1854 in Australia
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The following lists events that happened during 1854 in Australia.
Incumbents
Governors
Governors of the Australian colonies:
- Governor of New South Wales – Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy
- Governor of South Australia – Sir Henry Young (term ended 20 December)
- Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land – Sir William Denison
- Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria – Charles La Trobe (until 5 May), then Sir Charles Hotham (from 22 June)
- Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony – Captain Charles Fitzgerald
Events
This was a year of intense political agitation by miners on the Victorian goldfields.
- 3 March – The first telegraph line in the southern hemisphere begins operating in Victoria.[1]
- 4 July – Anti-Chinese riots occur in Victoria.
- 5 July – The Mercury was first published in Hobart.
- 17 October – The Melbourne daily newspaper The Age was first published.[2]
- 29 November – The Eureka Flag was flown for the first time during the Eureka Stockade rebellion in Ballarat.
- 3 December – battle suppressing the rebellion at Eureka Stockade
Exploration and settlement
- 4 January – Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang discovers the McDonald Islands.
- 12 September – Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria Charles Hotham opens Flinders Street station, the first city railway station in Australia.
Arts and literature
Sport
- 30 September – The first game of cricket is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Births
- 12 February – Edward Wittenoom, Western Australian politician (d. 1936)
- 24 March – Sir Henry Lefroy, 11th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1930)
- 12 April – William Maloney, Victorian politician and doctor (d. 1940)
- 20 May – George Prendergast, 28th Premier of Victoria (d. 1937)
- 25 June – Andrew Lang Petrie, Queensland politician (d. 1928)
- 5 August – William Aitcheson Haswell, zoologist (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1925)
- 18 October – Billy Murdoch, cricketer (d. 1911)
- 30 November – James Wilkinson, Queensland politician (d. 1915)
- Unknown, possibly December – Ned Kelly, bushranger (d. 1880)
Deaths
- 7 October – James Scobie, gold miner (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1826)
- Unknown – Jackey Jackey (b. 1833)
References
- ^ McGowan, Samuel Walker (1829–1887), Australian Dictionary of Biography.
- ^ ""The Age, Vol. 1, No. 1"". The Age, 17 October 1854, p1. Retrieved 30 October 2024.