1876 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1876 in Australia.

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

 * 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.

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