Australian Historical Timeline 1851 Port Phillip District is

Australian Historical Timeline 1851 Port Phillip District is constituted the colony of Victoria, and the northern boundaries are settled. Gold is discovered in payable amounts in New South Wales by Edward Hargraves and by various individuals in Victoria. First representative legislatures meet in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia. 1858 1853 P & O is contracted for a mail service every alternate month from Singapore to Sydney via King George's Sound, Adelaide and Melbourne. Transportation to Norfolk Island is abolished. 1852 Peninsular and Oriental Navigation company (P & O) and the royal Mail Steam Navigation company begin carriage of mail every alternate month. transportation to Norfolk Island is abolished. 1855 Responsible government is proclaimed in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. Victoria: restriction on Chinese immigrants. First telegraph line in New south Wales: Sydney to south Head; extended to Albury, linking Sydney to Melbourne and Adelaide are linked by telegraph. Thomas Champion 'trains' as a photographer. Australia: population reaches 1 million 1854 First electric telegraph line in Australia: between Melbourne and Williamstown, Victoria. First private railway in Australia is opened, between Flinders Street, Melbourne, and Port Melbourne. 1856 South Australia: proclamation of responsible government Chinese begin entering the colony of Victoria via Port Robe, on Guichen Bay; SA; anti-Chinese riots at he Buckland River diggings near Mount Buffalo. A monthly mail service begins between Southampton and Sydney.

1863 1859 Tasmania: first submarine cable is laid between Tasmania and Cape Orway on the mainland (listed only a few weeks). Queensland becomes a separate colony and is granted responsible government. John Tebbutt builds his first observation at the Peninsula, Windsor, Northern Territory is annexed by South Australia. 1861 1860 - 1861 The fated Burke and Wills expedition crosses the continent to the Gulf of Carpentaria. 1859 - 1862 John Mc. Douall Stuart opens up Central Australia; dispels the illusion of an impassable desert or an inland sea. Sydney is linked by telegraph to Brisbane. Anti-Chinese riots at Lambing Flat and Burrangong diggings in New South Wales, followed by regulation of Chinese immigration. Death of Burke and Wills at Cooper's Creek. 1861 - 1862 John Mac. Douall Stuarts third expedition crosses the continent and returns a route for the overland telegraph line has been found. John Mc. Kinlay also crosses the continent east of Stuart's route in search of Burke and Wills. Queensland: Kanakas are introduced as labour on the sugar plantations: Somerset is established as a pearling centre. 1862 First visit by an English cricket team. Site of Somerset at the tip of Cape York is selected.

1869 Settlement of Port Darwin. 1867 Victoria imposes protective tariff on imports. 1864 Direct telegraph line between Sydney and Adelaide. First commercial sugar is milled from Queensland cane. Gold is discovered at Gympie, Queensland. 1865 William Macleay, squatter and politician, inherits his uncle's and cousin's natural history collections. Missionary agitation for the abolition of blackbirding. Fiji: Captain George Palmer of HMS Rosario seizes the Daphne for blackbirding and escorts it to Sydney, where the owners get off scot-free. Tasmania: a second-successful-telegraph cable links Tasmania with the other colonies, via Low Head and Cape Schank. The Flying Squadron of six ships reaches Melbourne, at first Australian port of call. Monthly mail service between Sydney and San Francisco via Auckland. 1868 HMS Blanche, a sail and steam Clontarf, New South Wales: attempted corvette, is commissioned to assassination of HRH Duke of Edinburgh work on the Australia Station. C. J. followed by an outburst of patriotic Norcock sails with her to shock - all princely acts of commission Australia and records her and omission are instantly erased. progress in his log. Queensland: the Polynesian Labourers Act is The last convict ship, the passed by the Queensland government with Hougoumont, reaches Colonial Office approval; deals with the Fremantle, Western labour market in Queensland only. Australia, with 279 prisoners. Pearl-fishing starts in the Torres Strait, off the Warrior Reefs. Arthur Clarke emigrates to Australia per the Conflict.

