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Timeline: 1841 – 1850

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1841

January 1

WA Governor John Hutt lays the Foundation Stone of the first Church of St George, Perth, WA. This building, which is finally opened on 22nd January 1845, stands adjacent to the Law Chambers. About 600 people are present when the church is opened.

January 3

The steamer Clonmel, on its second voyage between Sydney and Melbourne, is wrecked near Corner Inlet.

January 20

Mariner, author and explorer Jorgen Jorgenson dies, age 60.

February 8

John Fairfax and Charles Kemp buy the Sydney Herald newspaper for £10,000.

February 9

Angus McMillan sets out on further exploratory treks and founds the site of Port Albert near Corner Inlet, Vic.

February 14

SA Police pursue the French ship Ville De Bordeaux for evasion of Customs regulations Glenelg and Pt. Adelaide. It is a major French / British diplomatic incident.

February 15

Edward John Eyre, with John Baxter and three Aborigines, leave Fowlers Bay, SA, in an attempt to cross the Nullarbor Plain to King George Sound, WA.

March 18

The ship Parkfield arrives at Leschenault Inlet, WA, with the first settlers for the Australind colony.

April 12

The Supreme Court sits in Melbourne for the first time, in a small brick building on the south-west corner of King and Bourke Streets, that was previously used as the Land Office.

April 29

Two of John Eyre‘s Aboriginal companions murder his companion, Baxter, steal most of his supplies and run away, leaving Eyre and Wylie to travel on alone.

April

Rev William Branthwite Clarke discovers gold near Hassan’s Walls near the Hartley Valley, NSW. It is the first recorded gold find in Australia.

May 3

New Zealand proclaimed an independent colony to NSW, as of 1st July.

May 15

Sir George Grey replaces George Gawler as Governor of South Australia.

May 24

Gas lighting on Sydney‘s streets is turned on for the first time.

May

A copper deposit is discovered and worked on the banks of the Onkaparinga River (Noarlunga), SA.

June 2

Explorer Edward John Eyre and his Aboriginal campanion are saved for almost certain death when they encounter Capt Rossiter of the French whaler Mississippi at Rossiter Bay, near Esperance, WA.

July 1

Assignment of convict labour ends. New South Wales bounty system of assisted immigration suspended.

July 7

Explorer Edward John Eyre and his Aboriginal companion Wylie arrive in Albany, WA, after walking from Fowlers Bay, SA.

July 28

John Lort Stokes, exploring the Gulf of Carpentaria aboard HMS Beagle, discovers and names the Flinders and Albert Rivers.

August 27

Police and volunteers kill about 50 Aborigines in an encounter near Rufus River, south-western NSW.

September 1

Savings Bank of Port Phillip established.

October 22

Melbourne is divided into four wards – Bourke Ward: north-west; Gipps Ward: north-east; La Trobe Ward: south-east and Lonsdale Ward: south-west.

November 8

First Chief Justice of NSW, Sir Francis Forbes dies, age 57?

November

Economic Depression hits, resulting in a general financial collapse. A fall in wool prices sees the cessation of overseas investment and financial dislocation in all the colonies combines to bring down the rickety facade of prosperity.

December 11

Glen Osmond silver lead mine discovered, SA.

December 11

Legislation passed in WA allowing Aborigines to give evidence (SA does not pass legislation until 1844).

In this year

Buildings completed – Victoria Barracks, Sydney (George Barney); Pitt Street Congregational Church, Sydney (John Bibb); St John’s Church, ACT; Fort Denison, Sydney Harbour (work begun but then abandoned until 1855)


1842

January 15

Mary Helen MacKillop born in Fizroy, Melbourne.

January 21

The first public execution held in Melbourne. Hanged were two Tasmanian Aborigines involved in the murder of two whalers. Truganini and two other females were aquitted.

January

The boundaries are established between WA, SA and NSW.

