1851

January 1

Sir Charles FitzRoy appointed Governor-General of all the Australian colonies.

January 27

Artist and teacher Julian Rossi Ashton born.

February 1

The Australasian League, originated by John West in Launceston, Tas, to secure the abolition of transportation of convicts, constituted in Melbourne.

February 2

Maryborough, Qld, proclaimed a town.

February 6

"Black Tuesday" – bushfires rage out of control from near Melbourne to Mount Gambier, SA. At least 10 people die.

February 12

The first payable gold discovered at Summer Hill Creek, NSW.

February 18

Gold discovery at Lewis Ponds Creek, near Bathurst NSW, reported by Edward Hammond Hargraves.

March 29

Sydney Chamber of Commerce revived.

April 1

Melbourne Chamber of Commerce founded.

April 1

Town of Balranald, NSW proclaimed.

April 24

John Dunmore Lang sentenced to four months gaol and fined £100 for the libel of Thomas Icely in Lang’s Press in February.

April

Order in council by Henry George Grey (Earl Grey), minister of the Colonial Office, abolishing transportation, is recinded.

May 15

Gold discovery at Ophir, NSW reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, a gold rush begins.

May 22

Proclamation issued in NSW declaring all gold found on private or Crown land to be the property of the Crown. A licence to dig required after 1st June at a fee of 30 shillings per month.

May 26

Hamilton, Vic, proclaimed as a town.

June 8

Pioneer colonist John Piper dies, age 78.

June 19

Gold discovered on the Turon River, NSW.

June 26

Sale, Vic, gazetted as a village.

June 30

Politician and judge Herny Bournes Higgins born at Newtownards, Down, Ireland.

July 1

Port Phillip is officially declared an independent Colony and is to be known as Victoria, Melbourne becomes the capital of the Colony and separates from New South Wales. The first state boundaries are established and the treaty is signed under the separation tree in Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens. Charles Joseph La Trobe to be Lieut-Gov.

July 2

Elects held for the SA Legislative Council.

July 5

Notification made of the discovery of gold in the Yarra Ranges, Vic, by Mr. L.J. Nichel.

July 7

While prospecting at Clunes quartz reef, James Esmond makes the first payable gold strike in Victoria and triggers one of the world’s greatest gold rushes.

July 8

The first gold nugget found in Australia – the Kerr Hundredweight, yielding 1,272 ounces of gold, discovered on the Turon River, NSW.

July 15

Charles Joseph La Trobe becomes the first Lieut-Gov of Victoria (until 5th May 1854).

July 20

Gold discovered on the Mt Alexander No. 1 run near Castlemaine, Vic. The discovery is at first kept quiet, and is finally made public in September. The rush to the Mt. Alexander Goldfield immediately follows. This field becomes known as Castlemaine.

August 8

Gold discovered in the Buninyong Range, near Ballarat. 110km north-west of Melbourne, Ballarat becomes one of the richest goldfields in the world. The area is rushed in 1851 after John Dunlop finds gold under some wattle trees.

August 20

SA’s new Legislative Council, with 16 of 24 members, holds its first meeting.

August 21

Gold discovery at Poverty Point, Ballarat, Victoria. Golden Point is named four days later when gold is discovered in that area. This is the beginning of the great gold discovery that became The Ballarat Diggings.

August/September

Gold is first discovered near Creswick, Vic; Hill End, NSW; Araluen, NSW; Daylesford, Vic.

September 10

Messr. Esmond and Cavanagh wash out 50lbs of gold at Ballarat. This is the first gold sent down by escort to Geelong.

September 11

Elections held for Victoria‘s Legislative Council.

September 20

First gold licence issued at Ballarat goldfields, Vic.

September 21

A shepherd, William Johnson, finds gold in the vicinity of what is later Golden Gully, near Bendigo, Victoria.

September 27

Sir Thomas Mitchell and politician Stuart Donaldson fight a duel over allegations of extravagance in the Surveyor-General’s Department.

October 6

Melbourne Academy (later Scotch College) opens in Spring Street.

October 7

Tenterfield, NSW, gazetted as a town.

October 24

Tasmania holds elections for its Legislative Council.

October 15

Entrepreneur Benjamin Boyd disappears, presumed killed by natives, after going ashore at Guadalcanal Island, from his yacht Wanderer.

October 30

The first offical Mormon missionaries arrive in Australia in Sydney.

November 13

Victoria‘s Legislative Council formally opened in St. Patrick’s Hall, Bourke Street, Melbourne.

November 15

Benjamin Boyd‘s yacht Wanderer wrecked near Port Macquarie, NSW.

December 28

Sir Robert Philp, Premier of Qld, born.

December 29

The Education Act of SA ends state grants to denominational schools.

December 30

Town of Bega, NSW, gazetted.

In this year

Joseph Ernest Seppelt establishes a vineyard at Tanunda in the Barossa Valley, SA.

