1876 in Australia

← 1875 1874 1873 1876 in Australia → 1877 1878 1879
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	Other events of 1889 Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1876 in Australia.

Incumbents

Governors

Governors of the Australian colonies:

• Governor of New South Wales – Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead
• Governor of Queensland – Sir William Cairns
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Anthony Musgrave
• Governor of Tasmania – Frederick Weld
• Governor of Victoria – Sir George Bowen
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir William Robinson GCMG.

Premiers

Premiers of the Australian colonies:

• Premier of New South Wales – John Robertson
• Premier of Queensland – Arthur Macalister until 5 June, then George Thorn
• Premier of South Australia – James Boucaut until 6 June, then John Colton
• Premier of Tasmania – Alfred Kennerley until 20 July, then Thomas Reibey
• Premier of Victoria – James McCulloch

Events

• 16 February – The community of Bowen was struck by an F5 tornado that caused £7000 of damage, injured numerous people and had one confirmed casualty.
• 20 February – Submarine cable between New South Wales and New Zealand completed.
• 21 March – J.V. Mulligan finds gold deposits in the Hodgkinson River in Queensland.
• 28 March – Classes commence at the University of Adelaide.
• 18 March – Luigi d'Albertis leaves Australia to explore New Guinea.
• 18–19 April – Catalpa rescue; Rescue team sent from New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA by John Devoy, rescues six escaped Fenian prisoners from Fremantle, Western Australia
• 5 June – George Thorn becomes Premier of Queensland.
• 6 June – John Colton becomes Premier of South Australia.
• 5 July – The completion of a railway bridge across the Brisbane River links Brisbane and Ipswich, Queensland.
• 20 July – Thomas Reibey becomes Premier of Tasmania
• 11 September – SS Dandenong sinks; 40 lives are lost.
• 7 November – The Melbourne Cup is run for the first time on the first Tuesday of November
• 27 November – Legislation is enacted in Queensland creating the first public fire service in Australia.
• 1 December – SS Georgette runs aground near Busselton, Western Australia; Grace Bussell and Sam Isaacs help to rescue the passengers.

Arts and literature

Main article: 1876 in Australian literature

Births

• 9 May – Oliver Uppill
• 7 September – C. J. Dennis
• 10 September – Hugh D. McIntosh
• 18 September – James Scullin
• 23 September – Cyril Brudenell White
• 24 September – Arthur Hennessy
• 4 October – Hugh McCrae
• 24 November – Walter Burley Griffin
• 21 December – J. T. Lang

Unknown date

• Ambrose Dyson, also known as Amb Dyson, illustrator and political cartoonist (died 1913)

Deaths

• 22 January – George Dalrymple
• 8 March – Truganini
• 5 April – William Spain, first New South Wales Inspector-General of Police
• 24 May – Henry Kingsley
• 10 June – Kenneth Brown, an explorer and pastoralist in Western Australia. He was hanged in 1876 for murdering his second wife Mary Ann Brown.
• 29 August – John Skinner Prout

References

• Barker, Anthony (1996). What Happened When. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86373-986-3.