February 1

A new law for insolvency passed in New South Wales. The insolvent person has to surrender all of his estate. He has to make a declaration stating why he had reached his present financial position and after satisfying the requirements of the Law, he could apply to the Commissioner of Insolvent Estates for a certificate of release.

February 6

Author Henry Savery dies, age 50.

February 10

Gov George Gipps proclaims Moreton Bay district open to free settlers.

February 24

A native police force comprised of 25 Aborigines formed at Narre Warren, near Dandenong, Vic, under command of Henry Dana.

March 4

Western Australian businessman and politician, Sir George Shenton, born.

March 12

Launceston Examiner first published.

March 24

Gov George Gipps visits Brisbane, amends the town plans, and rejects the squatters’ request for Cleveland to be the port.

April 5

Australian Roman Catholic Church heirarchy established. John Bede Polding becomes Archbishop of Sydney.

April 11

The first statue to be erected in Australia in unveiled in Sydney near the present State Library of NSW. It is of Gov Richard Bourke.

May 4

A German settlement is established at Lobethal, SA.

June 21

An escape attempt at Norfolk Island in the brig Governor Phillip is quelled. Six convicts are killed, four are later executed.

June 22

Imperial Waste Lands Act increases the minimum price of land in all the Australian colonies to £1 acre – half the proceeds to be used to encourage migration. Wakefield, Torrens & Hutt‘s plan from the SA Foundation Act of 1834, is to be half adopted in the other colonies i.e. NSW WA & Tas.

July 1

All South Australian births, deaths and marriages are now required to be registered.

July 14

The first land sales are held in Brisbane, which is now open for free settlement. Because this is a miserable flop, later sales are held in Sydney.

July 18

Benjamin Boyd arrives at Port Jackson in his brig, Wanderer. He opens the Royal Bank of Sydney soon after.

July 20

Sydney is incorporated as a city.

July 30

Representative government introduced in NSW. A 36 seat Legislative Assembly is formed.

July 30

South Australia becomes a crown colony, losing its semi-independent status, with a nominated Legislative Council.

August 1

Sydney Herald becomes the Sydney Morning Herald.

August 12

The Town of Melbourne is incorporated.

August

Floods hit Melbourne.

September 29

The newly formed Australian Jockey Club holds its first race meeting at Homebush Racecourse.

October 15

HM Corvette Fly and the cutter Bramble arrive at Port Jackon under Capt Francis Price Blackwood, to begin a survey of the Barrier Reef and Torres Strait.

November 1

Sydney elects its first council. They are the first popular elections in NSW. John Hosking is elected mayor.

November 3

Architect Edmund Blacket arrives in Sydney.

November

Handel’s Messiah is performed for the first time in Australia at Sydney‘s Royal Victoria Theatre.

December 1

Melbourne‘s first Municipal Council elected. Henry Condell becomes the first mayor.

December

The Hunter River Steam Navigation Co. begins a SydneyBrisbane service.

December

Australia slides into economic depression because of drought, falling wool prices and the rising cost of labour.

In this year

Captain Charles Dutton and sheep farmer Francis Bagot stumble across some ‘moss- coloured stones’ on land they didn’t own at Kapunda, SA, believing it to be copper. Incredibly, they had to keep their find a secret for two years while the assay results confirming it as copper ore returned by sea from Wales.


1843

January 17

John Clements Wickham arrives in Brisbane as police magistrate. He is appointed Government Resident on 1st January 1853.

February 1

80 are arrested after the military are called in to quell a riot at the Parramatta Female Factory.

February 14

Foundation stone of the Australian Subscription Library’s new building in Macquarie Street, Sydney, laid by Alexander Macleay.

March 1

The Great Comet makes its appearance in southern skies.

April 1

The Bank of Australia fails in the financial depression.

June 15

The first elections for the NSW Legislative Council held.

June 17

Gov George Gipps orders the removal from office of Justice John Walpole Willis, resident Judge in the Port Phillip District, after powerful interests in Melbourne petition for his recall.

June 19

First Italian opera – The Barber of Seville – performed in Sydney.

