1874 in Australia

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← 1873 1872 1871 1874 in Australia → 1875 1876 1877
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	Other events of 1874 Timeline of Australian history

The following lists events that happened during 1874 in Australia.

Governors of the Australian colonies:

• Governor of New South Wales – Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead
• Governor of Queensland – George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Anthony Musgrave
• Governor of Tasmania – Charles Du Cane
• Governor of Victoria – Sir George Bowen
• Governor of Western Australia – The Hon. Sir Frederick Weld GCMG.

Premiers of the Australian colonies:

• Premier of New South Wales – Sir Henry Parkes
• Premier of Queensland – Arthur Hunter Palmer until 7 January, then Arthur Macalister
• Premier of South Australia – John Hart until 10 November, then Arthur Blyth
• Premier of Tasmania – Alfred Kennerley
• Premier of Victoria – Charles Gavan Duffy until 31 July, then George Kerferd

• 8 January – Arthur Macalister becomes Premier of Queensland for the third time.
• 10 March – Ernest Giles is the first European to explore and later names (12 March) the Petermann Ranges.
• 1 April – John Forrest leads an expedition from Geraldton, Western Australia across the Gibson Desert to the Peake telegraph station in South Australia.
• 15 June – Brisbane's first Victoria Bridge opens; it is lost in the 1893 Brisbane flood.
• 31 July – George Kerferd becomes Premier of Victoria.
• 28 September – Victorian Humane Society established; it later becomes the Royal Humane Society of Australasia.
• 6 November – University of Adelaide established by act of the South Australian Parliament; it opened in 1876.

• Marcus Clarke's For the Term of his Natural Life is published in book form

• Southern Rugby Union is established; renamed New South Wales Rugby Union in 1892
• Haricot wins the Melbourne Cup

• 2 March – Gregan McMahon, actor and theatre director (d. 1941)
• 3 March – Ada Crossley, singer (d. 1929
• 17 September – Walter Murdoch, essayist (d. 1970)
• 17 October – Sir Lionel Lindsay, painter (d. 1961)

• 1 February – Alexander Harris, soldier, teacher and author (b. 1805)
• 6 April – Michael Fenton, first Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly (b. 1789)
• 17 May – Sir Roger Therry, jurist (b. 1800)
• date unknown
  • Robert Menli Lyon, Aboriginal advocate (b. 1789)

• Barker, Anthony (1996). What Happened When. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86373-986-3.