Events in Australia - 1821 - 1835

1821

Jan 23 Meeting of emancipists in Sydney to prepare a petition to the king. (Petition forwarded to UK by Macquarie on 22 Oct.)
Feb 1 Frederick Goulburn assumes duty as Australia's first officially appointed Colonial Secretary.
3 Lt-Gen. Sir Thomas Brisbane commissioned as Governor to succeed Macquarie.
14 Commissioner Bigge leaves Sydney in HMS Dromedary to return to the UK.
17 Solomon Wiseman granted a licence for the Packet Inn on the Hawkesbury (Wiseman's Ferry).
- New, self-contained Female Factory at Parramatta opens for 200 convicts.
Mar 4 Stage coach begins operating between Sydney and Parramatta-WindsorRichmond.
17 Capt. Francis Allman and a party of soldiers and convicts sail from Sydney in the Prince Regent and Lady Nelson to found a penal settlement at Port Macquarie, NSW.
Apr - Charles Throsby discovers the Murrumbidgee River.
May 1 Australia's first periodical, the Australian Magazine: or Compendium of Religious, Literary and Miscellaneous Intelligence, begins publication.
26 P. P. King in the brig Bathurst leaves on his final survey voyage to the west coast.
30 Macquarie, on a visit to Van Diemen's Land, selects the site of Perth, then Campbell Tbwn (31 May), Ross (2 June), Oatlands (3 June) and Brighton (4 June).
Aug - King surveys Collier Bay and names Roebuck Bay and then sails to Mauritius to rest his crew.
Oct 25 William Redfern and Edward Eagar sail for England to present the emancipists' petition to the king.
29 Macquarie lays the foundation stone of St Mary's Chapel (Cathedral) in Sydney, the first Catholic church built in Australia.
Nov 7 Sir Thomas Brisbane arrives in Sydney to take over from Macquarie as Governor; with him are astronomers Carl Riimker and James Dunlop. 12 Site of Mudgee, NSW, traversed by Lt William Lawson.
Dec 1 Brisbane sworn in as Governor.
Clyde River, NSW, discovered by Lt Robert Johnston in the Snapper.
18 Barnett Levey arrives in Sydney as a free settler.
23 Bathurst arrives back on the WA coast near Rottnest Island; King then resumes his survey from North-West Cape to King Sound. (Returns to Sydney 25 Apr. 1822.)
• Thron River discovered by Const. James Blackman.
* Father J. J. Therry establishes a Catholic school at Parramatta (now Parramatta Marist High School).

BRISBANE, SIR THOMAS MAKDOUGALL (1773-1860),

was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on 23 July 1773. His father, Sir Thomas Brisbane, Bart., fought at Culloden, his mother was Eleonora, daughter of Sir William Bruce, Bart. He was educated by tutors and at the university of Edinburgh. In his seventeenth year he joined the army as an ensign, in 1793 was on active service in Belgium, and in 1796 in the West Indies. Returning to England in 1799 he held various positions and was appointed adjutant-general of the staff at Canterbury in 1810. He was a brigadier-general in the Duke of Wellington's peninsular army in 1812, was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1813, and went in command of a brigade to the United States in 1814. Recalled to England he was too late to fight at Waterloo, but was with the army of occupation until 1818. In November 1819 he married Anna Maria Makdougall. On 3 November 1820 he was advised that he had been appointed governor of New South Wales, and he arrived at Sydney on 7 November 1821.

Brisbane had always been interested in astronomy and in 1808 had erected an observatory near his house in Ayrshire. He brought with him to Australia two astronomical assistants, Karl Rümker (q.v.) and James Dunlop (q.v.), and while waiting for Macquarie to complete his final arrangements, interested himself in making astronomical observations. A few months later he built at Parramatta the first properly equipped Australian observatory. He took over the government on 1 December j821, and at once proceeded to carry out some of the reforms recommended in the report of J. T. Bigge . It was unfortunate that Brisbane did not always receive loyal support from his administrative officers, and in particular from Frederick Goulburn, the colonial secretary. A reference to Brisbane's dispatch to Earl Bathurst dated 14 May 1825 will, however, show that Bigge's recommendations had been carefully considered, and that many improvements had been made (H.R. of A., vol. XI, pp. 571-88). Brisbane did not confine his attention to Bigge's report. Early in April 1822 he discovered with some surprise the ease with which grants of land had hitherto been obtained. He immediately introduced a new system under which every grant had the stipulation that for every hundred acres granted the grantee would maintain free of expense to the crown one convict labourer. He also encouraged agriculture on government land, with the result that not only were the convicts healthily employed, but they helped to pay for their own keep. More system was brought into the granting of tickets of leave and pardons. Generally Brisbane's administration had a good effect on the morality of the colony, as the number of persons convicted at the criminal court fell from 208 in 1822 to 100 in 1824. Another improvement made by Brisbane was the introduction in 1823 of a system of calling for supplies by tender. When Dr Wardell and Wentworth brought out their paper the Australian in 1824 Brisbane decided to try the experiment of allowing full latitude of the freedom of the press.

In 1824 an important step took place in the development of government in Australia by the appointment of a nominee council to assist the governor. Brisbane had no desire to be an autocrat and encouraged the development of the council by continually bringing matters before it for consideration. Improvements were also made in the constitution of the judicial courts, and a restricted form of trial by jury was introduced. One official piece of exploration carried out by John Oxley during Brisbane's administration eventually led to the colonization of Queensland, and the private expedition of Hamilton Hume and W. H. Hovell first drew attention to the possibilities of the colonization of what is now Victoria. Another important development was the encouragement of free immigration.

It is clear that Brisbane was doing useful work, but he could no more escape the effects of the faction fights that were constantly going on than could his predecessors. Henry G. Douglass, the assistant-surgeon, was the centre of one of the conflicts that was fought with great bitterness. Arising out of this, charges of various kinds against Brisbane were sent to England. The worst of these, that he had connived at sending female convicts to Emu plains for immoral purposes, was investigated by William Stewart, the lieutenant-governor, John Stephen, assistant judge, and the Rev. William Cowper (q.v.), senior assistant-chaplain, and found to be without the slightest foundation. Brisbane discovered that Goulburn, the colonial secretary, had been withholding documents from him and acting far too much on his own responsibility, and in 1824 reported his conduct to Earl Bathurst. In reply Bathurst recalled both the governor and the colonial secretary in dispatches dated 29 December 1824. Brisbane left Sydney in December 1825 and returned to Scotland. In 1826 he added the name of Makdougall before Brisbane, and settled down to the life of a country gentleman interested in science, his estate, and his regiment. In 1832 he was elected president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in succession to Sir Walter Scott, and in 1836 he was created a baronet. In the same year he was offered the command of the troops stationed in Canada and two years later the chief command in India, but declined both. He continued his astronomical researches, did valuable work, and died much respected and honoured on 27 January 1860. His four children predeceased him.

Brisbane was tall, handsome and benevolent-looking. He was sincerely religious, perfectly impartial, rational and far-seeing, an intellectual and scientific man and a patron of science. The only charge made against him that appears to have any foundation is that he left details to his subordinates. Some people would consider that to be the essence of government. There is no evidence for the suggestion that Brisbane's interest in his observatory caused him to neglect his official duties. When he found that Goulburn was not supporting him he brought the matter before the colonial office, which quite characteristically solved the question by recalling both officers without giving any reason for doing so. Brisbane did good work as a governor, and was the ideal man to be in that position when the first step from autocracy to responsible government was made by establishing the nominee council. He was the first patron of science in Australia, and as such was eulogized by Sir John Herschel when he presented Brisbane with the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1828. Oxford and Cambridge gave him the honorary degree of D.C.L., and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Societies of both London and Edinburgh. He was created K.C.B. in 1814 and G.C.B. in 1837.