July 1

Adelaide Observer first published.

July 15

Assisted immigration by the British Government reintroduced.

July 17

First horse race meeting in Brisbane.

July 26

Maitland, NSW, declared the first district council area.

August 1

New NSW Legislative Council meets for the first time. Alexander Macleay elected speaker; William Charles Wentworth becomes the leader of the non-official majority.

August 21

Sir John Eardley-Wilmot arrives in Hobart to take office as Lieut-Gov of Tasmania, replacing Sir John Franklin.

August 22

Bushranger Martin Cash captured in Hobart. He is later sentence to death, commuted to life, then pardoned in 1853.

August

Unemployed labourers and mechanics are given relief work on roads by the NSW Government.

September 3

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort establishes a wool auctioning agency in Sydney.

September 10

South Australia’s Legislative Council meets for the first time.

September

Benjamin Boyd takes up 259 acres of land at Twofold Bay.

October 10

SA Legislative Council meets for the first time.

October 11

The first land sales take place at Ipswich, Qld.

November 14

South Australian farmer John Ridley invents the wheat stripper.

December 4

Comedian and entertainment entrepreneur Harry Rickards born.

December

The Australind scheme collapses. Land sales cease immediately.

In this year

Henry John Lindeman establishes Cawarra vineyard on the Paterson River in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

In this year

The excavation of Argyle Cut, The Rocks, Sydney, begins.

In this year

Buildings constructed – Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Sydney; Seahorse Hotel, Boydtown, NSW; NSW Legislative Assembly building, Sydney (Mortimer Lewis)


1844

January 1

Gov George Gipps jostled by a crowd of unemployed men in Hyde Park, Sydney.

February 1

Regular monthly sea mail service begins between UK and Sydney.

February 7

Maj Joseph Childs arrives at Norfolk Island to replace Alexander Maconochie as commandant.

February 18

Foundation stone of the monument to Surveyor-General Col William Light in Light Square, Adelaide, is laid.

March 20

The first sale of land at Seymour, Vic, conducted.

April 2

Occupation regulations issued limiting area and stock-carrying capacity of Squatters’ runs and making it obligatory to hold a separate licence for each run. Squatters meet in Melbourne on 1st June to protest against new land regulations.

April 6

William John Lyne, Premier of NSW, born.

April 9

A public meeting of pastoralists in Sydney protests occupation regulations and forms the Pastoralist Association.

April 23

The Queen’s Theatre opens in Melbourne.

May

The Great Potato Famine begins. A blight attacks the plants and destroys the crops. Ireland is one of the worst effected. Many Irish people decide to migrate to Australia.

June 1

Squatters meet in Melbourne to protest against new land regulations.

June 29

Naval surgeon and pastoralist Sir John Jamison dies, age 67?

August 4

A fierce storm drives the emigrant ship Cataraqui ashore on King Island. Of the 115 people on board, only nine survive.

August 13

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt leaves Sydney on his first expedition into the Australian outback from Jimbour Station, Darling Downs, to Port Essington, NT.

August 15

Explorer Charles Sturt leaves Adelaide, SA, on an expedition to find the inland sea rumoured to exist in central Australia.

September 14

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt embarks on his first expedition to Port Essington, NT.

September 29

Norfolk� Island annexed to Tasmania from NSW.

October 3

More floods in Melbourne. The Yarra River breaks its banks.

October 23

Explorer Charles Sturt, exploring Broken Range near the site of Broken Hill, first gathers the desert pea that bears his name.

November 5

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt discovers and names the Dawson River.

November 16

The ship Royal George arrives in Port Phillip from London carrying 21 "exiles" – convicted criminals given a conditional pardon upon landing – causing a public outcry.

November 21

Author Ada Cambridge born in St Germans, Norfolk, England.

November 28

A public meeting in Melbourne to separate from NSW decides to send a petition to England.

December

Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold establishes a vineyard at Magill, SA, with cuttings from France and Spain.

In this year

Swimming baths opened on the south bank of the Yarra River, Melbourne.

