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| 1847 |
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| By order in council the great pastoralists who had occupied land on grazing licenses were transformed into leaseholders, thus securing fixity of tenure. The measure acted favorably on the sheep industry, but accentuated the conflict between pastoralists and small farmers. | 1 |
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| 1848 |
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| The British government resumed transportation of convicts on the new Pentonville (conditional pardon) system. Convicts who had proved their good behavior for a couple of years in England were transported to Australia and set free on condition that they should not return to England until their sentence was completed. This caused a storm of protest in New South Wales, but 3,340 convicts were transported there before the system was terminated in 1850. | 2 |
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| 1850–55 |
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| Construction of the first railway (Sydney to Goulburn). Railways were built and run by the state. | 3 |
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| 1850 |
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| Convicts were for the first time sent to Western Australia, in response to a request from the settlers, who were desperately in need of laborers. | 4 |
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| 1850, Aug |
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| The AUSTRALIAN COLONIES GOVERNMENT ACT was passed by the British Parliament. The colonies were given the right to constitute their own legislatures, fix the franchise, alter their constitutions, determine their own tariffs, all subject to royal confirmation. Thus the Australian states, in conformity with the new colonial policy of the British government after 1837, were given self-government. A committee headed by William Wentworth worked out a constitution of New South Wales, which received royal assent in July 1855. It provided for a legislative council appointed for life and a legislative assembly elected on a restricted franchise, together with cabinet government on the British model. At the same time the other states (excepting Western Australia) adopted similar constitutions, though for the most part they provided for an elective upper house. | 5 |
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| 1850, Jan. 1 |
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| New South Wales issued Australia's first adhesive postage stamps (Victoria, Jan. 3). | 6 |
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| 1851, Feb. 12 |
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| DISCOVERY OF GOLD in Lewis Ponds Creek, New South Wales. Gold rush began in April, with notable finds at Ballarat (Aug.) and Bendigo (Dec.), in Victoria. Isolated finds had been made ever since 1839, but the government had discouraged the search for fear of the diversion of labor from grazing. From the Victorian fields about £80 million worth of gold was officially taken in the first decade: they were the richest alluvial fields ever found. Tremendous influx of workers and adventurers poured in from all over the world. The population of Victoria rose from 77,000 in 1851 to 333,000 in 1855. Recrudescence of bushranging occurred. The government made efforts to secure some part of the new wealth in the form of mining licenses. Growing discontent on the goldfields culminated in Nov.–Dec. 1854 in open rebellion, led by German and Irish revolutionaries, who proclaimed the Republic of Victoria. The insurrection was put down by government troops without much trouble when they stormed the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat (Dec. 3). | 7 |
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| July 1 |
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| Port Phillip was separated from New South Wales and became the colony of Victoria. | 8 |
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