1859 in Australia

← 1858 1857 1856 1859 in Australia → 1860 1861 1862
Decades:	1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s
See also:	Other events of 1859 Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1859 in Australia.

Incumbents

• Monarch - Victoria

Governors

Governors of the Australian colonies:

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir William Denison
• Governor of Queensland – Sir George Bowen
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Richard MacDonnell
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Henry Young
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Henry Barkly
• Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony – Sir Arthur Kennedy

Premiers

Premiers of the Australian colonies:

• Premier of New South Wales – Charles Cowper, William Forster
• Premier of Queensland – Robert Herbert
• Premier of South Australia – Richard Hanson
• Premier of Tasmania – Francis Smith
• Premier of Victoria – John O'Shanassy, William Nicholson

Events

• 14 May – Melbourne Football Club is founded.
• 6 June – The colony of Queensland is established by decree of Queen Victoria.
• July – Geelong Football Club is founded. ^[1]
• 5 August – The passenger steamship SS Admella is shipwrecked on a submerged reef near Mount Gambier South Australia with the loss of 89 lives.
• 6 October – Thomas Austin takes 24 rabbits and 5 hares to Australia in order to release them there as a game. They will multiply exponentially.
• The first permanent educational institution for girls, the East Leigh, is founded in Melbourne by Elizabeth Tripp.
• Undated – A retaliatory mass-slaughter of Indigenous Australians occurs in the Hospital Creek Massacre.

Arts and literature

Main article: 1859 in Australian literature

Births

• 24 March – Hugh de Largie, Western Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1947)
• 23 April – Bella Guerin, feminist and suffragist (d. 1923) ^[2]
• 25 April – Joseph Maiden, botanist (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1925)
• 16 June – John Russell, impressionist painter (d. 1930) ^[3]
• 28 November – Richard Godfrey Rivers, artist (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1925)

References

1. "Detailed History". geelongcats.com.au. Geelong Cats. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
2. Kelly, Farley, "Guerin, Julia Margaret (Bella) (1858–1923)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2 February 2023
3. Galbally, Ann E., "Russell, John Peter (1858–1930)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2 February 2023