1801 in Australia

Incumbents

• Monarch - George III

Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Captain Philip King

Events

• 14 September – John Macarthur takes part in a duel with his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel William Paterson. Paterson is severely wounded in the shoulder, and Macarthur is arrested the next day. Governor King offers to release him on Norfolk Island but Macarthur refuses and is sent to England to be court martialed.
• The schooner Cumberland is launched in Sydney. The vessel was purchased by the government and became the first armed vessel belonging to the colony.

Exploration and settlement

• January – Brig Harbinger, under John Black, is the second vessel to sail through Bass Strait en route to Port Jackson.
• 27 May – The French cartographic expedition of Nicolas Baudin sights Cape Hamelin.
• 6 December – Matthew Flinders reaches Cape Leeuwin on and proceeds to make a survey along the southern coast of the Australian mainland.

Births

• 21 January – John Batman, founder of Victoria

Deaths

• 8 June – Thomas Vasse, French sailor