1836
Sep 9 Port Phillip district declared open for settlement.
29 Capt. William Lonsdale arrives at Port Phillip as police magistrate.
30 Mitchell climbs Mt Macedon and sees Port Phillip.
Oct 1 Gov. Bourke grants squatters grazing rights beyond the "Limits of Location" subject to payment of a £10 licence fee (to operate from 1 Jan. 1837).
5 Mitchell discovers and names the Campaspe River, reaches the Goulburn River (8th) and Ovens River (15th). (Returns to Sydney 3 Nov.)
- John Gardiner, Joseph Hawdon, and John Hepburn set out from the Murrumbidgee with the first stock to be overlanded to Port Phillip (arr. Dec. ).
Nov 6 Torrens River discovered by G. S. Kingston and named by Light.
Dec 28 Gov. Hindmarsh arrives at Holdfast Bay in HMS Buffalo, with Resident
Commissioner J. H. Fisher, and proclaims the province of SA.
31 Light confirms his choice of site of Adelaide, despite Hindmarsh's objections.
1837
Jan 2 Edward Deas Thomson succeeds Alexander Macleay as Colonial Secretary of NSW.
5 Sir John Franklin arrives in Hobart to take up his appointment as Governor of Tas. (Sworn in on 6th.)
11 Col. William Light surveys and lays out Adelaide (to 10 Mar.)
Feb 26 Migrant ship Lady McNaghten arrives at Port Jackson, 44 children having died of measles and whooping cough and 10 adults from typhus on the way; a further 80 arrivals subsequently die.
Mar 1 Gov. Bourke visits the Port Phillip settlement and (8th) approves Robert Hoddle's plan of a town, which he names Melbourne.
2 Charles Bonney leaves C. H. Ebden's station on the Murray for the Goulburn River with 9,000 sheep, the first to be overlanded.
4 Yass, NSW, gazetted as a town. (First land sale 12 July.)
27 First land sales held in Adelaide (holders of preliminary land orders having made their selection on 23 Mar.).
Apr 7 House of Commons select committee appointed to inquire into transportation.
21 Sir John Jeffcott arrives in Adelaide to become first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Fremantle Whaling Co. begins operations.
May 20 Prison reformer Alexander Maconochie submits to Franklin a new system for the treatment of convicts.
Jun 1 First sale of town allotments in Melbourne and Williamstown. Bank of Western Australia opens for business in Perth.
3 South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register begins publication in Adelaide.
Busby's bore completed and begins providing Sydney's water supply.
Busselton, WA, declared a town site, and first land sold.
Jul 3 Gov. Bourke's resignation accepted by the Colonial Office.
Aug 21 Gov. Hindmarsh suspends Robert Gouger as Colonial Secretary of SA
following a street fight between Gouger and Treasurer Gilles.
Sep 5 Scone, NSW, gazetted as a village.
Oct 2 WA Governor Sir James Stirling submits his resignation.
8 News reaches Sydney of the death of King William IV and the accession to the throne of Queen Victoria.
27 Police station and gaol erected in Bourke Street West, Melbourne.
Nov 15 Beagle (Commander J. C. Wickham) arrives at Fremantle to begin a 5 1/2-year survey, mainly in Torres Strait and Bass Strait.
Dec 2 Lt George Grey and a small party arrive at Hanover Bay, WA, to begin an exploratory journey.
5 Bourke leaves Sydney to return to England. (Lt-Col. Kenneth Snodgrass becomes administrator.)
11 Dr J. D. Lang separates from the Church of Scotland Presbytery of NSW and forms a separate church court known as the Synod of NSW.
30 Overland mail service by coach and packhorse begins between Sydney and Melbourne.
St Mary's Seminary, Australia's first Catholic secondary school for boys,
established in Bishop Polding's residence in Woolloomooloo, Sydney.
J.B. Hack plants the first grape vines in SA.
1838
Jan 1 J. P. Fawkner's Melbourne Advertiser begins publication (first copies handwritten; suppressed after 17 issues for being unlicensed). 12 Mudgee, NSW, gazetted as a village.
31 G. A. Robinson appointed Chief Protector of Aborigines, with headquarters at Port Phillip.
Feb 23 Sir George Gipps arrives in Sydney and next day takes up his duties as Governor of NSW.
26 Fitzroy River, WA, discovered by the Beagle.
Mar 2 George Grey discovers the Glenelg River, WA.
25 Site of Geelong determined by Robert Hoddle. (Proclaimed town site, 26 Oct.; first land sales, Feb. 1839.)
30 Party of Lutheran missionaries arrive at Moreton Bay—the first free settlers there—and establish a mission at Nundah.
Apr 3 Joseph Hawdon, accompanied by Charles Bonney, arrives at Adelaide with cattle overlanded from Howlong, NSW, having discovered and named Lake Victoria and Lake Bonney on the way.
