Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Henry Parkes
  Henry Parkes
  Sir Henry Parkes, GCMG was an Australian statesman, the "Father of Federation." As the earliest advocate of a Federal Council of the colonies of Australia, a precursor to the Federation of Australia, he was the most prominent of the Australian Founding Fathers.Parkes was described during his...
  
   (until 16 January), then George Dibbs
  George Dibbs
  Sir George Richard Dibbs KCMG was an Australian politician who was Premier of New South Wales on three occasions.-Early years:Dibbs was born in Sydney, son of Captain John Dibbs, who disappeared in the same year...
  
   (until 7 March), then Henry Parkes
  Henry Parkes
  Sir Henry Parkes, GCMG was an Australian statesman, the "Father of Federation." As the earliest advocate of a Federal Council of the colonies of Australia, a precursor to the Federation of Australia, he was the most prominent of the Australian Founding Fathers.Parkes was described during his...
  
  
• Premier of Queensland – Boyd Dunlop Morehead
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford II
  Thomas Playford II
  Thomas Playford served as Premier of South Australia from 11 June 1887 to 26 June 1889 and 8 August 1890 to 20 June 1892, as well as serving as the Australian Federal Minister for Defence from 1905 to 1907....
  
   (until 27 June), then John Cockburn
  John Cockburn (Australian politician)
  Sir John Alexander Cockburn, KCMG was Premier of South Australia from 27 June 1889 until 18 August 1890.Cockburn was born in Corsbie, Berwickshire, Scotland in 1850. His father was Thomas Cockburn. He was educated at Highgate School, and King's College London, he obtained the degree of M.D....
  
  
• Premier of Tasmania – Philip Fysh
  Philip Fysh
  Sir Philip Oakley Fysh, KCMG was an Australian politician, Premier of Tasmania and a member of the first federal ministry....
  
  
• Premier of Victoria – Duncan Gillies
  Duncan Gillies
  Duncan Gillies , Australian colonial politician, was the 14th Premier of Victoria.Gillies was born at Overnewton near Glasgow, Scotland, where his father had a market garden. He was sent to the high school until he was about 14, when he entered an office in Glasgow...
  
  

Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Lord Carrington
  Robert Wynn Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire
  Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire KG, GCMG, PC, DL, JP , known as the Lord Carrington from 1868 to 1895 and as the Earl Carrington from 1895 to 1912, was a British Liberal politician and aristocrat.-Background and education:Born at Whitehall, London, Lincolnshire was the...
  
  
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Henry Norman
  Henry Wylie Norman
  Field Marshal Sir Henry Wylie Norman GCB, GCMG, CIE , Field Marshal and colonial Governor.-Early life:He was born 2 December 1826, only son of James Norman, merchant, and his wife Charlotte, née Wylie....
  
   (from 1 May)
• Governor of South Australia – Sir William Robinson
  William Cleaver Francis Robinson
  Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson GCMG was a British colonial administrator and a musical composer, being the author of several well known songs...
  
   (until 5 March), then The Earl of Kintore
  Algernon Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore
  Algernon Hawkins Thogond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore PC, GCMG, was a British politician and colonial governor.-Biography:...
  
   (from 11 April)
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Robert Hamilton
  Robert George Crookshank Hamilton
  Sir Robert George Crookshank Hamilton KCB, was the sixth Governor, and the Commander-in-Chief of the then British colony of Tasmania from 11 March 1887, until 30 November 1892, during which time he oversaw the ministries of two Tasmanian Premiers...
  
  
• Governor of Victoria – Lord Loch
  Henry Loch, 1st Baron Loch
  Henry Brougham Loch, 1st Baron Loch GCB, GCMG was a Scottish soldier and colonial administrator.-Military service:He was the son of James Loch, Member of Parliament, of Drylaw, Midlothian...
  
  
• Governor of Western Australia
  Governor of Western Australia
  The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
  
   – Sir Frederick Broome
  Frederick Broome
  Sir Frederick Napier Broome KCMG was a colonial administrator in the British Empire.He was born in Canada, but was living in England in 1865, when he married Mary Anne Barker...
  
  

Events

• 1 February – Foster's Lager
  Foster's Lager
  Foster's Lager is an internationally distributed Australian brand of 5.0% abv pale lager, It is a product of Foster's Group brewed under licence in several countries, including the U.S. and Russia...
  
