List of towns and cities in Australia by year of settlement

This is primarily a list of towns and cities in Australia by year of settlement. The article also contains information on permanent settlements established in Australia before British settlement commenced in 1788.

Pre-European settlements

Australia proper

For 40,000–70,000 years, the Australian mainland and Tasmania have been inhabited by the Australian Aboriginal people, and the Torres Strait Islands (now part of Queensland) by Torres Strait Islanders. Aboriginal people were hunter-gatherers and fire stick farmers who travelled between seasonal settlements inside country boundaries. Many groups had more permanent camps that they lived in for much of the year. Torres Strait Islanders engaged in some agriculture and had permanent villages. In 1788, the British Empire began colonising Australia, constructing permanent towns and farms. Aboriginal people began living in permanent settlements, some by choice while others were forced.

External territories

The Cocos-Keeling Islands and Christmas Island have only been inhabited since the 1880s. Information for them can be found in the table below. Norfolk Island was first settled by Polynesians in the 13th or 14th century. In 1788 the British colonised the island, by that time the Polynesians had been gone for hundreds of years. Jervis Bay Territory is located on the Australian mainland and has two small villages. Prior to British settlement, the area was inhabited by Yuin aboriginal people. The Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory have never had permanent inhabitants, but do have weather and research stations where people temporarily live and work. The Ashmore and Cartier Islands have never been inhabited, but are regularly visited by traditional Indonesian fishers.

Former territories

From 1947 to 1966, Australia administered the island of Nauru, which has been inhabited for at least three thousand years. The Nauruan people traditionally lived in permanent villages. Nauru is now an independent sovereign country formally called the Republic of Nauru. Australia governed the Territory of New Guinea (1920–1941), Territory of Papua (1902–1945) and then the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (1945–1979), which were all located on the island of New Guinea. Many of the native Papuan people traditionally lived in permanent settlements. In 1979 these territories became the independent sovereign country of Papua New Guinea.

18th century

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1788	Sydney	New South Wales	First permanent Australian city.^[1] Largest city in Australia, capital of New South Wales.
1788	Parramatta	New South Wales	Second-oldest settlement in Australia.^[2] Now a part of the Sydney urban area.
1788	Kingston	Norfolk Island	Island settled as part of the Colony of New South Wales.^[3] It is now a separate territory of Australia.
1791	Windsor	New South Wales	Part of the City of Hawkesbury and Sydney urban area
1794	Richmond	New South Wales	Originally known as Richmond Hill, which is part of the City of Hawkesbury and Sydney urban area
1794	Pitt Town Bottoms	New South Wales	Originally known as Mulgrave Place. Part of the City of Hawkesbury.^[4]
1798	Liverpool	New South Wales	Now part of the greater Sydney metro area.^[5]

19th century

1800s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1801	Newcastle	New South Wales	Original settlement abandoned in 1802. Resettled in 1804.
1803	Hobart	Tasmania	Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city. Largest city and capital of Tasmania.^[6] Originally settled at Risdon Cove, the settlement was moved to Sullivans Cove in 1804.
1803	George Town	Tasmania
1806	Launceston	Tasmania
1807	New Norfolk	Tasmania
1808	Sorell	Tasmania

1810s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1812	Ross	Tasmania
1813	Longford	Tasmania
1814	Bathurst	New South Wales	Oldest inland settlement in Australia
1815	Blackheath	New South Wales
1817	Shellharbour	New South Wales
1818	Penrith	New South Wales

1820s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1820s	Singleton	New South Wales
1820	Campbelltown	New South Wales	Now part of the greater Sydney metro area.
1820	Maitland	New South Wales
1821	Morpeth	New South Wales
1821	Port Macquarie	New South Wales
1821	Mudgee	New South Wales
1821	Perth	Tasmania
1823	Gosford	New South Wales	One of the two mergers of the Central Coast with Wyong
1823	Richmond	Tasmania
1823	Wellington	New South Wales
1824	Redcliffe	Queensland	First European settlement in Queensland
1825	Brisbane	Queensland	Largest city and capital of Queensland.
1826	King George's Sound (Albany)	Western Australia	Oldest settlement in the western half of Australia
1826	Burrangong Station (Young)	New South Wales	Settled as Burrangong Station, in Lambing Flat. Gazetted as Young in the 1860s.
1827	Burnie	Tasmania	Settled as Emu Bay, renamed in the early 1840s to Burnie after William Burnie.
1827	Oceania House, Home Island	Cocos-Keeling Islands	The islands were uninhabited prior to 1827. They became a territory of Australia in 1955.
1827	Tarago	New South Wales
1829	Clarence	Western Australia	Abandoned in the early 1830s.
1829	Fremantle	Western Australia
1829	Perth	Western Australia	Established as Swan River Colony. Largest city and capital of Western Australia.
1829	Guildford	Western Australia

