1869 in Australia
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The following lists events that happened during 1869 in Australia.
Incumbents
Governors
Governors of the Australian colonies:
- Governor of New South Wales – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore
- Governor of Victoria – Sir John Manners-Sutton
- Governor of Queensland – Colonel Sir Samuel Blackall
- Governor of Western Australia – Sir Benjamin Pine (appointed, but not sworn in), Sir Frederick Weld (from 18 September)
- Governor of South Australia – Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet (from 16 February)
- Governor of Tasmania – Charles Du Cane (from 15 January)
Premiers
Premiers of the Australian colonies:
- Premier of New South Wales – John Robertson
- Premier of Victoria – James McCulloch (until 20 September), then John Alexander MacPherson
- Premier of Queensland – Charles Lilley
- Premier of South Australia – Henry Strangways
- Premier of Tasmania – Sir Richard Dry (until 1 August), then James Milne Wilson (from 4 August)
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 (died 1955)
- 21 February – Ernest Roberts, politician (died 1913)
- 10 March – John Longstaff, war artist (died 1941)
- 23 March – William Robson, politician (died 1951)
- 11 April – John Patrick McGlinn, soldier (died 1946)
- 13 April – Vida Goldstein, feminist and politician (died 1949)
- 27 April – May Moss, feminist and suffragette (died 1948)
- 2 May – Florence Stawell, classical scholar (died 1936)
- 14 May – Percy Abbott, soldier and politician (died 1940)
- 15 May – John Storey, Premier of New South Wales (died 1921)
- 18 May – Harold William Grimwade, soldier (died 1949)
- 19 May – William Gibson, politician (died 1955)
- 23 May – George Beeby, judge, politician and author (died 1942)
- 11 July – Peter McAlister, cricketer (died 1938)
- 21 July – John McDonald, politician (died 1934)
- 6 August – Marie Pitt, poet (died 1948)
- 7 August – E. J. Brady, poet (died 1952)
- 8 August – George James Coates, artist (died 1930)
- 28 August – Albert Fuller Ellis, prospector (died 1951)
- 28 September – John Hutton Bisdee, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient (died 1930)
- 24 October – Charlie McLeod, cricketer (died 1918)
- 30 September – Ernie Jones, cricketer (died 1943)
- 7 December – Frank Laver, cricketer (died 1919)
- 13 December – John Shirlow, artist (died 1936)
- 21 December – Albert Green, politician (died 1940)
- 29 December – Bill Howell, cricketer (died 1940)
Deaths
- 3 March – William Lanne, Tasmanian Aboriginal (born 1835)
- 6 May – Henry Vincent, first superintendent of Rottnest Island Aboriginal Prison (b. c. 1796)
- 9 May – John Plunkett, Attorney-General of New South Wales (born 1802)
- 16 June – Charles Sturt, explorer (born 1795)
- 4 September – John Pascoe Fawkner, pioneer (born 1792)
- 6 November – Charles Flaxman, chief clerk of South Australia (born 1806)