1822

Jan 1 Van Diemen's Land Agricultural Society formed in Hobart, with Edward Lord as president.
2 Penal settlement established at Macquarie Harbour, Van Diemen's Land, for twice-convicted prisoners.
6 First service held in the unfinished St James's Church, Sydney.
Feb 15 Macquarie sails for England in the Surry.
Mar 1 Brisbane reinstates Samuel Marsden as magistrate.
25 Magistrates meet in Parramatta to discuss claims by Judge Wylde that laws
effected by the governor which are contrary to British laws are invalid.
May 6 Commissioner Bigge's first report, "On the State of the Colony of NSW" (i.e., the convict system), submitted to Lord Bathurst.
Jul 5 Agricultural Society of NSW (later the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW) founded at a public meeting in Sydney.
Aug 2 Marsden and Dr James Hall try to induce convict servant Ann Rumsby to leave the house of Dr J. H. Douglass; she refuses; magistrates at Parramatta subsequently refuse to sit on the Bench with Douglass.
8 First sale of Australian-grown tobacco leaf held in Sydney.
19 Parramatta magistrates convict Ann Rumsby of perjury against Hall (superintendent surgeon of the ship on which she was transported) and sentence her to gaol at Port Macquarie.
23 Brisbane dismisses Marsden, Hannibal Macarthur, and other magistrates and remits Rumsby's sentence.
31 First part of Bigge's second report (on judicial system) submitted. (Second part submitted 2 Oct.)
- Henry Dangar begins a survey of the town of Newcastle.
Sep 25 P. P. King sails for England in the Bathurst.
Nov 15 Greenway dismissed as Civil Architect following a series of disagreements with his superiors.
Dec 24 Rev. Archibald Macarthur, the first Presbyterian minister in Australia, arrives in Hobart.

1823

Jan 1 Distilling of spirits permitted.
10 Commissioner Bigge's third and final report on NSW issued.
Feb 9 St David's Church, Hobart, consecrated (but opened on 25 Dec. 1819). 15 Gold discovered by surveyor James McBrien at the Fish River near Bathurst—the first known discovery, though not made public.
24 Lt Percy Simpson arrives at Wellington Valley, NSW, with a party of convicts and soldiers to establish an agricultural depot.
Mar 5 Road from Richmond, NSW, to Wallis Plains (Maitland) opened for droving.
21 Convict Thomas Pamphlett and three others leave Port Jackson in an open boat and are driven north for several days by a gale, eventually being wrecked at Moreton Bay, where Pamphlett and two surviving companions settle with Aborigines.
Apr 15 Allan Cunningham leaves Bathurst to explore north to Liverpool Plains.
21 Cunningham discovers and names Blaxland's River.
May 12 Samuel Marsden comes before magistrate H. G. Douglass on a charge of having allowed his assigned servant to be at large contrary to regulations and is fined but refuses to pay. (Fine eventually remitted.)
22 Capt. Mark Currie, accompanied by Maj. John Ovens, explores beyond Lake George to the upper Murrumbidgee (to 4 June) and discovers the Monaro district.
23 Rev. John Dunmore Lang arrives in Sydney in the Brixton.
Jun 5 Cunningham finds an opening through the Liverpool Range (Pandora's Pass) leading into the Liverpool Plains.
Jul 14 Board of inquiry begins investigation into the behaviour of Douglass following charges by Marsden; Douglass is exonerated.
19 New South Wales Judicature Act receives royal assent, enabling the establishment of a nominated Legislative Council, a Supreme Court with full independence, courts of quarter sessions, the appointment of a Chief Justice to replace the Judge-Advocate and Supreme Court judge, and trial by jury in civil cases under certain conditions.
Aug 29 Headquarters and final detachment of the 3rd Regt (Buffs) arrives in the Commodore Hayes to replace the 48th Regt.
- Archibald Bell pioneers a shorter and less rugged route across the Blue Mountains (Bell's Line).
Sep 24 Royal Veteran Company (formed from former members of NSW Corps) disbanded.
- Australian Religious Tract Society established.
Oct 13 Supreme Court of NSW constituted under the Third Charter of Justice. 23 John Oxley leaves Port Jackson in the cutter Mermaid to examine Port Bowen, Port Curtis, and Moreton Bay.
31 Oxley discovers and names the TWeed River.
Nov 13 Band of Tasmanian Aborigines led by Musquito (transported from NSW) and Black Jack kill two stock-keepers at Grindstone Bay.
29 Oxley, at Moreton Bay, finds Pamphlett (and next day one of his companions, John Finnegan).

1824

Feb 11 St James's Church, Sydney, consecrated by Samuel Marsden.
Mar 5 Francis Forbes arrives in Sydney to take up his position as first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
15 Bank of Van Diemen's Land opens for business in Hobart.
May 10 Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land opened; John Lewes Pedder Chief Justice; Joseph Tice Gellibrand Attorney-General.
12 Meeting held in London to form the Van Diemen's Land Co., with Edward Curr as secretary.
Col. George Arthur arrives in Hobart and (14th) replaces William Sorell as Lt-Governor of Van Diemen's Land.
17 New Charter of Justice proclaimed in Sydney; Francis Forbes installed as Chief Justice, Saxe Bannister as Attorney-General.
Jun 9 Convict Matthew Brady escapes from Macquarie Harbour and begins bushranging career.
Jul 15 W. C. Wentworth returns to Sydney with Robert Wardell to start a newspaper.
24 Gov. Brisbane initiates a system for the sale of Crown land.
Aug 5 Convict Alexander Pearce, who escaped twice from Macquarie Harbour and survived by eating his companions, hanged in Hobart.
14 Brisbane proclaims martial law in the Bathurst district following attacks by Aborigines. (Revoked, 11 Dec.)
24 Capt. J. J. G. Bremer in HMS Tamar leaves Sydney to establish a settlement in northern Australia.
25 First meeting of Legislative Council of NSW.
- Musquito and Black Jack captured near Little Swanport River.
Sep 1 Brisbane sends John Oxley with a party of convicts and soldiers under Lt Henry Miller in the Amity to found a penal settlement at Moreton Bay.
10 Wentworth and Wardell admitted as barristers.
11 Oxley arrives at Moreton Bay and finds Richard Parsons, companion of
Pamphlett and Finnegan; Redcliffe chosen as site of settlement.
20 Bremer lands at Port Essington and takes formal possession of the coast
from 135° to 129°E; finding no fresh water at Port Essington, he chooses
a site on Melville Island which he names Fort Dundas (30th).
28 Oxley recommends an alternative settlement site on the Brisbane River.
Oct 2 NSW raised to the status of archdeaconry within Anglican diocese of Calcutta; T. H. Scott appointed Archdeacon.
Hamilton Hume and William Hovell leave Appin, NSW, to find an overland route to Port Phillip.
14 Wentworth and Wardell begin publication of the Australian, the first independent newspaper in Australia.
15 Freedom of press recognized; censorship of Sydney Gazette ends.
Nov 1 Australian Agricultural Co. incorporated by act of parliament. 2 First civil jury empanelled at first court of quarter sessions.
Hume and Hovell discover the Tumut River, then sight and name the Australian Alps (8th) and discover the Murray (16th), Ovens (24th), and Goulburn (3 Dec.) rivers.
Dec 16 Hume and Hovell reach Corio Bay, Port Phillip, which they mistake for Westernport.