1830s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1830	Augusta	Western Australia
1830	Berrima	New South Wales
1830	Port Arthur	Tasmania	^[7]
1831	Mandurah	Western Australia
1831	Taree	New South Wales
1832	Busselton	Western Australia
1833	Northam	Western Australia
1833	Goulburn	New South Wales	First Inland city
1833	Muswellbrook	New South Wales
1834	Portland	Victoria	Oldest European settlement in Victoria.
1834	Wollongong	New South Wales
1834	Pinjarra	Western Australia
1835	York	Western Australia	^[8]^[9]
1835	Melbourne	Victoria	Second-largest city in Australia and capital of Victoria.
1836	Adelaide	South Australia	Largest city and capital of South Australia.
1836	Bunbury	Western Australia
1836	Gawler	South Australia
1836	Holbrook	New South Wales
1836	Kempsey	New South Wales
1836	Kingscote	South Australia	Oldest European settlement in South Australia
1836	Littlehampton	South Australia
1836	Sunbury	Victoria
1836	Wauchope	New South Wales
1837	Bungendore	New South Wales
1837	Colo Vale	New South Wales
1837	Dandenong	Victoria	Now part of the greater Melbourne metro area.
1837	Southport	Tasmania	Most southern township in Australia.
1837	Yass	New South Wales
1838	Buninyong	Victoria
1838	Geelong	Victoria
1838	Gundagai	New South Wales
1838	Queanbeyan	New South Wales
1839	Albury	New South Wales
1839	Braidwood	New South Wales
1839	Echunga	South Australia
1839	Gumeracha	South Australia
1839	Hahndorf	South Australia
1839	Mount Barker	South Australia
1839	Port Lincoln	South Australia
1839	Seymour	Victoria
1839	Thebarton	South Australia

1840s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1840s	Benalla	Victoria
1840s	Dalby	Queensland
1840s	Traralgon	Victoria
1840s	Toowoomba	Queensland
1840s	Ulladulla	New South Wales	^[10]
1840s	Wee Waa	New South Wales
1840	Macclesfield	South Australia
1840	Melrose	South Australia	Oldest town in the Flinders Ranges.
1840	Oakbank	South Australia
1842	Ballina	New South Wales	^[11]
1842	Caboolture	Queensland
1842	Horsham	Victoria
1842	Kapunda	South Australia
1842	Lobethal	South Australia
1843	Boydtown	New South Wales
1843	Eden	New South Wales
1843	Wangaratta	Victoria
1844	Bacchus Marsh	Victoria
1844	Tweed Heads	New South Wales
1844	Wingham	New South Wales
1845	Jimboomba	Queensland
1845	Port Pirie	South Australia
1846	Cowra	New South Wales
1846	Grafton	New South Wales	^[12]
1846	Ipswich	Queensland
1846	Orange	New South Wales
1846	Swan Hill	Victoria
1847	Temora	New South Wales
1847	Maryborough	Queensland
1847	Rockingham	Western Australia
1847	Wagga Wagga	New South Wales
1848	Birdwood	South Australia	Originally named Blumberg.
1848	Nanango	Queensland
1849	Armidale	New South Wales
1849	Cooma	New South Wales
1849	Dubbo	New South Wales
1849	Gayndah	Queensland
1849	Surat	Queensland

