The following lists events that happened during 1839 in Australia.

Incumbents

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

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 -

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 - Lieutenant Colonel George Gawler *

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 ...

Sir John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

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 constitutiona ...

- Captain James Stirling then

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 educate ...

Events

* 3 January -

becomes

* 15 January - The first US consul, J. H. Williams, takes residence in Sydney * 6 February - The '' Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser'' are published for the first time by

John Pascoe Fawkner John Pascoe Fawkner (20 October 1792 – 4 September 1869) was an early Australian pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne, Australia. In 1835 he financed a party of free settlers from Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania), to sail ...

* 16 February -

Kiama Kiama () is a coastal town 120 kilometres south of Sydney in the Illawarra. One of the main tourist attractions is the Kiama Blowhole. Kiama features several popular surfing beaches and caravan parks, and numerous alfresco cafes and restaurants ...

is proclaimed a town * 19 March - Settlement begins at

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located a ...

* 3 April -

William Light William Light (27 April 1786 – 6 October 1839), also known as Colonel Light, was a British- Malayan naval and army officer. He was the first Surveyor-General of the new British Province of South Australia, known for choosing the site of ...

is replaced by

Charles Sturt Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from Sydney and la ...

as Surveyor-General of South Australia * 13 April -

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

is proclaimed a village * 24 April - Braidwood is proclaimed a town * 1 May -

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 t ...

explores the area north of Adelaide until 29 June, during the expedition he discovers

Lake Torrens Lake Torrens ( Kuyani: ''Ngarndamukia'') is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf. Is ...

* June - Up to 40 Aboriginals as killed in the

Campaspe Plains massacre Campaspe (; Greek: Καμπάσπη, ''Kampaspē''), or Pancaste (; Greek: Πανκάστη, ''Pankastē''; also ''Pakate''), was a supposed mistress of Alexander the Great and a prominent citizen of Larissa in Thessaly. No Campaspe appears in ...

, which was a reprisal raid against Aboriginal resistance to the invasion and occupation of the

Dja Dja Wurrung Dja Dja Wurrung (Pronounced Ja-Ja-war-rung), also known as the Djaara or Jajowrong people and Loddon River tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people who are the Traditional owners of lands including the watersheds of the Loddon and Avoca riv ...

and

Taungurung The Taungurung people, also spelt ''Daung Wurrung'', are an Aboriginal people who are one of the Kulin nations in present-day Victoria, Australia. They consist of nine clans whose traditional language is the Taungurung language. Their Country ...

lands. * 20 June - A settlement is founded at Victor Harbor * 27 July - The

Adelaide River The Adelaide River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. Course and features The river rises in the Litchfield National Park and flows generally northwards to Clarence Strait, joined by eight tributaries including the west branc ...

is discovered * 9 September -

Port Darwin Port Darwin is the port in Darwin, Northern Territory, in northern Australia. The port has operated in a number of locations, including Stokes Hill Wharf, Cullen Bay and East Arm Wharf. In 2015, a 99-year lease was granted to the Chinese-owned ...

is named by

John Lort Stokes Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885)Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stokes was born in 1811, citing a letter by fellow naval officer Crawford ...

on * Undated (mid 1939) - 35 to 40 Aboriginals of the ''Tarnbeere Gundidj'' clan of the

Djargurd Wurrung The Djargurd Wurrong (also spelt Djargurd Wurrung) are Aboriginal Australian people of the Western district of the State of Victoria, and traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and Lake Corangamite. Language The Djargu ...

are killed in the

Murdering Gully massacre Murdering Gully, formerly known as Puuroyup to the Djargurd Wurrung people, is the site of an 1839 massacre of 35–40 people of the ''Tarnbeere Gundidj'' clan of the Djargurd Wurrung in the Camperdown district of Victoria, Australia. It is a ...

. * Undated - An unknown number of Aboriginals are killed in the Blood Hole massacre

Exploration and settlement

explores areas to the far north and west 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 ...

during his two

expeditions Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Settlements

Alberton, South Australia Alberton is a metropolitan suburb in the west of Adelaide, South Australia, about 20 minutes drive from the city. Part of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, it is bordered by the suburbs of Rosewater, Queenstown, Cheltenham and Port Adelaide. ...