In this year

An Influenza epidemic sweeps through all colonies.

In this year

Buildings constructed – Convict Establishment, Fremantle, WA, commenced (Commissariat Stores and offices completed 1852; Gaol built 1852-58; Lunatic Asylum built 1861-65)

An Aboriginal runner Manuello beats Tom McLeod, acknowledged as the fastest runner in Australia, over 100 yards in Melbourne.

1852

January 17

Sturt Light (Cape Willoughby Lighthouse), SA, first exhibited.

January 17

William Swan Urquhart completes his survey of the town of Ballarat, Victoria.

January 19

Labor Premier of SA, Thomas Price, born.

January 28

SA passes the Bullion Act which allows for the stamping of gold ingots to be used as legal tender for one year.

January

Teaching begins at the University of Sydney with a Faculty of Arts degree which requires three years’ study of Greek, Latin, Maths, and Science.

February 10

Supreme Court of Victoria established (William A’Beckett appointed Chief Justice).

February 19

Hovenden Hely and party leave Brisbane to search for the missing Ludwig Leichhardt.

February

Gold discovered at Beechworth, Vic.

March 19

Arrival in Adelaide of the First Gold Escort under the leadership of the Commissioner of Police, Alexander Tolmer, with gold valued at £18,456, 9shillings, sent by 300 gold diggers.

April 2

A gang of 22 men raid the barque Nelson at anchor off Williamstown, Vic. They get away with 8,000 oz of gold which is never recovered.

April 14

Politician and author Sir John Quick born.

April 30

Bevoir (now Wodonga), Vic, gaetted as a town.

May 24

Port Augusta, SA, named by exploring party led by Alexander Lang Elder and John Isaac Grainger in the government yacht, Yatala. First land sales in 1854.

June 6

Crown Land in East Melbourne goes on sale. 26 hectres is set aside as a reserve (Fitzroy Square, now known as Fitzroy Gardens).

June 24

The town of Gundagai, NSW, is washed away by floodwaters of the Murrumbidgee River. 89 lives lost out of a population of 250.

July 29

P&O mail steamer Chusan arrives at Port Phillip (arrives Sydney, 3rd August) to inaugurate a two-monthly mail and passenger service between Sydney and London, and including an overland section in Egypt until the Suez Canal is built.

August 3

Gold discovered in the Ovens Valley, Vic.

August 10

Town of Glen Innes, NSW, proclaimed.

August 25

First land sale at Ballarat, Vic, conducted.

September 4

Author Edmund James Banfield born.

September 15

SS Conside wrecked off Point Lonsdale, Vic; 10 of its 200 passengers drown.

September 18

Clipper Marco Polo breaks the sailing record from England to Australia, reaching Melbourne from Liverpool in 68 days. The first of the Black Ball Line’s emmigant ships, it carries 930 government assisted migrants, 53 of whom die on the journey (all but two of them are children).

October 8

Amalgamated Society of Engineers formed by a shipboard group bound for Sydney.

October 11

Australia’s first University, The University of Sydney, inaugurated.

October 16

The crew of the migrant ship Georiana, anchored in Port Phillip, mutiny; they kill one of the ship’s officers and make off for the Victorian goldfields.

October 16

Surveoy and explorer George William Evans dies, age 72.

October 22

The WA Turf Club founded.

November 12

The SS Great Britain, the largest iron passenger steamer in the world, arrives in Melbourne with 615 passengers and 137 crew.

November 24

Transportation to eastern Australia ends with the despatch of the last convict ship, the St Vincent, to Tasmania.

December 4

Tasmanian architect John Lee Archer dies, age 61.

December 9

‘Adelaide sovereigns‘ – gold Pound tokens minted by the Adelaide Assay Office in the Treasury Building become the first gold coins issued in Australia.

December 15

Colonial Secretary Sir John Pakington authorises NSW Vic SA & Tas to draft new separate constitutions providing for an elected lower house and a nominated upper house.

December 22

The clipper Ticonderoga arrives at Port Phillip with 646 migrants, 96 having died on the way with typhus. The rest are quarantined, and a further 83 die while at the new Point Nepean quarantine station.

In this year

Pharmasist Joseph Bosisto begins distilling eucalyptus oil in Dandenong, Vic.

1853

January 1

Explorer and cearly settler Gregory Blaxland dies, age 74.

January 3

Bank of Victoria opens in Melbourne.

January 5

Hobart Municipal Council meets for the first time.

February 3

Bushranger Captain Melville (Frenk McCullum) sentenced in Geelong to 32 years gaol.

February 19

HMS Herald (Capt Henry Mangles Denham) arrives in Sydney to bein a nine year survey of the Australian coast.

February 20

William Grant Broughton, 1st Anglican Bishop in Australia, dies age 64.

February 21

Adelaide Philosophical Society (later Royal Society of SA) inaugurated.

February

The migrant ship Australian Empress, travelling from Liverpool to Melbourne, reported lost on the way to Australia.