1850s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1850s	Boggabri	New South Wales
1850s	Casino	New South Wales	^[13]
1850s	Woodside	South Australia
1850	Cessnock	New South Wales
1850	Deniliquin	New South Wales
1850	Geraldton	Western Australia
1850	Meadows	South Australia
1850	Warwick	Queensland
1850	Tamworth	New South Wales
1851	Bega	New South Wales	^[14]
1851	Bendigo	Victoria
1851	Ballarat	Victoria
1851	Castlemaine	Victoria
1851	Hamilton	Victoria
1851	Horsham	Victoria
1851	Moama	New South Wales
1851	Sale	Victoria
1851	Tenterfield	New South Wales
1852	Bordertown	South Australia
1852	Daylesford	Victoria
1852	Glen Innes	New South Wales
1852	Lismore	New South Wales
1852	Mount Gambier	South Australia
1852	Nowra	New South Wales
1852	Port Augusta	South Australia
1852	Port Elliot	South Australia
1852	Walcha	New South Wales
1852	Wodonga	Victoria
1853	Beechworth	Victoria
1853	Goolwa	South Australia
1853	Currajong (Parkes)	New South Wales	Originally founded as Currajong, but known as "Bushman's". Renamed to Parkes in 1873.
1853	Port Gregory	Western Australia
1854	Colac	Victoria
1854	Camperdown	Victoria
1854	Devonport	Tasmania
1854	Echuca	Victoria
1854	Gladstone	Queensland
1854	Stirling	South Australia
1854	Tinonee	New South Wales
1854	Yamba	New South Wales
1855	Gatton	Queensland
1855	Samford	Queensland
1855	Warrnambool	Victoria
1856	Gunnedah	New South Wales
1856	Inverell	New South Wales
1856	Quirindi	New South Wales
1857	Ararat	Victoria
1857	Ulverstone	Tasmania
1858	Chiltern	Victoria
1858	Laidley	Queensland
1858	Rockhampton	Queensland
1858	Corowa	New South Wales
1859	Allora	Queensland
1859	Barmera	South Australia
1859	Hay	New South Wales
1859	Scottsdale	Tasmania	^[15]
1859	Walgett	New South Wales

1860s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1860s	Glenrowan	Victoria
1860s	Mangalore	Victoria	^[16]
1860	Bairnsdale	Victoria	^[17]
1860	Barnawartha	Victoria
1860	Shepparton	Victoria
1860	Narrabri	New South Wales
1861	Cootamundra	New South Wales	Officially settled in 1847 as a stock run, incorporated in 1861.
1861	Bowen	Queensland
1861	Bowral	New South Wales
1861	Forbes	New South Wales
1861	Moss Vale	New South Wales
1862	Inglewood	Queensland
1862	Moree	New South Wales
1862	St George	Queensland
1862	Tharwa	Australian Capital Territory	Oldest official settlement in the Australian Capital Territory
1863	Cossack	Western Australia	First town in northwest Australia
1863	Springsure	Queensland
1863	Tambo	Queensland	Oldest town in western Queensland
1863	Victor Harbor	South Australia
1863	Walhalla	Victoria
1864	Clermont	Queensland
1864	Northampton	Western Australia
1864	Ingham	Queensland
1864	Mitchell	Queensland
1864	Somerset	Queensland	No longer inhabited.
1865	Burketown	Queensland	^[18]
1865	Charleville	Queensland
1865	Roebourne	Western Australia
1865	Townsville	Queensland
1866	Beenleigh	Queensland
1866	Mount Victoria	New South Wales
1867	Cloncurry	Queensland
1867	Nambucca Heads	New South Wales	^[19]
1867	Normanton	Queensland
1867	Roma	Queensland
1868	Bridgetown	Western Australia
1868	Cunnamulla	Queensland
1868	Gympie	Queensland
1868	Yeppoon	Queensland
1869	Bourke	New South Wales
1869	Darwin	Northern Territory	Largest city and capital of the Northern Territory.
1869	Walla Walla	New South Wales