11 Aborigines attack a party of men and cattle belonging to George and William Faithfull near present-day Benalla; at least eight whites killed. - Town site of Queanbeyan surveyed. (First land sales, 15 Aug. 1839.)
Jun 9 Station hands on Henry Dangar's Myall Creek station near present-day Inverell, NSW, massacre 28 Aborigines.
22 William Light resigns as Surveyor-General of SA after being refused
additional staff and being ordered to use an inexact method of survey.
Jul 12 E. J. Eyre arrives at Adelaide with a herd of cattle overlanded from Sydney by way of the Port Phillip district.
14 Gov. Hindmarsh leaves Adelaide, having been recalled.
Aug 3 Final report of the select committee on transportation criticizes all forms of transportation and condemns assignment.
28 Charles Sturt and party arrive at Adelaide with a mob of 300 cattle over-landed from NSW.
Oct 10 Site of Gundagai gazetted.
12 Lt-Col. George Gawler arrives in Adelaide and (17th) is sworn in as Governor SA, also replacing Fisher as Resident Commissioner. 19 Public market opened in Sydney.
26 Capt. Sir J. Gordon Bremer in HMS Alligator, together with Lt Owen Stanley in the Britomart, arrive at Port Essington to establish a new settlement there (named Victoria).
27 Port Phillip Gazette begins publication.
Nov 18 Some 200 German migrants under the guidance of Lutheran pastor Augustus Kavel arrive at Adelaide in the Prince George.
29 Seven of the men involved in the Myall Creek Massacre, previously tried and acquitted on a technicality, are charged again and found guilty. (Sentenced to death, 5 Dec.; hanged, 18 Dec.)
Dec 31 William Ullathorne returns to Sydney with a group of priests, students, and teachers, as well as five Sisters of Charity, the first nuns in Australia.
* David Jones opens a retail store in Sydney.
John Reynell establishes Reynella farm south of Adelaide, SA. (Plants first vineyard in 1841.)
Commercial vineyard established by William Ryrie at Yarra Glen, Vic.
Drought in NSW and WA.
1839
Jan 3 Port Phillip Herald (later the Melbourne Herald) first published.
11 Angus McMillan and party set out from the Tambo River to explore into Gippsland.
16 McMillan discovers Lake Victoria (Lake King), the Nicholson River (17th), the Mitchell (18th), and the Avon and Macalister rivers (22nd). 19 William Hobson leaves Sydney to become Lt-Governor of NZ.
Feb 2 P. E. de Strzelecki and James Macarthur begin an exploratory journey to Port Phillip (alt. date 2 Mar.).
6 Hobson signs the Treaty of Waitangi with Maori chiefs.
15 Strzelecki climbs and names Mount Kosciusko (alt. date 12 Mar.).
26 HMS Buffalo arrives at Port Jackson with 58 French-Canadian political
exiles (others disembarked at Hobart) to be interned near present-day
Concord (hence Canada Bay, French Bay, Exile Bay).
Mar 2 Patrick Leslie overlands sheep from New England to the Darling Downs (to 4 June), the first overlanding of stock from NSW to the Moreton Bay district.
6 Alexander Maconochie becomes superintendent at Norfolk Is.
18 Royal Hotel and theatre, Sydney, destroyed by fire.
May 5 Public meeting in Melbourne to petition for separation from NSW.
12 Strzelecki and party reach Westernport. (Arrive Melbourne 28 May.)
21 Hobson proclaims British sovereignty over all of NZ.
22 Transportation of convicts to NSW abolished by order in council (effective from 1 Aug.).
31 Surveyor G. C. Stapylton and assistant killed by Aborigines near the McPherson Range, Queensland.
Jun 18 E. J. Eyre and party leave Adelaide to explore to the north.
Brigantine Maria wrecked on the Coorong, SA; 27 passengers and crew killed by Aborigines. (Two natives hanged in reprisal, 25 Aug.).
Aug 4 Runaway convict John Storry Baker ("Booralsha") gives himself up at Moreton Bay after living with Aborigines for 14 years.
14 Eyre discovers Lake Eyre (thinking it to be part of Lake Torrens).
19 Adelaide incorporated as Australia's first municipality.
Tailors in Sydney and carpenters in Melbourne strike for higher wages.
Sep 2 Eyre reaches Mt Hopeless, then turns back towards the coast.
