Timeline of Australian History - 19th Century

19th Century

Year Date Event
1803 Matthew Flinders completes the first circumnavigation of the continent (still known as "New Holland")
1804 A settlement is founded at Risdon on the Derwent River in Van Diemen's Land by Lieutenant Bowen.
Castle Hill convict rebellion also known as the second Battle of Vinegar Hill
The Risdon settlement is moved to Sullivan's Cove (now Hobart) by Colonel David Collins.
1808 The Rum Rebellion
1813 Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth cross the Blue Mountains.
Matthew Flinders refers to New South Wales by the name "Australia".
1817 John Oxley charts the Lachlan River
Australia's first bank, the Bank of New South Wales, opens in Macquarie Place, Sydney (it became Westpac in 1982).
Governor Lachlan Macquarie petitioned the British Admiralty to use the name "Australia" instead of "New Holland"
1818 Oxley charts the Macquarie River.
1824 A penal colony is founded at Moreton Bay, now the city of Brisbane.
Bathurst and Melville Islands are annexed.
Permission granted to change the name of the continent from "New Holland" to "Australia"
Hume and Hovell expedition travels overland to Port Phillip Bay, discovers Murray River (to 1825)
1825 New South Wales western border is extended to 129° E. Van Diemen's Land is proclaimed.
1828 Charles Sturt charts the Darling River.
1829 The whole of Australia is claimed as British territory. The settlement of Perth is founded. Swan River Colony is declared by Charles Fremantle for Britain.
1830 Sturt arrives at Goolwa, having charted the Murray River.
1831 Sydney Herald (later to become The Sydney Morning Herald) first published.
1832 Swan River Colony has its name changed to Western Australia.
1833 The penal settlement of Port Arthur is founded in Van Diemen's Land.
1835 John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner establish a settlement at Port Phillip, now the city of Melbourne.
William Wentworth establishes Australian Patriotic Association (Australia's first political party) to demand democracy for New South Wales.
1836 Province of South Australia proclaimed with its western border at 132° E.
1838 First Prussian settlers arrive in South Australia; the largest group on non-British migrants in Australia at the time.
1839 Paul Edmund Strzelecki becomes first European to ascend and name Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko.
1840 Australia's first municipal authority, the City of Adelaide, is established, followed by Sydney City Council.
1841 New Zealand is proclaimed as a separate colony, no longer part of New South Wales.
1842 Copper is discovered at Kapunda in South Australia.
1843 Australia's first parliamentary elections held for the New South Wales Legislative Council (though voting rights are restricted to males of certain wealth or property).
1845 The ship Cataraqui is wrecked off King Island in Bass Strait. It is Australia's worst civil maritime disaster, with 406 lives lost.
Copper is discovered at Burra in South Australia.
1850 Western Australia becomes a penal colony.
Australian Colonies Government Act grants representative constitutions to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, colonies set about writing constitutions which produced democratically progressive parliaments
Australia's first university, the University of Sydney, is founded.
1851 Victoria separates from New South Wales.
The Victorian gold rush starts when gold is found at Summerhill Creek and Ballarat.
Forest Creek Monster Meeting of miners at Chewton near Castlemaine
1852 Francis Cadell, in preparation for the launch of his steamer service, explored the Murray River in a canvas boat, travelling 1,300 miles (2,100 km) downstream from Swan Hill.
1853 First paddle steamers on Murray River on the spring flood. From South Australia, the Lady Augusta captained by Francis Cadell, reached Swan Hill while Mary Ann captained by William Randell, made it as far as Moama (near Echuca).
Bendigo Petition and Red Ribbon Rebellion at Bendigo
1854 The Eureka Stockade
1855 The transportation of convicts to Norfolk Island ceases.
All men over 21 years of age obtain the right to vote in South Australia.
1856 Van Diemen's Land name changed to Tasmania.
1857 Victorian Committee reported that a 'federal union' would be in the interests of all the growing colonies. However, there was not enough interest in or enthusiasm for taking positive steps towards bringing the colonies together.
Victorian men achieve the right to vote.
1858 Sydney and Melbourne linked by electric telegraph.
New South Wales men achieve the right to vote.
1859 SS Admella wrecked off south-east coast of South Australia with the loss of 89 lives.
Australian rules football codified, Melbourne Football Club founded
