1865 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1865 in Australia.

Incumbents

Monarch - Victoria

Governors

Governors of the Australian colonies:

Premiers

Premiers of the Australian colonies:

Premier of New South Wales – James Martin until 3 February, then Charles Cowper
Premier of Queensland – Robert Herbert
Premier of South Australia – Arthur Blyth until 22 March, then Francis Dutton until 20 September, then Henry Ayers until 23 October, then John Hart.
Premier of Tasmania – James Whyte
Premier of Victoria – James McCulloch

Events

26 January – Bushrangers Ben Hall, Johnny Gilbert and John Dunn hold up Kimberley's Inn in the town of Collector, New South Wales. Dunn shoots and kills the local police officer, Constable Samuel Nelson.
16 February – La Grange expedition led by Maitland Brown and including David Francisco and Lockier Burges leaves Fremantle to search for three settlers who had failed to return from an earlier exploring expedition. The three men were eventually found dead, having been speared and clubbed to death by Aboriginal Australians, apparently in their sleep.
21 February – A Royal Commission into the origin and nature of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia presents its third and final report to the Parliament of Victoria.
6 April – Between 6 and 20 Aboriginal Australians are killed after they reportedly ambushed the La Grange expedition resulting in the La Grange Massacre.
8 April – Bushranger Dan Morgan is shot dead by a stockman during a police siege at Wangaratta, Victoria.
5 May – Bushranger Ben Hall is shot dead by police at Goobang Creek in New South Wales.
13 May – Bushranger Johnny Gilbert is shot dead by police at Binalong, New South Wales.
1 July – Stamp duty is introduced in New South Wales with the Stamp Duties Act of 1865.
17 July – The wooden barquentine Ada collides with the RMS Jeddo and sinks in Sydney Harbour.
31 July – Queensland Railways opens the first section of track from Ipswich to Bigge's Camp, the first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world.
30 December – A general election is held in Victoria.

Unknown dates

Arnott's Biscuits is founded by Scottish baker William Arnott.

Sport

Toryboy wins the Melbourne Cup. A trophy is awarded for the first time.

Births

8 January – Alexander Hay, New South Wales politician
16 January
* William Dick, New South Wales politician
* Ernest Edwin Mitchell, composer
31 January – Thomas Crawford, Queensland politician
25 February – George Richards, New South Wales politician
4 March – Edward Dyson, poet and novelist
12 March – E. Phillips Fox, impressionist painter
25 March – Sir Ernest Gaunt, Royal Navy admiral
10 April – Lee Batchelor, South Australian politician
16 April – Sir Harry Chauvel, 11th Chief of the General Staff
2 May – Jens Jensen, Tasmanian politician
4 May – Sir David Gordon, South Australian politician
5 May – David Watkins, New South Wales politician
20 May – Henry Ernest Boote, editor, journalist, and poet
15 June – Alfred Cecil Rowlandson, publisher and bookseller
27 June – Sir John Monash, general
1 July – Sir Granville Ryrie, New South Wales politician, diplomat and soldier
18 July – Dowell O'Reilly, writer
22 July – Michael Durack, Western Australian politician and pastoralist
2 August – John Radecki, stained-glass artist
16 August
* Harold Desbrowe-Annear, architect
* Dame Mary Gilmore, socialist poet and journalist
18 August – Frank Anstey, Victorian politician
21 August – Hugh Victor McKay, industrialist
28 August – Alfred Stephens, writer and literary critic
31 August – Edward Harney, Western Australian politician and lawyer
14 September – Sir John Northmore, 7th Chief Justice of Western Australia
17 September – Sir William McPherson, 31st Premier of Victoria
21 September – Francis Kenna, Queensland politician, poet and journalist
21 October – Arthur Sidney Olliff, taxonomist
27 October – Alfred Wheeler, minister and composer
31 October – Hector Lamond, New South Wales politician
2 November – Frederick Burton, cricketer
3 November – Rose Ann Creal, military nurse, recipient of Royal Red Cross medal
11 November – Michael O'Connor, Western Australian politician
15 November – John Earle, 22nd Premier of Tasmania
17 November – James Arthur Pollock, physicist
27 November – Walter Frederick Gale, banker and astronomer
Unknown – James Mathews, Victorian politician

Deaths

10 March – William Nicholson, 3rd Premier of Victoria
8 April – Dan Morgan, bushranger
5 May – Ben Hall, bushranger
13 May – John Gilbert, bushranger
18 May – Angus McMillan, explorer, pastoralist, and Victorian politician
28 September – Edward Wise, New South Wales Supreme Court judge