February

The 1853 Bendigo Petition, which is almost 13 metres in length and bound in green silk, lists more than 5,000 signatures and details the grievances of goldminers from the Bendigo area, which culminates in the historic Eureka uprising.

March 13

The Earl of Charlemont, which sails from Liverpool, England, on 13th March 1853 with 366 passengers plus crew, is wrecked near Barwon Heads, Vic.� The first port of call in Australia was to be Port Phillip before travelling on to Sydney.

March

A privately surveyed township is laid out on the outskirts of suburban Melbourne. It is named Mount Waverley by its owner after Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley novels.

April 6

The reignation of Victoria’s Gov La Trobe is accepted by the Colonial Office.

May 3

Benjamin Singleton, the pioneer white settler of Singleton, NSW, after whom the town is named, dies. Singleton arrived in New South Wales on 14th February 1792, with his family on the Convict Ship the Pitt.

May

The University of Melbourne is established.

May 7

Operative Stonemasons’ Society formed in Sydney.

May 20

A select committee chaired by William Charles Wentworth is appointed by the NSW Lrgislative Council to draft a new constitution.

June 6

Miners at Bendigo, Vic, form the Anti-Gold Licence Association.

June 11

Francis Luis Barrallier of the NSW Corps dies in London, England.

July 1

Town of Beechworth, Vic, proclaimed.

July 20

Bushrangers hold up the gold escort from the McIvor goldfield, Vic. Three troopers and the driver are killed; 2,320 ox of gold and cash are taken. Five bushrangers were later captured; three hanged.

July 28

William Charles Wentworth‘s select commission (NSW) recommends an upper house of colonial peerage.

July

The Murrumbidgee River floods even higher than the previous year.

July

Gold discovered at Buckland River, Vic.

August 1

Victoria‘s goldminers petition Gov La Trobe for a reduction in licence fees, representation on the Legislative Council and release of land.

August 10

A public meeting held to express opposition to William Charles Wentworth‘s proposed hereditary nobility.

August 11

Frigate Madagascar leaves Melbourne for London with 70,000 oz of gold on board, and is not seen again.

August 15

Francis Cadell navigates a steamer up the Murray River from Goolwa to Swan Hill.

August 15

Henry Parkes makes his first public speech to denounce Wentworth‘s Constitution Bill at a public meeting; Daniel Deniehy ridicules what he calls and it then becomes known as Wentworth’s ‘bunyip aristocracy’.

August

Colin & Rosana Ross arrive in Inverell, Qld, to start a store for the settlers who had moved into the district during 1839-40. The town has its beginnings when Ross Hill is named after the family.

September

John Hardy,� founder of Hardy Brothers, opened his jewellery shop in Jamison Street, Sydney in 1853. During 1855 John Hardy opened a showroom in Hunter Street that became the home of Hardy Brothers for over 80 years.

September 9

Cricker Fred Spofforth born.

October 1

Gold licence fee in NSW reduced to 10 shillings per month.

October 15

Melbourne Philharmonic Society founded.

October

John McDonald, owner of St Leonard’s Inn, Glenelg, SA, hires Charles Matthews to build for him an omnibus to link Glenelg with Adelaide. The new bus was christened the "O.G." and for the fare of 2 shillings would carry passengers to Adelaide from Glenelg or vice versa.

November 1

Tasmania issues its first adhesive postage stamp.

December 9

Bendigo Advertiser first published.

December 21

Town of Gladstone, Qld, gazetted. Land sales commence February 1854.

In this year

Ann Forbes, who was transported on Prince of Wales at 15 years of age for stealing 10 yards of material, is the very last of the Australian first fleeters to die, age 80 years. She is buried in St Matthews Church graveyard, Windsor, NSW.

American born business and coach builder Freeman Cobb establishes a coaching service (Cobb & Co) in Melbourne.

Building constructed – Government House, Hobart (William Porden Kay).

Baron Ferdinand von Mueller appointed Victorian Government Botanist.

Observatory established at Williamstown, Vic; moved to Domain Park in 1863)

1854

January 15

Fire destroys three stores and five houses in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.

January 20

Fire destroys a city block in Hobart, Tas.

January 21

Theatrical manager George Musgrove born.

February 25

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort begins excavating a dry dock (Mort’s Dock) at Balmain, Sydney; completed 1855.

March 3

Australia’s first telegraph line – between Melbourne and Williamstown – begins operation.

March 5

St Vincent de Paul Society established in Australia.

March 13

The town of Dalby, Qld, declared.

March 30

Sir Maurice Charles O’Connell arrives at Gladstone, Qld, to become Government Resident.

April 6

The size of a gold claim on the Victorian goldfields determined at being 12ft x 12ft for one man.

May 6

Charles Joseph La Trobe leaves Melbourne for England after relinquishing the post of Lieut-Gov.

