1878 in Australia in Encyclopedia

8 January Three hundred senior public servants are sacked in Victoria by the government of Graham Berry, on the grounds that as the appropriation bill had not been passed in the Victorian Legislative Council, they could not be paid.
20 May One thousand unemployed men march up Collins Street, Melbourne, demanding relief work. Premier Berry agrees to construct sanitation works and thus employ two hundred men.
1 June The clipper ship Loch Ard is wrecked at Mutton Bird Island, just off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria; 45 die, only two lives are saved.
9 December Ned Kelly and his gang lock 22 people in a storehouse on a sheep station near Euroa, Victoria. The next day they rob Euroa's bank.

Exploration and settlement

18 January construction of The Ghan railway line starts in Port Augusta, South Australia
3 September the Main Southern railway line, New South Wales reached Wagga Wagga, New South Wales in an attempt to lure Riverina trade away from Victoria.
European discovery of the Great Artesian Basin when a shallow bore near Bourke, New South Wales produced flowing water.
Walcha, New South Wales proclaimed a town.
The Brisbane suburb of Alderley, Queensland gained a post office.
District of Kingaroy, Queensland settled.
The railway system reached Morgan, South Australia which was proclaimed a town in the same year.
Quorn, South Australia surveyed and declared a town.
Charter of Snowtown, South Australia proclaimed.

8 January The telephone is used for the first time in Australia in Melbourne.
The Sydney Mechanics' Institute, founded in 1843, becomes the Sydney Technical College
At Burnie, Tasmania, the Van Diemen's Land Company construct a 75 km wooden, horse-drawn, tramway to serve Mount Bischoff, at the time the richest tin mine in the world.

30 November Advance Australia Fair first sung publicly at the Highland Society of NSW's annual Scottish concert in the Protestant Hall, Sydney.