1853 in Australia

[edit] Incumbents

This was a year of intense political agitation by miners on the Victorian goldfields.

January 8 - Victoria Police formally established by Act of Parliament
January 22 - University of Melbourne formally established by Act of Parliament
March 17 - St Kilda Road robberies
August 1 - The Bendigo Petition, 30 metres long with at least 23,000 signatures requesting reform of the license fee system that applied to miners on the gold fields, was sent to Governor La Trobe in Melbourne.
August 10 - A Jubilee Festival was held in Hobart to mark the cessation of convict transportation to the colony.
August 15 - the term Bunyip aristocracy was coined by Daniel Deniehy in a speech attacking the proposal by William Wentworth to create a system of hereditary peerage in Australia
October 3 - Illawarra Steam Navigation Company incorporated
November 1 - The first postage stamps of Tasmania are issued.
December - Victoria Police Gazette first published
Hardy Wine Company established

January 10 - the Adelaide Philosophical Society founded, predecessor of the Royal Society of South Australia

September 23 - occupancy of the present site of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was part of a 'police paddock', was given to the Melbourne Cricket Club by Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe. This followed the forced resumption of land from the then-15-year-old Club to build Australia's first steam train railway.
The racehorse West Australian became the first horse ever to win the English Triple Crown in 1853. Despite its name it was in fact a British horse.