1903 in Australia

List of events

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1903
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Decades:

1903 in Australia
Monarch	Edward VII
Governor-General	John Hope, then Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson
Prime minister	Edmund Barton, then Alfred Deakin
Population	3,891,519
Elections	Federal, Tasmania

Incumbents

20 February – The Flag of Australia, altered so that the stars of the Southern Cross (except the smallest one) have seven points each, is approved by Edward VII.
6 October – The High Court of Australia convenes for the first time.
24 November – Sir George Clarke retires as Governor of Victoria. Sir John Madden, the lieutenant governor, acts in his place until the appointment of a new governor.
28 November – The oil tanker SS Petriana strikes a reef at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. Two days later, its cargo of 1,300 tonnes of crude oil is released, causing the first major oil spill in Australia.^[1]
16 December – Australia's second federal election is held, the first in the world in which women were permitted to vote and stand for parliament. The incumbent Protectionist Party led by Alfred Deakin defeated the opposition Free Trade Party led by George Reid. Selina Anderson, Vida Goldstein, Nellie Martel, and Mary Moore-Bentley become the first women in the British Empire to stand for a national parliament; none are successful.
18 December – The first train runs from Rockhampton to Brisbane.

Edward Officer wins the Wynne Prize with Glenora
The Austral Society was founded due to the influence of The Toowoomba poet George Essex Evans

^ "Petriana, 28 November 1903". Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Retrieved 15 March 2020.

Years in Australia (1788–present)

18th century

19th century

20th century

21st century

v t e 1903 in Oceania
Sovereign states	Australia Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
Associated states of New Zealand	Cook Islands Niue