1896 in Australia

• Monarch - Victoria

• Governor of New South Wales – Henry Brand, 2nd Viscount Hampden
• Governor of Queensland – Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington (from 9 April)
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Thomas Buxton, 3rd Baronet
• Governor of Tasmania – Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston
• Governor of Victoria – Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Gerard Smith

• Premier of New South Wales – George Reid
• Premier of Queensland – Hugh Nelson
• Premier of South Australia – Charles Kingston
• Premier of Tasmania – Edward Braddon
• Premier of Western Australia – John Forrest
• Premier of Victoria – George Turner

• 13 February - The Capsize of the ferry Pearl on the Brisbane River, killing 28

• 27 October Passengers Alighting from Ferry Brighton at Manly the first film shot and screened in Australia

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• While the Billy Boils, a collection of short stories, is published by Henry Lawson
• Augustus Juncker (1855–1942) publishes English duet edition of I was dreaming popularised in the French opera Ma mie Rosette{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238571319 |title=NEW MUSIC. |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |issue=5466 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 December 1896 |accessdate=23 April 2022 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}78rpm recording online at national film and sound archive Australia

• 7 to 11 April – Edwin Flack wins gold medals in the 800-metre and 1500 metre events, and bronze in the tennis doubles at the Games of the 1st Olympiad.{{cite web |url=http://www.nma.gov.au/online_features/defining_moments/featured/first-olympian |title=Australia’s first Olympian - April 1896: Edwin Flack becomes Australia’s first Olympian |website=www.nma.gov.au |publisher=National Museum of Australia |access-date=17 August 2017 |archive-date=14 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014171739/http://www.nma.gov.au/online_features/defining_moments/featured/first-olympian |url-status=dead }} He was the only Australian competitor at these games.
• 3 October – The Victorian Football League is formed, with competition beginning in 1897.
• 3 November – Newhaven wins the Melbourne Cup - the first horse-racing films produced in Australia.
• New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield

• 22 January – Norman Gilroy, first Australian-born Cardinal (died 1977)
• 8 February – Alfred Percival Bullen, circus proprietor (died 1974)
• 18 February – John Cramer, politician (died 1994)
• 5 July – Thomas Playford, Premier of South Australia (died 1981)
• 11 July – Evelyn Scotney, coloratura soprano (died 1967)
• 18 July – Jack Mullens, politician (died 1978)
• 3 August – Charles Adermann, politician (died 1979)
• 24 August – Edwin Corboy, politician (died 1950)
• 28 August – Arthur Calwell, politician (died 1973)
• 8 September – Marion Allnutt, welfare worker, commanding officer of the NGO, Women's Australian National Services (died 1980)
• 15 September – Norman Lethbridge Cowper, lawyer (died 1987)
• 29 September – Thomas James Bede Kenny, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient (died 1953)
• 3 October – Auvergne Doherty, businesswoman (died 1961]
• 21 October – Patrick Gordon Taylor, aviator (died 1966)
• 16 November – Joan Lindsay, author (Picnic at Hanging Rock) (died 1984)
• 27 November – Arthur Percy Sullivan, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient (died 1937)

• 27 April – Sir Henry Parkes (born 1815), politician
• 15 September – John Anderson Hartley (born 1844), educator
• 10 October – Ferdinand von Mueller (born 1825), botanist

• List of Australian films before 1910

{{reflist}}

{{Years in Australia}}

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Australia

Category:Years of the 19th century in Australia