HOVELL, WILLIAM HILTON (1786-1875),

was born at Yarmouth, England, on 26 April 1786, went to sea at an early age, and in 1808 was in command of a vessel trading with South America. In October 1813 he came to Sydney, and, getting in touch with Simeon Lord (q.v.), he became master of a vessel and made several trading voyages along the coast and to New Zealand. In 1819 he settled on the land near Sydney and did some exploring in a southerly direction; he discovered the Burragorang valley in 1823. About this time Governor Brisbane (q.v.) was anxious to obtain more information about any rivers that might run south in the direction of Spencer's Gulf. He got into touch with Hamilton Hume (q.v.), who was known to be a good bushman, and also with Hovell, and suggested that an expedition should be made to settle this question. His idea was that it should start either from the head of Port Phillip or Western Port and go northerly to Lake George. Hume suggested that it should go in the reverse direction. Brisbane seemed disposed to agree to this, when difficulties arose about the financing of the expedition, and the two explorers decided to make the journey practically at their own expense. All that the government did was to provide some pack-saddles, clothes, blankets and arms, from the government stores. The explorers left on 3 October 1824 with six men. They reached Hume's station 10 days later, and on 17 October began the journey proper with five bullocks, three horses and two carts. On 22 October they found that the only way to pass the Murrumbidgee, then in flood, was to convert one of the carts into a kind of boat by passing a tarpaulin under it, the men, horses, and bullocks swam over, and everything was successfully got across. A day or two later, in broken hilly country full of water-courses, they had great difficulty in finding a road for the loaded carts, and on 27 October they decided to abandon them. Until 16 November their course lay through difficult mountainous country. On that day they came to a large river which Hovell called Hume's River "he being the first that saw it". This was an upper reach of the Murray River so named by Sturt (q.v.) a few years later. It was impossible to cross here, but after a few days a better place was found, and constructing the rough frame of a boat, they managed to get across. By 3 December they had reached the Goulburn River and were able to cross it without a boat. During the next 10 days much difficult country was traversed but they then came to more level and open land, and on 16 December they sighted Port Phillip in the distance. Presently they skirted its shores south-westerly and came to what is now Corio Bay near Geelong. Here Hovell made a mistake of one degree in calculating his longitude, and they came to the conclusion that they were on Western Port. The party returned on 18 December and wisely keeping more to the west had an easier journey. On 8 January 1825 they came to the end of their provisions, and for a few days subsisted on fish and a kangaroo they were able to shoot. On 16 January they reached the carts they had left behind them, and two days later came to Lake George.

On 25 March 1825 Governor Brisbane mentioned the discoveries of Hovell and Hume in a dispatch and said that he intended to send a vessel to Western Port to have it explored. However, nothing was done until his successor, Governor Darling (q.v.), towards the end of 1826, sent an expedition under Captain Wright to Western Port. Hovell was attached to this expedition, and when it arrived the error he had previously made in his longitude was soon discovered. Hovell explored and reported on the land surrounding Western Port and to the north of it, and near the coast to the east at Cape Paterson he discovered "great quantities of very fine coal". (H.R. of A., ser. III, vol. V, p. 855). This was the first discovery of coal in Victoria. Hovell was away five months on this expedition and henceforth did no more exploring. He made various efforts during the next 10 years to obtain some special recognition from the government in addition to the grants of 1200 acres for the journey with Hume, and 1280 acres for the journey to Western Port, "subject to restrictions and encumbrances so depreciatory of its value, as to render it a very inadequate remuneration". (H.R. of A., ser. I, vol. XIV, pp. 725-9.) He appears to have had no success, but must have prospered on his run at Goulburn, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died on 9 November 1875, and in 1877 his widow left £6000 to the university of Sydney as a memorial of him, which was used to found the William Hilton Hovell lectureship on geology and physical geography.

It was unfortunate that in 1854 ill-feeling arose between Hume and Hovell which led to a war of pamphlets between them. In December 1853 Hovell was entertained at a public dinner in Geelong, his speech was inadequately reported in some of the newspapers, and Hume considered that Hovell had endeavoured to claim all the credit for their joint expedition. The fullest report of Hovell's speech available does not justify Hume's contention. Though unable to take an observation Hume was the better bushman of the two, and more of a natural leader. But Hovell was a well-educated man of amiable character, and during their joint expedition they seem to have worked well together. Between them they were responsible for an excellent and important piece of exploration. Hovell's later discovery of coal during his visit to Western Port was also important; it is remarkable that the discovery was overlooked for a long period.

HUME, HAMILTON (1797-1873), sometimes called Alexander Hamilton Hume,

was born at Parramatta on 18 June 1797. He was christened Hamilton Hume (Mitchell library, Sydney), and no evidence for the additional name could be found. He was the son of Andrew Hamilton Hume, who came to Australia in 1790 as a superintendent of convicts and soon afterwards became a free settler. He was the son of the Rev. James Hume and married Elizabeth Moore Kennedy, whose father was also a clergyman. There were few opportunities for education in Australia during the first 10 years of the nineteenth century, and Hamilton Hume received most of his education from his mother. When only 17 years of age he began exploring the country beyond Sydney as far to the south-west as Berrima, and soon developed into a good bushman. In March 1817 he went on a journey with James Meehan (q.v.), the deputy surveyor-general, during which Lake Bathurst and the Goulburn Plains were discovered. Subsequently he went with Oxley (q.v.) and Meehan to Jervis Bay, and in 1822 was with the party which sailed down the east coast in search of rivers. In 1824 he was seen by Governor Brisbane (q.v.) with reference to an expedition to Spencer Gulf. Brisbane was also in touch about this time with W. H. Hovell (q.v.) on the same subject, but it is not quite clear who was the first approached. Difficulties arose about the financing of the journey and eventually the two men decided to make the journey at their own expense, except for some packsaddles, arms, clothes and blankets, which were provided from government stores. Hume in a letter dated 24 January 1825, immediately after the return of the explorers, practically claimed to have been the leader of the party. He refers to "the expedition your Excellency was pleased to entrust to my care". But Brisbane did not accept this view of it, as in a letter to the secretary, Wilmot Horton, dated 24 March 1825 he mentions the "discovery of new and valuable country . . . by two young men Messrs Hovell and Hume . . . they were directed by me to try and reach Spencer's Gulf". It may also be pointed out that in the letter to Brisbane of 28 July 1824, Hovell signed first. These facts are of interest in view of the controversy which broke out many years later. Each of the explorers brought three assigned servants with him and between them they had five bullocks, three horses and two carts. Nearly the whole of the journey was through heavy mountain country, and there were several rivers to be forded. The courage, resource and bushmanship of Hume were important factors in surmounting their many difficulties, and after a journey of 11 weeks they came to Corio Bay near the present site of Geelong. Here, possibly through faulty instruments, Hovell made a mistake of one degree in his observation, and they believed that they were on the shore of Western Port. The return journey for some time was made on a course more to the west, the country was more level, and they were back at their starting point less than five weeks later. Their provisions were finished just before the end of the journey, and the whole party was very near exhaustion. Hume and Hovell each received grants of 1200 acres of land, an inadequate reward for discoveries of great importance made by an expedition which, practically speaking, paid its own expenses.