In this year

The first bowling green in Tasmania established at Sandy Bay near Hobart.

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1845

January 6

First known exhibition of pictures in Australia held in Hobart.

January 10

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt discovers the Mackenzie River.

January 27

Explorer Charles Sturt‘s party reches Depot Glen (the site of Milparinka, SA). where they are forced to remain for six months owing to the lack of rain.

February 13

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt discovers and names the Isaac River.

February 25

Sir George Houstoun Reid, Premier of NSW, born.

March 1

Hobart Savings Bank opens.

April 2

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt discovers the Burdekin River.

April 3

Agriculturalist William James Farrer born.

April 4

Cutter America wrecked in Torres Strait, Qld.

April 21

Queen’s Theatre Royal, Melbourne, opens.

May 19

Shepherds William Strear and Thomas Pickett discover outcrops of copper close to the Burra Burra Creek, SA. Special survey of 20,000 acres undertaken and divided between South Australian Mining Association and Princess Royal Mining Association.

May 23

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt reaches the Lynde River, his first encounter with a stream flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

May 24

Brig Mary wrecked off Flinders Island, Bass Strait; 17 lives lost.

May

Gold discovered near Montacute, SA.

June 15

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt discovers the Mitchell River, Qld.

June 21

Legislator Sir Samuel Griffith born.

August 4

Emmigrant ship Cataraqui wrecked off King Island; only 9 of the 415 on board survive.

August 8

Explorer Charles Sturt crosses and names Coopers Creek, Qld.

August 26

Actor and theatrical entrepreneur James Cassius Williamson born.

September 3

Explorer Charles Sturt reaches his farthest point towards the centre of Australia, beyond Eyre Creek but short of the Tropic of Capricorn.

September 15

Explorer Robert Logan Jack born.

September 29

South Australian Mining Association begins mining operations at the Burra Burra Mine, SA.

October 19

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt reaches and names the Roper River, NT.

October 21

Explorer Charles Sturt again forced to turn back from the Sturt Stony Desert.

October 25

Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Holt Robe appointed Governor of SA, replacing George Grey. Grey leaves Adelaide for New Zealand to become Lieut-Gov.

October 31

Six unofficial members of Tasmania‘s Lesislative Council walk out in protest over taxes to pay for police and judicial establishments.

November 14

Sir Thomas Mitchell leaves Sydney on an overland expedition to Port Essington, NT.

November

The first recorded game of bowls in Australia is played at the back of the Beach Tavern, Sandy Bay, Tas. T. Burgess defeated F. Lipscombe.

December 6

Explorer Charles Sturt‘s party set off from Depot Glen to return to Adelaide; Sturt, too ill to ride, is carried on a dray.

December 17

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt arrives in Port Essington, NT, after a journey of 14 1/2 months. They return to Sydney by sea, arriving 25th March 1846.

In this year

Buildings constructed – All Saints Church, Bathurst, NSW


1846

January 19

Explorer Charles Sturt‘s party arrives back in Adelaide.

January 21

Wellington, NSW, gazetted as a village.

January 27

Lieut-Col Andrew Clarke succeeds John Hutt as Governor of WA.

February 16

Spanish Benedictine monks Dom Rosendo Salvado and Dom Joseph Benedict Serra leave Perth for the Victoria Plains to establish an Aboriginal mission at New Norcia.

February 26

The population of South Australia at census, is 22,390, including 132 at Port Lincoln and 70 on Kangaroo Island. Adelaide‘s population is 13,871.

March 5

South Australia’s Governor Frederick Holt Robe imposes a royalty in SA on minerals, which leads to a public outcry.

March 16

Colonial shipbuilder Henry Kable dies, age 82?

March 22

Early colonial administrator, Joseph Foveaux dies, age 80?

March

Barque Orwell arrives at Moreton Bay with 51 Coolies from India to work for Robert Towns, Benjamin Boyd and others.

April 11

Judge Barron Field dies, age 59.