May 18

A horse-drawn railway begins operation between Goolwa and Port Elliott, SA. It is Australia’s first official railway.

May

The first gold battery in Australia was established at Ballarat, Vic.

June 22

Sir Charles Hotham takes up the post of Governor of Victoria.

June 22

News of the outbreak of the Crimean War on 28th March reaches the colonies; immediates fears are raised regarding a Russian attack.

June 24

Land sales begin in Toowoomba, Qld.

June

Gold discovered at Ararat and Maryborough, Vic.

July 5

John Davies first publishes the Hobarton Mercury (later the Hobart Mercury).

August 1

Adhesive postage stamps first issued in WA.

August 18

Panic hits Melbourne as fireworks over Port Phillip are mistaken as the first shots fired in Russia’s invasion of the town. The fireworks are in fact advice from the migrant ship, SS Great Britain, to indicate its discharge from quarantine in consequence to several cases of smallpox on board.

August 26

Surveyor Robert Austin discovers Mount Magnet during his exploration of the Murchison district of WA.

August

First land sales in Bendigo, Vic.

September 12

The first steam railway in Australia, from Melbourne to Sandridge (Flinders Street – Port Melbourne), opens.

September 12

Station Pier, Port Melbourne, originally called Railway Pier, is officially opened.

September 19

Tasmanian Lieut-Gov, George Arthur, dies age 70.

October 17

Melbourne Age first published.

October 17

Melbourne Exhibition opens; remaining open until 12th December.

October 22

Artist Walter Herbert Withers born at Aston Manor, Warwickshire, England.

November 29

The Eureka Flag is first raised on Bakery Hill, Ballarat, Vic.

November 30 – December 3

Eureka Stockade at Bakery Hill, Ballarat, on the Victorian goldfields. Martial law proclaimed.

December 8

Raffaello Carboni and 12 other captured diggers involved in the Eureka Stockade charged with high treason.

December 9

Martial law is revoked on the Victorian goldfields.

December 28 (?)

Outlaw Ned Kelly born on a farm on the side of Big Hill near Beveridge, Vic,

In this year

Buildings constructed – main quadrangle building of the University of Sydney (Edmund Blacket); Kirribilli House, Sydney; Melbourne Public Library (now State Library of Vic, Joseph Reed); foundation stone of University of Melbourne laid; Old Legislative Council building, Adelaide, SA

Two masses of iron meteorite found near Cranbourne, Vic. They weight 3.5 tonnes and 1.5 tonnes.

Public hangings abolished in Victoria.

Melbourne‘s Royal Park permanently reserved.

1855

January 1

Colonial Sugar Refinery Co. founded in Sydney to take over from the insolvent Australasian Sugar Co.

January 20

Sir William Thomas Denison appointed Governor-General of the colonies of NSW, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia (20th January 1855 to 21st January 1861).

January 20

Sir Henry Edward Fox Young replaces Sir William Thomas Denison as Governor of Tasmania.

January

Adhesive postage stamps first issued in SA.

February 25

Artist Frederick McCubbin born in Melbourne.

March 27

At the trials of the 13 charged with treason, all are acquitted.

April 4

The 60-tonne armed ketch Spitfire, the first warship built in Australia, launched in Sydney.

April 12

Sandhurst (Bendigo), Vic, proclaimed a municipality.

April 13

University of Melbourne opens; first permanent buildings opened 30th October.

April 27

First land sales in Echuca, Vic.

May 1

Assent given to Tasmania‘s Constitution Act.

May 14

Branch of the Royal Mint opens in the south wing of Sydney‘s Rum Hospital. It stamps coin sovereigns and half sovereigns.

May 30

Sydney pioneer businesswoman Mary Reibey dies, age 78.

June 8

Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell becomes Governor of SA.

June 8

The Chinese Immigration Restriction Act imposes a tax of £10 per head on landing in Victoria.

June 18

Author George Louis (Lewis) Becke born.

July 13

Town of Shepparton, Vic, surveyed.

July 16

Victoria‘s Constitution Act 1855 (UK) passed, enabling Queen Victoria to assent to a Constitution Bill passed by the Legislative Council of Victoria. The draft Constitution establishes the bi-cameral parliament of Victoria, with property qualifications for voters and members set at higher levels for the Upper House of the Parliament. A similar act is passed for NSW and Tasmania (May).

July 18

Explorer Augustus Charles Gregory embarks on an expedition to the north of Australia. Gregory charters two vessels, the Monarch and the Tom Tough; the first to transport livestock and the latter as tender to the expedition. Gregory also agrees to seek signs of Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, missing in that area since April 1848

July 23

Arthur Edward (later Sir) Kennedy becomes Governor of WA.

August 2

Australia’s first illustrated popular magazine, Melbourne Punch, begins publication.

August 3

Australia’s 2nd, 5th and 7th Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin, born in Melbourne.

August 6

Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs, Australia’s first Australian-born Governor-General, born.

