1869 in Australia

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1869 in Australia

1866 • 1867 • 1868 • 1869 (1869) • 1870 • 1871 • 1872

Other events of 1869 • Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

Governors

Governors of the Australian colonies:

• Governor of New South Wales – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore
• Governor of Victoria – Sir John Manners-Sutton
• Governor of Queensland – Colonel Sir Samuel Blackall
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Benjamin Pine (appointed, but not sworn in), Sir Frederick Weld (from 18 September)
• Governor of South Australia – Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet (from 16 February)
• Governor of Tasmania – Charles Du Cane (from 15 January)

Premiers

Premiers of the Australian colonies:

• Premier of New South Wales – John Robertson
• Premier of Victoria – James McCulloch (until 20 September), then John Alexander MacPherson
• Premier of Queensland – Charles Lilley
• Premier of South Australia – Henry Strangways
• Premier of Tasmania – Sir Richard Dry (until 1 August), then James Milne Wilson (from 4 August)

Events

• 9 January – The British clipper ship Thermopylae arrives in Melbourne, having sailed from London in the record time of 64 days.
• 5 February – A large gold nugget, named The Welcome Stranger, is found at Moliagul, Victoria.
• 5 February - George Goyder establishes a settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin.
• 3 March – William Lanne, known as "King Billy", the last full-blood Tasmanian Aboriginal dies. His body is secretly dismembered and his skull removed while in the morgue, and Dr William Crowther, future Premier of Tasmania, is suspected as the culprit.
• 5 March – The New South Wales government declares that Saint Patrick's Day, St. Andrew's Day and St George's Day are no longer public holidays.
• 24 March – A fatal case of cholera is reported in Sydney.
• 8 May – The bushranger Captain Moonlite holds up a bank in Mount Egerton, Victoria.
• 22 June – Prince Alfred College opens in Adelaide, South Australia.
• 18 October – The Lithgow Zig Zag Railway was opened.

Science and technology

• 1 May – A submarine telegraph cable is completed, joining Tasmania to the mainland.

Sport

• 2 November – Warrior wins the Melbourne Cup.

Births

• 20 January – F. Matthias Alexander, actor (d. 1955)
• 21 February – Ernest Roberts, politician (d. 1913)
• 10 March – John Longstaff, war artist (d. 1941)
• 23 March – William Robson, politician (d. 1951)
• 11 April – John Patrick McGlinn, soldier (d. 1946)
• 13 April – Vida Goldstein, feminist and politician (d. 1949)
• 27 April – May Moss, feminist and suffragette (d. 1948)
• 2 May – Florence Stawell, classical scholar (d. 1936)
• 14 May – Percy Abbott, soldier and politician (d. 1940)
• 15 May – John Storey, Premier of New South Wales (d. 1921)
• 18 May – Harold William Grimwade, soldier (d. 1949)
• 19 May – William Gibson, politician (d. 1955)
• 23 May – George Beeby, judge, politician and author (d. 1942)
• 11 July – Peter McAlister, cricketer (d. 1938)
• 21 July – John McDonald, politician (d. 1934)
• 6 August – Marie Pitt, poet (d. 1948)
• 7 August – E. J. Brady, poet (d. 1952)
• 8 August – George James Coates, artist (d. 1930)
• 28 August – Albert Fuller Ellis, prospector (d. 1951)
• 28 September – John Hutton Bisdee, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1930)
• 24 October – Charlie McLeod, cricketer (d. 1918)
• 30 September – Ernie Jones, cricketer (d. 1943)
• 7 December – Frank Laver, cricketer (d. 1919)
• 13 December – John Shirlow, artist (d. 1936)
• 21 December – Albert Green, politician (d. 1940)
• 29 December – Bill Howell, cricketer (d. 1940)

Deaths

• 3 March – William Lanne, Tasmanian Aboriginal (b. 1835)
• 9 May – John Plunkett, Attorney-General of New South Wales (b. 1802)
• 16 June – Charles Sturt, explorer (b. 1795)
• 4 September – John Pascoe Fawkner, pioneer (b. 1792)
• 6 November – Charles Flaxman, chief clerk of South Australia (b. 1806)

See also

• 1869
• 1860s