4 March – TheCastle Hill convict rebellion, also known as the Battle of Vinegar Hill, takes place: 200 convicts, mostly Irish, rebel. Fifty-one convicts are punished, and nine hanged.[1]
3 May – An Aboriginal food hunting party is attacked by settlers and soldiers atRisdon Cove. Eyewitness estimates of the death toll from the massacre vary from three or four to fifty.[2]
16 September – A government-ownedbrewery is opened atParramatta as a means of controlling the consumption ofspirits.[3]
4 November – In a letter toSir Joseph Banks,Matthew Flinders recommends that the newly discovered country,New Holland, be renamed "Australia" or "Terra Australis" (from the Latin "australis" meaning "of the south").[4]
24 March – The settlement at theHunter River, also known as the Coal River, is officially namedNewcastle.[6]
8 May – Lieutenant-Governor Collins establishes the settlement at Sullivan's Cove on theDerwent River.[7]
15 June – The name "Hobart Town", after the Colonial SecretaryLord Hobart, is adopted as the name for the new colony at Sullivan's Cove.[7]
5 November – Lieutenant-ColonelWilliam Paterson arrives atOuter Cove, leading theBuffalo, theLady Nelson and two schooners, under instructions from London to form a settlement in the north of Van Diemen's Land.[7]
