1890 in Australia

• Premier of New South Wales – Henry Parkes
• Premier of South Australia – John Cockburn until 19 August, then Thomas Playford II
• Premier of Queensland – Boyd Dunlop Morehead until 12 August, then Samuel Griffith
• Premier of Tasmania – Philip Fysh
• Premier of Western Australia – established from 29 December, John Forrest
• Premier of Victoria – Duncan Gillies until 5 November, then James Munro

• Governor of New South Wales – Victor Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey
• Governor of Queensland – Henry Wylie Norman
• Governor of South Australia – Algernon Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore
• Governor of Tasmania – Robert Hamilton
• Governor of Victoria – John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow
• Governor of Western Australia – William C. F. Robinson

• 1 January – The University of Tasmania opens
• 28 February – The steamship RMS Quetta sinks off Cape York Peninsula, killing 133
• 2 October – Fire destroys buildings between Castlereagh, Moore and Pitt Streets valued at £750,000 sterling{{Cite web|title=Plan showing area damaged in the great fire of October 1890 {{!}} The Dictionary of Sydney|url=https://dictionaryofsydney.org/media/67378|access-date=2021-08-03|website=dictionaryofsydney.org}}{{cite news|date=11 October 1890|title=The Great Fire in Sydney|volume=L|page=811|newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser|issue=1579|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163650287|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=3 August 2021}}
• 29 December – Sir John Forrest becomes the Premier of Western Australia and the first Premier in Australia.

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• 26 April – Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River is published.
• May – Tom Roberts' Shearing the Rams is first exhibited
• Verse by Adam Lindsay Gordon (1830-1870) set to music by Australian musician Theodore Tourrier (1846-1929) {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201469041 |title=METROPOLITAN GOSSIP. |newspaper=Ovens and Murray Advertiser |issue=8261 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 January 1904 |accessdate=8 May 2022 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}

• 31 May – The first Australian Championships in Athletics are held under the name Inter Colonial Meet. The men's competition is staged at the Moore Park in Sydney.
• November – Carbine wins the Melbourne Cup

• 2 March – Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey, Governor of South Australia 1939–1944 (died 1969)
• 9 March - Rupert Balfe, Australian rules footballer and soldier (died 1915)
• 10 March – Albert Ogilvie, Premier of Tasmania (died 1939)
• 19 April – Edgar Towner, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (died 1972)
• 10 July – Leo Rush, Australian rules footballer (died 1983)
• 18 July – Frank Forde, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1983)
• 26 August – Tommy Andrews, cricketer (died 1970)
• 29 August – Richard Gardiner Casey, Governor General of Australia (died 1976)
• 9 September – Hilda Abbott, Red Cross leader and wife of the administrator of the Northern Territory (died 1984)
• 10 September – Robert Heffron, Premier of New South Wales (died 1978)
• 31 December – Daryl Lindsay, artist (died 1976)

• 9 November - James Boag I, brewer (born 1822)

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{{Years in Australia}}

{{Oceania topic|1890 in|countries_only=yes}}

Category:Years of the 19th century in Australia