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← 1868 1867 1866 1869 in Australia → 1870 1871 1872
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
See also:	Other events of 1869 Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1869 in Australia.

Incumbents

Governors

Governors of the Australian colonies:

• Governor of New South Wales – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore
• Governor of Victoria – Sir John Manners-Sutton
• Governor of Queensland – Colonel Sir Samuel Blackall
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Benjamin Pine (appointed, but not sworn in), Sir Frederick Weld (from 18 September)
• Governor of South Australia – Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet (from 16 February)
• Governor of Tasmania – Charles Du Cane (from 15 January)
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Benjamin Pine, then The Hon. Sir Frederick Weld GCMG.

Premiers

Premiers of the Australian colonies:

• Premier of New South Wales – John Robertson
• Premier of Victoria – James McCulloch (until 20 September), then John Alexander MacPherson
• Premier of Queensland – Charles Lilley
• Premier of South Australia – Henry Strangways
• Premier of Tasmania – Sir Richard Dry (until 1 August), then James Milne Wilson (from 4 August)

Events

• 9 January – The British clipper ship Thermopylae arrives in Melbourne, having sailed from London in the record time of 64 days.
• 5 February – A large gold nugget, named The Welcome Stranger, is found at Moliagul, Victoria.
• 5 February – George Goyder establishes a settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin.
• 2 March – After several days hiding in bushland near Bunbury, Western Australia, Irish political prisoner John Boyle O'Reilly escapes to America on the whaler Gazelle.
• 3 March – William Lanne, known as "King Billy", the last "full-blooded" Tasmanian Aboriginal man dies. His body is secretly dismembered and his skull removed while in the morgue, and Dr William Crowther, future Premier of Tasmania, is suspected as the culprit.
• 5 March – The New South Wales government declares that Saint Patrick's Day, St. Andrew's Day and St George's Day are no longer public holidays.
• 24 March – A fatal case of cholera is reported in Sydney.
• 8 May – The bushranger Captain Moonlite holds up a bank in Mount Egerton, Victoria.
• 22 June – Prince Alfred College opens in Adelaide, South Australia.
• 18 October – The Lithgow Zig Zag Railway was opened.

Science and technology

• 1 May – A submarine telegraph cable is completed, joining Tasmania to the mainland.

Sport

• 2 November – Warrior wins the Melbourne Cup.

Births

• 20 January – F. Matthias Alexander, actor and author (d. 1955)
• 25 February – Staniforth Smith, Western Australian politician (d. 1934)
• 10 March – Sir John Longstaff, artist (d. 1941)
• 23 March – William Robson, New South Wales politician and businessman (d. 1951)
• 11 April – John Patrick McGlinn, public servant and soldier (d. 1946)
• 13 April – Vida Goldstein, suffragette and social reformer (d. 1949)
• 27 April – May Moss, welfare worker and suffragette (d. 1948)
• 2 May – Florence Stawell, classical scholar (d. 1936)
• 14 May – Percy Abbott, New South Wales politician, soldier and solicitor (d. 1940)
• 15 May – John Storey, 20th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1921)
• 18 May – Harold Grimwade, military officer, businessman and pharmacist (d. 1949)
• 19 May – William Gibson, Victorian politician (d. 1955)
• 23 May – Sir George Beeby, New South Wales politician, judge and author (d. 1942)
• 11 July – Peter McAlister, cricketer (d. 1938)
• 21 July – John McDonald, Western Australian politician (d. 1934)
• 6 August – Marie Pitt, poet and journalist (d. 1948)
• 7 August – E. J. Brady, journalist and poet (d. 1952)
• 8 August – George James Coates, artist (d. 1930)
• 28 August – Sir Albert Ellis, prospector (d. 1951)
• 28 September – John Bisdee, military officer (d. 1930)
• 30 September – Ernie Jones, Australian rules footballer and cricketer (d. 1943)
• 24 October – Charlie McLeod, cricketer (d. 1918)
• 2 December – Sir John Kirwan, Western Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1949)
• 7 December – Frank Laver, cricketer and baseball player (d. 1919)
• 13 December – John Shirlow, artist (d. 1936)
• 21 December – Albert Green, Western Australian politician (d. 1940)
• 29 December – Bill Howell, cricketer (d. 1940)

Deaths

• 3 March – William Lanne, whaler (b. 1835)
• 6 May – Henry Vincent, prison superintendent (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1796)
• 9 May – John Plunkett, New South Wales politician (born in Ireland) (b. 1802)
• 16 June – Charles Sturt, explorer (born in the British Raj and died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1795)
• 4 September – John Pascoe Fawkner, Victorian politician and businessman (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1792)
• 9 November – Charles Flaxman, settler and landowner (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1806)

References

1. "A List of Governors of New South Wales". www.parliament.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
2. Although formally appointed Governor, Pine never actually came to Western Australia to take up his post; the role was filled by an administrator, Lieutenant Colonel John Bruce.
3. Thornton, Katharine (2010). The Messages of Its Walls and Fields: A History of St Peter's College, 1847 to 2009. Wakefield Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-86254-922-7.

v t e Years in Australia (1788–present)
18th century	1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800
19th century	1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Timeline of Australian history

• 1869 in Australia
• 1869 by country
• Years of the 19th century in Australia