August 12

Former Governor Sir Richard Bourke dies, age 78.

August 23

The Municipality of Glenelg proclaimed (first meeting held at St. Leonards Hotel 10th December 1855).

September 26

The first railway line in NSW, a single track service between Sydney and Parramatta (22.2kms), opens. It is the first government-owned steam railway in the British Empire.

October 2

G.B. Johnston takes Francis Cadell‘s river steamer Albury up the Murray as far as Albury.

October 5

Surveyor-General of NSW, Sir Thomas Mitchell, dies age 63.

October 8

Publication of the Illawarra Mercury commences in Wollongong, NSW.

October 24

Tasmania‘s Constitution Act proclaimed, granting responsible government.

November 23

Victoria‘s Constitution Act proclaimed, granting responsible government.

November 24

New South Wales’ Constitution Act proclaimed, granting responsible government.

December 3

Jonathan Smith and James Kelly fight with bare knuckles for six hours at Fiery Creek, near Daylesford, Vic; it is the longest fight on record.

December 7

Warrnambool, Vic, declared as a municipality.

December 8

Ballarat, Vic, is declared a municipality.

December 21

Victoria‘s Haines Government resigns over a secret ballot motion moved and carried by William Nicholson, however Nicholson is unable to form a government.

December 31

Governor of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, dies age 49.

In this year

Buildings constructed – Geelong Town Hall foundation stone laid (Joseph Reed); Corio Villa, Geelong; Fort Denison, Sydney, commenced (George Barney); NSW Legislative Assembly Council Chamber added to north wing of the Rum Hospital (assembled from prefabricated cast iron parts).

1856

January 1

The name Tasmania is officially adopted in place of Van Diemen’s Land.

February 11

Melbourne Public Library opens.

February 19

Dancer Lola Montez attacks the editor of the Ballarat Times, Henry Seekamp, with a horsewhip for writing an article unjustly critical of her.

March 11

Elections for NSW‘s first Legislative Assembly held.

March

Sydney stonemasons achieve an 8-hour working day.

April 2

Voting by secret ballot becomes law in South Australia and Victoria (19th March).

April 19

South Australia’s first steam railway, between Adelaide and Pt. Adelaide, opens.

April 21

As Victoria‘s building workers achieve an 8-hour working day, other workers who have not been grated shorter working hours hold protests.

April 25

Eight Hours Labour League established in Melbourne.

May 1

Victorian Railways established as the government takes over the privately owned Melbourne, Mt Alexander and Murray River Railway Co.

May 2

Lismore, NSW, gazetted as a town.

May 22

NSW’s first representative parliament assembles.

May 31

Victoria‘s first warship, the steam sloop Victoria, arrives at Port Phillip from UK.

June 6

Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson is elected Prime Minister (Premier) of NSW in the first ministry under responsible government.

June 6

Ebenezer Syme buys the Melbourne Age. His brother, David, becomes a partner and takes over as managing editor on Ebenezer’s death in 1860.

June 8

Pitcairn Island‘s entire community arrives at Norfolk� Island for resettlement.

June 21

Having explored the Victoria River, Augustus Charles Gregory sets out to travers northern Australia from east to west. He arrives at Port Curtis on 22nd November.

June 24

Norfolk� Island separates from Tasmania and comes under the NSW government.

July 1

Belfast (now Port Fairy), Vic, declared as a town.

August 26

Charles Cowper replaces Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson as Prime Minister (Premier) of NSW.

September 23

Perth constituted as a city.

October 3

Sir Henry Watson Parker replaces Charles Cowper as Prime Minister (Premier) of NSW.

October 17

Election held for Tasmania‘s first House of Assembly.

October 24

South Australia’s Constitution Act proclaimed, first ministry appointed. SA leads the world with the granting of adult male suffrage; constitution also provides for triennial parliaments, no property qualifications for lower house members, and no plural voting

November 1

Tasmania‘s first ministry under responsible government appointed.

November 21

Victoria‘s new Parliament House is officially opened by the Acting Governor General, Sir Edward Macarthur (a son of John Macarthur, a pioneer of the wool industry in Australia), though the building is not yet fully completed.

December 1

Tasmania‘s first parliament under responsible government sits.

December 3

The First electric telegraph service from Melbourne to Ballarat becomes operational.

December 26

Sir Henry Barkly becomes Victoria‘s first constitutional governor.

December

Chinese immigrants begin to land in SA and walk overland to the Victorian goldfields to escape Victoria‘s immigration regulations.

In this year

Buildings constructed – Parliament House, Melbourne (John George Knight and Peter Kerr)

1857

January 11

Land goes on sale in Nowra, NSW.

January 16

Charles Gavan Duffy is appointed by a Victorian Government select committee to inquire into the federation of the Australian colonies.

February 26

Thomas George Gregson replaces William Champ as Premier of Tasmania.

March 9

Gas lighting introduced to Hobart‘s streets.

