1855 in Australia
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The following lists events that happened during 1855 in Australia.
Incumbents
Governors
Governors of the Australian colonies:
- Governor of New South Wales – Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy
- Governor of South Australia – Sir Richard MacDonnell (from 8 June)
- Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land – Henry Young (from 8 January)
- Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria (Governor of Victoria from 22 May) – Sir Charles Hotham (until 10 November)
- Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony – Captain Charles Fitzgerald, then Sir Arthur Kennedy.
Events
- 5 January – The War of Southern Queensland ends with the hanging of Dundalli.
- 12 June – the Victorian parliament passed the Chinese Restriction Act in an effort to restrict Chinese immigration.[1] These restrictions, including a £10 poll tax on Chinese and a limit to Chinese passengers per tonnage of shipping.
- 8 September – Queen Victoria signs an Order in Council to change the name of Van Diemen's Land to Tasmania.
- 26 September – Sydney to Parramatta railway opened[2]
Arts and literature
Births
- 30 January – George Edwards, New South Wales politician (d. 1911)
- 16 February – Henry Saunders, Western Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1919)
- 28 May – Sir William Portus Cullen, New South Wales politician and 7th Chief Justice of New South Wales (d. 1935)
- 18 June – George Lewis Becke, trader and writer (d. 1913)
- 6 August – Sir Isaac Isaacs, 9th Governor-General of Australia and 3rd Chief Justice of Australia (d. 1948)
- 13 August – William Astley, short story writer (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1911)
- 25 August – Paddy Glynn, South Australian politician (born in Ireland) (d. 1931)
- 28 October – Francis James Gillen, anthropologist and ethnologist (d. 1912)
- 22 November – Pharez Phillips, Victorian politician (d. 1914)
Deaths
- 5 January – Dundalli, Aboriginal lawman, murderer and resistance fighter (c. 1820)
- 23 January – John Burdett Wittenoom, clergyman (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1788)
- 19 March – Thomas Bock, artist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1790)
- 3 April – John Bateman, merchant and whaler (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1789)
- 31 December – Sir Charles Hotham, 1st Governor of Victoria (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1806)
References
- ^ "Brief History of the Chinese in Australia". Asian Studies Program. La Trobe University. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- ^ "Opening of the Sydney and Parramatta Railway". Freeman's Journal. Vol. VI, no. 275. New South Wales, Australia. 29 September 1855. p. 10. Retrieved 2 February 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