Hume, in November 1828, was with Charles Sturt (q.v.) in his first expedition into the interior, and was of great use to him. He was able to communicate with some aborigines they met early in their journey who consented to act as guides, and later, when the aborigines left them, Sturt speaks with appreciation of Hume's ability in tracking their animals which had strayed. Being a drought year, it was a constant struggle to find water, and only good bushmanship saved the party. Sturt would have liked Hume to go with him on his second expedition, which started at the end of 1829, but he had a harvest to get in and was unable to make arrangements. He had finished his work as an explorer, and spent his remaining days as a successful pastoralist. In December 1853 an imperfect report of a speech Hovell had made at Geelong was the cause of much feeling between the two men. Hume had always regarded himself as the real leader of their joint expedition, and his indignation lost all bounds at the thought of Hovell minimizing his share in the work. Fuller reports of the speech show that this was not the case, but the vehemency of Hume and his friends at the time, led to the work of Hovell being underrated for a long period. Hume published in 1855 A Brief Statement of Facts in Connection with an Overland Expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip in 1824, which went into three editions. Hovell published two pamphlets Reply to "A Brief Statement of Facts in Connection with an Overland Expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip in 1824", and an Answer to the Preface to the Second Edition of Mr Hamilton Hume's "A Brief Statement of Facts", (for a balanced discussion of the merits of the case see paper by professor Sir Ernest Scott in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. VII). Hume died at Yass on 19 April 1873. He married a Miss Dight who survived him without children. He is sometimes stated to have been the author of The Life of Edward John Eyre, but the Hamilton Hume who wrote this book lived in London.

Hume was an excellent explorer, a first-rate bushman never lacking in courage and resource, whose work was not adequately appreciated or rewarded by the government of the time. He had a good knowledge of the blacks, was always able to avoid conflicts with them, and appears to have learnt something of their speech. He has an established and well-deserved reputation as a great Australian explorer.

1825

Feb 17 Ship Almorah, chartered to bring "rice, flour, etc. " from Batavia, arrested
in Sydney for carrying tea contrary to East India Co. charter.
19 Lady Nelson sails from Fort Dundas and is subsequently captured by Malay pirates and her crew murdered.
25 Aboriginal outlaws Musquito and Black Jack hanged in Hobart.
28 Gov. Brisbane orders the removal of the Moreton Bay settlement from Redcliffe to the site of Brisbane. (Move made in May-June.)
Mar 4 Penal settlement established on Maria Is., "Pas.
24 Brisbane issues regulations for the sale of Crown land (from 5 shillings to 10 shillings per acre).
May 19 F. N. Rossi succeeds D'Arcy Wentworth as Superintendent of Police in NSW.
20 Andrew Bent prosecuted for libelling Gov. Arthur in the Hobart Town Gazette. (Subsequently fined and gaoled.)
Jun 6 Norfolk Is. reopened as a penal settlement for incorrigibles.
14 Van Diemen's Land administratively separated from NSW by order in council.
- Van Diemen's Land Co. established by act of parliament to operate pastoral and agricultural interests.
Jul 16 Lt-Gen. Ralph Darling given separate commissions as Governor of NSW and 'Pas., the area of NSW (with its western boundary extended from 135°E to 129°E, to include Fort Dundas) to extend south to Wilsons Promontory; south of that to be 'Pas.
17 Warrant issued in London for the appointment of three non-official members to the NSW Legislative Council.
21 Australian Agricultural Co. promised a 31-year lease of Newcastle coalmines.
Sep 6 Maj. Edmund Lockyer in the Mermaid explores 195 kin up the Brisbane River (to 6 Oct.).
29 Sydney Gazette changes from weekly to twice-weekly publication. Licence issued for the Bush Inn (later Bush Hotel) at New Norfolk, Van Diemen's Land, the oldest continuously licensed house in Australia.
Oct 21 At a public meeting in Sydney to frame a farewell address to Gov. Brisbane, W. C. Wentworth makes his first important move in a campaign for representative government.
Nov 4 Sydney Free Grammar School opens; L. H. Halloran headmaster. (Closes late 1826.)
24 Darling arrives at Hobart in the Catherine Stewart.
Dec 3 Darling sworn in as Governor of Van Diemen's Land, proclaims the colony's independence from NSW, establishes the Legislative Council, and then hands over control to Lt-Governor Arthur.
17 Darling arrives at Port Jackson in the Catherine Stewart and (19th) takes over from Brisbane as Governor.
20 New Legislative Council of NSW sworn in. Members: Lt-Gov. William Stewart, Chief Justice Francis Forbes, Archdeacon T. H. Scott, Colonial Secretary Alexander Macleay (arr. 3 Jan. 1826), and the three non-official members, John Macarthur, Robert Campbell, and Charles Throsby.

1826

Jan 3 Alexander Macleay arrives in Sydney to replace Frederick Goulburn as Colonial Secretary.
- Fr Philip Conolly opens the first Catholic school in Van Diemen's Land at Hobart.
Feb 8 Gov. Arthur suspends J. T. Gellibrand as Attorney-General.
Mar 9 Letters patent issued in London to form a Church and School Corporation, giving the Anglican Church the status of an established religion in NSW with the right to vast areas of Crown land and control of the school system.
16 Australian Subscription Library, forerunner of the State Library of NSW, founded. (Opens, 1 Dec. 1827.)
17 Bushranger Matthew Brady captured by John Batman near Launceston. (Hanged, 4 May.)
Capt. Patrick Logan takes command of the Moreton Bay settlement.
Apr 8 First street lamp in Australia lit in Macquarie Place, Sydney. (General lighting in Sydney turned on, 13 Mar. 1827.)
12 Tasmania's Legislative Council meets for the first time.
- Female School of Industry opened in Sydney to train girls as domestics.
May 19 Edward Smith Hall's Monitor newspaper begins publication in Sydney.
Jun 3 Chamber of Commerce founded in Sydney.
12 Gas lighting installed by shopkeeper J. T. Wilson of Pitt Street, Sydney (first recorded use of gas light in Australia).
17 Frederick Fisher (of "Fisher's Ghost" fame) murdered at Campbelltown.
Jul 3 Bank of Australia opens in Sydney.
Aug 21 Logan discovers the Logan River (Qld).
29 Darling cancels tickets of occupation of land (from 1 Mar. 1827) and substitutes grazing licences at £1 per 100 acres.
- Sydney Dispensary (renamed Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary in 1843) opens in Macquarie Street for the care of the free pauper sick.
Sep 5 Darling issues a "Limits of Location" order restricting settlement to certain areas.
25 Convict insurrection on Norfolk Is. savagely suppressed.
Oct 7 French navigator J. S. C. Dumont d'Urville in 'Astrolabe at King George Sound (to 25th).
13 W. H. Moore replaces Saxe Bannister as NSW Attorney-General. 21 Bannister fights a duel with Robert Wardell at Pyrmont.
27 Van Diemen's Land Co. lands settlers and livestock at Circular Head.
Nov 8 Privates Joseph Sudds and Patrick Thompson openly commit a robbery to get convicted, considering a convict's life better than a soldier's; Darling orders that they serve seven years' hard labour in irons.
12 Dumont d'Urville at Westernport (to 19th).
27 Joseph Sudds dies, giving rise to public criticism of Darling.
- Fr J. J. Therry deprived of his official status and salary as chaplain. (Restored, Apr. 1837.)
- Influenza epidemic causes 37 deaths in two days in Sydney.
Dec 12 Settlement established by Capt. Samuel Wright at Westernport as a pre-
caution against French colonization. (Abandoned, Jan. 1828.)
20 Convicts bound for Norfolk Is. in the brig Wellington seize the ship and sail it to NZ (where they are captured by the whaler Sisters).
25 Maj. Edmund Lockyer and a party of soldiers and convicts in the brig Amity arrive at King George Sound to take possession of the western part of the continent and establish a settlement there. (Settlement established on the site of Albany.)
• Aboriginal mission established on Lake Macquarie, NSW, under the charge of L. E. Threlkeld.

