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← 1915 1914 1913 1916 in Australia → 1917 1918 1919
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	1916 in Australian literature Other events of 1916 Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1916 in Australia.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George V
• Governor-General – The Right Hon. 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 – Crawford Vaughan
• Premier of Tasmania – John Earle (until 15 April), then Walter Lee
• Premier of Western Australia – John Scaddan (until 27 July), then Frank Wilson
• Premier of Victoria – Sir Alexander Peacock

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Gerald Strickland
• Governor of Queensland – Major Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams
• Governor of South Australia – Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Galway
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir William Ellison-Macartney
• Governor of Western Australia – Major-General Sir Harry Barron
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Arthur Stanley

Events

• Hotels are forced to close at 6 p.m., leading to the beginning of the "six o'clock swill": 27 March in South Australia; 21 July in Sydney after referendum of 10 June; 11 October in Victoria; during March in Tasmania.
• 14 February – Liverpool riot of 1916 – troops mutinied against conditions at the Casula Camp. They raided hotels in Liverpool before travelling by train to Sydney, where one soldier was shot dead in a riot at Central Railway station.
• 6 June – The Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia, the forerunner to the Returned and Services League is founded.
• 26 June – William Jackson awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in a raid near Armentières, France.
• 1 to 30 June – Adelaide receives 217.9 millimetres (8.58 in) of rain, its highest monthly rainfall since records began in 1839.
• 19 July – Battle of Fromelles commenced; over the next seven weeks 22 826 Australian casualties occurred.
• 23 July – Arthur Seaforth Blackburn and John Leak awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions (separate) at the Battle of Pozières.
• 25 July – Thomas Cooke died in the Battle of Pozières and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry in the face of the enemy.
• 29 July – Claude Charles Castleton killed in the Battle of Pozières and for his actions in bringing back wounded men before and at the time of his death, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
• Between 9 August and 12 August – Martin O'Meara repeatedly went out and brought in wounded officers and men from "No Man's Land" under intense artillery and machine-gun fire during the Battle of Pozières; for his gallantry he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
• 30 August – Rescue of the 22 men Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition who remained on Elephant Island.
• 28 October – The first plebiscite on the issue of military conscription was held; it was defeated.
• 1 November – a general coal strike began in eastern Australia.
• The Labor government under Billy Hughes splits over military conscription.
• 13 November – Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes is expelled from the Labor Party over his support for conscription.
• 2 December – Sydney Twelve: 12 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) convicted in Sydney of conspiring to commit arson and sedition.
• 23 December – World War I: Battle of Magdhaba – In the Sinai desert, Australian and New Zealand mounted troops capture the Turkish garrison.
• 28 December – Floods in Clermont, Queensland claimed more than 60 lives.
• Undated – An unknown number of Indigenous Australians, could be as many as 300 to 400, are murdered at Geegully Creek, near Mowla Bluff, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in an incident known as the Mowla Bluff massacre. Following the beating of a white station manager by Indigenous men, an armed mob which included officials and residents rounded up a large number of Aboriginal men, women and children who were then shot and had their bodies burned.
• Melbourne, with 967.5 millimetres (38.09 in) and Hobart with 1,104.2 millimetres (43.47 in), each receive their highest annual rainfall due to a strong La Niña.

Arts and literature

• 6 March – The Sydney conservatorium of music accepts first students.

Sport

• Sasanof wins the Melbourne Cup
• The Sheffield Shield was not contested due to the war.
• 26 July – The 1916 NSWRFL season culminates in a grand final victory to Balmain, who defeated South Sydney 5–3.

Births

• 28 February – Frank Crean, 5th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2008)
• 14 April – Don Willesee, Western Australian politician (d. 2003)
• 11 July – Gough Whitlam, 21st Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2014)
• 29 July – Sir Rupert Hamer, 39th Premier of Victoria (d. 2004)
• 27 August – Sir James Ramsay, 20th Governor of Queensland (d. 1986)
• 11 September – Warren Bonython, conservationist and chemical engineer (d. 2012)
• 14 September – John Heyer, documentary filmmaker (d. 2001)
• 25 September – Jessica Anderson, novelist (d. 2010)
• 27 September – Beatrice Bligh, gardener (d. 1973)

Deaths

• 19 May – William Sawers, New South Wales politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1844)
• 13 August – Sir George Turner, 18th Premier of Victoria (b. 1851)
• 7 November – Henry Brockman, Western Australian politician (b. 1845)

See also

• List of Australian films of the 1910s

References

1. Adelaide West Terrace (023000) monthly rainfall
2. Melbourne Regional Office (086071) Monthly Rainfall
3. Hobart Ellerslie Road (094029) Monthly Rainfall
4. Rutledge, Martha (1993). "Rosemary Beatrice (Bea) Bligh (1916–1973)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 13. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 31 March 2024.

v t e Years in Australia (1788–present)
18th century	1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800
19th century	1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Timeline of Australian history

• 1916 in Australia
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• Years of the 20th century in Australia