April 15

Merchant Robert Campbell dies, age 76.

April 24

Retailer Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke born.

April 30

Sir John Eardley-Wilmot dismissed as Governor of Tas, allegedly for not surpressing homosexuality among convicts.

May

The sending of convicts to Tasmania is suspended for two years.

June 1

Sir Thomas Mitchell establishes a base camp on the Maranoa River.

June 2

The Argus newspaper, published by William Kerr, commences business in Melbourne.

June 20

Brisbane ‘s first newspaper, the Moreton Bay Courier (later the Brisbane Courier, then Courier-Mail) begins publication.

June 29

The first river steamer service, the Experiment, runs between Brisbane and Ipswich, Qld.

July 1

Four guards are killed in an uprising on Norfolk Island. 12 convicts are subsequently executed.

July 7

Cartoonist Livingston "Hop" Hopkins born.

July 12

Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy appointed Civilian Administrator, Captain- General and Governor-in-Chief of NSW, Van Diemen’s Land and South Australia and their dependencies (12th July 1846 to 17th January 1855). George Gipps leaves Sydney to return to England.

July 12

Martial Law proclaimed for one night in Melbourne, following rioting between Orangemen and Roman Catholics during which shots were fired.

July 17

Scientist and explorer Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay born.

July

John Horrocks uses the camel for exploration for the first time in Australia.

August 2

Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy arrives in Sydney and takes up the post of Governor.

August 4

South Australian pioneer Robert Gouger dies in Norwood, England, age 44 – pension denied.

August 6

John Giles Price replaces Maj Joseph Childs as commandant on Norfolk Island.

August 18

Alexander Berry‘s ship Coolangatta wrecked on the coast south of Moreton Bay. The locality today bears the ship’s name.

August 28

A Lands Act is passed in UK offering squatters long leases in unsettled districts and other previleges.

September 24

Having reached the Barcoo River (which he names the Victoria), Sir Thomas Mitchell turns back and returns to Sydney (arrives 29th December).

October 1

Christ’s College, near Longford, Tas, opens.

October 22

New South Wales proposes the resumption of transportation of convicts. Public meetings opposing the proposal are held.

November 18

Orange, NSW, proclaimed as a village. Land sales begin a year later.

December 7

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt embarks on his second expedition to try to cross the continent from Brisbane to Perth. He returns unsuccessful on 31st July 1847.

In this year

Buildings constructed – Australian Museum north wing, Sydney (Mortimer Lewis); Melbourne Hospital (Samuel Jackson); old Princess Bridge, Melbourne (David Lennox).


1847

January 8

George Barney and party leave Sydney in the barque Lord Auckland to found the Gladstone colony in northern Australia centred on Port Curtis.

January 26

Sir William Denison takes up his appointment as Lieut-Gov of Tasmania.

January 30

Colony of Gladstone (Qld) proclaimed.

January

A petition from New South Wales and Tasmania relating to the abolition of Transportation sent to Queen Victoria.

February 3

Sir John Eardley-Wilmot dies, age 63.

February 10

The Adelaide And Suburban Building Society becomes the first building society in the colony of South Australia.

February 12

Lieut-Col Frederick Chidley Irwin becomes Governor of WA following the death of Andrew Clarke on 11th February.

February 28

Former Governor of NSW, Sir George Gipps dies, age 55?

March 13

Explorer and surveyor Edmund Besley Court Kennedy commences an expedition from Sydney to trace the Victoria River (now the Barcoo) to its mouth, which he believed would be on the Gulf of Carpentaria.

April 9

Benjamin Boyd‘s ship Velocity arrives at Twofold Bay, NSW, with 65 Melanesian labourers to work on his estates.

April 15

Gladstone colony disbanded on the instructions of the Colonial Office.

May 4

Henry George Grey (Earl Grey), minister of the Colonial Office, orders the closing of the convict establishment in NSW and the transfer of remaining coinvicts to Tas.

May 6

A meeting of citizens in Hobart prepares a submission to Queen Victoria for the abolition of transportation to Tasmania.

