1915 in Australia

See also: 1914 in Australia, other events of 1915, 1916 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.

Incumbents

• Monarch – King George V
• Governor-General – The Right Hon. Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson
• Prime Minister – Andrew Fisher (until October 27), then Billy Hughes

State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – William Holman
• Premier of Queensland – Digby Denham (until June 1), then T. J. Ryan
• Premier of South Australia – Archibald Peake (until April 2), then Crawford Vaughan
• Premier of Tasmania – John Earle
• Premier of Victoria – Sir Alexander Peacock
• Premier of Western Australia – John Scaddan

State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Gerald Strickland
• Governor of Queensland – Major Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams (from March 15)
• Governor of South Australia – Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Galway
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir William Ellison-Macartney
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Arthur Stanley
• Governor of Western Australia – Major-General Sir Harry Barron

Events

• April 25 - The Anzac tradition begins during World War I with a landing at Gallipoli on the Turkish coast.
• April 30 - Australian submarine AE2 sunk in Sea of Marmara.
• June 6 - The BHP steelworks opens in Newcastle, New South Wales.
• July 19 - Albert Jacka becomes the first Australian to win the Victoria Cross during the First World War.
• August 9 - Alexander Burton died at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, Turkey. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.
• August 24 - The town of Holbrook, New South Wales was renamed from Germanton.
• October 10 - Twenty six men left Gilgandra, New South Wales on the Cooee March; the first of the World War I Snowball marches. At each town on the route they shouted "cooee" to attract recruits; the march arrived in Sydney on November 12 with 263 recruits.
• October 27 - Billy Hughes becomes the seventh Prime Minister of Australia and the first to serve consecutive terms in office.
• December 20 - Completion of ANZAC evacuation from Gallipoli before dawn.

Science & Technology

• 10 December - Father and son scientists William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Sport

• Patrobas wins the Melbourne Cup
• 1914/15 the Sheffield Shield was won by the Victorian Bushrangers; after this season it was not contested due to the war.

Births

• February 6 – Donald Friend (d. 1989), artist, writer and diarist
• March 2 – John Wear Burton, public servant and diplomat
• March 3 – Manning Clark (d. 1991), historian
• March 22 – Charlotte Anderson (d. 2002), professor of paediatrics
• April 9 – Bob Quinn, SANFL footballer (Port Adelaide)
• May 30 – Michael Thwaites (d. 2005), poet, academic and intelligence officer
• May 31 – Judith Wright (d. 2000), poet
• June 3 – James McClelland (d. 1999), senator and government minister
• July 16 – David Campbell (d. 1979), poet
• August 3 – Arthur John Birch (d. 1995), organic chemist
• October 26 – Lindsay Pryor (d. 1998), botanist
• November 2 – May Campbell (d. 1981), field hockey player
• November 25 – Ron Hamence, cricketer
• November 29 – Robert Cotton (d. 2006), senator and government minister
• December 31 – John Murray, politician

Deaths

• January 11 – James Wilkinson (b. 1854), Queensland politician
• March 11 – Thomas Alexander Browne (b. 1826), author (Robbery Under Arms)
• April 4 – Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor (b. 1839), pastoralist and politician
• April 19 – Thomas Playford II (b. 1837), Premier of South Australia (1890–1892) and federal Minister for Defence (1905–1907)
• June 2 – George Randell (b. 1830), West Australian politician
• June 25 – Frederick Manson Bailey (b. 1827), botanist
• June 28 – Victor Trumper (b. 1877), cricketer
• July 18 – Marshall Hall (b. 1862), musician
• August 2 – John Downer (b. 1843), Premier of South Australia (1885–1887, 1892–1893)
• October 8 – E. Phillips Fox (b. 1865), painter
• November 20 – Robert Barr Smith (b. 1824), businessman and philanthropist
• December 4 – George Richards (b. 1865), NSW politician
• December 21 – Thomas Sergeant Hall (b. 1858), geologist and biologist

See also

• 1915
• 1910s