1873 in Australia

Incumbents

Governors

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 James Fergusson, 6th Baronet, then Anthony Musgrave
• Governor of Tasmania – Charles Du Cane
• Governor of Victoria – John Manners-Sutton, 3rd Viscount Canterbury, then George Bowen

Premiers

Premiers of the Australian colonies:

• Premier of New South Wales – Henry Parkes
• Premier of Queensland – Arthur Hunter Palmer
• Premier of South Australia – Henry Ayers, until 22 July then Arthur Blyth
• Premier of Tasmania – Frederick Innes, until 4 August then Alfred Kennerley
• Premier of Victoria – James Francis

Events

• 9 December – More than 1,000 striking gold miners attack police and Chinese workers brought in to Clunes, Victoria to break the strike.
• 30 December – Elizabeth Woolcock is hanged at the Adelaide Gaol, the only woman to be executed in South Australia.

Exploration and settlement

• 19 July – Surveyor William Gosse renames "Ayers Rock" after the Premier of South Australia Henry Ayers even though it has been known for thousands of years as Uluru.
• 3 September – The town of Cooktown, Queensland is founded after gold is discovered at the Palmer River, sparking a gold rush.

Births

• 28 January – Monty Noble, cricketer (d. 1840)
• 21 August – Fred Leist, artist (d. 1845)

Deaths

• 28 January – John Hart, 10th Premier of South Australia (b. 1809)
• 19 April – Hamilton Hume, explorer (b. 1797)
• 30 May – Thomas Gilbert, South Australian pioneer (b. 1789)
• 22 June – Terence Aubrey Murray, NSW politician (b. 1810)
• 12 November – David Lennox, bridge-builder (b. 1788)
• 11 December – John West, clergyman, writer and editor of The Sydney Morning Herald (b. 1809)
• 24 December – Madame Rens, New South Wales settler and merchant (b. 1789)