The following lists events that happened during 1841 in 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 ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

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 ...

Sir George Gipps Sir George Gipps (23 December 1790 – 28 February 1847) was the Governor of the British colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship oversaw a tumultuous period where the rights to land were bitterly conte ...

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-gene ...

- Lieutenant Colonel George Gawler to 15 May then

Sir George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...

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 ...

- Captain Sir John Franklin * Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony -

John Hutt John Hutt (24 July 1795 – 9 April 1880) was Governor of Western Australia from 1839 to 1846. Life Born in London on 24 July 1795, John Hutt was the fourth of 13 children of Richard Hutt of Appley Towers, Ryde, Isle of Wight. He was educated ...

Events

* February: An unknown number of Waadandi Noongar Aboriginals are killed in the

Wonnerup massacre The Wonnerup massacre, also known as the Wonnerup "Minninup" massacre , was the killing of dozens of Waadandi Noongar people by European settlers in the vicinity of Wonnerup, Western Australia in February 1841. The massacre on Waadandi-Doonan lan ...

. * 3 May –

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

was proclaimed a colony independent from New South Wales. * 7 June –

Darlinghurst Gaol The Darlinghurst Gaol is a former Australian prison located in Darlinghurst, New South Wales. The site is bordered by Darlinghurst Road, Burton and Forbes streets, with entrances on Forbes and Burton Streets. The heritage-listed building, predom ...

took in its first prisoners. * 1 July – The

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 ...

assignment system was abolished in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

and was replaced by the probation gang system. * 27 August –

Rufus River massacre The Rufus River Massacre was a massacre of 30–40 Aboriginal people that took place in 1841 along the Rufus River, in the Central Murray region, after three consecutive ambushes with " overlanders" (stock drovers) on the recently opened overl ...

. * 1 September – Port Phillip Savings Bank was established. * 23 October –

Caroline Chisholm Caroline Chisholm (born Caroline Jones; 30 May 1808 – 25 March 1877) was a 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her support of immigrant female and family welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the calendar of s ...

established the Female Immigrants Home to help unemployed new arrivals to Australia. * Undated – Between 30 and 35

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

are murdered by

Angus McMillan Angus McMillan (14 August 1810 – 18 May 1865) was a Scottish-born explorer, pioneer pastoralist, and perpetrator of several of the Gippsland massacres of Gunai people. Arriving first in New South Wales in 1838, McMillan rose swiftly in Aus ...

's men at Butchers Creek (now known as Boxes Creek,

Metung Metung is a town in East Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. The town is east of the state capital Melbourne and between the larger towns of Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance. It is on a small peninsula south-east of Bairnsdale, separating Lak ...

) as part of a series of

mass murders Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more pe ...

Gunai Kurnai people The Gunaikurnai or Gunai/Kurnai ( ) people, also referred to as the Gunnai or Kurnai, are an Aboriginal Australian nation of south-east Australia. They are the Traditional Custodians of most of present-day Gippsland and much of the southern slop ...

known as the

Gippsland massacres The Gippsland massacres were a series of mass murders of Gunai Kurnai people, an Aboriginal Australian people living in East Gippsland, Victoria, committed by European settlers and the Aboriginal Police during the Australian frontier wars. H ...

. * Undated – An unknown number of

are murdered by

's men at

Maffra Maffra is a town in Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area and it is the second most populous city of the Shire. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agriculture, and is the sit ...

as part of a series of

known as the

Exploration and settlement

*February - The first economic minerals discovered in Australia were silver and

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

Glen Osmond Glen Osmond is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Burnside which is in the foothills of the Adelaide Hills. It is well known for the road intersection on the western side of the suburb, where the South Eastern Freeway (National ...

, now a suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in South Australia. * 7 April -

Edward John Eyre Edward John Eyre (5 August 181530 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and Governor of Jamaica. Early life Eyre was born in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved to ...

becomes the first European to cross the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

. He arrived in Western Australia with Wylie, an

indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

who accompanied him. Eyre left

Fowlers Bay, South Australia Fowlers Bay, formerly known as Yalata, is a bay, town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about north-west of the state capital, Adelaide. The town is located on Port Eyre, at the western end of the larger Fowlers B ...

on 25 February and reached

Albany, Western Australia Albany ( ; nys, Kinjarling) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a ...

on 7 July.

Science and technology

* 13 April - the first photograph was taken in Australia by a visiting naval captain, Captain Augustin Lucas * 24 May -

Gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directl ...

used for the first time in Sydney. *

William Bland William Bland (5 November 1789 – 21 July 1868) was a transported convict, medical practitioner and surgeon, politician, farmer and inventor in the Colony of New South Wales, Australia. Early life Bland was born in London on 5 November 1789 ...

published a paper on the first

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects childr ...

epidemic in Australia; probably Australia's earliest contribution to

clinical medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...