28 Mass meeting of workers in Sydney protests against amendments to the Masters and Servants Act which make conspiring to increase wages or improve conditions illegal. (Legislation passed, 20 Oct.)
Oct 1 Sydney Herald begins daily publication.
5 NSW's two Presbyterian synods unite to form the Synod of Australia.
14 Road from Adelaide to Port Adelaide completed.
15 First sale of land at Portland.
31 Adelaide municipal election held (Australia's first political election); J. H. Fisher elected mayor.
Nov 17 Eyre sets up base at Fowler's Bay.
18 Eden, the last convict transport to unload in Sydney, arrives with 267 male convicts.
21 Geelong Advertiser established by J. P. Fawkner.
1840
Jan 3 Sydney-Melbourne steamer Clonmel, on its second voyage, is wrecked near Corner Inlet, Vic.
17 Brisbane River in high flood.
Feb 8 John Fairfax and Charles Kemp buy the Sydney Herald.
9 Angus McMillan makes an expedition to Port Albert, near Corner Inlet (to 14th).
25 E. J. Eyre, with John Baxter and three Aborigines, leaves Fowler's Bay to attempt a crossing of the Great Australian Bight.
Bunbury, WA, surveyed as town site. (First land sales in June.)
Mar 18 Parkfield arrives at Leschenault Inlet, WA, with the first settlers for the Australind colony.
John Lort Stokes replaces J. C. Wickham as commander of the Beagle.
Apr 6 Hunter River SN Co.'s first vessel, the iron paddle-steamer Rose, arrives in Port Jackson from the UK.
12 First sitting of the Supreme Court in Melbourne.
29 Two of Eyre's Aborigines murder Baxter, steal most of the stores and run away; Eyre and Wylie continue their journey westward.
Rev. W. B. Clarke discovers gold near Hassan's Walls in the Hartley Valley, NSW.
May 3 New Zealand proclaimed a colony independent of NSW from 1 July.
15 Capt. George Grey replaces George Gawler as Governor of SA.
24 Gas lighting in Sydney (the first gas lighting scheme in Australia) turned on
during celebrations for Queen Victoria's birthday.
Jun 2 Eyre and Wylie receive succour from the French whaler Mississippi (Capt. Rossiter) at Thistle Cove, near Esperance.
20 First land sales at Jervis Bay.
Jul 1 Assignment of convict labour to private employers abolished in NSW. Bounty system of assisted migration suspended.
7 Eyre and Wylie reach Albany.
28 J. L. Stokes, surveying the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Beagle, discovers the Flinders River and the Albert River (1 Aug.) and names a nearby fertile area the Plains of Promise.
Aug 27 Police and volunteers kill about 50 Aborigines in an encounter near the Rufus River, south-western NSW.
Sep 1 Savings Bank of Port Phillip established.
Oct 6 Five Tasmanian Aborigines (Truganini among them), absconders from G. A. Robinson's Port Phillip establishment, kill two whalers near Westernport. (Arrested 20 Oct.)
18 Hunter River SN Co.'s Shamrock begins service between Sydney, Melbourne, and Launceston.
Sheriff of NSW Supreme Court suicides over money difficulties.
Dec 11 Hunter River Gazette, the first mainland country newspaper, begins publication in Maitland.
Caroline Chisholm establishes a Female Immigrants Home in Sydney.
Registrar of NSW Supreme Court suspended following discovery of his embezzlement of large sums of money.
* Silver-lead deposits found at Glen Osmond, near Adelaide.
1842
Jan 21 First public execution in Melbourne—the hanging of two male Tasmanian Aborigines involved in the murder of two whalers on 6 Oct. 1841. (Truganini and two other females acquitted.)
Feb 10 Gov. Gipps proclaims the Moreton Bay district open to free settlers.
24 Native police force of 25 Aborigines formed at Narre Warren, near Dandenong, under command of Henry Dana.
Mar 12 Launceston Examiner, Commercial and Agricultural Adviser first
published (as a weekly; daily publication begins 21 Dec. 1877).
Apr 5 Australian Roman Catholic hierarchy established; John Bede Polding becomes Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of Australia (9th).
19 Foundation stone laid for a permanent synagogue in Sydney. (Consecrated 2 Apr. 1844.)
May 4 German settlement established at Lobethal, SA.
7 Andrew Petrie, exploring to the north from Moreton Bay, finds David Bracewell ("Wandi") and (20th) James Davis ("Duramboi"), escaped convicts who lived with Wide Bay Aborigines for many years.
17 Petrie discovers the Mary River.
Jun 21 Convicts at Norfolk Is. attempt to escape in the brig Governor Phillip; six killed in fray and four later executed.