Albury, New South Wales Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

Balhannah, South Australia Balhannah is a town in the Adelaide Hills about 30 km southeast of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It was established in 1839 as a farming community by James Turnbull Thomson, who built the first hotel. The town soon grew to inco ...

Blakiston, South Australia Blakiston is a town in the Australian state of South Australia. The town is located approximately south-east of the state capital of Adelaide, adjacent to the Princes Highway. Its postal code is 5250 – though it has no post office. Post is ...

Brunswick East, Victoria Brunswick East is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Merri-bek local government area. Brunswick East recorded a population of 13,279 at the 2021 ...

Burnside, South Australia Burnside is suburb in the City of Burnside council area in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide. It is primarily a residential suburb. It was named Burnside, an amalgamation of the Scottish word for creek, "burn" and "side" because of the original p ...

Carcoar, New South Wales Carcoar is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Blayney Shire. In 2016, the town had a population of 200 people. It is situated just off the Mid-Western Highway 258 km west of Sydney and 52 km south-we ...

Findon, South Australia Findon is a western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Charles Sturt. History In 1839, George Cortis was granted the land now constituting Findon, which he subdivided in 1848. The suburb may have been named for th ...

Gumeracha, South Australia Gumeracha ( ) is a town in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, located on the Adelaide-Mannum Road. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area on the south bank of the upper River Torrens. At the 2006 census, Gumeracha ...

Hahndorf, South Australia Hahndorf is a small town in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia. Currently an important tourism spot, it has previously been a centre for farming and services. Geography It is accessible from Adelaide, the South Australian capital, ...

* Hope Valley, South Australia * Mandurama, New South Wales *

Mount Barker, South Australia Mount Barker is a city in South Australia. Located approximately 33 kilometres (21 miles) from the Adelaide city centre, it is home to 16,629 residents. It is the seat of the District Council of Mount Barker, the largest town in the Adelaide Hi ...

Nairne, South Australia Nairne is a small township in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. Nairne is about from Mount Barker, South Australia, in the federal Division of Mayo and in the state electoral district of Kavel. At the 2016 census, Nairne had a populatio ...

Penwortham, South Australia Penwortham () is a small town in the Clare Valley, South Australia, along the Horrocks Highway, approximately 10 kilometres south of Clare and 14 kilometres north of Auburn. Geography Penwortham is surrounded by natural eucalyptus bushland a ...

Seymour, Victoria Seymour () is a historic railway township located in the Southern end of the Goulburn Valley in the Shire of Mitchell, Victoria, Australia and is located north of Melbourne. At the , Seymour had a population of 6,569. The township services ...

* St Kilda, Victoria *

Strathalbyn, South Australia Strathalbyn is a town in South Australia, in the Alexandrina Council. As of 2016, the town had a population of approximately 6,500. Location Strathalbyn is 60 km southeast of Adelaide on the banks of the River Angas, at the southeastern ed ...

Tusmore, South Australia Tusmore is a suburb in the inner east of Adelaide, South Australia. History In 1839, a pastoralist William Rogers, settled in the area and named his land ''Tusmore'' after his birthplace in Oxfordshire, England. In 1911 the area roughly corresp ...

Arts and literature

* First mechanics' institute was founded at Melbourne

Births

* 14 March – George Adams, publican and lottery promoter (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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

) (d.

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library syst ...

) *

18 April Events Pre-1600 * 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The ''patrician'' Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days. *1428 – Peace of Ferrara betwe ...

– Henry Kendall, author and bush poet (d.

1882 Events January–March * January 2 ** The Standard Oil Trust is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates. ** Irish-born author Oscar Wilde arrives in t ...

) * 30 April – Sir Francis Suttor, New South Wales politician and pastoralist (d.

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". * January ...

) *

10 May Events Pre-1600 *28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China. *1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edw ...

–

Thomas Joseph Carr Thomas Joseph Carr (10 May 1839 – 6 May 1917) was the second Roman Catholic archbishop of Melbourne, Australia. Early life Carr was born near Moylough, Galway, Ireland, and educated at St Jarlath's College, Tuam, and at St Patrick's College, ...

, Catholic archbishop (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 ...

) (d.

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Fo ...

