development of the colony

  • Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane

    New South Wales Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane sends explorer John Oxley to find potential new penal sites.
  • Period: to

    Queensland 1800's

  • Moreton Bay Convict settlement- established at Redcliffe

  • German Missionaries-brought Christianity to the Aborigines in Brisbane

  • Moreton Bay- becomes a free settlement

  • Queensland’s first newspaper the Moreton bay Courier is published.

  • The Port Curtis settlement is established. In 1853 it becomes a permanent settlement and is renamed Gladstone.

  • Queensland- becomes a colony

  • Government House

    On 10 December, Queensland's first Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, and his wife Lady Diamantina, arrive in Brisbane. The proclamation establishing the Colony of Queensland is read to wild applause from the balcony of Government House (now the Deanery of St John's Cathedral).
    On 6 June, Queen Victoria signs the Letters Patent, approving Queensland becoming a separate colony to New South Wales, with its own representative government.
    Municipality of Brisbane is proclaimed and first Brisbane C
  • First telegraph line in Queensland is established.

  • Kenakas people arrive to work in the cane fields

  • Queensland’s first railway line opens

    Queensland’s first railway line opens
  • Free primary education

    Free primary education introduced in Queensland. The first in Australia
  • Queen Victoria gives the coat of arms to Queensland

    Queen Victoria gives the coat of arms to Queensland
  • Aboriginal rights

    Aboriginal rights- government passed an act to restrict the rights of Aboriginal people and allowed them to be sent to missions and gave the government rights to the guardianship of Aboriginal children.
  • A great Drought

    A great drought begins and lasts until 1903 (five years).
    Sleet and snow is recorded in George Street, Brisbane (23 July).
  • The Queensland Parliament passes

    The Queensland Parliament passes the Federation Enabling Act, paving the way for Queensland to join the proposed Federation of the Australian colonies.
    On 1 December, the world’s first Labor Government is sworn into the Queensland Parliament.
    Cyclone Mahina destroys a pearling fleet in Princess Charlotte Bay on Cape York and kills about 400 people.
    The first contingent of Queensland soldiers leaves for the Boer War in South Africa.