Arts and literature

*The first Australian book for children was published in Sydney, ''A mother's offering to her children'', by a 'lady long resident in New South Wales'. Although published anonymously, the author is

Charlotte Barton Charlotte Atkinson (1796–1867) was the author of Australia's earliest known children's book. The book titled ''A Mother's Offering to her Children: By a Lady, Long Resident in New South Wales.'' Sydney: Gazette Office was published in 1841. An ...

Births

26 February Events Pre-1600 *747 BC – According to Ptolemy, the epoch (origin) of the Nabonassar Era began at noon on this date. Historians use this to establish the modern BC chronology for dating historic events. * 364 – Valentinian I is p ...

–

William Horn William Austin Horn (1841–1922) was an Australian mining magnate, pastoralist, politician, author, sculptor and philanthropist. Somewhat eccentric, in 1892 he was the donor of a copy of Antonio Canova's Venus, Adelaide's then controversial ...

, South Australian politician, philanthropist and mining magnate (d.

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

) *

20 March Events Pre-1600 * 673 – Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka. * 1206 – Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. *1600 – The Linkö ...

– James Walker, New South Wales politician (born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

) (d.

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

) *

15 April Events Pre-1600 * 769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings. *1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard. ...

–

Mary Grant Roberts Mary Grant Roberts (15 April 1841 – 27 November 1921) was an Australian zoo owner. Roberts owned Hobart Zoo from when it opened in 1895 until her death in 1921. The zoo was closed in 1937. Life and career Roberts was born in Hobart, Austra ...

, zoo owner (d.

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

) *

17 April Events Pre-1600 *1080 – Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV of Denmark, Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonization, canonized. *1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brough ...

–

William Hartnoll William Hartnoll (17 April 1841 – 11 July 1932) was an Australian politician. Born in Longford, Tasmania, he was educated at Launceston Grammar School before becoming a shopkeeper, auctioneer and landowner. In 1884 he was elected to the Tas ...

, Tasmanian politician (d.

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

) *

26 May Events Pre-1600 * 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe. * 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire take ...

– John Moffat, entrepreneur (born in the

) (d.

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

) *

3 July Events Pre-1600 * 324 – Battle of Adrianople (324), Battle of Adrianople: Constantine the Great, Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. * 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynas ...

–

James Styles James Styles (3 July 1841 – 4 February 1913) was a contractor, civil engineer and politician in Victoria, Australia. Early life Born in Croydon, Surrey, Styles migrated to Australia in 1849 with his family, where he was educated at privat ...

, Victorian politician (born in the

) (d.

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

) *

4 August Events Pre-1600 * 598 – Goguryeo-Sui War: In response to a Goguryeo (Korean) incursion into Liaoxi, Emperor Wéndi of Sui orders his youngest son, Yang Liang (assisted by the co-prime minister Gao Jiong), to conquer Goguryeo during th ...

– James Chalmers, missionary (born in the

) (d.

1901 Events January * January 1 – The Crown colony, British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and Western Australia Federation of Australia, federate as the Australia, ...

) *

13 August Events Pre-1600 * 29 BC – Octavian holds the first of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes. * 523 – John I becomes the new Pope after the death of Pope Hormisdas. * 554 – Em ...

–

Johnny Mullagh Johnny Mullagh (born Unaarrimin; 13 August 1841 – 14 August 1891) was an Australian cricketer from Victoria who was the leading player on the famous 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England. He was a skilful all-rounder, being a right-arm bow ...

, cricketer (d.

1891 Events January–March * January 1 ** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany. ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new Africa ...

) *

24 December Events Pre-1600 * 502 – Chinese emperor Xiao Yan names Xiao Tong his heir designate. * 640 – Pope John IV is elected, several months after his predecessor's death. * 759 – Tang dynasty poet Du Fu departs for Chengdu, wher ...

–

Henry Dobson Henry Dobson (24 December 1841 – 10 October 1918) was an Australian politician, who served as a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly and later of the Australian Senate. He was the 17th Premier of Tasmania from 17 August 1892 to 14 A ...

, 17th

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of Ta ...

(d.

)

Deaths

20 January Events Pre-1600 * 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution. * 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom. *1156 – ...

–

Jørgen Jørgensen Jørgen Jørgensen (name of birth: Jürgensen, and changed to Jorgenson from 1817)Wilde, W H, ''Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'' 2nd ed. (29 March 1780 – 20 January 1841) was a Danish adventurer during the Age of Revolution. Duri ...

, adventurer and writer (born in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

) (b.

1780 Events January–March * January 16 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a Spanish fleet. * February 19 – The legislature of New York votes to allow ...

) *

16 March Events Pre-1600 * 934 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang. *1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York. * 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse to re ...

– Edward Davis,

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 ...

(b. ?), hanged * 8 November – Sir Francis Forbes, 1st

Chief Justice of New South Wales The Chief Justice of New South Wales is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of New South Wales. The Chief Justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Court ...

(born in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

) (b.

1784 Events January–March * January 6 – Treaty of Constantinople: The Ottoman Empire agrees to Russia's annexation of the Crimea. * January 14 – The Congress of the United States ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Brit ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1841 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