The following lists events that happened during 1870 in Australia.
Incumbents
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 ...
–
Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore
Somerset Richard Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore, (9 April 1835 – 6 April 1913), styled as Viscount Corry from 1841 to 1845, was an Irish nobleman and Conservative politician who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1868 to 1872.
Backgro ...
*
Governor of Queensland
The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor Governors of the Australian states, performs c ...
–
Colonel Sir Samuel Blackall
*
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 ...
–
Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet
Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet (14 March 1832 – 14 January 1907) was a British soldier, Conservative politician and colonial administrator.
Background and education
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Fergusson was the eldest son of Sir Charles ...
*
Governor of Tasmania –
Charles Du Cane
*
Governor of Victoria
The governor of Victoria is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the Australian state of Victoria. The governor is one of seven viceregal representatives in the country, analogous to the governors of the other states, and the ...
–
John Manners-Sutton, 3rd Viscount Canterbury
John Henry Thomas Manners-Sutton, 3rd Viscount Canterbury (27 May 1814 – 24 June 1877), styled The Hon. John Manners-Sutton between 1814 and 1866 and Sir John Manners-Sutton between 1866 and 1869, was a British Tory politician and colonial ad ...
*
Governor of Western Australia –
The Hon. Sir Frederick Weld GCMG.
Premiers
Premiers of the Australian colonies:
*
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...
–
John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to:
Politicians United Kingdom politicians
* J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918
*John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...
, until 13 January then
Charles Cowper
Sir Charles Cowper (), (26 April 1807 – 19 October 1875) was an Australian politician and the Premier of New South Wales on five occasions from 1856 to 1870.
Cowper did useful work but does not rank among the more distinguished Australian ...
, until 16 December then
James Martin
*
Premier of Queensland –
Charles Lilley, until 3 May then
Arthur Hunter Palmer
*
Premier of South Australia –
Henry Strangways
Henry Bull Templar Strangways (14 November 1832 – 10 February 1920) was an Australian politician and Premier of South Australia.
Strangways was the eldest son of Henry Bull Strangways of Shapwick, Somerset, England. As a boy, he visited Sou ...
, until 30 May then
John Hart
*
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 ...
–
James Milne Wilson
*
Premier of Victoria –
John Alexander MacPherson
John Alexander MacPherson (15 October 1833 – 17 February 1894),
Australian colonial politician, was the 7th Premier of Victoria.
MacPherson was born at his father's property of ''Springbank'' on the Limestone Plains, in New South Wales (t ...
, until 9 April then
James McCulloch
Sir James McCulloch, (18 March 1819 – 31 January 1893), British colonial politician, was the fifth Premier of Victoria.
Early life
McCulloch was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the son of George McCulloch, a quarry master a ...
[Parliament of Victoria, http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/people-in-parliament/premier-of-victoria]
Events
* 3 January – A
state flag of Western Australia is adopted.
* 1 February – A
state flag of Victoria is adopted, although with no crown like the current flag.
* 22 March – A
state flag of Queensland is adopted, with a portrait of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
.
* 20 April – A second
state flag of New South Wales is adopted, similar to the current flag of Victoria: a crown above the Southern Cross.
* 22 July – A
state flag of South Australia is adopted.
* 11 August –
Melbourne Town Hall is opened.
Exploration and settlement
*
Gulgong, New South Wales, is founded.
* 27 August –
John Forrest
Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister i ...
successfully arrives in
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 ...
from
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, leading an expedition along the south coast via the
Great Australian Bight.
Science and technology
* September – Work begins on the
Australian Overland Telegraph Line
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a telegraphy system to send messages over long distances using cables and electric signals. It spanned between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital o ...
linking
Port Augusta
Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
to
Darwin.
Sport
* 12 May –
Port Adelaide Football Club
Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed ...
is founded in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
Births
*
3 January
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor.
* 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (except ...
–
Ethel Richardson, author (d.
1946
Events January
* January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held.
* January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...
)
*
14 January
Events Pre-1600
* 1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
*1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
1601–1900
*1639 – The "Fundamental Orders", the first written const ...
–
Sir George Pearce
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
, Western Australian politician (d.
1952
Events January–February
* January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
* February 6
** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...
)
*
17 May
Events Pre-1600
*1395 – Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army.
* 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason.
* 1527 – Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Flo ...
–
Sir Newton Moore, 8th
Premier of Western Australia (d.
1936
Events
January–February
* January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
)
*
1 November
Events Pre-1600
*365 – The Alemanni cross the Rhine and invade Gaul. Emperor Valentinian I moves to Paris to command the army and defend the Gallic cities.
* 996 – Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk, Bishop of Freising, ...
–
Christopher Brennan, poet, scholar and literary critic (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 ...
)
*
21 November
Events Pre-1600
*164 BCE – Judas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, rededicates the Temple in Jerusalem, an event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah. (25 Kislev 3597 in the Hebrew calendar.)
* 23 ...
–
Joe Darling
Joseph Darling (21 November 1870 – 2 January 1946) was an Australian cricketer who played 34 Test cricket, Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1894 and 1905. As captain (cricket), captain, he led Australia in a total of 21 Tests, wi ...
, cricketer (d.
1946
Events January
* January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held.
* January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...
)
*
26 December
Events Pre-1600
* 887 – Berengar I is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia.
*1481 – Battle of Westbroek: An army of 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers raised by David of B ...
–
Norman Ewing
Norman Kirkwood Ewing (26 December 1870 – 19 July 1928), Australian politician, was a member of three parliaments: the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, the Australian Senate, and the Tasmanian House of Assembly. He became a Judge of ...
, 23rd
Tasmanian Opposition Leader (d.
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
)
Deaths
*
23 May
Events Pre-1600
*1430 – Joan of Arc is captured at the Siege of Compiègne by troops from the Burgundian faction.
*1498 – Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
*1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII ...
–
Foster Fyans
Foster Fyans (September 1790 – 23 May 1870) was an Irish military officer, penal colony administrator and public servant. He was acting commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, the commandant of the Moreton Bay penal set ...
, military officer, administrator and politician (born in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
) (b.
1790
Events
January–March
* January 8 – United States President George Washington gives the first State of the Union address, in New York City.
* January 11 – The 11 minor states of the Austrian Netherlands, which took p ...
)
*
25 May
Events Pre-1600
*567 BC – Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans.
* 240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
* 1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo ...
–
Captain Thunderbolt
Frederick Wordsworth Ward (1835 – 25 May 1870), better known by the self-styled pseudonym of Captain Thunderbolt, was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, and also for his reputation as the "gentleman bushrang ...
, bushranger (b.
1835
Events
January–March
* January 7 – anchors off the Chonos Archipelago on her second voyage, with Charles Darwin on board as naturalist.
* January 8 – The United States public debt contracts to zero, for the only time in history.
...
)
*
24 June
Events Pre-1600
* 1312 BC – Mursili II launches a campaign against the Kingdom of Azzi-Hayasa.
* 109 – Roman emperor Trajan inaugurates the Aqua Traiana, an aqueduct that channels water from Lake Bracciano, northwest of Rome.
* ...
–
Adam Lindsay Gordon, South Australian politician and (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 ...
) poet (b.
1833
Events January–March
* January 3 – Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (1833), Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
* February 6 – His Royal Highness Prince Otto ...
)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1870 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