Leaders

• Governor of New South Wales - John Hunter
  John Hunter (New South Wales)
  Vice-Admiral John Hunter, RN was a British naval officer, explorer, naturalist and colonial administrator who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1795 to 1800.-Overview:...
  
  
• Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island
  Administrative heads of Norfolk Island
  The Administrator of Norfolk Island acts as a representative both of the Crown and of the Australian Federal Government, as well as carrying out other duties according to the Norfolk Island Act 1979....
  
   - Philip Gidley King
  Philip Gidley King
  Captain Philip Gidley King RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.-Early years and establishment of Norfolk Island settlement:King was born...
  
  
• Inspector of Public Works - Richard Atkins

Events

• 9 February - Sydney Cove
  Sydney Cove (ship)
  Sydney Cove was a sailing ship wrecked in 1797 on Preservation Island off Tasmania while on her way from Calcutta to Port Jackson. She was among the first ships wrecked on the east coast of Australia.- Voyage :...
  
  wrecked, but some of the crew managed to travel to Sydney more than 600 km away and more of the crew were rescued.
• 26 June - HMS Reliance
  HMS Reliance (1793)
  HMS Reliance was a discovery vessel of the Royal Navy. She became famous as one of the ships with the early explorations of the Australian coast and other the southern Pacific islands....
  
   arrives in Sydney from the Cape of Good Hope, carrying stores ordered by Governor Hunter and merino sheep imported by John Macarthur
  John Macarthur (wool pioneer)
  John Macarthur was a British army officer, entrepreneur, politician, architect and pioneer of settlement in Australia. Macarthur is recognised as the pioneer of the wool industry that was to boom in Australia in the early 19th century and become a trademark of the nation...
  
  .
• 3 July - Following Aboriginal attacks on farms in the Hawkesbury
  City of Hawkesbury
  The City of Hawkesbury is a Local Government Area of New South Wales, Australia, part of which is at the fringe of the Sydney metropolitan area, about 50 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district...
  
   region, Hunter dispatches a party of soldiers from the New South Wales Corps
  New South Wales Corps
  The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment to relieve the marines who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia. The regiment, led by Major Francis Grose, consisted of three companies...
  
   to protect settlers there.
• 1 August - following advice from the master of the Sydney Cove who observed currents and tides while wrecked on Preservation Island
  Preservation Island
  Preservation Island is a low and undulating granite and calcarenite island, with an area of 207 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Preservation Island Group, lying in eastern Bass Strait south-west of Cape Barren Island in the Furneaux Group, and is an important historic...
  
  , Governor Hunter wrote to Joseph Banks that it seemed certain that the yet to be discovered Bass Strait
  Bass Strait
  Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
  
   existed.
• 19 September - John Shortland
  John Shortland
  John Shortland was a naval officer, the eldest son of John Shortland. Shortland joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman and went to Quebec in a transport commanded by his father. From 1783 to 1787 he served in the West Indies. In 1787 he was master's mate in the Sirius when the First Fleet sailed...
  
   is the first European to enter the port of Newcastle
  Newcastle, New South Wales
  The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
  
  . On the 9th he discovered the Hunter River
  Hunter River
  The Hunter River is a major river in New South Wales, Australia. The Hunter River rises in the Liverpool Range and flows generally south and then east, reaching the Pacific Ocean at Newcastle, the second largest city in New South Wales and a major port....
  
   estuary and coal.
• 3 December - George Bass
  George Bass
  George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...
  
   sets out from Sydney in a whaleboat
  Whaleboat
  A whaleboat is a type of open boat that is relatively narrow and pointed at both ends, enabling it to move either forwards or backwards equally well. It was originally developed for whaling, and later became popular for work along beaches, since it does not need to be turned around for beaching or...
  
   with six oarsmen to explore south along the coast. He discovers the Kiama Blowhole
  Kiama Blowhole
  The Kiama Blowhole is a blowhole in the town of Kiama, New South Wales, Australia. It is the town's major tourist attraction. Under certain sea conditions, the blowhole can spray water up to 25 metres in the air, in quantities that thoroughly drench any bystanders...
  
   (6 December) and the Shoalhaven River
  Shoalhaven River
  The Shoalhaven River is a river rising from the Southern Tablelands and flowing into the ocean near Nowra on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia.- History :...
  
   (7 December), he also visits Jervis Bay
  Jervis Bay
  Jervis Bay is a large bay bounded by the state of New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, and a detached enclave of the Australian Capital Territory. HMAS Creswell is located between Jervis Bay Village and Greenpatch in the Jervis Bay Territory.-History:...
  
  , and named Twofold Bay
  Twofold Bay
  Twofold Bay is a bay on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. The bay has an area of about 30 square kilometres. Close to North Head is a conspicuous islet, Mewstone Rock. About five km south of the islet is Red Point which forms the southern headland of...
  
   on 19 December, Wilson's Promontory (2 January 1798) and Western Port
  Western Port
  Western Port, is sometimes called "Western Port Bay", is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in Victoria. Geographically, it is dominated by the two large islands; French Island and Phillip Island. Contrary to its name, it lies to...
  
   (5 January). He returns to Sydney two months later, having greatly increased the settlers' knowledge of the geography of Australia
  Geography of Australia
  The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent but the sixth-largest country in the world. The population of Australia is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts...
  
  .

Births

• 8 May - John Septimus Roe
  John Septimus Roe
  John Septimus Roe was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, and a Member of Western Australia's Legislative and Executive Councils for nearly 40 years.-Early life:...
  
  
• 19 June - Australian explorer Hamilton Hume
  Hamilton Hume
  Hamilton Hume was the first Australian born explorer. Along with Hovell in 1824, Hume was part of an expedition that first took an overland route from Sydney to Port Phillip near the site of present day Melbourne...
  
   born at Parramatta, New South Wales
  Parramatta, New South Wales
  Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
  
  
• 20 July - Paweł Edmund Strzelecki