The following lists events that happened during 1831 in Australia. The year of the Ripon Land Grant, which attracted many settlers to Australia.

Incumbents

Monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

Governors

Governors of the Australian colonies: *

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

Ralph Darling General Sir Ralph Darling, GCH (1772 – 2 April 1858) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831. He is popularly described as a tyrant, accused of torturing prisoners and banning theatrical entertain ...

(to 23 October). *

- Major-General Sir Richard Bourke (from 23 October). *

Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...

- Colonel George Arthur * Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony -

Captain James Stirling Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Events

* 4 March - James Stirling commissioned as Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia, rectifying the absence of a legal instrument providing the authority detailed in Stirling's Instructions of 30 December 1828. * 14 March - The '' Surprise'', the first

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

built in Australia, was launched in Sydney. * 18 April - The

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

daily newspaper and Australia's oldest newspaper ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' is first published. * 5 August – Edward Broughton, an English

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

turned

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

and

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

is hanged after he escaped from Sarah Island in

Macquarie Harbour Macquarie Harbour is a shallow fjord in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. It is approximately , and has an average depth of , with deeper places up to . It is navigable by shallow-draft vessels. The main channel is kept clear by th ...

with four other convicts and later confessed to murdering three of his companions and resorting to

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...

. * The Ripon Land Regulation Act provides

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

Arts and literature

* Australia's first novel, ''Quintus Servinton: A Tale founded upon Incidents of Real Occurrence'' was written and published in Tasmania . It was written by the convicted English forger

Henry Savery Henry Savery (4 August 1791 – 6 February 1842) was a convict transported to Port Arthur, Tasmania, and Australia's first novelist. It is generally agreed that his writing is more important for its historical value than its literary merit.''Qui ...

and published anonymously.

Births

* Lewis Bernays *

James Boucaut Sir James Penn Boucaut (;) (29 October 1831 – 1 February 1916) was a South Australian politician and Australian judge. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly on four occasions: from 1861 to 1862 for City of Adelaide, from ...

* William John Clarke *

William Bede Dalley William Bede Dalley (5 July 1831 – 28 October 1888) was an Australian politician and barrister and the first Australian appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. He was a leading lay representative and champion of the Catholic co ...

* John Darling *

Alfred Felton Alfred Felton (8 November 1831 – 8 January 1904) was an Australian entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist. Biography Alfred Felton was born at Maldon, Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, i ...

Walter Russell Hall Walter Russell Hall (22 February 1831 – 13 October 1911) was an Australian businessman and philanthropist. Biography Hall was born in Kington, Herefordshire, England, eldest son of Walter Hall, glover (later a miller), and his wife Elizabeth ...

* Laurence Halloran *

Robert Herbert Sir Robert George Wyndham Herbert, (12 June 1831 – 6 May 1905), was the first Premier of Queensland, Australia. At 28 years and 181 days of age, he was the youngest person ever to be elected premier of an Australian state. Early years Born ...

Adelaide Ironside Adelaide Eliza Scott Ironside (17 November 1831 – 15 April 1867) was an Australian artist. Three of her paintings were donated to Australian national collections, but in 1888 they were in "a shed". They were then in Sydney University and "The ...

Martin Howy Irving Martin Howy Irving (21 February 1831 – 23 January 1912) was an English rower and educationist who spent nearly all his career in Australia . Background and early career Irving was born in St Pancras, London, the son of Edward Irving, a major f ...

Patrick Jennings Sir Patrick Alfred Jennings, (20 March 183111 July 1897) was an Irish-Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales. Early life Jennings was born at Newry, Ireland, the son of Francis Jennings, a well-known merchant in that town. He ...

George Kerferd George Briscoe Kerferd (21 January 1831 – 31 December 1889), Australian colonial politician, was the 10th Premier of Victoria. Kerferd was born in Liverpool, the son of G. B. Kerferd, a merchant (or Joseph Kerferd, a bookkeeper, and his wif ...

* Duncan McIntyre *

Thomas Petrie Thomas Petrie (31 January 1831 – 26 August 1910) was an Australian explorer, gold prospector, logger, and grazier. He was a Queensland pioneer. Early life Petrie was born at Edinburgh, fourth son of Andrew Petrie and brother of John. His f ...

Frederick Pottinger thumbnail, Official portrait of Frederick Pottinger Sir Frederick William Pottinger, 2nd Baronet (27 April 18319 April 1865) was a police inspector in New South Wales who gained fame for his fight against Bushrangers. Early life Born in India ...

Henry Gyles Turner Henry Gyles Turner (12 December 1831 – 30 November 1920), commonly referred to as "Gyles Turner" was a notable Australian banker and historian. Turner was born at Kensington, London. He was educated at the Poland-street academy and at 15 yea ...

Deaths

* 5 August – Edward Broughton,

and

(b. 1803), hanged * 22 December – Charles Fraser, botanist (b.

1788 Events January–March * January 1 – The first edition of ''The Times'', previously ''The Daily Universal Register'', is published in London. * January 2 – Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fourth U.S ...

) *

Collet Barker Collet Barker (31 December 1784 – 30 April 1831) was a British military officer and explorer. He explored areas of South Australia, Western Australia and Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory. History Barker was born in Hackney, England, ...

* John Hayes {{DEFAULTSORT:1831 in Australia

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Years of the 19th century in Australia 1831 in Oceania 1830s in Australia