1890 in Australia

Decades:	1870s; 1880s; 1890s; 1900s; 1910s;
See also:	Other events of 1890; Timeline of Australian history;

The following lists events that happened during 1890 in Australia.

Incumbents

1 January – The University of Tasmania opens
28 February – The steamship RMS Quetta sinks off Cape York Peninsula, killing 133
2 October – Fire destroys buildings between Castlereagh, Moore and Pitt Streets valued at £750,000 sterling^[1]^[2]
29 December – Sir John Forrest becomes the Premier of Western Australia and the first Premier in Australia.

26 April – Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River is published.
May – Tom Roberts' Shearing the Rams is first exhibited
Verse by Adam Lindsay Gordon (1830-1870) set to music by Australian musician Theodore Tourrier (1846-1929) ^[3]

31 May – The first Australian Championships in Athletics are held under the name Inter Colonial Meet. The men's competition is staged at the Moore Park in Sydney.
November – Carbine wins the Melbourne Cup

2 March – Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey, Governor of South Australia 1939–1944 (died 1969)
9 March - Rupert Balfe, Australian rules footballer and soldier (died 1915)
10 March – Albert Ogilvie, Premier of Tasmania (died 1939)
10 July – Leo Rush, Australian rules footballer (died 1983)
18 July – Frank Forde, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1983)
29 August – Richard Gardiner Casey, Governor General of Australia (died 1976)
9 September – Hilda Abbott, Red Cross leader and wife of the administrator of the Northern Territory (died 1984)
10 September – Robert Heffron, Premier of New South Wales (died 1978)
31 December – Daryl Lindsay, artist (died 1976)

^ "Plan showing area damaged in the great fire of October 1890 | The Dictionary of Sydney". dictionaryofsydney.org. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
^ "The Great Fire in Sydney". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. L, no. 1579. New South Wales, Australia. 11 October 1890. p. 811. Retrieved 3 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "METROPOLITAN GOSSIP". Ovens and Murray Advertiser. No. 8261. Victoria, Australia. 16 January 1904. p. 12. Retrieved 8 May 2022 – via National Library of Australia.

Years in Australia (1788–present)

v t e 1890 in Oceania
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Associated states of New Zealand	Cook Islands Niue