Incumbents

• Governor of New South Wales
  Governors of New South Wales
  The Governor of New South Wales is the state viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who is equally shared with 15 other sovereign nations in a form of personal union, as well as with the eleven other jurisdictions of Australia, and resides predominantly in her...
  
   – Captain John Hunter
  John Hunter (New South Wales)
  Vice-Admiral John Hunter, RN was a British naval officer, explorer, naturalist and colonial administrator who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1795 to 1800.-Overview:...
  
   (until 20 April), then Captain Philip King
  Philip Gidley King
  Captain Philip Gidley King RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.-Early years and establishment of Norfolk Island settlement:King was born...
  
   (from 28 September)

Events

• 16 July – Reverends Richard Johnson
  Richard Johnson (chaplain)
  Richard Johnson was the first Christian cleric in Australia.Johnson was the son of John and Mary Johnson. He was born in Welton, Yorkshire and educated at Hull Grammar School under Joseph Milner. In 1780 he entered Magdalene College, Cambridge as a sizar and graduated in 1784...
  
   and Samuel Marsden
  Samuel Marsden
  Samuel Marsden was an English born Anglican cleric and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand...
  
   open a church school at Ryde
  Ryde, New South Wales
  Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ryde is located 13 km north-west of the Sydney central business district and 8 km east of Parramatta. Ryde is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Ryde and part of the Northern Suburbs area...
  
  .
• 26 April – William Balmain
  William Balmain
  William Balmain was a British naval surgeon who sailed as an assistant surgeon with the First Fleet to establish the first European settlement in Australia, and later became its principal surgeon.-Early life and career:...
  
   receives a land grant on the east side of Cockle Bay
  Cockle Bay (Sydney)
  Cockle Bay is a small bay in inner-city Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the western edge of the Sydney central business district....
  
  .
• 26 June – Major Joseph Foveaux
  Joseph Foveaux
  Joseph Foveaux was a soldier and convict settlement administrator in colonial New South Wales, Australia.Foveaux was baptised on 6 April 1767 at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England, the sixth child of Joseph Foveaux and his wife Elizabeth, née Wheeler...
  
   is appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island
  Administrative heads of Norfolk Island
  The Administrator of Norfolk Island acts as a representative both of the Crown and of the Australian Federal Government, as well as carrying out other duties according to the Norfolk Island Act 1979....
  
  .
• 16 July – Richard Johnson
  Richard Johnson (chaplain)
  Richard Johnson was the first Christian cleric in Australia.Johnson was the son of John and Mary Johnson. He was born in Welton, Yorkshire and educated at Hull Grammar School under Joseph Milner. In 1780 he entered Magdalene College, Cambridge as a sizar and graduated in 1784...
  
   and Samuel Marsden
  Samuel Marsden
  Samuel Marsden was an English born Anglican cleric and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand...
  
   open a church school in Kissing Point (Ryde
  Ryde, New South Wales
  Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ryde is located 13 km north-west of the Sydney central business district and 8 km east of Parramatta. Ryde is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Ryde and part of the Northern Suburbs area...
  
  ).
• 7 September – Joseph Holt
  Joseph Holt
  General Joseph Holt was a leading member of the Buchanan administration and was Judge Advocate General of the United States Army, most notably during the Lincoln assassination trials.-Early life:...
  
   is arrested on suspicion of raising an Irish insurrection.
• 28 September – Captain Philip King
  Philip Gidley King
  Captain Philip Gidley King RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.-Early years and establishment of Norfolk Island settlement:King was born...
  
   sworn in as Governor, as the previous Governor Captain John Hunter
  John Hunter (New South Wales)
  Vice-Admiral John Hunter, RN was a British naval officer, explorer, naturalist and colonial administrator who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1795 to 1800.-Overview:...
  
   returns to England.
• 29 September – William Patterson
  William Patterson
  William Patterson may refer to:* William Patterson , 19th century engineer and boat builder* William Patterson , U.S. Representative from New York* William Patterson , U.S...
  
   is appointed Lieutenant Governor of the colony.
• 19 November – The first copper
  Copper
  Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
  
   coin
  Coin
  A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
  
  s are circulated in New South Wales
  New South Wales
  New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
  
  . To prevent their removal from the colony they were issued at double their face value, that is a coin valued at one penny
  British One Penny coin (pre-decimal)
  The English Penny, originally a coin of 1.3 to 1.5 g pure silver, includes the penny introduced around the year 785 by King Offa of Mercia. However, his coins were similar in size and weight to the continental deniers of the period, and to the Anglo-Saxon sceats which had gone before it, which were...
  
   in England was deemed to represent twopence in New South Wales.
• 3 December – The brig
  Brig
  A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
  
   Lady Nelson
  Lady Nelson
  The Royal Navy purchased Lady Nelson in 1799. She spent her career exploring the coast of Australia in the early years of the 19th century. She was the first known vessel to sail eastward through Bass Strait, the first to sail along the South coast of Victoria, as well as the first to enter Port...
  
  and Lt. James Grant
  James Grant
  James Grant may refer to:*James Grant , American author, journalist, and publisher of Grant's Interest Rate Observer*James Grant , California painter and sculptor...
  
   arrive in Southern Australia; Grant names Cape Northumberland, Cape Banks, Mount Schanck and Mount Gambier
  Mount Gambier, South Australia
  Mount Gambier is the largest regional city in South Australia located approximately 450 kilometres south of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border....
  
  .
• 7 December – Grant names Cape Otway
  Cape Otway
  Cape Otway is a cape in south Victoria, Australia on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Otway National Park.-History:...
  
  ; the Lady Nelson
  Lady Nelson
  The Royal Navy purchased Lady Nelson in 1799. She spent her career exploring the coast of Australia in the early years of the 19th century. She was the first known vessel to sail eastward through Bass Strait, the first to sail along the South coast of Victoria, as well as the first to enter Port...
  
  becomes the first ship to cross Bass Strait
  Bass Strait
  Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
  
   from the west.
• John Macarthur
  John Macarthur (wool pioneer)
  John Macarthur was a British army officer, entrepreneur, politician, architect and pioneer of settlement in Australia. Macarthur is recognised as the pioneer of the wool industry that was to boom in Australia in the early 19th century and become a trademark of the nation...
  
   sends sample fleeces of merino
  Merino
  The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. Merinos are regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep...
  
   wool to England
  England
  England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
  
   from Australia
  Australia
  Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
  
  to determine their quality.