1898 in Australia

Updated on Oct 28, 2023

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Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s See also: Other events of 1898 Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

Premier of New South Wales - George Reid

Premier of South Australia - Charles Kingston

Premier of Queensland - Hugh Nelson (until 13 April), Thomas Joseph Byrnes (died in office 27 September) then James Dickson

Premier of Tasmania - Edward Braddon

Premier of Western Australia - John Forrest

Premier of Victoria - George Turner

Events

6 May - The paddle steamer Maitland sinks near Broken Bay, drowning 24 people.

3–4 June - A referendum is held in New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria to approve the draft Constitution of Australia. The constitution was accepted by the required majority in South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, but not in New South Wales.

17 October - The Perth Zoo opens with two lions and a tiger.

26 December - Gatton murders - Three members of the same family are sexually molested and murdered near the town of Gatton, Queensland (unsolved).

The Queen Victoria Building in Sydney is completed

Science and technology

Nothing much that is important happened to do with science and technology.

Arts and literature

W. Lister Lister wins the Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figure sculpture for his landscape The Last Gleam

Sport

The Grafter wins the Melbourne Cup

Victoria wins the Sheffield Shield

Births

12 February - Sali Herman (died 1993), war artist

24 September - Howard Walter Florey (died 1968), pharmacologist and Nobel Prize winner

Deaths

20 March - Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer (born 1819), Premier of Queensland

19 September - George Edward Grey (born 1812), Governor of South Australia

27 September - Thomas Joseph Byrnes (born 1860), Premier of Queensland

2 November - George Goyder (born 1826), Surveyor-General of South Australia

References

1898 in Australia Wikipedia

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