1918 in Australia - Events

Events

• 8 January – Billy Hughes resigns as Prime Minister of Australia as promised following the defeat of the 1917 plebiscite on conscription. He is immediately sworn in again by the Governor-General as there are no alternative candidates.
• 21 January – Thirty people are killed when the Mackay cyclone strikes the town of Mackay in Queensland.
• 2 February – The Brighton tornado, the strongest storms ever recorded in Melbourne, strike the suburb of Brighton, killing two people.
• 10 March – The 1918 Innisfail cyclone made landfall in the area around Innisfail
• 21 March – John Bowser resigns as Premier of Victoria after his railway estimates bill is defeated in parliament. Harry Lawson forms a composite ministry of Liberal factions, including Bowser as Chief Secretary and Minister for Public Health.
• 3 August – Australia House, Australia's high commission to the United Kingdom, opens in London.
• 22 September – The Prime Minister Billy Hughes makes the first direct radio telephone call between England and Australia, calling Sydney from London.
• 6 October – Australia's first electric train service begins, between Newmarket and Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.
• 26 October – A by-election is held in the Division of Swan following the death of the sitting member, Sir John Forrest. The youngest ever MP, Edwin Corboy, is elected to parliament.
• 17 December – The Darwin Rebellion takes place, with 1,000 demonstrators demanding the resignation of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John A. Gilruth.