1853 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1853 in Australia.

Incumbents

This was a year of intense political agitation by miners on the Victorian goldfields.

8 January - Victoria Police formally established by Act of Parliament
22 January - University of Melbourne formally established by Act of Parliament
17 March - St Kilda Road robberies
6 June - The Anti-Gold Licence Association, was formed in Bendigo,
1 August - The Bendigo Petition, 30 metres long with at least 23,000 signatures requesting reform of the license fee system that applied to miners on the gold fields, was sent to Governor La Trobe in Melbourne.
10 August - A Jubilee Festival was held in Hobart to mark the cessation of convict transportation to the colony.
12 August - sailing ship Madagascar left Melbourne for London with two tonnes of gold and disappeared.
15 August - the term Bunyip aristocracy was coined by Daniel Deniehy in a speech attacking the proposal by William Wentworth to create a system of hereditary peerage in Australia
3 October - Illawarra Steam Navigation Company incorporated
1 November - The first postage stamps of Tasmania are issued.
December - Victoria Police Gazette first published
Undated - between 30 and 40 Bundjalung people, including men, women and children where killed as they slept by the Native Police in the East Ballina massacre.
Hardy Wine Company established

23 September - occupancy of the present site of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was part of a 'police paddock', was given to the Melbourne Cricket Club by Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe. This followed the forced resumption of land from the then-15-year-old Club to build Australia's first steam train railway.