July 9

James Alipius Goold appointed Archbishop of Melbourne.

July 19

Adelaide is bombarded with hailstones ranging in size from marbles to pigeon’s eggs.

July 19

HMS Rattlesnake (Capt Owen Stanley) arrives in Sydney to begin a 3-year survey in Australian waters.

June 29

Charles Perry is consecrated an Anglican Bishop in London. He is to take charge of the new Diocese of Melbourne, created a few days earlier.

July

Beginning of period of severe drought in NSW.

August 22

Explorer and Premier of Western Australia, Lord John Forrest, born at Bunbury, WA.

October 8

Feminist and social reformer Rose Scott born at Glendon, near Singleton, NSW.

October 18

The Aboriginal station at Wybalenna on Flinders Island is closed down; the 47 residents are transferred to Oyster Cove, south of Hobart.

November

Melbourne hosts its first Intercolonial Race Meeting.

November

Golf is introduced to Australia by the James Graham Fife who creates a course at Flagstaff Hill, Melbourne, on the site of Flagstaff Gardens.

November

Government decides that the recovery from the depression is sufficient to start land sales in Port Phillip again.

December 7

Lady Mary FitzRoy, the wife of NSW Governor, and the Governor’s aide-de-camp are killed when thrown from a carriage at Parramatta, NSW.

December

South Australian Germans publish the first German language newspaper in Australia.

In this year

Johann Gramp establishes his Orlando vineyard, the first in the Barossa Valley, SA, at Jacob’s Creek, near Rowland’s Flat.

William and Henry Dangar set up a meat-canning works at Newcastle, NSW.

Buildings constructed – Lands Department Building, Hobart (William Porden Kay); foundation stone of New Norcia monastery, WA, laid; Supreme Court, Adelaide (Richard Lambeth)

Paddlesteamer The Brothers vegins the SydneyManly ferry service.


1848

January 28

Irrigation pioneer George Chaffey born.

February 5

Melbourne proclaimed a city.

February 25

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt sets out from Canning station on the Darling Downs in a second attempt to cross the country from east to west.

March 15

Melbourne Hospital opens.

April 4

During his second attempt to cross the country from east to west, explorer Ludwig Leichhardt (age 35) issues his last communication from Cogoon. He is not seen or heard of again.

April 7

Benalla, Vic, declared a town. Land sales begin 28th June 1849.

April 29

Explorer and surveyor Edmund Besley Court Kennedy leaves Sydney on HMS Rattlesnake, at the commencement of an expedition in which he plans to land at Rockhamption Bay, and then travel overland to Cape York, where supplies would be replenished from the Rattlesnake.

May 2

Johann Gramp, born at Eichigt, Bavaria, in 1819, is naturalised. He migrated to South Australia in 1837 and lived for a year on Kangaroo Island. In 1846 he settled at Jacob’s Creek where he established what became Orlando Wines a year later.

June 4

Former Lieut-Gov of Tasmania, Col William Sorell, dies age 72?

July 18

Colonial government official Alexander Macleay dies, age 81.

July 26

Electors in Port Phillip District, in protest against an absentee government in Sydney, refuse to nominate representatives to the New South Wales Legislative Council, but elect Earl Grey as the Member for Melbourne.

August 2

Henry Fox Young replaces Frederick Holt Robe as South Australia’s Governor.

August 12

Capt Charles Fitzgerald replaces Frederick Chidley Irwin as Governor of WA.

September 4

The British Government revokes an Order-In-Council abolishing transportation to NSW.

September 4

Destitute Board established in SA for the welfare of immigrants (Immigration Officer John Brown appointed by the Foundation Act of SA 1834 – Under his instructions, he was to act as ‘protector to the emigrant labourers’ and ‘at all times give them employment on the Government work’… This concept of ‘work for the dole’, was first applied to ‘Keepers of The Park Lands’)

September 9

Augustus Charles Gregory leads an expedition to the Murchison district of WA and discovers good pastoral land.

