1890 in Australia

← 1889 1888 1887 1890 in Australia → 1891 1892 1893
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	Other events of 1890 Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1890 in Australia.

Incumbents

Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Henry Parkes
• Premier of South Australia – John Cockburn until 19 August, then Thomas Playford II
• Premier of Queensland – Boyd Dunlop Morehead until 12 August, then Samuel Griffith
• Premier of Tasmania – Philip Fysh
• Premier of Western Australia – established from 29 December, John Forrest
• Premier of Victoria – Duncan Gillies until 5 November, then James Munro

Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Victor Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey
• Governor of Queensland – Henry Wylie Norman
• Governor of South Australia – Algernon Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore
• Governor of Tasmania – Robert Hamilton
• Governor of Victoria – John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow
• Governor of Western Australia – William C. F. Robinson

Events

• 1 January – The University of Tasmania opens
• 28 February – The steamship RMS Quetta sinks off Cape York Peninsula, killing 133
• 2 October – Fire destroys buildings between Castlereagh, Moore and Pitt Streets valued at £750,000 sterling ^{[1] [2]}
• 29 December – Sir John Forrest becomes the Premier of Western Australia and the first Premier in Australia.

Arts and literature

Main article: 1890 in Australian literature

• 26 April – Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River is published.
• May – Tom Roberts' Shearing the Rams is first exhibited
• Verse by Adam Lindsay Gordon (1830-1870) set to music by Australian musician Theodore Tourrier (1846-1929) ^[3]

Sport

• 31 May – The first Australian Championships in Athletics are held under the name Inter Colonial Meet. The men's competition is staged at the Moore Park in Sydney.
• November – Carbine wins the Melbourne Cup

Births

• 2 March – Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey, Governor of South Australia 1939–1944 (died 1969)
• 9 March - Rupert Balfe, Australian rules footballer and soldier (died 1915)
• 10 March – Albert Ogilvie, Premier of Tasmania (died 1939)
• 10 July – Leo Rush, Australian rules footballer (died 1983)
• 18 July – Frank Forde, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1983)
• 29 August – Richard Gardiner Casey, Governor General of Australia (died 1976)
• 9 September – Hilda Abbott, Red Cross leader and wife of the administrator of the Northern Territory (died 1984)
• 10 September – Robert Heffron, Premier of New South Wales (died 1978)
• 31 December – Daryl Lindsay, artist (died 1976)

Deaths

• 9 November - James Boag I, brewer (born 1822)

References

1. "Plan showing area damaged in the great fire of October 1890 | The Dictionary of Sydney". dictionaryofsydney.org. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
2. "The Great Fire in Sydney". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser . Vol. L, no. 1579. New South Wales, Australia. 11 October 1890. p. 811. Retrieved 3 August 2021– via National Library of Australia.
3. "METROPOLITAN GOSSIP". Ovens and Murray Advertiser . No. 8261. Victoria, Australia. 16 January 1904. p. 12. Retrieved 8 May 2022– via National Library of Australia.