1902 in Australia
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| 1902 in Australia | |
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| Monarch | Edward VII |
| Governor-General | John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun |
| Prime minister | Edmund Barton |
| Population | 3,845,265 |
| Elections | South Australia, Victoria, Queensland |
Incumbents
- Monarch – Edward VII
- Governor-General – John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun
- Prime Minister – Edmund Barton
State premiers
- Premier of New South Wales – John See
- Premier of South Australia – John Jenkins
- Premier of Queensland – Robert Philp
- Premier of Tasmania – Elliott Lewis
- Premier of Western Australia – George Leake (until 1 July), then Walter James
- Premier of Victoria – Alexander Peacock (until 10 June), then William Irvine
State governors
- Governor of New South Wales – Admiral Harry Rawson (from 27 May)
- Governor of South Australia – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson (until 17 July)
- Governor of Queensland – Major General Sir Herbert Chermside (from 24 March)
- Governor of Tasmania – Captain Sir Arthur Havelock
- Governor of Western Australia – Sir Arthur Lawley (until 14 August)
- Governor of Victoria – Sir George Clarke
Events
- 7 February – The Waterside Workers Federation is formed.
- April – Averaged over Australia, the driest month on record with only 3.74 millimetres (0.15 in).[1] Over half the continent was absolutely rainless and less than 3 percent outside Tasmania had more than 10 millimetres (0.39 in).[2]
- 31 May – The Second Boer War, in which Australia is involved, ends.
- 12 June – The Commonwealth Franchise Act granted most Australian women the right to vote and stand in federal elections.
- 31 July – A coal gas explosion kills 96 in the Mount Kembla mining disaster
- 1 August – New Idea magazine is first published.
- 3 November – Postmaster-General James Drake opens a submarine telegraph cable from Southport, Queensland to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, completing a British Empire communications line.
- 18 December – The mayors of Sydney and Melbourne are conferred the title of Lord Mayor
- 26 December – Brisbane is declared a city.
- 26 December – Ada Evans becomes the first female law graduate in Australia.
- As a culminating to the Federation Drought, this was by raw totals the driest calendar year averaged over Australia since 1890 with only 314.46 millimetres (12.38 in)[3] (though by area-averaged mean decile it was only tenth driest).
Unknown dates
- The world's first successful pyritic smelting takes place at Mount Lyell, Tasmania
Arts and literature
- 17 September – Opera singer Nellie Melba arrives in Brisbane for her first Australian tour after 16 years in Europe.
- James White wins the Wynne Prize with his bronze sculpture In Defence of the Flat
Sport
- 27 September – Collingwood wins the 1902 VFL grand final, defeating Essendon 9.6 (60) to 3.9 (27) at the first final to be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before a record crowd of 35,000.
- 11 November – The Victory wins the Melbourne Cup
- New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield
Births
- 15 January – Dan Dempsey (died 1960), rugby league footballer
- 25 February – Vince Gair (died 1980), politician
- 2 May – Alan Marshall (died 1984), writer
- 22 May – Leslie Herron (died 1973), Chief Justice of NSW
- 12 July – Vic Armbruster (died 1984), rugby league footballer
- 17 July – Christina Stead (died 1983), writer
- 28 July – Albert Namatjira (died 1959), painter
Deaths
- 27 February – Breaker Morant (born 1864), soldier
- 6 March – Frederick William Piesse (born 1848), member of the federal parliament for Tasmania
- 24 June – George Leake (born 1856), Premier of Western Australia
See also
- 1902
- 1900–1909
- ^ April rainfall over Australia
- ^ April 1902 rainfall totals
- ^ Smith, Ian; “An assessment of recent trends in Australian rainfall”; in Australian Meteorological Magazine; issue 53 (2004); pp. 163-173