22 Imperial Waste Lands Act increases the minimum price of land in the colonies to £1 an acre, half the proceeds to be used to encourage migration.
Jul 14 First sale of Brisbane building allotments.
18 Benjamin Boyd arrives at Port Jackson in his yacht Wanderer. (Opens the Royal Bank in Sydney soon after.)
20 Sydney incorporated as a city.
30 Act for the Government of NSW and Van Diemen's Land introduces representative government for NSW, creating a Legislative Council of 36 members, 24 elected (franchise dependent on property and rent qualifications) and 12 nominated (6 chosen by governor; 6 officials appointed by British government); district councils to be established.
SA becomes a Crown colony, losing its semi-independent status, with a nominated Legislative Council; self-government to be granted on population reaching 50,000.
Aug 1 Sydney Herald becomes the Sydney Morning Herald.
12 Melbourne officially incorporated as a town.
20 Portland Guardian (later Portland Observer) first published. 27 Boys from Parkhurst Prison, UK, arrive at Perth as migrants.
- Vehicular ferry begins across Sydney Harbour from Dawes Pt to Blues Pt.
Sep - W. C. Wentworth forms a Coolie Association to investigate uses of Asian labour.
Oct 15 HM Corvette Fly (Capt. E P. Blackwood) and the cutter Bramble arrive at Port Jackson to begin a survey of the Barrier Reef and Torres Str. 20 Sydney Gazette published for the last time.
Nov 1 Election held for Sydney's first municipal council—the first popular election in NSW. (John Hosking elected mayor, 9 Nov.)Dec 1 Melbourne's first municipal council elected (Henry Condell elected mayor, 9 Dec.).
- George B. Goodman, Australia's first professional photographer, opens a studio in Sydney.
Hunter River SN Co. begins a regular Sydney-Brisbane service.
Copper discovered at Kapunda, SA, by C. H. Bagot and Francis Dutton.
Falling wool prices, higher cost of labour, and drought cause an economic slump.
1843
Jan 7 Maitland Mercury, the oldest surviving provincial newspaper in NSW, first published.
17 J. C. Wickham arrives in Brisbane as police magistrate. (Appointed Government Resident on 1 Jan. 1853.)
Feb 1 Riots in Parramatta Female Factory; 80 arrested after military called in.
14 Foundation stone of the Australian Subscription Library's new building in Macquarie St, Sydney, laid by Alexander Macleay.
23 Old (nominated) Legislative Council of NSW meets for the last time.
Mar 1 Great Comet makes its appearance in southern skies.
Apr 1 Bank of Australia fails.
May 1 Rush on Sydney Savings Bank.
Jun 4 Sydney Banking Co. fails.
15 First election for the NSW Legislative Council begins. (Those elected include W. C. Wentworth, William Bland, Hannibal Macarthur, Charles Cowper, William Lawson, Alexander Macleay, Roger Therry, and J. D. Lang).
17 Gov. Gipps orders the removal from office of Justice J. W. Willis, resident judge in the Port Phillip district, after powerful interests in Melbourne petition for his recall.
Yass pastoralist Henry O'Brien begins boiling down sheep for their tallow, thus establishing a standard minimum value for sheep.
Jul 1 Adelaide Observer first published.
15 Assisted migration resumed by British government.
26 Maitland, NSW, proclaimed the first district council area.
Consignment of horses shipped to India as cavalry remounts and polo ponies.
Aug 1 New Legislative Council meets for the first time (ceremonial opening by Gipps on 3 Aug.); Alexander Macleay elected Speaker; W. C. Wentworth becomes natural leader of the non-official majority.
21 Sir John Eardley-Wilmot arrives in Hobart to take office as Lt-Governor of Tas., Franklin having been recalled.
22 Bushranger Martin Cash caught in Hobart. (Given death sentence, later commuted; pardoned in 1853.)
Unemployed mechanics and labourers, thrown out of work as a result of the economic crisis, given relief work on roads by NSW government.
Sep 3 Thomas Sutcliffe Mort establishes his wool-auctioning agency in Sydney. 5 Australian Mutual Protection Association formed in Sydney to ameliorate conditions of disadvantaged and unemployed.
Oct 10 SA Legislative Council (of seven nominees) meets for the first time. 11 First Ipswich (Qld) land sales.
Dec Australind scheme collapses. (Land sales cease and surveyors discharged, 10th.)
Benjamin Boyd takes up 259 hectares of land at Twofold Bay. 112
1844
Jan 1 Crowd of unemployed threaten Gov. Gipps in Hyde Park, Sydney.
Feb 1 Regular monthly sea mail service begins between UK and Sydney.