September 28

The Australian newspaper first published.

August 2

Sir Henry Edward Fox Young replaces Frederick Holt Robe as South Australia’s Governor.

October 9

The Port Phillip Patriot newspaper becomes the Melbourne Daily News.

October 15

Newspaper entrepreneur Sir John langdon Bonython born.

October 27

The convict ship Governor Phillip wrecked off Cape Barren Island; 16 die from drowning or starvation before help arrives.

October 28

Novelist Jessie Catherine Couvreur, nee Huybers (‘Tasma’) born.

November 7

The first sale of land is held in Colac, Vic.

December 11

Gov Charles Fitzgerald wounded by Aborigines while exploring with Gregory near Champion Bay, WA.

December 13

The first 240 Government assisted immigrants arrive at Moreton Bay, Qld, on the Artemisia.

December 13

Edmund Besley Court Kennedy fatally speared by Aborigines; his Aboriginal guide Jacky Jacky continues alone to Cape York. He is rescued by Ariel at Port Albany (24th); six days later, two other survivors are rescued at Weymouth Bay.

December 20

Constitutional Association formed in Sydney to effect electoral and land reforms.

In this year

Australia’s first iron smelting works opens in Mittagong, NSW.

In this year

Buildings constructed – St Philip’s Anglican Church, Church Hill, Sydney (Edmund Blacket); St Mark’s Church, Darling Pt, Sydney (Edmund Blacket)


1849

January 1

The Port Phillip Herald newspaper becomes the Melbourne Morning Herald.

January 8

The Plymouth, the first of a number of ships carrying people to the California goldfields, leaves Port Jackson for San Francisco.

January 18

Australia’s first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, born in Glebe, Sydney.

January 20

The Fortitude arrives at Moreton Bay with 253 migrants from Britain for Rev John Dunmore Lang‘s Cooksland cotton growing scheme. Its temporary headquarters are set up at Fortitude Valley, named after the ship which brought them there.

February 11

The first German migrants arrive in Melbourne in the Godeffroy.

February 12

Gas lighting is introduced in Melbourne by William Overton, a confectioner. At considerable personal expense, he succeeds in the manufacture of gas and uses it to light his large premises in Swanston Street, Melbourne.

February 23

A public meeting in Perth requests that WA be converted to a penal settlement to aid the flagging state of the colony.

March 23

Mass meetings held in Melbourne and Sydney in opposition to the re- introduction of transportation.

March 23

The town of Armidale, NSW, gazetted.

April

Caroline Chisholm establishes the Family Colonisation Loan Society in London to help families migrate to Australia.

June 28

The town of Wangaratta, Vic, surveyed. Land goes on sale 22nd January 1851.

June

Aborigines kill two brothers from Gregory Blaxland‘s Gin Gin station, leading to the massacre by whites of a large number of Aborigines.

July 21

The first clipper ship to come to Australia, the Phoenicians, arrives at Port Jackson after a 90 day journey from Britain, compared to the average 140 days.

August 8

The convict transport Randolph arrives at Port Phillip, but Gov. charles Joseph La Trobe refuses to take its convicts and orders the ship to proceed to Sydney.

August 20

Public anger at the continuance of the practice of transportation of convicts is so his, when the convict transport Randolph arrives at Port Jackson, Gov Charles Augustus Fitzroy orders it to sail to Moreton Bay. All subsequent convict transport ships are sent direct to Moreton Bay.

August 24

Cooma, NSW, declared a village.

August 31

A hurricane blows down houses and levels chimneys in Melbourne. The Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers are in high flood. At Dight’s Falls the Yarra rises 37 feet above its normal level.

August

Melbourne has its heaviest snowstorm.

August

Benjamin Boyd‘s Royal Bank closes. It is subsequently liquidated.

October 10

Sydney Railway and Tramway Co. incorporated by act of parliament.

October 12

Town of Geelong, Vic, incorporated.

