The following lists events that happened during 1896 in Australia.

Incumbents

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 ...

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Henry Brand, 2nd Viscount Hampden Henry Robert Brand, 2nd Viscount Hampden, (2 May 1841 – 22 November 1906) was Governor of New South Wales from 1895 to 1899. Background Hampden was the son of Henry Brand, 1st Viscount Hampden. He succeeded his father as second Viscount and ...

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 ...

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Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, (29 July 1860 – 16 September 1940), was a British politician and colonial administrator who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901, and Governor of Bombay fro ...

(from 9 April) *

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 ...

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Sir Thomas Buxton, 3rd Baronet Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 3rd Baronet, (26 January 1837 – 28 October 1915), commonly known as Sir Fowell Buxton, was the Governor of South Australia from 29 October 1895 until 29 March 1899. He was the grandson of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a ...

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 ...

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Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston Jenico William Joseph Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston, (1 June 1837 – 29 October 1907), was an aristocratic Anglo-Irish colonial administrator. Born at Gormanston Castle, County Meath, he was son and heir of Edward Preston, 13th Viscou ...

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 ...

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Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey (11 February 1836 – 23 February 1918), was a British Liberal Party politician, Governor of Victoria and founder of ''The Naval Annual''. Background and education Brassey was the eldest son of the railway ma ...

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

– Sir Gerard Smith

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. ...

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George Reid Sir George Houston Reid, (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales f ...

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...

– Hugh Nelson *

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

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Charles Kingston Charles Cameron Kingston (22 October 1850 – 11 May 1908) was an Australian politician. From 1893 to 1899 he was a radical liberal Premier of South Australia, occupying this office with the support of Labor, which in the House of Assembly wa ...

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 ...

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Edward Braddon Sir Edward Nicholas Coventry Braddon (11 June 1829 – 2 February 1904) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Tasmania from 1894 to 1899, and was a Member of the First Australian Parliament in the House of Representatives. Bradd ...

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...

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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 ...

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly ...

– George Turner

Events

* 13 February - The Capsize of the ferry ''Pearl'' on the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Go ...

, killing 28 * 27 October

Passengers Alighting from Ferry Brighton at Manly ''Passengers Alighting from Ferry Brighton at Manly'' was the first film shot and screened in Australia. Marius Sestier made a film of passengers alighting from the paddle steamer ferry ''PS Brighton, Brighton'' at Manly ferry wharf, Manly Wh ...

the first film shot and screened in Australia

Arts and literature

* ''While the Billy Boils'', a collection of short stories, is published by

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...

* Augustus Juncker (1855–1942) publishes English duet edition of ''I was dreaming'' popularised in the French opera Ma mie Rosette

Sport

*7 to 11 April –

Edwin Flack Edwin Harold Flack (5 November 1873 – 10 January 1935) was an Australian athlete and tennis player. Also known as "Teddy", he was Australia's first Olympian, being its only representative in 1896, and the first Olympic champion in the ...

wins gold medals in the 800-metre and 1500 metre events, and bronze in the

tennis doubles Traditionally, tennis is played between two people in a singles match, or two pairs in a doubles match. Tennis can also be played on different courts, including grass courts, clay courts, hard courts, and artificial grass courts. Standard types ...

at the Games of the 1st Olympiad. He was the only Australian competitor at these games. * 3 October – The

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

is formed, with competition beginning in 1897. * 3 November – Newhaven wins the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbou ...

- the first horse-racing films produced in Australia. * New South Wales wins the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...

Births

* 22 January –

Norman Gilroy Sir Norman Thomas Gilroy (22 January 1896 – 21 October 1977) was an Australian bishop. He was the first Australian-born cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Early life and priestly ministry Gilroy was born in Sydney, to working-class par ...

, first Australian-born Cardinal (died 1977) * 8 February – Alfred Percival Bullen, circus proprietor (died 1974) * 18 February – John Cramer, politician (died 1994) * 5 July – Thomas Playford, Premier of South Australia (died 1981) * 11 July – Evelyn Scotney, coloratura soprano (died 1967) * 18 July –

Jack Mullens John Michael Mullens, (18 July 1896 – 5 September 1978) was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1945 (representing the seat of Footscray and an Australian Labor ...

, politician (died 1978) * 3 August –

Charles Adermann Sir Charles Frederick Adermann, (3 August 1896 – 9 May 1979) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1943 to 1972, representing the Country Party. He was the party's deputy leader from 1964 to 1966 and se ...

, politician (died 1979) * 24 August –

Edwin Corboy Edwin Wilkie "Ted" Corboy (24 August 1896 – 6 August 1950) was an Australian politician. From 1918 to 2010, he held the record as the youngest ever Australian Member of Parliament#Australia, Member of Parliament. Early life Born in Victoria, ...

, politician (died 1950) * 28 August –

Arthur Calwell Arthur Augustus Calwell (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. He led the party to three federal elections. Calwell grew up in Melbourne and attended St J ...

, politician (died 1973) * 15 September – Norman Lethbridge Cowper, lawyer (died 1987) * 29 September – Thomas James Bede Kenny, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient (died 1953) * 21 October –

Patrick Gordon Taylor Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor, (21 October 1896 – 15 December 1966), commonly known as Bill Taylor, was an Australian aviator and author. He was born at Mosman, Sydney, and died in Honolulu. Taylor attended The Armidale School in northern New S ...

, aviator (died 1966) * 16 November –

Joan Lindsay Joan à Beckett Weigall, Lady Lindsay (16 November 189623 December 1984) was an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and visual artist. Trained in her youth as a painter, she published her first literary work in 1936 at age forty under a ...

, author (''Picnic at Hanging Rock'') (died 1984) * 27 November – Arthur Percy Sullivan, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient (died 1937)

Deaths

* 27 April –

Sir Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has be ...

(born 1815), politician * 15 September –

John Anderson Hartley John Anderson Hartley (27 August 1844 – 15 September 1896) was an Australian educator and Vice Chancellor of the University of Adelaide from 1893 to 1896. Hartley was the son of the Rev. John Hartley, governor of the Wesleyan College, Handswor ...

(born 1844), educator * 10 October –

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

(born 1825), botanist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1896 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