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← 1898 1897 1896 1899 in Australia → 1900 1901 1902
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	Other events of 1899 Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1899 in Australia.

Incumbents

Governors of the Australian colonies

• Governor of New South Wales – Henry Brand, 2nd Viscount Hampden (until 5 March), then William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (from 18 May)
• Governor of Queensland – Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Thomas Buxton, 3rd Baronet (until 29 March), then Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson (from 10 April)
• Governor of Tasmania – Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston
• Governor of Victoria – Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Gerard Smith

Premiers of the Australian colonies

• Premier of New South Wales – George Reid (until 13 September) then William Lyne
• Premier of Queensland – James Dickson (until 1 December), Anderson Dawson (until 7 December) then Robert Philp
• Premier of South Australia – Charles Kingston (until 1 December), Vaiben Louis Solomon (until 8 December) then Frederick Holder
• Premier of Tasmania – Edward Braddon (until 12 October) then Elliott Lewis
• Premier of Victoria – George Turner (until 5 December) then Allan McLean
• Premier of Western Australia – John Forrest

Events

• 1 January – The Police Regulation Act 1898 is enacted in Tasmania, unifying several small regional police forces to form the Tasmanian Police Force.
• 22 January – Leaders of the six Australian colonies meet in Melbourne to discuss confederation.
• 4 March – Cyclone Mahina strikes Bathurst Bay in Queensland. Approximately 400 persons are killed, and the pearling fleet is sunk. A storm surge of up to 14 metres sweeps 5 kilometres inland.
• 24 April – The 1,280-ton barque Loch Sloy hits rocks off Kangaroo Island and sinks, killing 31 persons.
• 27 April – The Apostolic Church of Queensland receives formal recognition as a religious denomination.
• 20 June – Voters in New South Wales overwhelmingly approve a resolution to join the proposed Federation of Australia.
• 24 June – The Australia national rugby union team plays its first game, a 13-3 loss to at team representing Great Britain.
• 16 September – In the 1899 VFL Grand Final championship game of the Victorian Football League, defending champions Fitzroy retain the title over South Melbourne, 27 to 26. It is the second grand final ever contested in the league.
• 17 September – The career of bandit John Francis Peggotty ends in the town of Meningie, South Australia, when Peggotty's intended victim shoots both the bandit and the ostrich. The body of the ostrich is found, but Peggotty is never seen again.
• 8 December – An electric tram service commences in Sydney, along George Street from the railway to Circular Quay.
• Colonial soldiers leave to fight in the Second Boer War.

Arts and literature

• 8 October – The word "wowser" is first used by John Norton, editor of the Melbourne Truth newspaper.
• George Washington Lambert wins the Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figure sculpture for his landscape Across the Blacksoil Plains
• Dot and the Kangaroo, a children's book by Ethel Pedley, is published.
• On Our Selection by Steele Rudd is published.

Sport

• Merriwee wins the Melbourne Cup
• Victoria wins the Sheffield Shield

Births

• 7 January – John Collins, Chief of Naval Staff and High Commissioner to New Zealand (died 1989)
• 17 January – Nevil Shute, writer (died 1960)
• 21 January – Ernestine Hill, travel writer (died 1972)
• 22 February – Ian Clunies Ross, scientist (died 1959)
• 7 March – Eddie Ward, politician (died 1963)
• 3 September – Frank Macfarlane Burnet, biologist and Nobel Prize winner (died 1985)
• 24 September – William Dobell, artist, sculptor and painter (died 1970)
• 21 October – Herb Steinohrt, rugby league footballer (died 1985)
• 11 December – Joan Stevenson Abbott, World War II army hospital matron (died 1975)
• 14 December – Frank McMillan, rugby league footballer and coach (died 1966)

Date unknown

• Olga Agnew, child actress (died 1987)

Deaths

• 21 February – George Bowen (born 1821), Governor of Queensland
• 13 April – James Service (born 1823), former Premier of Victoria
• 25 September – Elizabeth Tripp (born 1809), educator

References

1. "Bushranger on an ostrich rides again". The Lead South Australia. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
2. No. 11 electric C-class tram, 1898, Powerhouse Museum.
3. Hellemann, Christian, Boona Schottische [music] / by Chris Hellemann, W.H. Paling & Co

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

• 1899 in Australia
• 1899 by country
• Years of the 19th century in Australia