October 16

Castaway Barbara Thompson is rescued by HMS Rattlesnake at Evans Bay, Cape York peninsula, after living with Aborigines for five years.

November 23

Wagga Wagga, NSW, and Dubbo, NSW, proclaimed as towns.

November

Geraldton, WA, laid out as a town. Land sales commence in June 1850.

December 1

Port Essington, NT, is again abandoned and the settlers return to Sydney.

December 13

The Adelaide is the second last ship to bring "exiles" to Australia. It arrives at Port Phillip with 281 exiles on board, but is refused entry and sails on to Port Jackson.

In this year

Apples grown in Tasmania are first exported; the initial consignments are bound for New Zealand and the California goldfields.

In this year

Buildings constructed – first wing of the Treasury Building, Sydney (Mortimer Lewis), now incorporated into the Intercontinental Hotel; Richmond Villa, Sydney; Pentridge Gaol, Melbourne.

In this year

The Australian Museum opens a small zoo in Hyde Park, Sydney.


1850

January 1

Australia’s first adhesive postage stamps issued in New South Wales. Adhesive postage stamps first issued in Victoria two days later. They feature Queen Victoria and are the first stamps in the world to be printed using the lithography process.

January 19

Australian Philosophical Society (late the Royal Society of NSW) formed in Sydney.

January 29

Pioneer aviator Lawrence Hargraves born.

January

The first refrigeration plant in the world is built by James Harrison in Victoria. The process he develops relies on the formation of ice by evaporation.

February 9

Pioneer farmer Elizabeth Macarthur dies, age 82?

February 19

Railway between Adelaide and Port Adelaide authorised by an act of parliament.

March 12

Deniliquin, NSW, gazetted as a town.

March 13

Naval officer and explorer Capt Owen Stanley dies, age 38.

April 30

The Bangalore brings the last "exiles" to Australia – all 392 on board disembark at Moreton Bay.

May 9

Horsham, Vic, laid out as a town.

May 12

Sir Frederick William Holder, Premier of SA and first Speaker in the House of Representatives, born.

June 1

The transportation of convicts to WA begins. Captain Edmund Yeamans Walcott Henderson (Royal Engineers), appointed first Comptroller-General of Convicts in WA, arrives off Fremantle with first shipment of 75 transportees aboard the chartered Indiaman Scindian.

June 1

Tamworth, NSW, gazetted as a town.

June 30

First Unitarian Church congregation in Australia formed in Sydney.

June 16

Pioneer settler and explorer William Lawson dies, age 76.

August 5

The Australian Colonies Government Act receives royal assent in Britain – providing for the separation from New South Wales of the Port Phillip District, to be known as Victoria, and for the eventual self-government of the Australian colonies. (SA already has this right under the Foundation Act of 1834).

September 28

Slain’s Castle, the first of the ship to sail under Caroline Chisholm‘s Family Colonisation Loan Society scheme, leaves England with 150 migrants.

October 1

The University of Sydney is constituted by an act of parliament.

October 1

The NSW Legislative Council adopts a policy not to accept any more transported convicts.

November 15

The original Princes Bridge over the Yarra River, Melbourne, opens; demolished 1884.

November 16

United Operative Masons Society formed in Melbourne.

November 18

A game of "Australian Rules Football" played in Melbourne – 12 players per side – as part of the celebrations for Victoria’s separation from NSW. It was the forerunner to but not exactly the same as what today is known as Australian Rules Football.

December 1

Constitution Dock, Hobart, opens.

December 5

Melbourne‘s Pentridge Gaol, recently completed, receives its first prisoners.

December 18

The first Australian branch of the YMCA formed in Adelaide, SA.

December 26

William Beaumont and James Waller open their zoological gardens at their Sir Joseph Banks Hotel, Botany, NSW.

December 28

Henry Parkes‘ Empire newspaper founded in Sydney.

December

Measles first reported in Australia.

In this year

Buildings constructed – old St Stephen’s Church (Pugin’s Chapel), Brisbane (A.W.N. Pugin)



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