• Attends school at Wesley College, Melbourne:

"Scholastically, Menzies did not shine particularly in his first two years at Wesley College. Although good at History and English, particularly the writing of essays, he was pathetically weak at mathematics, and by the end of his second year at the school it had become apparent that he could not win the scholarship to the university on which he had set his heart unless he dropped mathematics. He therefore switched to languages and at the end of the following year secured a government scholarship and also the much-coveted exhibition for the highest honours throughout the State in the public examination in English and History."
Sir Percy Joske, Sir Robert Menzies, 1894-1978 - a new, informal memoir, 1978 p 9.

• 1 January: Administration of the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory is transferred to the Commonwealth - the ACT from New South Wales and the NT from South Australia. The town of Palmerston is renamed Darwin.
• Australia's first Federal census is conducted - the population is 4,455,000, excluding indigenous Australians who are not counted as part of the Australian population until after the 1967 referendum.
• Enrolment to vote for non-indigenous Australians is made compulsory.
• Northern Territory Aboriginals Ordinance (Cth): Chief Protector is made the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and 'half-caste' child under 18 and can force any Aboriginal person into a mission or settlement; children can be removed at will. These powers are not repealed until 1957.
• Sister Elizabeth Kenny develops a method to help children stricken by polio to walk again.
• 35,000 people march in Melbourne in support of the 8-hour day.
• The Royal Australian Navy is set up.
• Douglas Mawson leads a two-year scientific and exploratory expedition to the Antarctic.

• Revolution in China: Sun Yat-sen leads revolution against the Manchu Dynasty. A Republic is declared in 1912.
• Votes for women: Constitutional Court establishes female suffrage in Portugal; The Danish colony of Iceland gives the vote to women. In London 40,000 march in support of a Bill granting women the right to vote and thousands parade down Fifth Avenue, New York demanding the vote for women.
• June 23: Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary. King George V is crowned "King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the seas, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India". The coronation ceremonies last seven hours at Westminster Abbey.
• Over 1,000 people are killed in Mexico City earthquake.
• Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, reaches the South Pole.