March 9

South Australia becomes a Self-governing colony in 1856 with the ratification of a new constitution by the British parliament. Secret ballots are introduced, and a parliament is elected on 9th March 1857.

March 9

Boyle Travers Finniss becomes first South Australian Premier in SA’s first elections under responsible government. He resigns on 21st August.

March 11

John O’Shanassy replaces Dr William Clark Haines as Premier of Victoria.

March 11

The Brisbane Supreme Court opens.

March 27

After the Melbourne Cricket Club issues a challenge in January 1857, to any team in the Australian, colonies to a serious game of cricket, Sydney politician and publican William Tunks accepts the challenge on behalf of NSW, which plays at the Melblourne Cricket Ground and wins the game.

March 30

Railway between Newcastle and Maitland, NSW, opened.

April 25

William Pritchard Weston succeeds Thomas George Gregson as Premier of Tas; Dr William Clark Haines replaces John O’Shanassy as Premier of Vic.

May 5

Ballarat East Municipality proclaimed.

May 13

The Melbourne and Hobsons Bay Railway opens a short line from Flinders Street station to St Kilda without stations. The path followed is still used by trams today.

May 12

Sir Francis Villeneuve Smith appointed Premier of Tasmania, its fourth Premier in less than a year. (12th May 1857 – 1st November 1860)

May

The Chinese are driven off the Ararat goldfields.

June 9

South Australian cattle king, Sir Sidney Kidman, born Norwood, SA.

June 16

Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, heads a select committee established to inquire into federation of the Australia’s colonies.

June 25

Railway line opens between Williamstown and Geelong.

June 30

Dutch barque Koenig Willem II wrecked at Guichen Bay, SA; 16 lives lost.

July 4

European miners drive some 2,000 Chinese from the Buckland River goldfield, Vic, burning their tents and looting their equipment.

July 23

Land sales begin in Gunnedah, NSW.

August 3

Sydney Grammar School opens.

August 10

Melbourne‘s streets first lit by gas.

August 10

Telegraph line between Hobart and Launceston, Tas, officially opened.

August 20

Dunbar wrecked at The Gap, Sydney, with the loss of 121 lives and a sole survivor.

August 21

Government of Boyle Travers Finniss in SA resigns; John Baker forms a new ministry.

November 19

South Australia imposes a head tax of £10 on Chinese arrivals.

August 24

SS Champion collides with SS Lady Bird off Cape Otway, Vic. The latter sinks with 32 lives lost.

August 26

St Vincents Hospital, Sydney, opens in temporary premises.

September 1

Sir Robert Richard Torrens replaces John Baker as Premier of SA; Torrens is replaced by Sir Richard Davies Hanson on 30th September.

September 7

Charles Cowper again becomes Premier of NSW.

October 5

Railway between Adelaide and Gawler, SA, completed.

October 24

Clipper Catherine Adamson wrecked on inner North Head, Sydney Harbour; 21 lives lost.

October 27

Aborigines murder Martha Fraser of Hornet Bank Station, Qld, and seven of her children.

Novermber 19

SA imposes a head tax of £10 on Chinese immigrants.

November

The newly created Caulfield Roads Board, Vic, elects its members.

December 1

Prisoners on Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour, complete construction of the hand cut Fitzroy Dock for the Royal Navy. It is the oldest surviving dry dock in Australia.

December 22

Hobart, Tas, incorporated as a city.

In this year

Buildings constructed – Old Treasury Building, Melbourne (John James Clark); Sydney Observatory (Alexander Dawson); Wesley Church, Lonsdale Street, Melbourne (Joseph Reed).

1858

January 26

First telephone line begins operation in NSW between Sydney GPO and South Head.

January 28

Scientist Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David born at St Fagans, Glamorganshire, Wales.

February 1

Capt William Dean in his balloon Australasia makes the first balloon ascent in Australia in Cremorne Gardens, Melbourne.

February 14

The first mass is celebrated in the newly completed St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne (photos).

February 25

Voting by secret ballot adopted in Tas.

February 26

Governor of NSW Sir Charles FitzRoy dies, age 61.

March 1

Having been selected to lead an expedition to the country stretching between Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner, SA, for a detailed topographical survey, Benjamin Herschel Babbage leaves Port Augusta with 18 months worth of supplies for his party. During his travels Babbage comes across John McDouall Stuart who has started his first expedition.

March 10

John O’Shanassy becomes Premier of Victoria for the second time.

March

Benjamin Herschel Babbage explores to the west of Lake Torrens, SA.

March 24

Explorer Augustus Charles Gregory and party set out from Dawson River, Qld, to search for traces of Ludwig Leichhardt.

April 2

Governor of NSW Sir Ralph Darling dies, age 86?

April 17

Explorer Augustus Charles Gregory reaches Barcoo River, Qld, and finds a tree marked "L".

May 14

Explorer John McDouall Stuart with one companion and six horses makes a second expedition into the South Australian outback, this time to the west of the Torrens Basin, SA.

