1848 in Australia
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The following lists events that happened during 1848 in Australia.
Incumbents
Governors
Governors of the Australian colonies:
- Governor of New South Wales â Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy
- Governor of South Australia â Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Holt Robe (to 2 August) then Sir Henry Fox Young
- Governor of Tasmania â Sir William Denison
- Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony â Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Irwin (acting), then Captain Charles Fitzgerald.
Events
- Letters patent of Queen Victoria declaring Melbourne a city are read on the steps of St Peters, Eastern Hill church.[1]
- 13 February â The first non-British ship carrying immigrants to arrive in Victoria was from Germany; the Goddefroy. Many of those on board were political refugees and known as Forty-Eighters.
- 3 April â Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt was last seen on the Darling Downs. On that date he wrote a letter from MacPherson's Station, Cogoon.[2] Leichhardt had set off for Swan River.[3]
- 11 March â The Savings Bank of South Australia opens with a single employee, trading from a room provided rent-free.
- 29 August â The Cape Otway lighthouse in Victoria is lit for the first time.
- September â Between 9 and 11 Indigenous Australians are killed in the Avenue Range Station massacre.
- Undated - the Aboriginal Witnesses Act 1848. was enacted in South Australia.
Births
- 4 February â Sir John Winthrop Hackett, Western Australian politician and newspaper proprietor (born in Ireland) (d. 1916)
- 17 February â Louisa Lawson, writer, poet and feminist (d. 1920)
- 24 February â Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmanian politician and judge (d. 1907)
- 18 May â Sir John Henniker Heaton, postal reformer, journalist, and politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1914)
- 27 May â David Charleston, South Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1934)
- 3 June â Alexander Leeper, educationist (born in Ireland) (d. 1934)
- 8 September â Sir Edward Charles Stirling, South Australian politician and anthropologist (d. 1919)
- 15 October â Sir Langdon Bonython, South Australian politician and journalist (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1939)
- 18 October â Gregor McGregor, South Australian politician and trade union leader (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1914)
- 3 December â William Shiels, 16th Premier of Victoria (born in Ireland) (d. 1904)
- 6 December â Sir Edward Hutton, 1st General Officer Commanding Australian Military Forces (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1923)
- 10 December â Frederick William Piesse, Tasmanian politician (d. 1902)
- 16 December â Walter Madden, Victorian politician (born in Ireland) (d. 1925)
- Unknown â John Mather, artist (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1916)
Deaths
- 2 May â Frederick Garling, attorney and solicitor (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1775)
- 25 May â Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, New South Wales politician and military commander (born in Ireland) (b. 1768)
- 4 June â William Sorell, 3rd Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land (born in the West Indies and died in the United Kingdom) (b. 1775)
- 18 July â Alexander Macleay, New South Wales politician and entomologist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1767)
- 12 November â John Cadman, convict and publican (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1758)