1854 in Australia
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
- Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land – Sir William Denison
- Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria – Charles La Trobe, then Sir Charles Hotham
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Sport
- 30 September – The first game of cricket is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Births
- 12 February – Edward Wittenoom, Western Australian politician
- 24 March – Sir Henry Lefroy, 11th Premier of Western Australia
- 12 April – William Maloney, Victorian politician and doctor
- 20 May – George Prendergast, 28th Premier of Victoria
- 25 June – Andrew Lang Petrie, Queensland politician
- 5 August – William Aitcheson Haswell, zoologist
- 18 October – Billy Murdoch, cricketer
- 30 November – James Wilkinson, Queensland politician
- Unknown, possibly December – Ned Kelly, bushranger
Deaths
- 7 October – James Scobie, gold miner
- Unknown – Jackey Jackey