Governors

• Governor of New South Wales
  Governors of New South Wales
  The Governor of New South Wales is the state viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who is equally shared with 15 other sovereign nations in a form of personal union, as well as with the eleven other jurisdictions of Australia, and resides predominantly in her...
  
   - Sir George Gipps
  George Gipps
  Sir George Gipps was Governor of the colony of New South Wales, Australia, for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship was during a period of great change for New South Wales and Australia, as well as for New Zealand, which was administered as part of New South Wales for much of this...
  
  
• Governor of South Australia
  Governors of South Australia
  The Governor of South Australia is the representative in the Australian state of South Australia of Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. The Governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the Governor-General of Australia at the national level.In...
  
   - Lieutenant Colonel George Gawler
  George Gawler
  -External links: – Memorials and Monuments in Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK...
  
   to 15 May then Sir George Grey
  George Edward Grey
  Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
  
  
• Governor of Tasmania
  Governors of Tasmania
  The Governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. The Governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as the Governor-General of Australia does at the national level.In accordance with the...
  
   - Captain Sir John Franklin
  John Franklin
  Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
  
  
• Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony
  Governor of Western Australia
  The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
  
   - John Hutt
  John Hutt
  John Hutt was Governor of Western Australia from 1839 to 1846.Born in London on 24 July 1795, John Hutt was the fourth of 13 children of Richard Hutt of Appley Towers, Ryde, Isle of Wight. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, and in 1815 inherited Appley Towers...
  
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Events

• 3 May - New Zealand
  New Zealand
  New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
  
   was proclaimed a colony independent from New South Wales.
• 7 June - Darlinghurst Gaol
  Darlinghurst Gaol
  Darlinghurst Gaol was an Australian prison located in Darlinghurst, New South Wales. The site is bordered by Victoria, Burton and Forbes streets, with entrances on Forbes and Burton Streets.-History:...
  
   took in its first prisoners.
• 1 July - The convict
  Convictism in Australia
  During the late 18th and 19th centuries, large numbers of convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. One of the primary reasons for the British settlement of Australia was the establishment of a penal colony to alleviate pressure on their...
  
   assignment system
  Convict assignment
  Convict assignment was the practice used in many penal colonies of assigning convicts to work for private individuals. Contemporary abolitionists characterised the practice as virtual slavery, and some, but by no means all, latter-day historians have agreed with this assessment.In Australia, every...
  
   was abolished in New South Wales
  New South Wales
  New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
  
   and Van Diemen's Land
  Van Diemen's Land
  Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
  
   and was replaced by the probation gang system.
• 1 September - Port Phillip Savings Bank was established.
• 23 October - Caroline Chisholm
  Caroline Chisholm
  Caroline Chisholm was a progressive 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her involvement with female immigrant welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the Calendar of saints of the Church of England...
  
   established the Female Immigrants Home to help unemployed new arrivals to Australia.

Exploration and settlement

• February - The first economic minerals
  Mining in Australia
  Mining in Australia is a significant primary industry and contributor to the Australian economy. Historically, mining booms have also encouraged immigration to Australia. Many different ores and minerals are mined throughout the country.-History:...
  
   discovered in Australia were silver and lead
  Lead
  Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
  
   at Glen Osmond
  Glen Osmond, South Australia
  Glen Osmond is a small suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Burnside located in the foothills of the Adelaide Hills.-References:...
  
  , now a suburb of Adelaide
  Adelaide
  Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
  
   in South Australia.

• 7 April - Edward John Eyre
  Edward John Eyre
  Edward John Eyre was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and a controversial Governor of Jamaica....
  
   becomes the first European to cross the Nullarbor Plain
  Nullarbor Plain
  The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...
  
  . He arrived in Western Australia with Wylie
  Wylie (person)
  Wylie was an indigenous Australian originally from the tribes around Albany in Western Australia. He accompanied Edward John Eyre to Adelaide by sea in May 1840, and would have left with Eyre on his expedition to penetrate to the interior in June of the same year, but Wylie was ill...
  
  , an indigenous Australian
  Indigenous Australians
  Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
  
   who accompanied him. Eyre left Fowlers Bay, South Australia
  Fowlers Bay, South Australia
  Fowlers Bay, formerly Yalata, is a small coastal town in South Australia, located approximately north west of the state capital, Adelaide. Situated on the Nullarbor Plain, it was once an active port and a gateway to the western reaches of the continent, but fell into decline in the 1960s...
  
   on 25 February and reached Albany, Western Australia
  Albany, Western Australia
  Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
  
   on 7 July.

Science and technology

• 13 April - the first photograph was taken in Australia
  Photography in Australia
  The first photograph taken in Australia, a view of Bridge Street is believed to have been taken by a visiting naval captain, Captain Augustin Lucas in 1841, as indicated by a note published in the Australasian Chronicle for 13 April of that year...
  
   by a visiting naval captain, Captain Augustin Lucas
• 24 May - Gas lighting
  Gas lighting
  Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
  
   used for the first time in Sydney

• William Bland
  William Bland
  Dr. William Bland was a transported convict, medical practitioner and surgeon, politician, farmer and inventor in colonial New South Wales, Australia.-Early life:...
  
   published a paper on the first scarlet fever
  Scarlet fever
  Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...
  
   epidemic in Australia; probably Australia's earliest contribution to clinical medicine
  Clinical Medicine
  Clinical Medicine is a peer-reviewed medical journal published bimonthly by the Royal College of Physicians. It was established in 1966 as the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London. It was doubly named between 1998 and 2000, and since 2001 it has appeared as Clinical Medicine. Its...
  
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Arts and literature

• The first Australian book for children was published in Sydney: A mother's offering to her children, by a 'lady long resident in New South Wales'. Although published anonymously, the author is known to be Charlotte Barton
  Charlotte Barton
  Charlotte Barton was the author of Australia's earliest known children's book. The book titled A Mother's Offering to her Children: By a Lady, Long Resident in New South Wales. Sydney: Gazette Office was published in 1841....
  
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