1827

Jan 1 Sydney Gazette begins daily publication (until 10 Feb., when reduced to three times a week).
9 L. H. Halloran opens his own private school in Sydney.
26 Public meeting held in Sydney to demand trial by jury, taxation by representation, and a Legislative Assembly elected on manhood suffrage; W. C. Wentworth the main speaker.
Feb 7 Henry Helyer, exploring for the Van Diemen's Land Co. (to 4 Mar.), discovers the Helyer River, the Surrey Hills, and the Arthur River.
Mar 3 G. T. Howe publishes the first edition of the Tasmanian in Hobart.
5 Capt. James Stirling in HMS Success examines the Swan River district (to 22nd) with a view to establishing a settlement there.
16 Monitor attacks the government of Darling on 24 charges.
19 Darling's private secretary Henry Dumaresq fights a duel with Robert
Wardell over an article in the Australian attacking him and his brother.
Apr 11 Darling introduces two bills into the Legislative Council to stifle criticism by licensing newspapers and imposing a tax of fourpence a copy. (Chief Justice Forbes refuses to certify the legislation.)
30 Allan Cunningham sets out from the Hunter River to explore to the north.
May 12 Cunningham crosses the Namoi River and discovers the Gwydir (21st), the Macintyre, and the Dumaresq (28th) rivers.
18 Lt Nathaniel Lowe arraigned before the Supreme Court for the murder of an Aboriginal while in custody. (Subsequently acquitted.)
23 Capt. Charles Sturt arrives in Sydney on the transport Mariner.
Jun 5 Cunningham reaches the Condamine River and discovers the Darling Downs.
8 Patrick Logan discovers coal at Limestone (Ipswich).
Cunningham sights the Canning Downs from Mt Dumaresq.
18 Stirling establishes a settlement at Raffles Bay (NT).
- Sturt appointed military secretary to Gov. Darling.
Jul 17 First lecture delivered at the Van Diemen's Land Mechanics' Institute in Hobart, the first mechanics' institute in Australia.
Sep 15 Lt-Gov. Arthur passes acts to restrict the press and impose duties on newspapers.
23 T. L. Mitchell arrives in Sydney to become Asst Surveyor-General.
29 Robert Wardell tried for seditious libel for referring to Darling in the Australian as "ignorant and obstinate". (Discharged by jury.)
- Work begins on "Busby's bore", John Busby's tunnel scheme to bring water from the Lachlan Swamps (Centennial Park) into Sydney.
Dec 14 John ("Bold Jack") Donohoe and gang rob carts on the Sydney-Windsor road. (Subsequently caught and condemned, gang members are hanged except for Donohoe, who escapes and begins terrorizing the countryside.)
* John Clunies Ross establishes a settlement on the Cocos (Keeling) Is.

1828

Jan 24 Gov. Darling sends the schooner Isabella to withdraw the settlers from Westernport. (Schooner returns with settlers, 7 Apr.)
Feb 6 R. L. Murray founds Murray's Austral-Asiatic Review (in Hobart).
- Orders issued against the practice of "squatting" in Tas.
Mar 1 Post offices opened at Parramatta, Windsor, Liverpool, Campbelltown, Penrith, Bathurst, and Newcastle; Australia's first postman appointed in Sydney, a twice-weekly horse post established between principal towns, and a regular sea postal service started between Sydney, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, and Hobart.
3 Ihnsport Morley arrives at Port Jackson carrying whooping cough (first time in Sydney); several deaths occur, including that of Gov. Darling's son.
- Visiting Malays form a trepang-fishing establishment at Raffles Bay.
Apr 15 Lt-Gov. Arthur issues a proclamation excluding all Aborigines from settled areas in Tas.
May 28 T. L. Mitchell becomes Surveyor-General of NSW following the death of John Oxley.
Jul 17 First Masters' and Servants' Act passed in NSW.
24 Allan Cunningham and Patrick Logan set out from Brisbane to establish a route to the Darling Downs.
25 Judicature Act of 1823 amended in UK to increase the NSW Legislative Council to 15 members (7 official and 7 non-official, plus the Governor), a majority of whom being able to overrule the Governor's proposals; a week's notice to be given of proposed bills.
30 Capt. James Stirling, back in England, urges the Colonial Office to form a colony on the Swan River.
Aug 3 Logan and Cunningham climb Mount Lindesay (now Mount Barney) and sight and name the Macpherson Range.
25 Cunningham determines access to the Darling Downs through Cunningham's Gap.
26 Capt. Henry Rous in the Rainbow discovers and names the Richmond River, NSW.
Sep 13 Capt. Collet Barker arrives at Raffles Bay to take over command of the settlement.
14 Bank of Australia in Sydney robbed of a large amount by a gang who break into the strongroom by a tunnel from a water drain. (Bank never recovers from the loss.)
17 Holey dollars withdrawn from circulation.
Nov 1 Martial law proclaimed by Lt-Gov. Arthur in the settled districts of Pas.; roving parties hunt Aborigines.
10 Charles Sturt with Hamilton Hume and a party leave Sydney to trace the course of the Macquarie River.
14 Thomas Peel in Britain puts forward a proposal to the Colonial Office for the colonization of WA.
Dec 30 Stirling given instructions to occupy the Swan River area and officially appointed Lt-Governor of WA.