7 Maj. Joseph Childs arrives at Norfolk Is. to replace Alexander Maconochie as commandant.
13 John Knatchbull hanged outside Darlinghurst Gaol for the murder of Ellen Jamieson on 6 Jan.
Mar 20 First sale of land at Seymour (Vic.).
Apr 2 Occupation regulations issued limiting area and stock-carrying capacity of squatters' runs and making it obligatory to hold a separate licence for each run.
First permanent Hebrew synagogue opened in York Street, Sydney.
9 Public meeting of pastoralists in Sydney protests against occupation regulations and forms the Pastoralist Association.
Jun 1 Squatters meet in Melbourne to protest against new land regulations.
Aug 13 Ludwig Leichhardt and party leave Sydney in the Sovereign for Moreton Bay to begin an overland expedition to the far north.
15 Charles Sturt sets out from Adelaide to explore inland Australia and investigate the existence of an inland sea.
Smelting of copper begins in Adelaide.
Sep 29 Norfolk Is. annexed to Tas.
Oct 1 Leichhardt's party leave Jimbour station, on the Darling Downs, at the start of their expedition to Port Essington.
10 Sturt's party reach the site of Menindee on the Darling River.
Nov 5 Leichhardt discovers and names the Dawson River.
16 Royal George arrives in Port Phillip from London with 21 "exiles" convicted criminals given conditional pardons on landing.
28 Public meeting in Melbourne demands separation from NSW and appoints a representative to take a petition to England.
Dec 17 Public meeting of squatters in Melbourne supports the continued arrival of "exiles".
28 Leichhardt discovers and names the Comet River.
Dr C. R. Penfold establishes a vineyard at Magill, SA, with cuttings from France and Spain.
South Australian Subscription Library formed.
Ben Boyd establishes a whaling station at Twofold Bay.
1845
4 Weekly newspaper Bell's Life in Sydney begins publication.
10 Ludwig Leichhardt discovers the Mackenzie River.
27 Charles Sturt's party reach Depot Glen (site of Milparinka), where they are forced to remain for six months owing to lack of rain.
13 Leichhardt discovers and names the Isaac River.
1 Hobart Savings Bank opens.
2 Leichhardt discovers and names the Burdekin River.
4 Cutter America wrecked in Torres Strait. (Sole survivor Barbara Thompson lives with Aborigines until rescued in 1849.)
19 Copper discovered at Burra Burra, SA.
23 Leichhardt reaches the Lynd River, his first encounter with a stream flowing into the gulf of Carpentaria.
24 Mary wrecked off Flinders Is., Bass Strait, with the loss of 17 lives.
15 Leichhardt discovers the Mitchell River.
28 Aborigines attack Leichhardt's party, killing one man (John Gilbert) and wounding two others (John Roper and J. S. Calvert).
3 Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary reopened in the south wing of the Rum Hospital.
5 Leichhardt reaches the Gulf of Carpentaria and (12th) discovers and names the Gilbert River.
14 Sturt divides his party, sending most back to Adelaide under James Poole (who dies on 16th); Sturt moves on to a new depot at Fort Grey (15th).
Aug 4 Emigrant ship Cataraqui wrecked off King Is.; only 9 of the 415 aboard survive.
18 Sturt discovers and names Strzelecki Creek.
20 Leichhardt discovers and names the Nicholson River.
20 Sturt crosses Cooper's Creek, which he later names.
Sep 8 Sturt turns back after reaching Sturt's Stony Desert and retreats to his depot at Fort Grey (2 Oct.).
21 Leichhardt discovers and names the Macarthur River.
Oct 9 Sturt moves north again from Fort Grey.
19 Leichhardt names the Roper River (sighted by Roper on 17 Oct.).
21 Sturt again forced to turn back from the Stony Desert.
25 Maj. F. H. Robe replaces George Grey as Governor of SA. (Grey leaves for NZ to become Lt-Governor.)
31 "The patriotic six" unofficial members of Tasmania's Legislative Council walk out in protest over taxes to pay for police and judicial establishments.
Nov 14 Sir Thomas Mitchell leaves Sydney on his last expedition, to lead a party overland to Port Essington.
Dec 6 Sturt's party set off from Depot Glen to return to Adelaide; Sturt, too ill to ride, is carried on a dray.
17 Leichhardt's party reach Port Essington, after a journey of 141/2 months. (They return to Sydney by sea, arriving 25 Mar. 1846.)
1846
Jan 19 Charles Sturt's party arrive back at Adelaide.
21 Wellington, NSW, gazetted as a village.
27 Lt-Col. Andrew Clarke succeeds John Hutt as Governor of WA.
Feb 16 Spanish Benedictine monks Dom Rosendo Salvado and Dom Joseph Serra leave Perth for the Victoria Plains to found an Aboriginal mission (New Norcia).