Queensland separates from New South Wales with its western border at 141° E.
1860 John McDouall Stuart reaches the centre of the continent. South Australian border changed from 132° E to 129° E.
1861 The ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition occurs.
skiing in Australia introduced by Norwegians in the Snowy Mountains goldrush town of Kiandra
1862 Stuart reaches Port Darwin, founding a settlement there. Queensland's western border is moved to 139° E.
1863 South Australia takes control of the Northern Territory which was part of the colony of New South Wales.
1867 Gold is discovered at Gympie, Queensland.
Saint Mary MacKillop founds Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.
1868 The transportation of convicts to Western Australia ceases.
1869 Children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent are removed from their families by Australian and State government agencies. This lasts 100 years. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_generation
1872 Overland Telegraph Line linking Darwin and Adelaide opens.
1873 Uluru is first sighted by Europeans, and named Ayers Rock.
1875 SS Gothenburg strikes Old Reef off North Queensland and sinks with the loss of approximately 102 lives.
Adelaide Steamship Company is formed.
1878 First horse-drawn trams in Australia commenced operations in Adelaide.
1879 The first congress of trade unions is held.
1880 The bushranger Ned Kelly is hanged.
Parliamentarians in Victoria become the first in Australia to be paid for their work.
1882 First water-borne sewerage service in Australia commenced operations in Adelaide.
1883 The opening of the Sydney–Melbourne railway
Silver is discovered at Broken Hill
1887 An Australian cricket team is established, defeating England in the first Ashes series. First direct Inter-colonial passenger trains begin running between Adelaide and Melbourne.
1888 Louisa Lawson founds The Dawn: A Journal for Australian Women.
1889 The completion of the railway network between Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Sir Henry Parkes delivers the Tenterfield Oration.
1890 The Australian Federation Conference calls a constitutional convention.
1891 A National Australasian Convention meets, agrees on adopting the name "the Commonwealth of Australia" and drafting a constitution.
The first attempt at a federal constitution is drafted.
The Convention adopts the constitution, although it has no legal status
A severe depression hits Australia
1892 Gold is discovered at Coolgardie, Western Australia.
1893 The Corowa Conference (the "people's convention") calls on the colonial parliaments to pass enabling acts, allowing the election of delegates to a new constitutional convention aimed at drafting a proposal and putting it to a referendum in each colony.
1894 South Australia becomes the first Australian colony, and the second place in the world, to grant women the right to vote, as well the first Parliament in the world to allow women to stand for office.
1895 The premiers, except for those of Queensland and Western Australia, agree to implement the Corowa proposals.
Waltzing Matilda is first sung in public, in Winton, Queensland
Banjo Paterson publishes The Man from Snowy River
1896 The Bathurst Conference (the second "people's convention") meets to discuss the 1891 draft constitution
1897 In two sessions, the Second National Australasian Convention meets (with representatives from all colonies except Queensland present). They agree to adopt a constitution based on 1891 draft, and then revise and amend it later that year. Catherine Helen Spence became the first female political candidate for political office, standing for election as a representative for South Australia.
1898 The Convention agrees on a final draft to be put to the people.
After much public debate, the Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian referendums are successful; the New South Wales referendum narrowly fails. Later New South Wales votes "yes" in a second referendum, and Queensland and Western Australia also vote to join.
1899 The decision is made to site the national capital in New South Wales, but not within 100 miles of Sydney.
The Australian Labor Party holds office for a few days in Queensland, becoming the first trade union party to do so anywhere in the world.
The first contingents from various Australian colonies are sent to South Africa to participate in the Second Boer War.
1900 Several delegates visit London to resist proposed changes to the agreed-upon constitution.
The constitution is passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom as a schedule to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, and is given royal assent

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