1829

Jan 1 Charles Sturt's party reaches the Bogan River.
Feb 2 Sturt discovers the Darling River, near the present site of Bourke (then traces the Castlereagh River before returning to Sydney, 27 Apr.). 9 Launceston Advertiser founded by J. P. Fawkner.
Mar 1 W. C. Wentworth, in a letter to the Colonial Office, impeaches Darling. 25 G. A. Robinson appointed guardian of Aborigines at Bruny Is., 'Pas. 31 Fort Dundas, Melville Is., abandoned; settlers move to Raffles Bay.
Apr 10 Edward Smith Hall found guilty of seditious libel of Darling in the Monitor of 22 Nov. 1928. (Sentenced to 12 months' gaol, 15 Sept.).
14 A. E. Hayes, editor of the Australian, fined and gaoled for six months for libelling Darling.
- James Hardy Vaux absconds to Ireland.
May 2 Capt. Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger lands at the site of Fremantle and takes formal possession of the western third of Australia (i.e., all of the mainland not included in NSW).
31 Capt. (later Sir) James Stirling in HMS Parmelia arrives at Cockburn Sound to form a settlement on the Swan River. (Forms temporary settlement on Garden Is., 7 June.)
- Ship Governor Ready wrecked in Torres Strait; crew in ship's boats sail 2,400 km to Timor in 14 days.
Jun 18 Colony of Western Australia proclaimed, with Stirling as Lt-Governor.
(Becomes Governor and Commander-in-Chief on 28 Apr. 1831.)
Aug 12 Site of Perth chosen. (Land sales in Perth and Fremantle begin on 5 Sept.)
14 Convicts seize the brig Cyprus at Recherche Bay, 'Pas., and sail it to China.
15 Foreign coins no longer accepted by the government.
21 Legislative Council of NSW meets for the first time in the present Parliament House.
31 Settlement at Raffles Bay closes down. (Most of the settlers move to the Swan River settlement.)
Sep 13 Archdeacon William Grant Broughton (later Bishop Broughton, the first Anglican bishop in Australia) arrives in Sydney.
- Lt William Preston and Surgeon Alexander Collie follow the Canning River, WA, to its source and examine part of the Darling Range.
Oct 9 Emancipists become eligible for jury service, such juries to consist of 12 men.
14 Gov. Darling proclaims the Nineteen Counties of NSW, redefining the "Limits of Location", beyond which settlement is prohibited.
- NSW's four-year drought breaks.
Nov 3 Sturt leaves Sydney on an expedition to determine the course of the Murrumbidgee.
30 Compositors on the Australian newspaper strike over a reduction in wages owing to currency depreciation.
- Preston and Collie discover the Preston and Collie rivers, WA.
Dec 3 Capt. Collet Barker, transferred from Raffles Bay, takes command of the settlement at King George Sound.
15 Thomas Peel arrives at the Swan River with 300 settlers, too late to be eligible for the land grant for his colonization scheme.
• Shipwrights' Society of Sydney formed—believed to be the first trade association in NSW.

Western Australia

Heartbreak and hard work precede the halcyon days of the 'Golden West' Britain became highly agitated in 1826 over the news that yet another French ship was lurking in the waters off southern Australia. Captain
M. J. Dumont D'Urville, commander of the scientific research vessel L'Astrolabe, spent a month in King George Sound, near the south-west tip of the continent, and the British suspected that he intended to establish a colony. More than two decades earlier a French scare had brought about the colonisation of Van Diemen's Land. The British Colonial Office decided that similar action was warranted in the distant west.
In the last days of 1826 Major Edmund Lockyer, from New South Wales, landed at the present site of Albany, claimed the district for Britain, and set up a garrison camp. Next year Captain James Stirling sailed from Sydney and examined the Swan River area thoroughly; on his return to Sydney, and later in London, he pressed the case for its settlement with the warning: 'Some foreign power may see the advantage of taking possession, should His Majesty's Government leave it unappropriated.' The British Government, which had ignored the west coast of New Holland for so long, now acted with extraordinary haste. Early in November 1828 the decision was • made. And on 2 May 1829 Captain Charles Fremantle, based at the Cape of Good Hope, landed at the entrance of the Swan River and claimed for Great Britain 'all that part of New Holland that is not included in the territory of New South Wales'. Now Britain formally possessed the entire continent. In London, meanwhile, plans for the colonisation of the district on the banks of the Swan were well advanced. The new colony was to be different from the others; instead of its settlers being convicts, the first occupants would be free immigrants. The Government had accepted a grandiose scheme put forward by the gentleman Thomas Peel to ship 10 000 people to the Swan. Peel and some ambitious associates would carry much of the financial burden; in return he could expect untold riches from vast land grants. James Stirling, who had done so much to encourage the settlement, was appointed Lieutenant- Governor.
Stirling and the advance party of settlers aboard the vessels Parmelia and Sulphur landed in Western Australia on 1 June 1829. Stirling proclaimed the new colony on 18 June and named the first two towns, Fremantle and Perth. As this frantic activity continued, other ships kept arriving and soon the colony's population was 2000. Land was parcelled out freely— a million acres in the first two years. And then everything began to turn sour.
The settlers, used to the gentler English countryside, could not manage their great tracts. Peel, who had been a London layabout, proved one of the most hopeless. People began to drift back to Perth, home to England, on to other colonies. Some of the stronger ones endured the privations and found great prosperity, but a decade passed before the colony ceased to be in danger of collapse.

1830

Jan 7 Charles Sturt begins his journey by whaleboat down the Murrumbidgee and (14th) enters "a broad and noble river" which he names the Murray.
23 Following a dangerous encounter with Aborigines, Sturt passes the junction of the Murray and Darling.
26 Foundation stone of Sydney College (now Sydney Grammar School) laid by Francis Forbes.
27 G. A. Robinson sets out from Hobart for Port Davey to conciliate the Aborigines. (Continues up west coast to Circular Head.)
29 Legislation to restrict the press passed by the NSW Legislative Council. (Disallowed by Colonial Office, Jan. 1831.)
Feb 9 Public meeting held in Sydney to consider a petition prepared by Sir John Jamison calling for trial by jury and more representative government. Sturt arrives at Lake Alexandrina and, after crossing the lake to Encounter Bay, begins (13th) the return journey up the Murray, against the current.
27 Fremantle Journal and General Advertiser, a manuscript newspaper, begins publication.
Mar 6 Edward Smith Hall sentenced to 25 months' gaol for libel.
23 Sturt's boat party arrive back at their depot on the Murrumbidgee and find it abandoned; they continue to row up the river in flood.
26 Foundation stone laid of a Congregational church in Pitt Street, Sydney.
Apr 11 Sturt abandons the whaleboat near the site of Narrandera and sends two men to obtain relief supplies. (Continues return journey overland, arriving at Sydney on 25 May.)
21 NSW Bushranging Act authorizes arrest on suspicion.
Australian Agricultural Co. given permission to select more than 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) in two locations.
- Destructive floods on the Hunter and Hawkesbury rivers, NSW.
May - Swan River in flood at Perth (to June).
Jun 28 Order in council empowers Legislative Council to extend trial by jury to criminal cases if "advantageous to the community".
Jul 13 Port Macquarie opened to free settlers. (Most convicts moved to Moreton Bay and Norfolk Is.)
31 Ensign Robert Dale explores the Avon River, WA (to 15 Aug.). (Returns with Stirling in Oct. to examine the Avon Valley.)
Sep 1 "Bold Jack" Donohoe shot dead by police near Campbelltown, NSW. - Port Arthur, Tas., penal station founded.
Oct 7 Lt-Gov. Arthur organizes a drive by police, soldiers, and settlers—the Black Line—to capture and confine all Tasmanian Aborigines (to 26 Nov.). (Only two captured; two others shot.)
17 Capt. Patrick Logan killed (apparently by Aborigines) during a survey of the upper Brisbane River.
Nov 1 Order in council constitutes WA as a separate Crown colony and authorizes the establishment of a Legislative Council.
15 First hackney coach begins operating in Sydney.
Dec 14 Capt. Thomas Bannister and party make an overland expedition from Fremantle to King George Sound (to 4 Feb. 1831).
* James Busby establishes the Kirkton vineyard in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

