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...
  
   — Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore
  Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore
  Somerset Richard Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore GCMG, PC , styled as Viscount Corry from 1841 to 1845, was an Irish nobleman and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...
  
  , then Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead
  Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead
  Hercules George Robert Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead, GCMG, PC was a British colonial administrator who became the 5th Governor of Hong Kong...
  
  
• Governor of Queensland
  Governors of Queensland
  The Governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the 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....
  
   — George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby
  George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby
  George Augustus Constantine Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby, GCB, GCMG, PC , styled Viscount Normanby between 1831 and 1838 and Earl of Mulgrave between 1838 and 1863, was a British Liberal politician and colonial governor.-Background:Normanby was born in London, the son of Constantine Phipps, 1st...
  
  
• 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...
  
   — Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet
  Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet
  Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet GCSI, PC was a British soldier, Conservative politician and colonial administrator.-Background and education:...
  
  
• 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...
  
   — Charles Du Cane
  Charles Du Cane
  Sir Charles Du Cane, KCMG was a British Conservative Party politician and colonial administrator who was a Member of Parliament from 1852–1854 and Governor of Tasmania from 1868 to 1874....
  
  
• Governor of Victoria
  Governors of Victoria
  The Governor of Victoria is the representative in the Australian state of Victoria of its monarch, 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...
  
   — John Manners-Sutton, 3rd Viscount Canterbury
  John Manners-Sutton, 3rd Viscount Canterbury
  John Henry Thomas Manners-Sutton, 3rd Viscount Canterbury KCB, GCMG , known as the Honourable Sir John Manners-Sutton between 1866 and 1869, was a British Tory politician and colonial administrator....
  
  

Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales
  Premiers of New South Wales
  The Premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature...
  
   — Sir James Martin
  James Martin (Australian politician)
  Sir James Martin, KCB, QC was three times Premier of New South Wales, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1873 to 1886.-Early career:...
  
  , until 14 May then Henry Parkes
  Henry Parkes
  Sir Henry Parkes, GCMG was an Australian statesman, the "Father of Federation." As the earliest advocate of a Federal Council of the colonies of Australia, a precursor to the Federation of Australia, he was the most prominent of the Australian Founding Fathers.Parkes was described during his...
  
  
• Premier of Queensland
  Premiers of Queensland
  Before the 1890s, there was no developed party system in Queensland. Political affiliation labels before that time indicate a general tendency only. Before the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, political parties were more akin to parliamentary factions, and were fluid, informal and...
  
   — Arthur Hunter Palmer
  Arthur Hunter Palmer
  Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer KCMG was an Irish-Australian politician and a Premier of Queensland.Palmer was born in Armagh, Ireland, the son of Lieutenant Arthur Palmer, R.N., and his wife, Emily née Hunter. Palmer was educated at Youghal Grammar School and a private tutor in Dublin...
  
  
• Premier of South Australia
  Premiers of South Australia
  Before the 1890s when there was no formal party system in South Australia, MPs tended to have historical liberal or conservative beliefs. The liberals dominated government from 1893 to 1905 with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government with the support of...
  
   — Arthur Blyth
  Arthur Blyth
  Sir Arthur Blyth KCMG was premier of South Australia three times; 1864–1865, 1871–1872 and 1873-1875....
  
  , until 22 January then Henry Ayers
  Henry Ayers
  Sir Henry Ayers GCMG was Premier of South Australia five times between 1863 and 1873, but is perhaps best remembered for having Uluru/Ayers Rock named for him.- Overview :...
  
   (5th time)
• Premier of Tasmania
  Premiers of Tasmania
  The Premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly will nominate its leader to be Premier. The nominated politician is then invited by the Governor of...
  
   — James Milne Wilson
  James Milne Wilson
  Sir James Milne Wilson, KCMG served as Premier of Tasmania from 1869 to 1872.Wilson was born in 1812 in Banff, Scotland; the third son of John Wilson, a shipowner. Educated at Banff and Edinburgh, he emigrated to Tasmania in 1829, studied practical engineering and afterwards became a ship's officer...
  
  , until 4 November then Frederick Innes
  Frederick Innes
  Frederick Maitland Innes was Premier of Tasmania from 4 November 1872 to 4 August 1873.The son of Francis Innes, army officer, and his wife Prudence, née Edgerleyan, Innes was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Innes was educated at Heriot's, Edinburgh, and Kelso Grammar School in Kelso...
  
  
• Premier of Victoria
  Premiers of Victoria
  The Premier of Victoria is the leader of the government in the Australian state of Victoria. The Premier is appointed by the Governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Legislative Assembly....
  
   — Charles Gavan Duffy
  Charles Gavan Duffy
  Additional Reading*, Allen & Unwin, 1973.*John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.*Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922....
  
  , until 10 June then James Francis
  James Francis
  James Goodall Francis , Australian colonial politician, was the 9th Premier of Victoria. Francis was born in London, and emigrated to Van Diemen's Land in 1847, where he became a businessman. He moved to Victoria in 1853 and became a leading Melbourne merchant...
  
  

Events

• 13 February to 28 March — An election is held 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...
  