Mar 5 Lt-Gov. Robe imposes a royalty on minerals recovered in SA, which leads to a public outcry.
8 Barque Peruvian wrecked on the Barrier Reef; sole survivor of the 22 on board, James Murrell, lives with the Aborigines for 17 years.
Orwell arrives at Moreton Bay with 51 coolies from India to work for Robert Towns, Ben Boyd, and others.
Apr 30 Sir John Eardley-Wilmot dismissed as Governor of Tas., allegedly for not suppressing homosexuality among convicts.
May - Convict transportation to Tas. suspended for two years.
Jun 1 Sir Thomas Mitchell makes a depot on the Maranoa River, from there making expeditions to the Warrego (28 June) and Belyando (20 July) rivers.
2 Argus begins publication in Melbourne (published by William Kerr and named Melbourne Argus until 1852).
20 Brisbane's first newspaper, the Moreton Bay Courier (later Brisbane Courier and then Courier-Mail) begins publication.
29 Paddle-steamer Experiment, brought from Sydney, begins running on the Brisbane River between Brisbane and Ipswich.
Jul 1 Four guards killed during a riot on Norfolk Is.; 12 convicts subsequently executed.
Launceston Church Grammar School opens.
11 Sir George Gipps leaves Sydney to return to UK; Lt-Gen. Sir Maurice O'Connell becomes acting Governor.
12 Riot in Melbourne between Orangemen and Roman Catholic members of the Irish community; shots fired; martial law proclaimed for one night.
21 Public meeting in Adelaide opposes state aid for religion proposed by Gov. Robe.
Aug 2 Sir Charles FitzRoy arrives in Sydney and next day takes up his appointment as Governor of NSW.
3 Hutchins School opens in Hobart.
6 John Price replaces Joseph Childs as commandant on Norfolk Is.
18 Alexander Berry's ship Coolangatta wrecked on the coast south of Moreton Bay which now bears the ship's name.
28 Sale of Waste Lands Act passed in UK, offering squatters long leases in unsettled districts and other privileges.
Sep 15 Mitchell discovers a river he thinks flows north-west to the Gulf, which he names the Victoria (later found to be the Barcoo).
24 Mitchell turns back and returns to Sydney (29 Dec.).
Oct 1 Christ's College, near Longford, Tas., opens.
10 Breakaway group of "Free Presbyterians" forms the Synod of Eastern Australia in Sydney.
22 First of several public meetings held in Sydney to protest against the proposed resumption of transportation to NSW.
Nov 18 Orange, NSW, proclaimed as a site for a village. (First land sales Dec. 1848.)
Dec 2 Ludwig Leichhardt sets out again from the Darling Downs, this time to cross to the west coast. (Returns unsuccessful on 31 July 1847.) 22 Anti Transportation Committee founded at meeting in Sydney.
1847
Jan 8 Lt-Col. George Barney and party leave Sydney in the barque Lord Auckland to found the "Gladstone Colony" in northern Australia centred on Port Curtis. (Colony proclaimed 30 Jan.)
26 Sir William Denison takes up his appointment as Lt-Governor of Tas. 30 Warrnambool (Vic.) proclaimed a town site. (First land sale 22 July.)
Feb 12 Lt-Col. E C. Irwin becomes Governor of WA following the death of Andrew Clarke on 11 Feb.
Mar 9 Order in council implementing the Sale of Waste Lands Act divides land in NSW into settled, intermediate, and unsettled areas; 8- and 14-year leaseholds available to squatters in intermediate and unsettled areas with subsequent right of purchase; a scramble for land follows.
11 Paddle-steamer Sovereign wrecked in Rous Channel, between Moreton and Stradbroke islands, with a loss of 44 lives.
13 E. B. Kennedy sets out to investigate whether Mitchell's Victoria River flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Apr 9 Ben Boyd's ship Velocity arrives at Twofold Bay with 65 Melanesian labourers to work on his estates.
15 Gladstone Colony disbanded on instructions from the Colonial Office. (Evacuation completed by July.)
May 4 Earl Grey orders the closing of the convict establishment in NSW and the transfer of the remaining convicts to Tas.
6 Large anti-transportation meeting in Hobart petitions the Queen for abolition.
Jun 25 Melbourne proclaimed a city. (Gazetted 5 Feb. 1848.)
Anglican diocese of Australia subdivided into dioceses of Sydney (Bishop Broughton), Newcastle, Melbourne, and Adelaide.