1831

Jan 14 Janet Templeton and her nine children, with her brother John Forlonge and family and a flock of merino sheep, arrive at Launceston in the brig Czar. (Forlonges remain in Van Diemen's Land; Templetons continue to NSW.)
Mar 7 Control of King George Sound settlement transferred from NSW to WA. (Capt. Collet Barker and garrison relieved and convict station closed on 29th.)
15 Colonial Office recalls Gov. Darling.
31 Surprise, the first steamer built in Australia, launched at Sydney. (Makes trial run 1 June; begins regular service to Parramatta in July.)
Apr 13 Barker arrives at Gulf St Vincent in the Isabella to make a survey.
16 Darling issues a proclamation prohibiting trade in Maori heads (the schooner Prince of Denmark having arrived at Port Jackson with 14 Maori heads on 29 Mar.).
18 Sydney Herald begins publication (as a weekly).
19 Barker ascends Mount Lofty and views the opening to present-day Port Adelaide.
24 John McKaeg conducts the first Baptist service in Sydney.
30 Barker disappears while tracing the connection between Lake Alexandrina and Encounter Bay (presumed killed by Aborigines).
James Hardy Vaux arrives in Sydney for the third time as a transportee.
- Serious floods on the Hunter and Hawkesbury rivers.
May 14 Sophia Jane, the first steamship to operate in Australian waters, arrives at Port Jackson from UK under sail. (Begins Sydney-Newcastle service, 13 June.) 28 Agricultural Society formed in Perth.
31 Robert Hoddles plan for Berrima, NSW, approved.
Jun 25 Regular coach service between Hobart and Launceston begins.
Aug 1 Free land grants discontinued in NSW and sale by auction introduced, with a minimum price of five shillings per acre—the Ripon regulations. (Implemented in Tas. in June 1831 and in WA in Jan. 1832.)
Guards on the convict transport Eleanor in Sydney Harbour fire on the heavily ironed prisoners, killing two and wounding two.
- Party of Aborigines led by Midgegoroo and Yagan kill a European near Melville Water, WA, in retaliation for the shooting of an Aboriginal. (No attempt is made to punish them.)
Oct 13 Stirling Castle arrives at Port Jackson with a large number of skilled Presbyterian workmen, two ministers, and three schoolmasters to build and staff Rev. J. D. Lang's Australian College.
22 Darling sails for England in the Hoogly (Col. Patrick Lindesay replacing him as administrator); W. C. Wentworth holds a huge celebration at Vaucluse.
- Australian Agricultural Co. takes over completely the mining of coal in the Newcastle area.
Nov 15 Australian College classes begin (in a hired hall).
24 T. L. Mitchell leaves Sydney to explore the Castlereagh-Gwydir area. (Returns, March. 1832.)
Dec 2 Maj.-Gen. Sir Richard Bourke arrives at Port Jackson in the Margaret and is installed next day as Governor of NSW.

1832

Jan 7 G. A. Robinson arrives in Hobart with Aborigines from Oyster Bay and Big River tribes—the last of the Aborigines from the settled districts—to be resettled on Bass Strait islands.
Feb 7 WA Legislative Council and Executive Council meet for the first time.
8 Quakers James Backhouse and G. W. Walker arrive in Hobart and (12th) hold the first Australian meeting of the Society of Friends.
13 King's School, Parramatta, opens.
Mar 7 Government Gazette first issued (as part of Sydney Gazette).
- Hunter River flooded; six or seven lives lost.
Apr 6 Soldier Thomas Brennan executed by firing squad at Dawes Battery, Sydney, for "discharging his piece at a sergeant".
Jun - Party of Aborigines led by Yagan kill a settler on the Canning River, WA. (Yagan later captured, but reprieved.)
Aug 5 Large number of vine cuttings obtained by James Busby in France, Spain,
and Portugal arrive in Sydney in the transport Lady Harewood.
10 Red Rover arrives at Port Jackson with 202 female assisted migrants from Irish charitable institutions.
12 Gov. Stirling leaves for London to place WA's problems before the British government.
18 Savings Bank of New South Wales, established as a public concern by act of parliament (and taking over from Campbell's Bank) opens to receive deposits.
- John Macarthur formally declared insane.
Sep - Truganini saves G. A. Robinson from pursuing hostile Aborigines by ferrying him across a river on a log.
Oct 11 Sydney receives news of the passing of the Reform Bill in UK.
Dec 14 Presbytery of NSW formed in Sydney, thus beginning ordered Presbyterian Church government in Australia.
* Cascade Brewery established in Hobart by Peter Degraves.
* Charles Macfaull plants first grape vines in WA—on Hamilton Hill, near Fremantle

1833

Jan 5 Charles Macfaull launches the Perth Gazette and West Australian Journal, forerunner of the West Australian (published under that title in 1879). 23 Bathurst, NSW, gazetted as a town. (First land sales, 9 Aug.)
Feb 4 Order in council issued in London abolishing the Church and School Corporation, ending Anglican monopoly in NSW.
5 Hibernia, bound for NSW from Ireland, catches fire off the coast of America; 153 people burnt to death.
18 William Ullathorne arrives in Sydney as vicar-general of the Catholic Church in Australia.
Mar 22 Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts formally constituted. (Lectures begin, 13 June.)
27 Goulburn, NSW, gazetted as a town.
Apr 12 Australian Steam Navigation Co. founded.
21 James Busby leaves Sydney to become Government Resident in New Zealand. (Arrives at the Bay of Islands, 16 May.)
May 1 Yagan and Midgegoroo proclaimed outlaws for killing two whites at the
Canning, WA, in revenge for hostile acts towards Aborigines.
Jun - Edward Henty explores Portland Bay area en route from Port Lincoln to Launceston.
Jul - Yagan and another Aboriginal shot dead near the Swan River.
Aug 28 Legislation passed in NSW providing for trial by jury in criminal cases. Legislation passed authorizing the appointment of land commissioners to prevent unauthorized occupation of outlying Crown land by "squatters".
30 Amphitrite, bound for Australia with 106 female convicts and 12 children, is driven ashore on the coast of France and 134 lives are lost, only three being saved.
Sep 13 Sir Richard Spencer arrives at Albany, WA, to become Government Resident at King George Sound.
Oct 23 Township of Muscle Brook (Muswellbrook), NSW, proclaimed.
Nov 1 Convict John Graham returns to Moreton Bay after living with the Aborigines since his escape in July 1827.
5 Assigned convicts of James Mudie in the Hunter Valley abscond and return to rob Mudie's house and attempt to kill his son-in-law John Larnach. (Captured and hanged, 21 Dec.)
30 Brig Ann Jamieson explodes at King's Wharf, Sydney; eight people killed. - Macquarie Habour penal settlement closed down.
Dec 26 South Australian Association founded by Robert Gouger and other followers of E. G. Wakefield.

