1869 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1869 in Australia.

Incumbents

Governors

Governors of the Australian colonies:

Premiers

Premiers of the Australian colonies:

Premier of New South Wales – John Robertson
Premier of Victoria – James McCulloch, then John Alexander MacPherson
Premier of Queensland – Charles Lilley
Premier of South Australia – Henry Strangways
Premier of Tasmania – Sir Richard Dry, then James Milne Wilson

Events

9 January – The British clipper ship Thermopylae arrives in Melbourne, having sailed from London in the record time of 64 days.
5 February – A large gold nugget, named The Welcome Stranger, is found at Moliagul, Victoria.
5 February – George Goyder establishes a settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin.
2 March – After several days hiding in bushland near Bunbury, Western Australia, Irish political prisoner John Boyle O'Reilly escapes to America on the whaler Gazelle.
3 March – William Lanne, known as "King Billy", the last "full-blooded" Tasmanian Aboriginal man dies. His body is secretly dismembered and his skull removed while in the morgue, and Dr William Crowther, future Premier of Tasmania, is suspected as the culprit.
5 March – The New South Wales government declares that Saint Patrick's Day, St. Andrew's Day and St George's Day are no longer public holidays.
24 March – A fatal case of cholera is reported in Sydney.
8 May – The bushranger Captain Moonlite holds up a bank in Mount Egerton, Victoria.
22 June – Prince Alfred College opens in Adelaide, South Australia.
18 October – The Lithgow Zig Zag Railway was opened.

Science and technology

1 May – A submarine telegraph cable is completed, joining Tasmania to the mainland.

Sport

2 November – Warrior wins the Melbourne Cup.

Births

20 January – F. Matthias Alexander, actor and author
25 February – Staniforth Smith, Western Australian politician
10 March – Sir John Longstaff, artist
23 March – William Robson, New South Wales politician and businessman
11 April – John Patrick McGlinn, public servant and soldier
13 April – Vida Goldstein, suffragette and social reformer
27 April – May Moss, welfare worker and suffragette
2 May – Florence Stawell, classical scholar
14 May – Percy Abbott, New South Wales politician, soldier and solicitor
15 May – John Storey, 20th Premier of New South Wales
18 May – Harold Grimwade, military officer, businessman and pharmacist
19 May – William Gibson, Victorian politician
23 May – Sir George Beeby, New South Wales politician, judge and author
11 July – Peter McAlister, cricketer
21 July – John McDonald, Western Australian politician
6 August – Marie Pitt, poet and journalist
7 August – E. J. Brady, journalist and poet
8 August – George James Coates, artist
28 August – Sir Albert Ellis, prospector
28 September – John Bisdee, military officer
30 September – Ernie Jones, Australian rules footballer and cricketer
24 October – Charlie McLeod, cricketer
2 December – Sir John Kirwan, Western Australian politician
7 December – Frank Laver, cricketer and baseball player
13 December – John Shirlow, artist
21 December – Albert Green, Western Australian politician
29 December – Bill Howell, cricketer

Deaths

3 March – William Lanne, whaler
6 May – Henry Vincent, prison superintendent
9 May – John Plunkett, New South Wales politician
16 June – Charles Sturt, explorer
4 September – John Pascoe Fawkner, Victorian politician and businessman
9 November – Charles Flaxman, settler and landowner