1869 in Australia

← 1868 1867 1866 1869 in Australia → 1870 1871 1872
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
See also:	Other events of 1869 Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1869 in Australia.

Incumbents

Governors

Governors of the Australian colonies:

• Governor of New South Wales – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore ^[1]
• 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)
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Benjamin Pine, ^[2] then The Hon. Sir Frederick Weld GCMG.

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.
• 2 March – After several days hiding in bushland near Bunbury, Western Australia, Irish political prisoner John Boyle O'Reilly escapes to America on the whaler Gazelle.
• 3 March – William Lanne, known as "King Billy", the last "full-blooded" Tasmanian Aboriginal man 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. ^[3]
• 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

Vida Goldstein

John Storey

• 20 January – F. Matthias Alexander, actor and author (d. 1955)
• 25 February – Staniforth Smith, Western Australian politician (d. 1934)
• 10 March – Sir John Longstaff, artist (d. 1941)
• 23 March – William Robson, New South Wales politician and businessman (d. 1951)
• 11 April – John Patrick McGlinn, public servant and soldier (d. 1946)
• 13 April – Vida Goldstein, suffragette and social reformer (d. 1949)
• 27 April – May Moss, welfare worker and suffragette (d. 1948)
• 2 May – Florence Stawell, classical scholar (d. 1936)
• 14 May – Percy Abbott, New South Wales politician, soldier and solicitor (d. 1940)
• 15 May – John Storey, 20th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1921)
• 18 May – Harold Grimwade, military officer, businessman and pharmacist (d. 1949)
• 19 May – William Gibson, Victorian politician (d. 1955)
• 23 May – Sir George Beeby, New South Wales politician, judge and author (d. 1942)
• 11 July – Peter McAlister, cricketer (d. 1938)
• 21 July – John McDonald, Western Australian politician (d. 1934)
• 6 August – Marie Pitt, poet and journalist (d. 1948)
• 7 August – E. J. Brady, journalist and poet (d. 1952)
• 8 August – George James Coates, artist (d. 1930)
• 28 August – Sir Albert Ellis, prospector (d. 1951)
• 28 September – John Bisdee, military officer (d. 1930)
• 30 September – Ernie Jones, Australian rules footballer and cricketer (d. 1943)
• 24 October – Charlie McLeod, cricketer (d. 1918)
• 2 December – Sir John Kirwan, Western Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1949)
• 7 December – Frank Laver, cricketer and baseball player (d. 1919)
• 13 December – John Shirlow, artist (d. 1936)
• 21 December – Albert Green, Western Australian politician (d. 1940)
• 29 December – Bill Howell, cricketer (d. 1940)

Deaths

• 3 March – William Lanne, whaler (b. 1835)
• 6 May – Henry Vincent, prison superintendent (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1796)
• 9 May – John Plunkett, New South Wales politician (born in Ireland) (b. 1802)
• 16 June – Charles Sturt, explorer (born in the British Raj and died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1795)
• 4 September – John Pascoe Fawkner, Victorian politician and businessman (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1792)
• 9 November – Charles Flaxman, settler and landowner (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1806)

References

1. "A List of Governors of New South Wales". www.parliament.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
2. Although formally appointed Governor, Pine never actually came to Western Australia to take up his post; the role was filled by an administrator, Lieutenant Colonel John Bruce.
3. Thornton, Katharine (2010). The Messages of Its Walls and Fields: A History of St Peter's College, 1847 to 2009. Wakefield Press. p. 7. ISBN   978-1-86254-922-7.