1834

Jan 10 John Lhotsky leaves Sydney to explore the Monaro district and the Australian Alps (to 12 Mar.). (Names the Snowy River, 27 Jan.)
13 Convicts evacuating Macquarie Harbour seize the brig Frederick and sail it to Chile.
14 Convict servants Sarah McGregor and Mary Maloney kill their tyrannical employer in the Illawarra district. (Their death sentences are commuted to three years' imprisonment following public sympathy.)
15 Insurrection on Norfolk Is.; nine convicts shot dead. (Thirteen others executed, 22-25 Sept.)
Feb 8 Gov. Arthur informs the Colonial Office that he has set up a separate establishment at Port Arthur, Tas., for boy convicts, which he names Point Puer.
Apr 4 Australian Union Benefit Society formed in Sydney. - First land sale at Albany, WA.
May 5 NSW Temperance Society holds its first meeting in Sydney (Francis Forbes chairman).
Jun 19 Gov. Stirling returns to WA. (Arrives at Perth, 19 Aug.)
Aug 1 Passenger coach service begins between Sydney and Bathurst.
5 Forbes Act passed in NSW, limiting and defining the rate of interest recoverable on borrowed money.
15 Act for the establishment of the province of South Australia receives royal assent; land to be sold to finance migration; board of commissioners to be appointed.
Barque Charles Eaton wrecked on the Barrier Reef. (Four men make their way in a boat to Amboina; natives murder remaining 27 except for the ship's boy, John Ireland, and a passenger's two-year old child, William D'Oyley, whom they keep.)
17 Five of the Tolpuddle Martyrs—James Loveless, Thomas and John Stand-field, James Hammett, and James Brine—arrive in Sydney after being sentenced to seven years' transportation for conspiring to raise wages "by administering unlawful oaths".
25 Barque Edward Lombe wrecked on Middle Head when entering Sydney Harbour; 12 lives lost, 17 saved.
Sep 4 George Loveless, the sixth of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, arrives at Hobart.
7 Robert Wardell shot dead by one of three runaway convicts he encountered on his land near Cooks River, Sydney.
Oct 28 "Battle of Pinjarra", WA—an armed party of police, soldiers, and civilians led by Gov. Stirling clash with a band of Aborigines; at least 14 Aborigines killed; police superintendent dies from spear wounds.
Nov 1 Commercial Banking Company of Sydney opens for business.
19 Edward Henty and party in the schooner Thistle arrive at Portland Bay to establish an agricultural settlement.
28 Wollongong, NSW, notified as a town site. (Laid out by T. L. Mitchell in July.)
Dec 11 Blacktrackers (Migo and Mollydobbin) used for the first time in WA, to find a lost boy in bush near Fremantle
- First wool exported from WA-3,440 kg to UK.

1835

Jan 1 J. D. Lang's Colonist newspaper begins publication in Sydney.
19 Sydney College opens, with W. T. Cape as headmaster.
- Almost all the remaining Tasmanian Aborigines surrender to G. A. Robinson and are placed on Flinders Is.
Feb 8 Board of Commissioners for SA appointed, with Col. Robert Torrens as chairman. (Gazetted, 5 May.)
Mar 9 T. L. Mitchell and party leave Parramatta on an expedition down the Bogan and Darling rivers.
Apr 12 Convict ship George III wrecked in D'Entrecasteaux Channel; 133 lives lost.
May 12 John Batman in the Rebecca sails from Launceston for Port Phillip to acquire land for the nascent Port Phillip Association.
14 Convict ship Neva wrecked off King Is. with the loss of 225 lives; 22 survive.
25 Mitchell reaches the junction of the Bogan and Darling rivers and (29th) completes the building of a stockade he names Fort Bourke.
28 John Hindmarsh appointed Governor of SA.
29 Australian Patriotic Association formed in Sydney to obtain representative government for NSW (Sir John Jamison president, W. C. Wentworth vice-president).
Batman arrives at Port Phillip and (6 June) makes 'a treaty with the Aborigines to acquire 242,800 hectares of land near the site of Melbourne (Leaves party at Indented Head and returns to Launceston.)
Jul 6 William Buckley, after living with the Aborigines for almost 32 years, meets Batman's party at Indented Head, Port Phillip.
9 Mitchell reaches the site of Menindee but turns back before reaching the Murray owing to the hostility of the natives.
17 Emigrant ship Enchantress wrecked in D'Entrecasteaux Channel, with the loss of 16 lives.
21 J. P. Fawkner and a party in the Enterprise leave Launceston to investigate the mainland for the purposes of settlement. (Fawkner, sick, is left at George Town.)
Aug 8 Enterprise at Westernport (to 16th).
26 Gov. Bourke declares Batman's treaty invalid and the settlers at Port Phillip to be trespassers.
29 Enterprise sails up the Yarra River and anchors at the site of Melbourne (an advance party having pitched tents there on 23 Aug.).
Sep 13 John Bede Polding, first bishop of the Catholic Church in Australia (consecrated 29 June 1834) arrives in Sydney.
Oct 5 Tooth's Kent Brewery established in Sydney by John Tooth and Charles Newnham.
16 Fawkner and family, with cattle, arrive at the Yarra camp in the Enterprise. (Fawkner subsequently opens a store and a hotel.)
28 Regulations issued for the "bounty system" of emigration—settlers introducing labourers to be paid a per capita bounty equal to the cost of the passage.
Nov 9 Batman and party land with 500 sheep and 20 cattle at site of Williamstown.
26 Foundation stone laid for first Baptist church in Australia, in Bathurst Street, Sydney. (Opens 23 Sept. 1836.)
Dec 14 Bank of Australasia opens in Sydney.

Melbourne

A dubious real estate deal throws open another slice of the continent to the adventurers from Van Diemen's Land By 1835 the Port Phillip District and the future site of Melbourne had been well explored. Flinders had surveyed the bay in 1802; early in 1803 Charles Grimes, acting Surveyor-General of New South Wales, visited the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers. Later that year Collins's contingent of soldiers and convicts stayed briefly at the present site of Sorrento before moving on to Hobart. In 1824 Hamilton Hume and William Hovell marched overland from Sydney, skirted the western side of the bay, and reached the place where Geelong now stands. Ten years later the Henty family moved across from Van Diemen's Land and illegally took the lands around Portland, 350 kilometres west of Port Phillip. In Van Diemen's Land, where good grazing land was in short supply, the sheep numbers had grown to 1 million. So several enterprising men decided,without permission from the colonial authorities, to take the unlimited pastures of Port Phillip for themselves. Under the leadership of John Batman, a 34-year-old, Sydney-born son of convicts, Charles Swanston, a merchant and retired army officer, and Joseph Tice Gellibrand, a lawyer and landholder, they formed the Geelong and Dutigalla Association (later known as the Port Phillip Association).
In May 1835 Batman, accompanied by seven Tasmanian Aborigines and three white servants, crossed Bass Strait in the schooner Rebecca and met with the chiefs of the Port Phillip tribes on 6 June. He signed a highly dubious treaty with them under which they sold him two areas of land, totalling 242 800 hectares in return for knives, mirrors, blankets, and so on, and a perpetual annual payment of £200. Batman left his three white employees and some of the Tasmanian Aborigines to watch over his pastoral purchases while he returned to Launceston to tell his business partners of his success. However other white men were scheming to share Batman's bonanza. In Launceston a newspaper proprietor and publican, John Pascoe Fawkner, aged 43, the son of a convict who had served time himself, organised a second expedition. On 29 July 1835 he sent the schooner Enterprise, under John Lancey, to settle near Batman's people. A quarrel ensued but there was noviolence, and the two groups lived in varying degrees of disharmony. Henry Batman, John's brother, arrived soon after Lancey but he could not dislodge the intruders. John Batman returned in October to take up permanent residence. Vessels shuttled back and forth across Bass Strait bringing flocks for the virgin pastures. In Sydney, Governor Sir Richard Bourke announced that Batman's action was illegal. The settlers took no notice and continued to swarm across the strait. The British Government was quite aware that it could not remove the trespassers and in September 1836 gave recognition to the settlement by appointing Captain William Lonsdale of the King's Own Regiment as the district's first magistrate. In 1837 Bourke himself sailed from Sydney to inspect the settlement (which was known as Bearbrass); he renamed it Melbourne, ordered that streets be laid out, and that 100 allotments be put up for sale. The population was about 500, and there were already 100 000 sheep. Late in September 1839 Charles Joseph La Trobe arrived in the Pyramus from England to become Superintendent of the Port Phillip District.