) * 29 May –

Ned Gregory Edward James Gregory (29 May 1839 – 22 April 1899) was an Australian cricketer who played in the first recognised Test in 1877 between Australia and England in Melbourne. Ned was the father of a famous Australian cricketer, Syd Gregory, and b ...

, cricketer (d.

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

) *

19 June Events Pre-1600 * 325 – The original Nicene Creed is adopted at the First Council of Nicaea. * 1179 – The Battle of Kalvskinnet takes place outside Nidaros (now Trondheim), Norway. Earl Erling Skakke is killed, and the battle chan ...

–

Howard Willoughby Howard Willoughby (19 June 1839 – 19 March 1908) was an Australian journalist. Notably, he was the first Australian war correspondent, he wrote against penal transportation to Australia and in favour of the federation of Australia. Willoughby ...

, journalist and war correspondent (born in the

) (d.

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 4 ...

) * 1 July – William George Lawes, minister, missionary and public lecturer (born in the

) (d.

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco ...

) * 2 September –

Elias Solomon Elias Solomon (2 September 1839 – 23 May 1909) was an Australian politician based in Fremantle. He was Mayor of Fremantle, MLA for South Fremantle, and the first Member for Fremantle in the Australian House of Representatives. Early life ...

, Western Australian politician (born in the

) (d.

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Jan ...

) *

9 December Events Pre-1600 * 536 – Gothic War: The Byzantine general Belisarius enters Rome unopposed; the Gothic garrison flees the capital. * 730 – Battle of Marj Ardabil: The Khazars annihilate an Umayyad army and kill its commander, al ...

–

Norman Selfe Norman Selfe (9 December 1839 – 15 October 1911) was an Australian engineer, naval architect, inventor, urban planner and outspoken advocate of technical education. After emigrating to Sydney with his family from England as a boy he bec ...

, civil engineer (born in the

) (d.

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

) *

19 December Events Pre-1600 * 1154 – Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey. *1187 – Pope Clement III is elected. * 1490 – Anne, Duchess of Brittany, is married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by proxy. *1562 – T ...

–

Charles Dempster Charles Edward Dempster (19 December 1839 – 22 July 1907) was a politician in Western Australia, serving two terms in the Legislative Council—as the member for the seat of Toodyay from 1873 to 1874, and as one of the three East Province ...

, Western Australian politician and explorer (d.

) * Unknown – George Rignold, actor (born in the

) (d. 1912)

Deaths

* 6 May – John Batman, explorer, grazier and entrepreneur (b.

1801 Events January–March * January 1 ** The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland is completed under the Act of Union 1800, bringing about the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the abolition of the Parliament of I ...

) * 27 June –

Allan Cunningham (botanist) Allan Cunningham (13 July 1791 – 27 June 1839) was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in Australia to collect plants. Early life Cunningham was born in Wimbledon, Surrey, England, the son of Allan ...

, botanist and explorer (born in the

) (b.

1791 Events January–March * January 1 – Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arrives in England, to perform a series of concerts. * January 2 – Northwest Indian War: Big Bottom Massacre – The war begins in the Ohio Country ...

) *

24 July Events Pre-1600 * 1132 – Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily. *1148 – Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade. *1304 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of ...

– Sir Richard Spencer, naval officer and settler (born in the

) (b.

1779 Events January–March * January 11 – British troops surrender to the Marathas in Wadgaon, India, and are forced to return all territories acquired since 1773. * January 11 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manip ...

) *

6 October Events Pre-1600 *105 BC – Cimbrian War: Defeat at the Battle of Arausio accelerates the Marian reforms of the Roman army of the mid-Republic. *69 BC – Third Mithridatic War: The military of the Roman Republic subdue Armenia. *AD ...

–

, military officer and surveyor (born in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

) (b.

1786 Events January–March * January 3 – The third Treaty of Hopewell is signed, between the United States and the Choctaw. * January 6 – The outward bound East Indiaman '' Halsewell'' is wrecked on the south coast of Engla ...

) * 9 October – James Oatley, watchmaker and convict (born in the

) (b.

1769 Events January–March * February 2 – Pope Clement XIII dies, the night before preparing an order to dissolve the Jesuits.Denis De Lucca, ''Jesuits and Fortifications: The Contribution of the Jesuits to Military Architecture i ...

)

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1839 in Australia Australia Years of the 19th century in Australia