1854 in Australia

Incumbents

Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Henry Young
• Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land – Sir William Denison
• Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria – Charles La Trobe, then Sir Charles Hotham
• Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony – Captain Charles Fitzgerald

  Events

• 3 March – The first telegraph line in the southern hemisphere begins operating in Victoria.
• 4 July – Anti-Chinese riots occur in Victoria.
• 5 July – The Mercury was first published in Hobart.
• 17 October – The Melbourne daily newspaper The Age was first published.
• 29 November – The Eureka Flag was flown for the first time during the Eureka Stockade rebellion in Ballarat.
• 3 December – battle suppressing the rebellion at Eureka Stockade

  Exploration and settlement

• 4 January – Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang discovers the McDonald Islands.
• 12 September – Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria Charles Hotham opens Flinders Street station, the first city railway station in Australia.

  Sport

• 30 September – The first game of cricket is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

  Births

• 24 March – Henry Lefroy, 11th Premier of Western Australia
• 12 April – William Maloney, politician
• 20 May – George Prendergast, 28th Premier of Victoria
• 25 June – Andrew Lang Petrie, politician
• 18 October – Billy Murdoch, cricketer
• December – Ned Kelly, bushranger
• 12 December – Edward Wittenoom, politician

  Deaths

• Early 1854 – Jackey Jackey
• 7 October – James Scobie, Scottish gold miner