29 Three new bishops, William Tyrrell (Newcastle), Charles Perry
(Melbourne), and Augustus Short (Adelaide) consecrated in London.
Jul 9 J. A. Goold appointed first Catholic Bishop of Melbourne.
15 Collegiate School (later St Peter's College) opens in Trinity Church, Adelaide, schoolrooms. (College building erected 1849-51.)
16 HMS Rattlesnake (Capt. Owen Stanley) with English biologist T. H. Huxley aboard, arrives in Sydney to begin a three-year survey in Australian waters.
Aug - Kennedy establishes that Mitchell's Victoria River is the upper course of Cooper's Creek, which he names the Barcoo River. (Returns to Sydney 7 Feb. 1848.)
Oct 18 Aboriginal station at Flinders Is. (Wybalenna) closes down, and the 47 survivors are taken to Oyster Cove, south of Hobart.
Dec 7 Lady Mary FitzRoy, wife of the NSW Governor, and the Governor's aide‑
de-camp are killed when thrown from a carriage at Parramatta.
Johann Gramp establishes his Orlando vineyard, the first in the Barossa Valley, SA, at Jacob's Creek near Rowland's Flat.
Henry and William Dangar set up a meat-canning works at Newcastle, NSW.
Paddle-steamer The Brothers begins the Manly ferry service in Sydney.
1848
Jan 4 Dual system of education introduced in NSW, with the appointment of two boards of education, one national, one denominational.
Female Factory at Parramatta closed.
Feb 25 Ludwig Leichhardt sets out from Canning station on the Darling Downs in a second attempt to cross Australia from east to west. (Fate of the party remains unknown; last communication from Cogoon on 4 Apr.).
Mar 15 Melbourne Hospital opens.
Apr 7 Benalla (Vic.) proclaimed a town site. (First land sale 28 June 1849.)
Jun 4 E. B. Kennedy and 12 others set out from Rockingham Bay to find a route through Cape York Peninsula.
Jul 26 Electors in Port Phillip district, in protest against an absentee government in Sydney, refuse to nominate representatives to the NSW Legislative Council (and elect Earl Grey as the member for Melbourne).
Netherlands Indies government claims all of west New Guinea from the 141st parallel.
Some 120 Chinese shipped from Amoy to become shepherds in NSW under an indenture scheme.
Aug 2 Sir Henry Fox Young replaces F. H. Robe as Governor of SA.
12 Capt. Charles Fitzgerald replaces F. C. Irwin as Governor of WA.
Sep 4 British government revokes the order in council abolishing convict transportation to NSW.
8 J. S. Roe explores south-east of Perth and north-east of Albany, WA (to 2 Feb. 1849).
9 A. C. Gregory leads an expedition to the Murchison district, WA, and discovers good pastoral land as well as lead in the Murchison River. (Returns to Perth 12 Nov.)
28 Australian newspaper published for the last time.
Richard Goldsbrough founds a wool auction in Melbourne.
Oct 9 Port Phillip Patriot becomes the Melbourne Daily News.
27 Convict ship Governor Phillip wrecked off Cape Barren Is.; 16 die from drowning or starvation before rescue arrives.
Nov 7 First sale of land in Colac (Vic.)
13 Kennedy, having reached Weymouth Bay, leaves eight of the party there and pushes on with Aboriginal Jacky Jacky and three others.
24 Kennedy leaves three men at She!bourne Bay and continues with Jacky Jacky.
Dec 11 Gov. Fitzgerald wounded by Aborigines while exploring with Gregory near Champion Bay, WA.
13 Kennedy fatally speared by Aborigines; Jacky Jacky continues alone to Cape York.
First government-assisted immigrants arrive at Moreton Bay.
15 Australian Mutual Provident Society founded.
20 Constitutional Association formed in Sydney to effect electoral and land reforms. (Subsequently publishes the People's Advocate.)
24 Ariel rescues Jacky Jacky at Port Albany and (30th) the two other survivors of the Kennedy expedition at Weymouth Bay.
1849
Jan 1 Port Phillip Herald becomes the Melbourne Morning Herald.
2 Mortgaged estates of the Bank of Australia liquidated by public lottery. 8 Plymouth, the first of several ships carrying people to the California gold‑
fields, leaves Port Jackson for San Francisco.
20 Fortitude arrives at Moreton Bay with 253 immigrants from Britain for J. D. Lang's Cooksland cotton-growing scheme. (Temporary headquarters set up in an area of Brisbane that becomes known as Fortitude Valley.)
Feb 11 First batch of German migrants arrive in Melbourne in the Godeffroy.
23 Public meeting in Perth requests that WA be converted into a penal settlement to aid the flagging state of the colony.
