1914 in Australia

Incumbents

• Monarch – George V
• Governor-General – Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman, then Ronald Munro Ferguson
• Prime Minister – Joseph Cook, then Andrew Fisher
• Chief Justice – Samuel Griffith

  State premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – William Holman
• Premier of Victoria – William Alexander Watt, then Alexander Peacock
• Premier of Queensland – Digby Denham
• Premier of South Australia – Archibald Peake
• Premier of Western Australia – John Scaddan
• Premier of Tasmania – Albert Solomon, then John Earle

  State governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Gerald Strickland
• Governor of Victoria – Sir John Fuller, 1st Baronet, then Arthur Stanley
• Governor of Queensland – William MacGregor
• Governor of South Australia – Day Bosanquet, then Henry Galway
• Governor of Western Australia – Harry Barron
• Governor of Tasmania – William Ellison-Macartney

  Events

• 27 January – Thomas Denman resigns as Governor-General.
• 9 February – Ronald Munro Ferguson, a landholder and provost of Kirkcaldy appointed as the new Governor-General.
• 16 February – Charles Heydon of the New South Wales Industrial Court finds that a "living wage" for a family of four would be 48 shillings a week but more than a living wage should be paid. His recommendation was a minimum wage of 8s 6d for unskilled workers and 9s for heavy work.
• 1 March – The first military aircraft in Australia are flown.
• 18 May – Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson commences duties as Governor-General.
• 8 June – Joseph Cook persuades Ferguson to hold Australia's first double dissolution election after the Government Preference Bill prohibiting preference to unionists in Australian Government employment was twice rejected by the Senate of Australia.
• 16 July – Maurice Guillaux leaves Melbourne to fly to Sydney in a Blériot monoplane in the first delivery of airmail. He arrived in Sydney on 18 July after nine and a half hours of flying time.
• 31 July – As the likelihood of Britain being involved in a European war became more likely, the leaders of both major parties pledge their support. Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher states in a speech at Colac, Victoria Australians will stand beside her own to help and defend her to our last man and our last shilling. Prime Minister Joseph Cook states in Horsham, Victoria "All of our resources in Australia are... for the preservation and the security of the empire".
• 4 August – The United Kingdom declares war on Germany – as a consequence Australia enters the war.
• 5 August – Australia fires its first shot in World War I at Fort Nepean in Victoria. The German merchant ship Pfalz was leaving Port Phillip Bay at 12.10am when news of involvement in the war had just reached the fort. The battery fired shots across its bows forcing the ship to surrender. This is believed to be the first shots fired in anger by British Empire forces during the war.
• 10 August – Recruiting begins for the First Australian Imperial Force. Australia had offered a force of 20,000 troops.
• 18 August – The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force of 1500 men leaves Sydney to capture German New Guinea.
• 5 September – The Australian Labor Party led by Andrew Fisher wins the Federal election of 1914 winning 42 out of 75 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 31 out of 36 seats in the Australian Senate.
• 9 September – The light cruiser captures the German radio station in Nauru.
• 11 September – Australian troops land in German New Guinea.
• 13 September – Rabaul occupied.
• 14 September – The Australian submarine lost with all 35 men while patrolling New Britain.
• 17 September – The acting governor of German New Guinea surrenders.
• 29 October – The War Precautions Act 1914, which gave the Government of Australia special powers for the duration of World War I and for six months afterwards, was passed by the Parliament of Australia.
• 1 November – The first contingent of the First Australian Imperial Force leaves for Egypt.
• 6 November – Australian forces occupy Nauru.
• 9 November – Australia's first naval victory as defeats in the Battle of Cocos.
• 30 November – The first aviation unit to leave for active service is sent to New Guinea.
• 21 December – Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood arrives in Egypt to take command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

  Arts and Literature

• 4 September – William Henry Strahan published "The Bugle Call"

  Sport

• 6 April – The Hawthorn Football Club joins the Victorian Football Association.
• During the 1914 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand the British win the 3rd and deciding Ashes Test.
• The 1914 NSWRFL Premiership is won by South Sydney
• 3 October – The Port Adelaide Football Club defeats Carlton to be crowned Champions of Australia for a record fourth time and becoming the only League club in Australian football to go through its entire season undefeated.

  Births

• 2 January – Jack Beaton, rugby league player
• 11 February – Clyde Cameron, politician
• 14 February – Norman Von Nida, golfer
• 14 March – Robert Royce, botanist
• 20 March – Tom Derrick, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient
• 26 March – Ray Robinson, cricketer
• 28 March – Kenneth Richard Norris, entomologist
• 6 April – Gordon Stone, rugby union player
• 10 April – Jack Badcock, cricketer
• 7 May – Scobie Breasley, jockey
• 21 May – Rhodes Fairbridge, geologist
• 1 August – Hughie Edwards, pilot, Victoria Cross recipient and Governor of Western Australia
• 3 August – Gordon Bryant, politician
• 6 August – Gordon Freeth, politician
• 18 August – Arthur Tange, public servant
• 9 September – John Passmore, philosopher
• 24 September – John Kerr, 18th Governor-General of Australia
• 25 September – Ted Humphries, NSW politician
• 4 October – Jim Cairns, politician
• 20 October – Fred Chaney, politician
• 7 November – Geoffrey Blackburn,, Baptist minister
• 8 December – Ernie Toshack, cricketer
• 16 December – Jo Gullett, soldier and politician
• 21 December – Frank Fenner, virologist
• 29 December – Albert Tucker, artist

  Deaths

• 11 March – John Mackay, explorer, sailor and harbourmaster
• 23 April – Alexander Robert Edgar, Methodist minister
• 23 June – John Stokell Dodds, Chief Justice of Tasmania
• 17 July – William Piguenit, artist
• 7 August – Bransby Cooper, cricketer
• 13 August – Gregor McGregor, politician and trade union leader
• 24 August – Normand MacLaurin, vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney
• 4 September – William Ramsay, maker of Kiwi shoe polish
• 5 October – Albert Solomon, 23rd Premier of Tasmania
• 13 October – Walter Withers, landscape artist
• 9 December – John Arthur, politician