Leaders

• Governor of New South Wales - John Hunter
• Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island - Philip Gidley King
• Inspector of Public Works - Richard Atkins

Events

• 2 January - George Bass sights Wilsons Promontory
• 26 January - The koala and lyrebird observed by John Price on an expedition led by John Wilson
• 12 February - Matthew Flinders explores the Furneaux Islands
• 25 February - John Hunter names Bass Strait in honour of George Bass
• 29 April - There is a mutiny aboard HMS Bounty, William Bligh and crew members loyal to him are cast adrift.
• 14 May - HMS Nautilus arrives in Sydney, carrying missionaries from the London Missionary Society
• 1 October - Sydney's first church St Philip's is destroyed by fire
• 7 October - George Bass and Matthew Flinders leave Sydney to explore Van Diemen's Land on the Norfolk
• 7 October - St Philip's Church founded in Sydney, completed in 1809
• 8 November - Nauru discovered by John Fearn
• 9 December - Bass and Flinders confirm the existence of the Bass Strait
• 22 December - Norfolk enters the Derwent River
• 25 December - George Bass climbs Mount Wellington

References