Mar 23 Armidale, NSW, town site gazetted. (First land sale 14 June.)
Mass meetings held in Sydney and Melbourne opposing reintroduction of convict transportation.
Jun 8 Convict ship Hashemy, carrying 212 convicts "of the better class", arrives at Port Jackson, La Trobe having refused it permission to land convicts at Port Phillip.
11 Protest meeting held at Circular Quay, Sydney, against the landing of convicts from the Hashemy.
28 Plan of Grafton, NSW, approved. (First sale of land 22 Jan. 1851.) First sale of land at Wangaratta (Vic.).
Aborigines kill two brothers from Gregory Blaxland's Gin Gin station (near Bundaberg), leading to the massacre by whites of a huge number of Aborigines.
Jul 21 Phoenician, the first clipper ship to come to Australia, arrives at Port Jackson from Britain after a 91-day voyage (compared with an average of 140 days).
Aug 8 Convict ship Randolph arrives at Port Phillip; La Trobe orders it to sail on to Sydney.
20 Randolph arrives at Port Jackson; FitzRoy sends the convicts to Moreton Bay. (All subsequent convict ships sent direct to Moreton Bay.)
24 Cooma, NSW, proclaimed a village site.
Ben Boyd's Royal Bank closes. (Subsequently liquidated.)
Oct 10 Sydney Railway and Tramway Co. incorporated by act of parliament.
12 Town of Geelong (Vic.) incorporated.
16 Castaway Barbara Thompson, after living with Aborigines for five years,
is rescued by HMS Rattlesnake at Evans Bay, Cape York Peninsula.
Nov 23 Wagga Wagga, NSW, proclaimed a town, Dubbo a village site.
Geraldton, WA, laid out as a town site. (First town lots sold in June 1850.)
Yarra and Saltwater rivers in high flood.
Dec 1 Port Essington again abandoned and settlers returned to Sydney.
13 Adelaide arrives at Port Phillip with 281 "exiles"; refused entry and sails on to Port Jackson (last ship to bring "exiles" to NSW).
14 Cowra, NSW, gazetted as a town site.
* Caroline Chisholm establishes the Family Colonization Loan Society in London to help families migrate.
1850
Jan 1 Adhesive postage stamps issued in NSW (first in Australia). 3 Vic. issues its first adhesive postage stamps.
Feb 19 Railway between Adelaide and Port Adelaide authorized by the SA Legislative Council.
Mar 12 Deniliquin, NSW, gazetted as a town.
Apr 1 Rev. J. D. Lang, recently returned to Sydney from the UK, reopens his Australian College and (3rd) separates the Synod of NSW from the Synod of Australia.
30 Bangalore, the last convict ship to Moreton Bay, arrives with 392 "exiles".
May 9 Horsham (Vic.) notified as a village site.
Jun 1 Transportation of convicts to WA begins with the arrival of the Scindian carrying 75 convicts together with 54 prison guards, a number of officials, and their families.
Tamworth, NSW, gazetted as a town.
27 Freeman's Journal founded in Sydney. (Merges with Catholic Worker in 1942.)
30 First Unitarian congregation in Australia formed in Sydney.
Jul 3 Work begins on NSW's first railway line, from Sydney to Parramatta.
31 First land sales at Warwick, on the Darling Downs.
Aug 5 Australian Colonies Government Act receives royal assent in Britain—provides for the separation from NSW of the Port Phillip district, to be known as Victoria, and for the eventual self-government of the Australian colonies.
Sep 28 Slain's Castle, first of the ships to sail under Caroline Chisholm's Family Colonization Loan Society scheme, leaves England with 150 migrants.
Oct 1 Act to incorporate and endow the University of Sydney receives royal assent.
NSW Legislative Council resolves that no more transported convicts will be received under any conditions.
29 Anglican bishops of Australia and NZ, meeting in Sydney, establish the Australian Board of Missions.
Nov 11 Ship Lysander brings news to Melbourne of the passing of the Australian Colonies Government Act, which sets off four days of general rejoicing.
14 Bank of NSW opens a branch in Brisbane, the first bank there.
15 Princes Bridge opened in Melbourne. (Demolished in 1884.)
16 United Operative Masons' Society formed in Melbourne (held to be the precursor of all labour organizations in Aust.)
Dec 5 Pentridge Gaol, recently completed, receives its first prisoners. 18 First Australian branch of the YMCA formed in Adelaide.
28 Henry Parkes's Empire newspaper founded in Sydney. (Suspended 1858-59; incorporated in Evening News 1875.)
* Measles first reported in Australia.
* Model School (later Fort Street School) opens in Sydney, inaugurating teacher training in Australia.