1870 1872 The Republic fights on. Imperial troops are withdrawn. Arrest of the captain and crew of the brig Carl on blackbirding charges. Leadership is given to John Forrest. HMS Blanches runs aground in the Torres Strait. The Pacific Islanders Protection bill is introduced into the House of commons (February). Europe: France declares war on Prussia (July). Emperor Napoleon III abdicates after battle of Sedan (September). John Morison begins a diary of his 15 -month trip (April) Western Australia government decides to resume exploration, to find a route for a telegraph line to South Australia gets the contract to build the overland Telegraph line. Charles Todd, Postmaster-General, is put in charge. The amalgamation of post and telegraph offices is almost complete. Travelling post offices are established. 1871 New Guinea: the Russian scientist, traveller and explorer Nicolaus de Miklouho-Maclay arrives at Astrolabe Bay. The Franco-Prussian War is over, and Germany becomes the major continental power in Europe. Anthony Trollope makes the first of two visits to Australia. Europe: Paris capitulates after a siege of four months. Robin Walpole is shipwrecked on St Paul's Island, en route for the Australia Station. A permanent military force is raised in New South Wales. Solomon Islands: the brig Carl kidnaps 85 natives in Buka passage; 60 -70 natives, dead or wounded, are slung overboard following an uprising. South Australia: work begins on the Overland Telegraph. Bishop Patteson is murdered in reprisal for this and other outrages. William Bethel leaves for the Canterbury Plains, new Zealand. Arthur Clarke resumes his shipboard diary; the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, is destroyed by fire; Robert Walpole joins HMS Blanche as a midshipman (March). First telegraphic message to Adelaide from London, via Java-Port Darwin link. HMS Beagle and Sandfly, the first of five fast RN schooners to patrol the islands, are commissioned for anti-blackbirding duty. Queensland: Charters Towers goldfield is declared. New Guinea: HMS Blanche explores Blanche Bay and anchors in Rabaul Harbour. First overland telegraphic message from Port Darwin to Adelaide. Ernest Giles sets off from chambers Pillar (Idracowra) on the first of four expeditions; names Lake Amadeus and Mount Olaga (sighted from a distance). Passage of the 'Kidnapping Act'; provides for punishment of British subjects who enlist or decoy natives against their will (June). William Bethell reaches Melbourne (29 January).

1873 Publication of Anthony Trollope's Australia and New Zealand. Peter Egerton Warburton, a retired Indian Army officer of 60, crosses from Alice Springs to Perth - not without difficulty - the first European to reach the Indian Ocean from the Overland Telegraph Line. En route he antagonises the Aborigines, desecrates sacred sits, and on arrival is acclaimed a hero. William Macleay offers to bequeath his museum to the University of Sydney, plus 6000 pounds to pay the salary of a curator. W. C. Gosse likewise sets out from Alice Springs, in the employ of the south Australian Government; reaches the Townsend Range 100 miles within the Western Australian border , and is forced to turn back. 1874 John Forrest makes crossing from the west to the Overland Telegraph Line via the Gibson Desert. The Transit of Venus (9 December). William Macleay retires from political life. New Guinea: first London Missionary Society mission is founded at Port Moresby. Formation of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, with William John Macleay as President (October). 1876 Sydney-Wellington telegraph cable connects Australia and New Zealand. Tasmania: death of Truganini, last of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Luigi d'Albertis explores the fly River, New Guinea. 1875 Fiji becomes a Crown Colony. William Macleay's New Guinea expedition (May-September). The Pacific Islanders Protection Act 1875 comes into force, extends powers to control activities of British subjects in islands not possessed by Britain or under the jurisdiction of any other civilised power. Ernest Giles crosses from Beltana to Perth, and back to the Peake Downs telegraph station. end of period of major explorations.

1877 1879 Victoria: first Test match is played. Telegraph is set up between Adelaide and Perth. First steam tramway opens in Sydney. Population of Australia reaches 2 million. First successful shipment of frozen meat is sent to England. Chinese outnumber whites 12. 1 on the Palmer goldfield, Queensland. First artesian bore is sunk at Kallara Station, near Bourke, NSW. 109 pearling vessels operate out of Somerset; settlement is moved to Thursday Island. 1878 David Christie Seamen strike against coloured labour. Cole Domann Queensland: restrictions on Chinese immigration. Caleb Balstad Graham Forrester Zach Atkins Source: http: //www. janesoceania. com/australia_timeline_events/index. htm