaths

• 14 January – Edward Hamersley, Western Australian politician and pastoralist (born in France) (b. 1835)
• 27 January – Maurice Buckley, soldier (b. 1891)
• 26 February – William Emmett Murphy, trade unionist (born in Ireland) (b. 1841)
• 14 March – Gustave Barnes, artist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1877)
• 21 May – Oswald Watt, aviator and businessman (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1878)
• 3 June – Jim Page, Queensland politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1861)
• 6 June – William Mark Forster, philanthropist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1846)
• 18 June – G. H. Gibson, writer and satirist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1846)
• 2 July – Edwin Evans, cricketer (b. 1849)
• 12 July – Harry Hawker, aviation pioneer (died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1889)
• 26 July – Howard Vernon, actor (b. 1845)
• 1 August – T. J. Ryan, 19th Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
• 7 August – Rose Ann Creal, military nurse, recipient of Royal Red Cross medal (b. 1865)
• 23 August – Frank Hann, pastoralist and explorer (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1845)
• 13 September – James Hebblethwaite, poet (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1857)
• 5 October – John Storey, 20th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1869)
• 30 October – James Murdoch, Orientalist scholar and journalist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1856)
• 6 November – Robert Logan Jack, geologist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1845)
• 17 November – John McLaren, cricketer (b. 1886)
• 27 November - Mary Grant Roberts, zoo owner (b. 1841)
• 24 December – William Curran, cricketer (b. 1862)

See also

• List of Australian films of the 1920s

References