The following lists events that happened during 1850 in Australia.
Incumbents Monarch - Victoria
Governors Governors of the Australian colonies: Governor of New South Wales – Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy Governor of South Australia – Sir Henry Fox Young Governor of Tasmania – Sir William Denison Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony – Captain Charles Fitzgerald.
Events 26 January – The Irish Exile, a weekly newspaper, starts publishing in Hobart by Patrick O'Donoghue: aimed mainly at fellow Irish prisoners and deportees. 5 August – Port Phillip (later called Victoria) established as a separate colony from New South Wales. 1 June – First convicts arrive in Western Australia, ticket-of-leave transportation suspended in New South Wales. 1 October – University of Sydney is founded as Australia's first university. Undated – The Port Phillip District Wars end Undated – Between 15-20 Indigenous Australians are killed in East Gippsland as part of a series of mass murders of Gunai Kurnai people known as the Gippsland massacres. Undated – 16 Indigenous Australians are poisoned to death in Murrindal as part of a series of mass murders of Gunai Kurnai people known as the Gippsland massacres. Between 15-20 Indigenous Australians are killed in Brodribb River as part of a series of mass murders of Gunai Kurnai people known as the Gippsland massacres.
Science and technology Bucolus fourneti - described by Étienne Mulsant
Births
7 January Joseph James Fletcher, biologist (born in New Zealand) (d. 1926) Robert Richardson, journalist, poet and writer (d. 1901) 29 January – Lawrence Hargrave, engineer, explorer, and inventor (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1915) 1 February – Sir Matthew Davis, Victorian politician (d. 1912) 13 February – Michael Kelly, 4th Archbishop of Sydney (born in Ireland) (d. 1940) 17 February – Alf Morgans, 4th Premier of Western Australia (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1933) 23 February – Octavius Beale, piano manufacturer and philanthropist (born in Ireland) (d. 1930) 25 April – William Knox, Victorian politician and businessman (d. 1913) 26 April – James Drake, Queensland politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1941) 12 May – Sir Frederick Holder, 19th Premier of South Australia (d. 1909) 23 August – Sir John Cockburn, 18th Premier of South Australia (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1929) 7 September – James Stewart, Queensland politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1931) 22 October – Charles Kingston, 20th Premier of South Australia (d. 1908) 23 November – Henry Lowther Clarke, 1st Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1926) 3 December – Sir Richard Butler, 23rd Premier of South Australia (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1850) 21 December – Sir William McMillan, New South Wales politician and businessman (born in Ireland) (d. 1926) Unknown – Christie Palmerston, explorer and prospector (d. 1897) Unknown – Mei Quong Tart, merchant (born in China) (d. 1903)
Deaths
22 January – William Westall, landscape artist (born and died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1781) 3 February – Samuel Stocks, jun., businessman in South Australia (born in the United Kingdom c. 1812) 9 February – Elizabeth Macarthur, pastoralist and merchant (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1766) 16 June – William Lawson, New South Wales politician and explorer (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1774) 3 September – Ikey Solomon, convict (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1787) Unknown, possibly April – Yuranigh, guide and stockman (b. 1820)
References