1853 in Australia

Incumbents

This was a year of intense political agitation by miners on the Victorian goldfields.

8 January - Victoria Police formally established by Act of Parliament
22 January - University of Melbourne formally established by Act of Parliament
17 March - St Kilda Road robberies
1 August - The Bendigo Petition, 30 metres long with at least 23,000 signatures requesting reform of the license fee system that applied to miners on the gold fields, was sent to Governor La Trobe in Melbourne.
10 August - A Jubilee Festival was held in Hobart to mark the cessation of convict transportation to the colony.
15 August - the term Bunyip aristocracy was coined by Daniel Deniehy in a speech attacking the proposal by William Wentworth to create a system of hereditary peerage in Australia
3 October - Illawarra Steam Navigation Company incorporated
1 November - The first postage stamps of Tasmania are issued.
December - Victoria Police Gazette first published
Hardy Wine Company established

10 January - the Adelaide Philosophical Society founded, predecessor of the Royal Society of South Australia

23 September - occupancy of the present site of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was part of a 'police paddock', was given to the Melbourne Cricket Club by Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe. This followed the forced resumption of land from the then-15-year-old Club to build Australia's first steam train railway.