The following lists events that happened during 1915 in Australia.
Incumbents
Monarch – George V Governor-General – Ronald Munro-Ferguson Prime Minister – Andrew Fisher (until 27 October), then Billy Hughes Chief Justice – Samuel Griffith
State premiers Premier of New South Wales – William Holman Premier of Queensland – Digby Denham (until 1 June), then Thomas Ryan Premier of South Australia – Archibald Peake (until 2 April), then Crawford Vaughan Premier of Tasmania – John Earle Premier of Victoria – Alexander Peacock Premier of Western Australia – John Scaddan
State governors Governor of New South Wales – Gerald Strickland Governor of Queensland – Hamilton Goold-Adams (from 15 March) Governor of South Australia – Henry Galway Governor of Tasmania – William Ellison-Macartney Governor of Victoria – Arthur Stanley Governor of Western Australia – Harry Barron
Events 25 April – The Anzac tradition begins during World War I with a landing at Gallipoli on the Turkish coast. 30 April – Australian submarine AE2 sunk in Sea of Marmara. 6 June – The BHP Newcastle Steelworks opens in Newcastle, New South Wales. 19 July – Albert Jacka becomes the first Australian to win the Victoria Cross during World War I. 9 August – Alexander Burton died at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, Turkey. He was awarded the Victoria Cross. 24 August – The town of Holbrook was renamed from Germanton. 10 October – Twenty six men left Gilgandra 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 12 November with 263 recruits. 27 October – Billy Hughes becomes the seventh Prime Minister of Australia and the first to serve consecutive terms in office. 20 December – Completion of Anzac evacuation from Gallipoli before dawn. Full date unknown: Zaara Street Power Station is commissioned in Newcastle, New South Wales.
Science and technology 10 December – Father and son scientists William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Arts and literature
Sport Patrobas wins the Melbourne Cup 1914/15 the Sheffield Shield was won by Victoria; after this season it was not contested due to the war. The 1915 NSWRFL Premiership is won by Balmain.
Births 6 February – Donald Friend (died 1989), artist, writer and diarist 2 March – John Wear Burton (died 2010), public servant and diplomat 3 March – Manning Clark (died 1991), historian 6 March – Mary Ward (died 2021), actress 22 March – Charlotte Anderson (died 2002), professor of paediatrics 6 April – Thelma McKenzie, cricketer (died 2019) 9 April – Bob Quinn (died 2008), SANFL footballer (Port Adelaide) 24 April – Sam Burston (died 2015), farmer 15 May – Evelyn Owen (died 1949), gun designer 30 May – Michael Thwaites (died 2005), poet, academic and intelligence officer 31 May – Judith Wright (died 2000), poet 3 June – Jim McClelland (died 1999), senator and government minister 9 June – Ken Feltscheer (died 2017), Australian rules footballer 20 June – Dick Reynolds (died 2002), VFL footballer (Essendon) 10 July – Kevin Barrett (died 1984), Australian rules footballer 16 July – David Campbell (died 1979), poet 3 August – Arthur John Birch (died 1995), organic chemist 12 October – Tony Rafty (died 2015), caricaturist 26 October – Lindsay Pryor (died 1998), botanist 2 November – May Campbell (died 1981), field hockey player 25 November – Ron Hamence (died 2010), cricketer 29 November – Bob Cotton (died 2006), senator and government minister 31 December – John Murray (died 2009), politician
Deaths
11 January – James Wilkinson, Queensland politician (b. 1854) 11 March – Thomas Alexander Browne, author (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1826) 4 April – Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor, New South Wales politician and pastoralist (b. 1839) 19 April – Thomas Playford II, 17th Premier of South Australia (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1837) 25 April - William Henry Strahan, writer and soldier (b. 1869) 2 June – George Randell, Western Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1830) 25 June – Frederick Manson Bailey, botanist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1827) 28 June – Victor Trumper, cricketer (b. 1877) 18 July – George Marshall-Hall, composer and poet (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1862) 2 August – Sir John Downer, 16th Premier of South Australia (b. 1843) 8 October – E. Phillips Fox, impressionist painter (b. 1865) 29 October – Richard Edwards, Queensland politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1915) 20 November – Robert Barr Smith, businessman and philanthropist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1824) 4 December – George Richards, New South Wales politician (b. 1865) 21 December – Thomas Sergeant Hall, geologist and biologist (b. 1858)
References