1870s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1870s	Beaudesert	Queensland
1870s	Coffs Harbour	New South Wales	^[20]
1870s	Eucla	Western Australia
1870	Gulgong	New South Wales
1870s	Lithgow	New South Wales
1870s	Mackay	Queensland
1870s	Morwell	Victoria
1870	Bellingen	New South Wales	^[21]
1870	Bundaberg	Queensland
1870	Cobar	New South Wales	Name derives from the Ngiyambaa language of the Wangaibon and Weilwan peoples.
1870	Hughenden	Queensland
1870	Medlow Bath	New South Wales
1870	Nagambie	Victoria
1870	Nambour	Queensland
1870	Oakey	Queensland
1870	Yandina	Queensland
1871	Charters Towers	Queensland
1871	Cossack	Western Australia
1871	Forsayth	Queensland
1871	Landsborough	Queensland
1871	Tewantin	Queensland
1872	Adelaide River	Northern Territory
1872	Alice Springs	Northern Territory	Second-largest city in the Northern Territory
1872	Condon	Western Australia	Abandoned 1927, in favour of Port Hedland
1872	Esk	Queensland
1872	Forster	New South Wales
1872	Lowood	Queensland
1872	Stanthorpe	Queensland
1873	Cooktown	Queensland
1874	Southport	Queensland
1876	Cairns	Queensland
1876	Crows Nest	Queensland
1876	Kyabram	Victoria
1876	Pittsworth	Queensland
1876	Winton	Queensland
1877	Chinchilla	Queensland
1877	Mareeba	Queensland
1877	Warragul	Victoria
1878	Farina	South Australia
1878	Killarney	Queensland
1878	Miles	Queensland
1879	Boulia	Queensland
1879	Dunsborough	Western Australia
1879	Emerald	Queensland
1879	Innisfail	Queensland
1879	Katoomba	New South Wales
1879	Moe	Victoria

1880s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1880s	Canungra	Queensland
1880s	Gordonvale	Queensland
1880	Milparinka	New South Wales
1882	Ayr	Queensland
1882	Boonah	Queensland
1882	Hall	Australian Capital Territory
1882	Mount Morgan	Queensland
1883	Broken Hill	New South Wales
1883	Broome	Western Australia
1883	Caloundra	Queensland
1883	Captains Flat	New South Wales
1883	Carnarvon	Western Australia
1883	Coolangatta	Queensland
1883	Derby	Western Australia
1883	Edmonton	Queensland
1883	Narromine	New South Wales
1884	Alpha	Queensland
1884	Camooweal	Queensland
1884	Karridale	Western Australia
1884	Wyalong	New South Wales
1885	Barcaldine	Queensland	^[22]
1885	Batemans Bay	New South Wales
1885	Childers	Queensland
1885	Cooroy	Queensland
1885	Guyra	New South Wales
1885	Old Onslow	Western Australia	Abandoned in 1925.
1885	Wallangarra	Queensland
1886	Wyndham	Western Australia
1887	Birdsville	Queensland
1887	Blackbutt	Queensland
1887	Eidsvold	Queensland
1887	Mildura	Victoria
1887	Mittagong	New South Wales
1887	Southern Cross	Western Australia
1888	Flying Fish Cove	Christmas Island	Island was uninhabited prior to 1888. Became a territory of Australia in 1958.
1888	Goondiwindi	Queensland
1888	Kilcoy	Queensland
1888	Kuranda	Queensland
1888	Longreach	Queensland
1888	North Star	New South Wales
1888	Uranquinty	New South Wales	^[23]
1888	Woolgoolga	New South Wales
1889	Nannup	Western Australia

1890s

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1890s	Kingaroy	Queensland
1890s	Margaret River	Western Australia
1890s	Mount Hope	New South Wales
1890	Eumundi	Queensland
1890	Innamincka	South Australia
1890	Oodnadatta	South Australia
1890	Tarcutta	New South Wales
1891	Maleny	Queensland
1892	Bomaderry	New South Wales
1892	Coolgardie	Western Australia	^[24]
1893	Kalgoorlie	Western Australia
1893	Tuncurry	New South Wales
1895	Norseman	Western Australia
1895	Waroona	Western Australia
1896	Esperance	Western Australia
1896	Port Hedland	Western Australia
1897	Gwalia	Western Australia	Abandoned.
1898	Katanning	Western Australia
1898	Waverley	Western Australia	^[25]
1899	Quindalup	Western Australia

