1885 in Australia

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1885
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Decades:

Incumbents

Governor of New South Wales – Lord Augustus Loftus (until 9 November), then Lord Carrington (from 12 December)
Governor of Queensland – Sir Anthony Musgrave
Governor of South Australia – Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson, GCMG
Governor of Tasmania – Major Sir George Strahan
Governor of Victoria – Sir Henry Loch

3 March – The New South Wales Contingent, consisting of an infantry battalion and an artillery battalion, leaves Sydney to fight in the Sudan Campaign.^[1]
28 March – HMQS Gayundah arrives in Brisbane.
1 April – The Cabinet of South Australia meets to discuss the "Russian scare"—the fear that South Australia would come under attack from Russian warships should hostilities between Russia and Britain over Afghanistan result in war.^[2]
10 August – BHP, later to become the world's largest mining company, is registered as a company in Victoria.
4–7 October – Third Intercolonial Trades Union Congress held in Sydney.
The Geographical Society of Australasia sent an expedition to the Fly River region of Papua New Guinea, naming and exploring the Strickland River.^[3]

Tom Roberts paintings:
- Winter morning after rain, Gardiner's Creek
- The Artists Camp

20 February – The Richmond Football Club is formed.
3 November – Sheet Anchor wins the Melbourne Cup.
17 October – Caulfield Cup when 16 of the 44 horses competing fell, resulting in the death of 25-year-old jockey Donald Nicolson.

8 January – John Curtin (died 1945), Australian Prime Minister
26 January – Michael Considine (died 1959), Australian politician
29 January – Arthur Halloway (died 1961), rugby league footballer and coach
20 March – Vernon Ransford (died 1958), cricketer
1 July – Dorothea Mackellar (died 1968), poet
12 August – Keith Murdoch (died 1952), journalist and newspaper publisher
15 August – Beaumont Smith (died 1950), film director and producer
18 August
- Bede Fanning (died 1970), public servant
- Nettie Palmer (died 1964), poet and literary critic (wife of Vance Palmer)
28 August – Vance Palmer (died 1959), novelist, essayist and critic (husband of Nettie Palmer)
22 September – Ben Chifley (died 1951), Australian Prime Minister
8 October - Oliver Woodward (died 1966), metallurgist, mine manager and soldier
10 October - William John Yuill (died 1960), agricultural writer, dairy industry leader and public servant^[5]
15 October – Frank Hurley (died 1962), photographer and adventurer
7 November – Frank Cheadle, rugby league footballer and World War I soldier (died 1916).

^ "Sudan (New South Wales Contingent) March–June 1885". Australian military history overview. Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
^ Painter, Alison. "1 April 1885 Russian scare". SA 175. Professional Historians Association (South Australia). Retrieved 2 March 2012.
^ "The Exploratory Expedition to New Guinea". Sydney Morning Herald. 27 July 1885. p. 4.
^ Lack, John. "McKay, Hugh Victor (1865 - 1926)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Archived from the original on 21 March 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
^ Lomas, L. "Yuill, William John (1885–1960)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 18 February 2012.

Years in Australia (1788–present)

18th century

19th century

20th century

21st century

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