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Explorer John Oxley travels up the Brisbane River and camps at Breckfeast Creek, near present day Newstead House.
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The Moreton Bay convict settlment,establihedThe Moreton Bay convict settlement, established in Redcliffe in 1824, is transferred to the banks of the Brisbane River near the northern end of the Victoria Bridge.
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German missionaries establish the Zion Hill Mission (now Nundah) to bring Christianity to the Aborigines in Brisbane.
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The Moreton Bay district is officially opened to free settlement.
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Queensland's first newspaper, the Moreton Bay Courier is published. This later became The Courier, then the Brisbane Courier, and since 1933 The Courier-Mail.
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On 10 December, Queensland's first Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, and his wife Lady Diamantina, arrive in Brisbane. The proclamation establishing the Colony of Queensland is read to wild applause from the balcony of Government House (now the Deanery of St John's Cathedral).
On 6 June, Queen Victoria signs the Letters Patent, approving Queensland becoming a separate colony to New South Wales, with its own representative government.
Municipality of Brisbane is proclaimed and first Brisbane C -
In April, the first telegraph line in Queensland is established, revolutionising communication in the colony. The first line linked Brisbane to Ipswich and later extended to Sydney.
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The Kanakas (Melanesian people from South Pacific) arrive in Queensland to work in Queensland's cane fields (until 1904).
Ipswich Grammar School is established as Queensland’s first grammar school following the Grammar Schools Act 1860 -
Queensland's first rail line opens between Ipswich and Grandchester.
Cobb & Co. opens its first Queensland coach route between Brisbane and Ipswich. The first run starts on 1 January 1866. -
The Education Act 1875 establishes the basis for Queensland’s system of free primary secular education.
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Queen Victoria grants the Queensland Coat of Arms, the oldest State Arms in Australia, to the Colony of Queensland.
South East Queensland is affected by three cyclones in February resulting in severe floods. -
The Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act is passed. The legislation includes extensive clauses that restrict the rights of Aboriginal people, including controlling their finances. Other sections of the Act permit the Queensland Government to deport Aboriginal people to missions and reserves where they could be forcibly incarcerated. The Act also gave the government the right to exercise guardianship over all Indigenous children in the colony