1789 in Australia

Leaders

• Monarch - George III
• Governor of New South Wales – Captain Arthur Phillip
• Governor of Norfolk Island – Philip Gidley King
• Commanding officer of the colony's marine presence – Major Robert Ross

  Events

• January – A convict uprising on Norfolk Island is easily crushed.
• April – An outbreak of smallpox at the Sydney Cove settlement kills many local Eora Aboriginals, including Arabanoo.
• 29 April – The Mutiny on the Bounty occurs; Captain William Bligh and 18 others are cast adrift.
• 4 June – The first Government House is completed.
• 4 June – Australia's first theatrical performance The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar staged with convicts acting in the roles.
• 12 June – Phillip leads an expedition to Broken Bay, and discovers the Hawkesbury River.
• 27 June – Captain Watkin Tench and party discover the Nepean River
• 5 October – The first ship built in the colony, Rose Hill Packet, begins service on the Parramatta River.
• 21 November – James Ruse, a convict, provisionally given land at Parramatta to establish Experiment Farm.
• 25 November – For the purposes of understanding Aboriginal culture, Phillip captures Bennelong and Colebec.
• December – First successful harvest at Parramatta

  Births

• 19 January - Madame Rens, New South Wales settler and merchant
• 16 March - Jared Davys, Administrator of Victoria
• 1 May - George Fife Angas, Businessman and politician
• 29 September - Benjamin Carvosso, first Wesleyan minister to preach in Australia
• November - Peter Miller Cunningham, naval surgeon and author
• 5 November - William Bland, Medical practitioner, surgeon and politician
• date unknown
• * John Bateman, Fremantle pioneer, merchant and whaler
• * Prosper de Mestre, merchant
• * Michael Fenton, first Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly
• * Thomas Gilbert, South Australian pioneer
• * Robert Menli Lyon, Aboriginal advocate

  Deaths

• 18 May – Arabanoo, cultural mediator between the British settlers and Eora Aboriginals
• December - George Austin, gardener on
• December - James Smith, gardener on