  .
• 19 February — The Municipal District of Dubbo
  City of Dubbo
  Dubbo is a Local Government Area in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The City is traversed by the Mitchell Highway, the Newell Highway, the Golden Highway and the Main Western railway line.The largest population centre is the city of Dubbo...
  
   is established, following the approval of the Colonial Secretary
  Chief Secretary
  The Chief Secretary is the title of a senior civil servant in members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and, historically, in the British Empire. Prior to the dissolution of the colonies, the Chief Secretary was the second most important official in a colony of the British Empire after the...
  
  .
• 26 February — The brig Maria is wrecked when it strikes a reef near Cardwell
  Cardwell, Queensland
  Cardwell is a tropical coastal town in northeastern Queensland. It is located at the southern extremity of the Cassowary Coast. At the 2006 census, Cardwell had a population of 1,250. The Bruce Highway National Highway 1 and the North Coast railway line are the dominant transport routes;...
  
   off the coast of Queensland
  Queensland
  Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
  
  , killing 39 people.
• 12 June — A Victorian branch of the Royal Australian Mint
  Royal Australian Mint
  The Royal Australian Mint is situated in the Australian federal capital city of Canberra, in the suburb of Deakin.Before the opening of the mint, Australian coins were struck at branches of the Royal Mint - the Sydney Mint, Melbourne Mint and Perth Mint. The Royal Australian Mint holds a place in...
  
   opens in Melbourne.
• 22 August — The Australian Overland Telegraph Line
  Australian Overland Telegraph Line
  The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a 3200 km telegraph line that connected Darwin with Port Augusta in South Australia. Completed in 1872 the Overland Telegraph Line allowed fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world. An additional section was added in 1877 with the...
  
   is completed when two telegraph lines are joined at Frew's Ponds in the Northern Territory
  Northern Territory
  The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
  
   (then South Australia
  South Australia
  South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
  
  ).
• 24 September — The General Post Office
  General Post Office, Brisbane
  The General Post Office in Brisbane, Australia, also known as the GPO, is an Australia Post building located between Queen Street and Elizabeth Street.-History:The GPO was opened on 28 September 1872...
  
   opens in Brisbane, Queensland.

Births

• 1 January — Arthur Manning
  Arthur Manning
  Arthur Gibson Manning was an Australian politician who served in both the Australian House of Representatives and the New South Wales Legislative Assembly....
  
  , politician (d. 1947)
• 22 February — Shaw Neilson
  Shaw Neilson
  John Shaw Neilson , was an Australian poet. Slightlybuilt, for most of his life, John Shaw Neilson worked as a labourer, fruit-picking, clearing scrub, navvying and working in quarries, and, after 1928, working as a messenger with the Country Roads Board in Melbourne...
  
  , poet (d. 1942)
• 26 February — John Holman, politician (d. 1925)
• 28 September — David Unaipon
  David Unaipon
  David Unaipon was an Australian Aboriginal of the Ngarrindjeri people, a preacher, inventor and writer. He was the most widely known Aboriginal in Australia, and broke stereotypes of Aboriginals...
  
  , writer and inventor (d. 1967)
• 14 October — John Leckie
  John Leckie (Australian politician)
  John William Leckie was an Australian farmer turned politician.Leckie was born at Alexandra, Victoria and educated at Scotch College, Melbourne. He played Australian rules football for Fitzroy Football Club in 1895...
  
  , politician (d. 1947)

Deaths

• 15 January — John King
  John King (explorer)
  John King was an Irish soldier who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the Gulf of Carpentaria...
  
   (b. 1838), explorer
• 12 February — George Herbert Rogers
  George Herbert Rogers
  George Herbert Rogers was an Australian stage actor.Rogers was born at St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, the son of Thomas Rogers, a surgeon, and brother of Henry Rogers, the essayist and author of The Eclipse of Faith. George Rogers, having quarrelled with his family, enlisted in the army and...
  
   (b. 1820), actor
• 20 February — Andrew Petrie
  Andrew Petrie
  Andrew Petrie was a builder, architect and Australian pioneer.Petrie was born in Fife, Scotland and trained as a builder in Edinburgh, where he married Mary Cuthbertson in 1821. John Dunmore Lang brought him, his wife and four sons to Sydney in 1831 with other Scottish mechanics to form the...
  
   (b. 1798), architect
• 20 March — William Wentworth
  William Wentworth
  William Charles Wentworth was an Australian poet, explorer, journalist and politician, and one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales...
  
   (b. 1790), explorer
• 28 April — Caroline Calvert
  Caroline Calvert
  Caroline Louisa Waring Atkinson was an early Australian writer, botanist and illustrator. While she was well-known for her fiction during her life-time, her long-term significance rests on her botanical work...
  
   (b. 1834), writer and naturalist
• 19 May — John Baker
  John Baker (Australian politician)
  John Baker was an early South Australian pastoralist and politician. He was the second Premier of South Australia, succeeding Boyle Finniss; however, he only held office for 12 days from 21 August to 1 September 1857 before being succeeded by the third Premier of the colony, Robert Torrens.-Early...
  
   (b. 1813), Premier of South Australia
• 11 June — John Davies
  John Davies (publisher)
  John Davies co-founded the Australian newspaper The Mercury.Davies was a Jew born in London. He was transported to Hobart, Australia as a convict in August 1831, for ordering candles on someone else's account...
  
   (b. 1814), founder of The Mercury newspaper
• 31 December — John McKinlay
  John McKinlay
  John McKinlay , was a grazier and explorer of Australia and leader of the search party for the Burke and Wills expedition .-Early life:...
  
  (b. 1819), explorer