# 1900 in Australia

"none" is preferred when the title alone is adequate; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
The following lists events that happened during 1900 in Australia.

## Incumbents

* Monarch – Queen Victoria
Note: Australia was not yet federalized in 1900, therefore no prime minister existed.

### Governors of the Australian colonies

* Governor of New South Wales – William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp
* Governor of Queensland – Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington
* Governor of South Australia – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson
* Governor of Tasmania – Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston (until 14 August)
* Governor of Victoria – Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey (until 31 March)
* Premier of New South Wales – William Lyne
* Premier of South Australia – Frederick Holder
* Premier of Queensland – Robert Philp
* Premier of Tasmania – Elliott Lewis
* Premier of Western Australia – John Forrest
* Premier of Victoria – Allan McLean (until 19 November), then George Turner

## Events

* 3 January – Electric lighting is installed on Adelaide streets.
* 25 January – State Labour politicians meet in Sydney to formally found the federal Labour party.
* 25 March – The S.S. Glenelg is wrecked off the Victorian coast, resulting in 31 deaths.
* March to May – Record rainfall and flooding affect the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions of Western Australia
* 9 May – The Sierra Nevada is wrecked off Portsea, Victoria; 23 lives are lost.
* 2 July – Snow falls to extremely low levels in New South Wales, being recorded as low as Forbes.
* 5 July – The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (UK) is passed.
* 24 July – Neville Howse rescues a fallen ally under heavy fire during the Second Boer War, becoming the first Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross.
* 8 August – The first Australian contingents of naval volunteers set sail for China to assist British and international troops during the Boxer Rebellion.
* 17 October – Natural gas is found at Roma in Queensland
* 27 October – Notorious murderer Jimmy Governor is apprehended near Wingham, New South Wales.
* 15 December – Upon his arrival in Australia, the first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, commits the so-called Hopetoun Blunder.

## Film

* 14 September – The film Soldiers of the Cross is shown in Melbourne, one of the first films shown in Australia. (IMDb entry)

## Births

* 8 January – Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (died 1982)
* 25 January – Harold Raggatt, public servant (died 1968)
* 12 February – Sir Ragnar Garrett, army officer (died 1977)
* 7 March – Sir Lorimer Dods, medical pioneer (died 1981)
* 29 March – John McEwen, caretaker Prime Minister (1967–1968) (died 1980)
* 26 April – Alice Berry, social activist (died 1978)
* 29 April – Amelia Best, politician (died 1979)
* 4 July – Belinda Dann, centenarian, longest-lived member of the Stolen Generation (died 2007).
* 29 July – Mary V. Austin, community worker and political activist (died 1986)
* 1 August – Otto Nothling, rugby union and cricket player (died 1965)
* 16 August – Ida Browne, geologist and palaeontologist (died 1976)
* 9 October – Frank O'Grady, Australian public servant (d. 1981)
* 19 October – Bill Ponsford, cricketer (died 1991)
* 20 October – Jack Lindsay, writer (died 1990)
* 3 December
** Karna Maria Birmingham, artist, illustrator and print maker (died 1987)
** Albert Hawke, Premier of Western Australia (1953–1959) (died 1989)
* 10 December – Eric Costa, politician (died 1976)

## Deaths

* 17 July – Thomas McIlwraith, former Queensland premier (born 1835)
* 17 November – John Ferris, Australian cricketer (born 1867)

## Population

* About 4, 000, 000