1863 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1863 in Australia.

← 1862 1861 1860 1863 in Australia → 1864 1865 1866
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
See also:	Other events of 1863 Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

• Monarch - Victoria

Governors

Governors of the Australian colonies:

• Governor of New South Wales – John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar
• Governor of Queensland – Sir George Bowen
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Dominick Daly
• Governor of Tasmania – Colonel Thomas Browne
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Henry Barkly until 10 September, then Sir Charles Darling
• Governor of Western Australia – Dr John Hampton.

Premiers

Premiers of the Australian colonies:

• Premier of New South Wales – Charles Cowper until 15 October, then James Martin
• Premier of Queensland – Robert Herbert
• Premier of South Australia – George Waterhouse until 4 July, then Francis Dutton until 15 July, then Henry Ayers
• Premier of Tasmania – Thomas Chapman until 20 January, then James Whyte
• Premier of Victoria – John O'Shanassy until 27 June, then James McCulloch

Events

• 1 January – The Torrens title system is introduced in New South Wales with the commencement of the Real Property Act 1862.
• 7 February – The Sydney-based Royal Navy corvette HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of New Zealand claiming 189 lives.
• 21 February – James Cockle is appointed the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland.
• 14 March – Queen Victoria issues Letters Patent granting Goulburn, New South Wales city status, making it Australia's first inland city.
• 6 July – Queen Victoria issues Letters Patent annexing to South Australia the part of the colony of New South Wales that would later become the Northern Territory.
• 11 November – Elizabeth Scott is hanged for the murder of her husband, making her the first woman to be executed in Victoria.

Non-specific dates

• South Sea Islanders are brought into Queensland to work as indentured labourers in the colony's sugar industry.
• Over 2,400 volunteers are recruited to fight in the New Zealand Wars.

Exploration and settlement

• 17 January – Explorer John McKinlay returns home to Gawler, South Australia after an unsuccessful two-year search for the missing Burke and Wills expedition.
• 28 April – Brewarrina, New South Wales proclaimed a township.

Sport

• 3 November – Banker wins the Melbourne Cup, in the smallest field in Cup history of six horses.

Births

Anderson Dawson

• 26 January – Sir Charles Wade, 17th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1922)
• 26 March – George Philip Barber, Queensland politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1938)
• 28 April – Josiah Thomas, New South Wales politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1933)
• 20 June – James Fowler, Western Australian politician (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1940)
• 21 June – Bill Wilks, New South Wales politician (d. 1940)
• 14 July – Arthur Coningham, cricketer (d. 1939)
• 16 July – Anderson Dawson, 14th Premier of Queensland (d. 1910)
• 26 October
  • Sir Neville Howse, New South Wales politician, military officer and first Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross (born in the United Kingdom) (d. 1930)
  • John Henry Michell, mathematician (d. 1940)
• 29 November – Sir Adrian Knox, 2nd Chief Justice of Australia (d. 1932)
• Unknown – Francis McLean, New South Wales politician (d. 1926)

Deaths

• 5 February – John Wroe, evangelist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1782). Hannan Henry o William (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1721)
• 8 March – Samuel Stocks, businessman (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1786)
• 26 March – James Drummond, botanist and naturalist (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1786)
• 28 April – James Dickson, New South Wales politician (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1813)
• 5 July – Thomas Brown, Western Australian politician and explorer (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1803)
• 26 October – Gotthard Fritzsche, Lutheran pastor (born in the Electorate of Saxony) (b. 1797)