May

South Australia appoints its first Agent-General in London – Gregory Seale Walters.

June 9

The Welcome Nugget is unearthed on the goldfields of Ballarat, Vic.

June 11

Town of Stawell, Vic, proclaimed.

June

Town of Inverell, NSW, proclaimed. Land sales commence March 1859.

July 2

Torrens System of Land Conveyancing and Registration (The Real Property Act) comes into operation in SA. Adopted Qld. 1861, NSW, Vic, Tas, in 1862, WA 1874 and progressively around the world.

July 4

Politician King O’Malley born.

July 10

A train derails at Haslem’s Creek (Lidcombe), NSW, killing 2 people.

July 13

Cape Borda Lighthouse in Kangaroo Island, SA, first exhibited.

July 21

First intercolonial telegraph line officially opens between Adelaide and Melbourne.

July 31

The first game of what was to become Australian Rules Football is played between Melbourne Cricket Club honorary secretary and cricketer, Tom Wills, and his friends in a Richmond paddock in Melbourne. Wills, his cousin H.C.A. Harrison, W.J. Hammersley and J.B. Thompson had conceived the game a year earlier as a way of keeping cricketers fit during the winter off-season.

August 7

The Melbourne Football Club is formed by Tom Wills; the code’s first recorded match between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School takes place soon after.

August 16

Francis Cadell takes the steamer Albury up the Murrumbidgee River as far as Gundagai, NSW.

August 28

John McDouall Stuart and his companion reach Streky Bay in a state of near starvation after travelling more than 1,600 km.

September 5

Poet Victor Daley born.

September 20

Ararat, Vic, becomes a municipality.

October 7

National Bank of Australasia opens.

October 8

Rockhampton, Qld, proclaimed a port of entry. Land sales commence 17th November.

October 29

Sydney linked by telegraph with Melbourne and thus with Adelaide.

October

Launceston, Tas, incorporated as a city.

November 21

Ballarat‘s first water pipeline from Yuille’s Swamp is completed.

November 24

Secret ballot and manhood suffrage granted in NSW for the Legislative Assembly; property qualifications abolished for candidates.

November

The National Bank of Australasia established in Victoria.

December 13

Balloonist Capt William Dean makes the first balloon ascent over Sydney.

December 19

Ballarat‘s new Post Office building opens.

In this year

Carlton Brewery established in Melbourne.

Buildings constructed – St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne (William Wardell); Melbourne Club (Leonard Terry); Pyrmont Bridge, Sydney (first bridge); Customs House, Melbourne (Knight, Kemp & Kerr).

1859

January 13

Railway line from Geelong to Williamstown, Vic, extended to Melbourne (Southern Cross Railway Station).

January

Tariff League of Victoria, the first of many such leagues for the promotion of the protection movemeny, formed in Melbourne.

January

Francis Cadell takes the paddlesteamer Albury up the Darling River and reaches a point near present day Wilcannia, NSW.

February 4

Corowa, NSW, gazetted as a town.

February 10

The railway line between Footscray and Sunbury, Vic, opens.

February 24

Paddlesteamer Gemini reaches Brewarrina, NSW, on the Darling River.

April 2

John McDouall Stuart explores South Australian outback, discovering Hergott Springs (Marree).

June 14

Wentworth, NSW, gazetted as a town. First land sales in March 1860.

June 19

Author Ethel Charlotte Pedley born.

June 6

Queen Victoria gives her approval and signs Letters Patent to establish the new colony of Queensland.

August

Cape Schanck lighthouse, Vic, built from limestone. It is the second coastal light established in Victoria.

August 6

392 ton steamship Admella, wrecked on Carpenter’s Reef, north west of Cape Northumberland, SA, with the loss of 89 lives.

August 16

Explorer George Dalrymple and party leave Rockhampton, Qld, in search of pastoral land to the north.

August

Stonemason Charles Jardine Don, considered Australia’s first ‘Labour" MP, elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as Member for Collingwood, in the colony’s first election under manhood suffrage.

September 7

The Municipality of Brisbane is proclaimed, John Petrie is later elected the town’s first mayor.

September

Submarine cable between Cape Otway, Vic, and Circular Head, Tas, completed. It breaks down within a few weeks.

October 3

Town of Hay, NSW, gazetted. Land sales commence 8 days later.

October 27

William Forster replaces Charles Cowper as Premier of NSW.; William Nicholson replaces John O’Shanassy as Premier of Vic.

November 4

Explorer John McDouall Stuart‘s third expedition set out towards Lake Eyre on the South Australian hinterland.

November 30

Traralgon, Vic, proclaimed a town. First land sale 27th December.

November 30

Condobolin, NSW, proclaimed a town. First land sale 3rd January 1860.

November

Gold discovered at Kiandra, NSW. Rush begins in December.

December 10

Queensland’s first Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, officially proclaims Queensland to be a separate colony from New South Wales.