20th century

Year	Town/City	State/Territory	Notes
1900s	Fitzroy Crossing	Western Australia
1901	Tarcoola	South Australia
1904	Kyogle	New South Wales
1904	Renmark	South Australia
1908	Maroochydore	Queensland	^[26]
1910	Dwellingup	Western Australia
1910	Koojan	Western Australia
1910	Wonthaggi	Victoria
1911	Berri	South Australia
1911	Batchelor	Northern Territory
1913	Canberra	Australian Capital Territory	Largest inland city, capital of the Australian Capital Territory and of Australia.
1913	Leeton	New South Wales
1915	Coober Pedy	South Australia
1916	Griffith	New South Wales
1917	Quilpie	Queensland
1919	Yerrinbool	New South Wales
1920	Port Augusta	South Australia
1920	Whyalla	South Australia
1921	Monash	South Australia
1922	Tin Can Bay	Queensland	Originally known as Wallu.^[27]
1923	Mount Isa	Queensland
1924	Onslow	Western Australia	Moved from Old Onslow.
1924	Biloela	Queensland
1924	Monto	Queensland
1924	Murray Bridge	South Australia
1925	Cowaramup	Western Australia
1926	Katherine	Northern Territory
1926	Carbunup River	Carbunup River
1934	Tarraleah	Tasmania
1936	Seventeen Seventy	Queensland
1940	Loveday	South Australia
1946	Wittenoom	Western Australia	Closed in 2007 due to asbestos contamination.^[28]
1947	Bronte Park	Tasmania
1947	Woomera	South Australia
1953	Bindoon	Western Australia
1956	Jurien Bay	Western Australia
1960s	Tom Price	Western Australia
1961	Kununurra	Western Australia
1961	Weipa	Queensland
1963	Gracetown	Western Australia
1965	Churchill	Victoria
1965	Dampier	Western Australia
1965	Goldsworthy	Western Australia	Former mining town. Abandoned in 1992.
1966	Newman	Western Australia	Originally named Mount Newman until 1981.
1967	Exmouth	Western Australia
1968	Karratha	Western Australia
1969	Moranbah	Queensland
1970	Ravenswood	Western Australia
1971	Nhulunbuy	Northern Territory	^[29]
1972	Shay Gap	Western Australia	Former mining town. Closed in 1994.
1973	Dysart	Queensland
1980s	Joondalup	Western Australia
1981	Palmerston	Northern Territory
1982	Jabiru	Northern Territory
1987	Roxby Downs	South Australia

Notes

^ Colwell 2000, p. 13.
^ Rolfe 1969, p. 214.
^ "History and culture on Norfolk Island". www.norfolkonlinenews.com. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
^ "Pitt Town, NSW". Aussie Towns. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
^ "Liverpool timeline". Liverpool City Council. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
^ Colwell 2000, p. 36.
^ Colwell 2000, p. 9.
^ "Government Notice". The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal. 11 July 1835. p. 526. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
^ "Perth Surrounds". State Heritage Office. Government of Western Australia. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
^ "Ulladulla, NSW". Aussie Towns. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ "The Shire's European History at a Glance". Ballina Shire Council. January 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
^ "Petty Sessions". New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900). 22 December 1846. p. 1603. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
^ "Travel: Casino". Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney: Fairfax Media. 8 February 2004. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
^ "Travel: Bega". Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney: Fairfax Media. 26 June 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
^ Jennings, Jeff. "Scottsdale". The Companion to Tasmanian History. The University of Tasmania. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
^ "Mangalore". Victorian Places. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
^ "Bairnsdale, Victoria". Australian Places. Monash University. 1999. Archived from the original on 4 April 2004. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
^ Eussen 2007, p. 33.
^ "Nambucca Heads". Walkabout. Fairfax Digital. Archived from the original on 7 November 2006. Retrieved 21 November 2006.
^ "Indigenous History of the Coffs Harbour Region". Coffs Collection. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
^ "Origins of the name Bellingen". Bellingen and Urunga Museum. 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
^ "Barcaldine and Barcaldine Shire". Queensland Places. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
^ "A brief history of the village of Uranquinty". Uranquinty Progress Association. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ Ford 2001, p. 14.
^ "Ghost Towns of Western Australia". Australia for Everyone. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ "Maroochydore History". Sunshine Coast Australia. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
^ "Tin Can Bay". Queensland Places. Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland. 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
^ Chris Uris; Frank Olito. "13 of the largest abandoned cities and ghost towns around the world, and the eerie stories behind them". Business News Insider. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
^ "Welcome to Nhulunbuy". Nhulunbuy Corporation. Retrieved 18 November 2024.

References

Colwell, Dan (2000). Australia. This Way. Hunter Publishing. ISBN 9782884521444.
Eussen, Dick (2007). Australia's Savannah Way: Cairns to Broome. Australian Fishing Network. ISBN 9781865131115.
Ford, Lyall (2001). Poorhouse to Paradise: The Adventures of a Pioneering Family in a North Queensland Town. Freshwater, Queensland: Taipan Press. ISBN 0646332546.
Rolfe, Patricia (1969). The Sydney Guide Book. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. ISBN 9780207951534.