  , brewed by the Foster brothers, goes on sale for the first time.
• 23 May – Louisa Lawson
  Louisa Lawson
  Louisa Lawson was an Australian writer, publisher, suffragist, and feminist. She was the mother of the poet and author Henry Lawson.-Early life:...
  
   founded the Dawn Club, which became the hub of the women's suffrage
  Women's suffrage
  Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
  
   movement in Sydney.
• 30 September – The Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway
  Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway
  The North Australia Railway , also known as the Palmerston to Pine Creek railway, was a narrow gauge railway which ran from Darwin, once known as Palmerston, to Birdum, just south of Larrimah.-History:...
  
   narrow gauge railway in the Northern Territory
  Northern Territory
  The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
  
   is officially opened.
• 24 October – The Tenterfield Oration
  Tenterfield Oration
  The Tenterfield Oration was a speech given by Sir Henry Parkes at the Tenterfield School of Arts, New South Wales, Australia on 24 October 1889 asking for the Federation of the six Australian colonies, which were at the time self-governed but under the distant central authority of the British...
  
   is delivered by Henry Parkes, calling for the Federation of the states.
• 27 November – The Sydney Town Hall
  Sydney Town Hall
  The Sydney Town Hall is a landmark sandstone building located in the heart of Sydney. It stands opposite the Queen Victoria Building and alongside St Andrew's Cathedral...
  
   is officially opened.

Arts and literature

• 17 August - The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition
  9 by 5 Impression Exhibition
  The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition was an art exhibition in Melbourne, Australia. The exhibition was opened on 17 August 1889 in Buxton's Rooms on Swanston Street and featured 183 works; the majority of which were painted by the Australian impressionists Tom Roberts, Charles Conder and Arthur Streeton...
  
  , featuring works by Tom Roberts
  Tom Roberts
  Thomas William Roberts , usually known simply as Tom, was a prominent Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School.-Life:...
  
  , Arthur Streeton
  Arthur Streeton
  Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton was an Australian landscape painter.-Early life:Streeton was born in Mount Duneed, near Geelong, and his family moved to Richmond in 1874. In 1882, Streeton commenced art studies with G. F. Folingsby at the National Gallery School.Streeton was influenced by French...
  
   and Charles Conder
  Charles Conder
  Charles Edward Conder was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australian tradition in Western art.-Early life:Conder was born in Tottenham, Middlesex, the second son,...
  
  , was opened in Melbourne.
• 21 December – The poem Clancy of the Overflow
  Clancy of the Overflow
  "Clancy of The Overflow" is a poem by Banjo Paterson, first published in The Bulletin, an Australian news magazine, on 21 December 1889. The poem is typical of Paterson, offering a romantic view of rural life, and is one of his best-known works.-History:...
  
  , by Banjo Paterson
  Banjo Paterson
  Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
  
  , is first published in The Bulletin
  The Bulletin
  The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
  
  magazine.

Births

• 18 April - Jessie Street
  Jessie Street
  Jessie Mary Grey Street was an Australian suffragette, feminist and human rights campaigner....
  
  , feminist and suffragette (d. 1970)
• 18 September - Doris Blackburn
  Doris Blackburn
  Doris Amelia Blackburn was an Australian activist and Member of Parliament.She was born Doris Amelia Hordern in Melbourne, Victoria, and became involved in women's rights and peace issues from a young age and served as the campaign secretary of Vida Goldstein, the first woman to stand for election...
  
  , politician (d. 1970)
• 27 October - Fanny Durack
  Fanny Durack
  Sarah Frances "Fanny" Durack was an Australian swimmer. From 1910 until 1918 she was the world's greatest female swimmer of all distances from freestyle sprints to the mile marathon.-Life and career:...
  
  , swimmer (d. 1956)

Deaths

• 9 February - Peter Lalor
  Peter Lalor
  Peter Fintan Lalor was an activist turned politician who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event controversially identified with the "birth of democracy" in Australia.- Early life and migration to Australia :...
  
  , Eureka Stockade
  Eureka Stockade
  The Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
  
   leader (b. 1827)
• 5 November - Peter Warburton
  Peter Warburton
  Colonel Peter Egerton Warburton CMG was an English explorer who made one particularly daring expedition from Adelaide to cross the centre of Australia to the coast of Western Australia via Alice Springs in 1872.The younger brother of Rowland Egerton-Warburton, Warburton was educated at home and...
  
  , explorer (b. 1813)