1878 in Australia

[edit] Incumbents

8 January - 300 senior public servants sacked in Victoria by the Government of Graham Berry on the grounds that as the Appropriation bill had not been passed in the Victorian Legislative Council, they could not be paid.
May 20 - 1000 unemployed men march up Collins Street, Melbourne demanding relief work. premier Berry agrees to construct sanitation works and thus employ 200 men.
June 1 - The clipper ship Loch Ard wrecked at Mutton Bird Island just off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria; 45 die, only 2 lives saved.
9 December - Ned Kelly and his gang lock 22 people in a storehouse on a sheep station near Euroa, Victoria. The next day they rob Euroa's bank.

18 January - construction of The Ghan railway line starts in Port Augusta, South Australia
3 September - the Main Southern railway line, New South Wales reached Wagga Wagga, New South Wales in an attempt to lure Riverina trade away from Victoria.
European discovery of the Great Artesian Basin when a shallow bore near Bourke, New South Wales produced flowing water.
Walcha, New South Wales proclaimed a town.
The Brisbane suburb of Alderley, Queensland gained a post office.
District of Kingaroy, Queensland settled.
The railway system reached Morgan, South Australia which was proclaimed a town in the same year.
Quorn, South Australia surveyed and declared a town.
Charter of Snowtown, South Australia proclaimed.

January 8 - The telephone is used for the first time in Australia in Melbourne.
The Sydney Mechanics Institute, founded in 1843, becomes the Sydney Technical College
At Burnie, Tasmania, the Van Diemen's Land Company construct a 75 kilometre wooden, horse-drawn, tramway to serve Mount Bischoff, at the time the richest tin mine in the world.

30 November - Advance Australia Fair first sung publicly at the Highland Society of NSW's annual Scottish concert in the Protestant Hall, Sydney.

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