1789 in Australia

List of events

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1789
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Decades:

Leaders

January – A convict uprising on Norfolk Island is easily crushed.
April – An outbreak of smallpox at the Sydney Cove settlement kills many local Eora Aboriginals, including Arabanoo.
29 April – The Mutiny on the Bounty occurs; Captain William Bligh and 18 others are cast adrift.
4 June – The first Government House is completed.
4 June – Australia's first theatrical performance The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar staged with convicts acting in the roles.
12 June – Phillip leads an expedition to Broken Bay (departed from Sydney on the 6th), and discovers the Hawkesbury River.
27 June – Captain Watkin Tench and party discover the Nepean River
22 September – (Today's New South Wales) Commonly cited as the first white child^[1] or the first white female born in Australia, Rebecca Small (22 September 1789 – 30 January 1883), was born in Port Jackson, the eldest daughter of John Small^[2] a boatswain in the First Fleet which arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788.
5 October – The first ship built in the colony, Rose Hill Packet, begins service on the Parramatta River.
21 November – James Ruse, a convict, provisionally given land at Parramatta to establish Experiment Farm.
25 November – For the purposes of understanding Aboriginal culture, Phillip captures Bennelong and Colebec.
December – First successful harvest at Parramatta

19 January – Madame Rens, New South Wales settler and merchant (d. 1873)
16 March – Jared Davys, Administrator of Victoria (d. 1872)
1 May – George Fife Angas, Businessman and politician (d. 1879)
29 September – Benjamin Carvosso, first Wesleyan minister to preach in Australia (d. 1854)
November – Peter Miller Cunningham, naval surgeon and author (d. 1864)
5 November – William Bland, Medical practitioner, surgeon and politician (d. 1868)
date unknown
- John Bateman, Fremantle pioneer, merchant and whaler (d. 1855)
- Prosper de Mestre, merchant (d. 1844)
- Michael Fenton, first Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly (d. 1874)
- Thomas Gilbert, South Australian pioneer (d. 1873)
- Robert Menli Lyon, Aboriginal advocate (d. 1874)

18 May – Arabanoo, cultural mediator between the British settlers and Eora Aboriginals
December – George Austin, gardener on HMS Guardian
December – James Smith, gardener on HMS Guardian

^ "Australian Patriarchs". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). No. 2657. New South Wales, Australia. 23 January 1888. p. 6 (Centennial Supplement to the Daily Telegraph). Retrieved 3 November 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Personal". The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser. Vol. 41, no. 3042. New South Wales, Australia. 1 May 1928. p. 2. Retrieved 27 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.

Australian Encyclopedia 6th edition Australian Geographic Terrey Hills NSW 1996 Volume 1 Chronology page 25
Barker, Anthony (1996). What Happened When. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86373-986-3.
National Library of Australia. "The World Upside Down: Australia 1788 – 1830". Archived from the original on 20 March 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2007.

Years in Australia (1788–present)

18th century

19th century

20th century

21st century

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