December 12

"Song of Australia" is written by Mrs Caroline Carleton of Gawler, SA. It wins a competition for a song to celebrate the second anniversary of the Freemasons Grand Lodge at Gawler.

December 10

In Brisbane, Separation Day is celebrated, with the formal proclamation of the colony of Queensland and swearing-in of first governor, Sir George Bowen.

December 17

Copper discovered on Yorke Peninsula, SA, leading to the opening of the Great Wallaroo mine.

December 20

Manhood suffrage and secret ballot granted in Qld.

December 27

Author William Lister Lister born.

December 31

Convict Establishment, Fremantle, WA, completed.

1860

January 6

Melbourne Trades Hall Committee and Operative’s Board of Trade merge to form the Trades Hall Council.

January 27

Governor of NSW Sir Thomas Brisbane dies, age 86.

February 15

Volunteer Corps formed in Qld.

March 2

Explorer John McDouall Stuart leaves Chamber’s Creek on his fourth journey.

March 9

John Robertson forms his first government in NSW.

March 13

Victorian pugilist Tom Curran beats Harry Sellers for the championship of Australia in a bout lasting 2 1/2 hours.

March 16

John Nackay begins an expedition north from Rockhampton during which he discovers the Pioneer River.

April 4

John McDouall Stuart discovers the Finke River, NT, and later reaches and names the MacDonnell Ranges.

April 9

Launceston Mechanics Institute (later Public Library) opens.

April 22

John McDouall Stuart reaches the centre of the continent – names Central Mt. Sturt, later called Central Mount Stuart.

April 24

HMCS Victoria sails from Hobart to New Zealand with British troops for the war in Taranaki between the Maoris and colonists.

April

Ill-fated Cape St George lighthouse, NSW, completed. The light is not visible from the Northern approach to Jervis Bay, and is barely be visible from the southern approach. The contractor seems to have built the light closer to the quarry he was obtaining the stone from. In fact when inspected by members of the Pilots Board it is found to be two and a half miles north of the intended site.

April

Voluntary Artillery Corps formed at Queenscliff, Vic, to man three cannon which overlooked Port Phillip Bay.

May 1

New South Wales Governor Sir William Thomas Denison appoints the first 11 members of the Queensland Legislative Council for five-year terms. Subsequent appointments are made for life, the number expanded to 15 later in the month by Queensland’s Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen.

May 9

Thomas Reynolds replaces Sir Richard Davies Hanson as Premier of SA.

May 20

The first recorded football match in Ballarat, Vic, is played at at Green’s paddock.

May 22

Queensland’s first elected Legislative Assembly of 26 people sits in Courthouse Building, Queen St (formerly part of convict barracks), Brisbane.

June 6

John McDouall Stuart discovers Tennant Creek, NT.

June 10

Colonial military officer Maj Edmund Lockyer dies, age 76.

June 23

Anthropologist and biologist Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer born.

June 25

25 camels arrive in Melbourne for use by the Burke and Wills expedition.

June 26

John McDouall Stuart‘s party is attacked by Aborigines at Attack Creek; he decides to turn back.

June 30

Early Governor of SA, Sir John Hindmarsh, dies age 78?

July 7

The Sydney Mail commences publication.

August 4

The Sydney Morning Herald reports a gold find of 7.5 ounces at Lambing Flat (Young), NSW.

August 20

Robert O’Hara Burke (1821-1861) and William John Wills (1834-1861) embark from Melbourne on their ill-fated expedition to cross Australia from south to north.

August 28

Melbourne‘s Parliament House attacked and stoned by an angry crowd during a debate on a controversial land bill.

September 18

Victoria‘s Nicholson Land Act passed (free selection after survey).

October 3

Prince of Wales Theatre, Sydney, destroyed by fire; three killed.

October 9

Queensland’s first Agent-General, Henry Jordan, assumes duty in London.

October

Land sales commence in Bairnsdale, Vic.

November 1

William Pritchard Weston, appointed Premier of Tasmania (1st November 1860 – 2nd August 1861)

November 1

The first section of the Broadmeadows suburban-Melbourne railway line opens – between Melbourne and Essendon. It was originally constructed by the Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company. There are 5 intermediate stations, Kensington, Newmarket, Ascot Vale, and Moonee Ponds.�

November 26

Richard Heales replaces William Nicholson as Premier of Vic.

December 7

Australia’s ninth Prime Minister, Joseph Cook, born in England.

December 12

Vigilance committee of miners at Lambing Flat (Young), NSW, burn grog shanties and attack Chinese miners; two killed.

December 16

Burke and Wills, with Charles Gray and John King, leave Coopers Creek, Qld, in a bid to reach the Gulf of Carpentaria.

December 28

Adelaide gets its domestic water supply from Thorndon Park reservoir for the first time.

In this year

Snow skiing is introduced into Australia by Norwegian gold miners at Kiandra, NSW.