1856 in Australia

Incumbents

Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir William Denison
• 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

• Premier of New South Wales – Stuart Donaldson from 6 June to 25 August then Charles Cowper to 2 October then Henry Parker
• Premier of Queensland – office not created until 1859
• Premier of South Australia – Boyle Travers Finniss from 24 October
• Premier of Tasmania – William Champ from 1 November
• Premier of Victoria – Dr William Haines
• Premier of Western Australia – office not created until 1890

Events

• 6 January - French musician and composer Nicolas-Charles Bochsa dies in Sydney.
• 7 February – Tasmanian Electoral Act introduced the secret ballot, which was known elsewhere, in particular in the United States as the "Australian ballot"
• 19 March – The Electoral Act 1856 introduced the secret ballot in Victoria
• 2 April – South Australia introduced the secret ballot
• 11 April – At a public meeting in Melbourne, Dr Thomas Embling repeated the slogan "eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest".
• 22 May – First Parliament of New South Wales opened by the governor, Sir William Denison
• 24 June – Queen Victoria makes Norfolk Island a separate settlement from Tasmania to be administered by the Governor of New South Wales.
• 23 September – The town of Perth, Western Australia, is proclaimed a City by letters patent from Queen Victoria.
• 25 November – The first Parliament of Victoria is officially opened by the Acting Governor Edward Macarthur.

Exploration and settlement

• 1 January – The name Tasmania officially adopted to replace Van Diemen's Land which was felt to have too many convict connotations.
• 8 June – Pitcairn Islanders arrived on Norfolk Island; the last convict had left and the island was no longer a penal colony. Queen Victoria granted the island to the Pitcairners as a home. Bounty Day is celebrated each year in Norfolk Island to commemorate the event.
• Suburb of Goodna founded in Queensland, Australia – Originally part of NSW, its 150-year anniversary was celebrated in 2006.

Births

• 25 January – Sir John Hoad, 4th Chief of the General Staff
• 8 March – Tom Roberts, artist
• 12 March – Rosetta Jane Birks, suffragist
• 11 April – Sydney Smith, New South Wales politician
• 15 June – William Henry O'Malley Wood, banker, public servant and surveyor
• 18 June – Sir Robert Best, Victorian politician and lawyer
• 3 August – Alfred Deakin, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia
• 19 September – Sir Arthur Morgan, 16th Premier of Queensland
• 9 October – Sir Thomas Ewing, New South Wales politician
• 3 December – George Leake, 3rd Premier of Western Australia

Deaths

• 30 January – William Buckley, convict
• 3 May – John Wollaston, settler and clergyman
• 17 October – William Allen, philanthropist and businessman