1887 in Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following lists events that happened during 1887 in Australia.
Incumbents
- Premier of New South Wales â Patrick Jenning (until 19 January), then Henry Parkes
- Premier of South Australia â John Downer (until 11 June), then Thomas Playford II
- Premier of Queensland â Samuel Griffith
- Premier of Tasmania â James Agnew (until 29 March), then Philip Fysh
- Premier of Victoria â Duncan Gillies
- Governor of the Crown Colony of Western Australia â Sir Frederick Broome
Events
- 1 January â Clement Wragge is appointed Government Meteorologist for Queensland
- 21 January â Brisbane receives a daily rainfall of 465 millimetres (18.3 inches), a record for any Australian capital city.
- 23 March â 81 miners are killed during a coal gas explosion at Bulli, New South Wales
- 22 April â A cyclone hits a pearling fleet off Eighty Mile Beach, 120 men drown.
- 11 May â Ship Darling Downs with 7725 bales of Australian wool sinks at Nore after collision with Britannia[1]
- 22 June â The Fremantle Town Hall is opened.
- 26 Sept â The Celtic Club Melbourne is formed and remains today as Australia's oldest Irish Club
- 19 October â The Sydney-bound steamer SS Cheviot is wrecked near Point Nepean, Victoria, claiming 35 lives.
Science and technology
- Construction of Goulburn Weir commenced, one of Australia's earliest irrigation schemes.[2]
Arts and literature
Sport
- Dunlop wins the Melbourne Cup
Births
- 2 February â Pat Sullivan, film director (died 1933)
- 16 April â Henry Gordon Bennett, soldier (died 1962)
- 6 July â Annette Kellerman, swimming celebrity (died 1975)
- 28 October â Herb Byrne, Australian rules footballer (died 1959)
- 30 November â Beatrice Kerr, swimmer, diver, and aquatic performer (died 1971)