1789 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1789 in Australia.

Leaders

• Monarch - George III
• Governor of New South Wales – Captain Arthur Phillip
• Governor of Norfolk Island – Philip Gidley King
• Commanding officer of the colony's marine presence – Major Robert Ross

Events

• 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 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 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

Births

• 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)

Deaths

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

References

• Australian Encyclopedia 6th edition Australian Geographic Terrey Hills NSW 1996 Volume 1 Chronology page 25