1859 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1859 in Australia.

Incumbents

 * Monarch - Victoria

Governors
Governors of the Australian colonies:
 * Governor of New South Wales – Sir William Denison
 * Governor of Queensland – Sir George Bowen
 * Governor of South Australia – Sir Richard MacDonnell
 * Governor of Tasmania – Sir Henry Young
 * Governor of Victoria – Sir Henry Barkly
 * Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony – Sir Arthur Kennedy

Premiers
Premiers of the Australian colonies:
 * Premier of New South Wales – Charles Cowper, William Forster
 * Premier of Queensland – Robert Herbert
 * Premier of South Australia – Richard Hanson
 * Premier of Tasmania – Francis Smith
 * Premier of Victoria – John O'Shanassy, William Nicholson

Events

 * 14 May – Melbourne Football Club is founded.
 * 6 June – The colony of Queensland is established by decree of Queen Victoria.
 * July – Geelong Football Club is founded.
 * 5 August – The passenger steamship SS Admella is shipwrecked on a submerged reef near Mount Gambier South Australia with the loss of 89 lives.
 * 6 October – Thomas Austin takes 24 rabbits and 5 hares to Australia in order to release them there as a game. They will multiply exponentially.
 * The first permanent educational institution for girls, the East Leigh, is founded in Melbourne by Elizabeth Tripp.
 * Undated – A retaliatory mass-slaughter of Indigenous Australians occurs in the Hospital Creek Massacre.

Births

 * 24 March – Hugh de Largie, Western Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1947)
 * 23 April – Bella Guerin, feminist and suffragist (d. 1923)
 * 25 April – Joseph Maiden, botanist (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1925)
 * 16 June – John Russell, impressionist painter (d. 1930)
 * 28 November – Richard Godfrey Rivers, artist (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1925)