The following lists events that happened during 1797 in Australia.

Leaders

*Monarch -

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

* Governor of New South Wales – John Hunter * Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island –

Philip Gidley King Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detailed to colonise Norfolk Island for defence ...

* Inspector of Public Works – Richard Atkins

Events

* 9 February – '' Sydney Cove'' wrecked, but some of the crew managed to travel to Sydney more than 600 km away, leading to the rescue of other members of the crew. * 26 June – HMS ''Reliance'' arrives in Sydney from the Cape of Good Hope, carrying stores ordered by Governor John Hunter and 26

merino sheep The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the breed ...

purchased Captain

Henry Waterhouse Captain Henry Waterhouse (13 December 1770 – 27 July 1812) was an English naval officer of the Royal Navy who became an early settler in the Colony of New South Wales, Australia. He imported to Australia the continent's first Spanish merino sh ...

and Lieutenant

William Kent William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, bu ...

. John Macarthur would then acquisitor the first Merino sheeps. * 3 July – Following Aboriginal attacks on farms in the

Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to: People *Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman Places ;Geography *Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada * Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...

region, Hunter dispatches a party of soldiers from the

New South Wales Corps The New South Wales Corps (sometimes called The Rum Corps) was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment of the British Army to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia, in fortifying th ...

to protect settlers there. * 1 August – Following advice from the master of the ''Sydney Cove'' who observed currents and tides while wrecked on

Preservation Island Preservation Island is a low and undulating granite and calcarenite island, with an area of 207 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Preservation Island Group, lying in eastern Bass Strait south-west of Cape Barren Isla ...

, Governor Hunter writes to Joseph Banks that it seems certain that the yet-to-be-discovered Bass Strait exists. * 19 September –

John Shortland John Shortland (5 September 1769 – 21 January 1810) was an officer of the Royal Navy, the eldest son of John Shortland.Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. On the 9th he discovered the

Hunter River Hunter River may refer to: *Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia *Hunter River (Western Australia) *Hunter River, New Zealand *Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada **Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada ...

estuary and coal. * 3 December –

George Bass George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. Early years Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George ...

sets out from Sydney in a

whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

with six oarsmen to explore south along the coast. He discovers the

Kiama Blowhole The Kiama Blowhole is a blowhole in the town of Kiama, New South Wales, Australia. The name ‘Kiama’ has long been translated as “where the sea makes a noise”. It is one of the town's major tourist attractions. Under certain sea conditions ...

(6 December) and the Shoalhaven River (7 December), he also visits

Jervis Bay Jervis Bay () is a oceanic bay and village on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, said to possess the whitest sand in the world. A area of land around the southern headland of the bay is a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia ...

, and named

Twofold Bay Twofold Bay is an open oceanic embayment that is located in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The bay was named by George Bass, for its shape of two bights. The northern bight is called Calle Calle Bay; while the souther ...

on 19 December,

Wilson's Promontory Wilsons Promontory, is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria. South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia. Located at nea ...

(2 January 1798) and

Western Port Western Port, ( Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in the state. Geographically, it is ...

(5 January). He returns to Sydney two months later, having greatly increased the settlers' knowledge of the

geography of Australia The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent, while comprising the territory of the sixth-largest country in the world. The population of Australia is concentrated along ...

Births

* 8 May –

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in ...

* 19 June – Australian explorer

Hamilton Hume Hamilton Hume (19 June 1797 – 19 April 1873) was an early explorer of the present-day Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. In 1824, along with William Hovell, Hume participated in an expedition that first took an overland rout ...

born at

Parramatta, New South Wales Parramatta () is a suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta Riv ...

* 20 July – Paweł Edmund Strzelecki

References

* * {{Oceania topic, 1797 in, countries_only=yes Australia Years of the 18th century in Australia