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In 1791, coal was discovered by an escaping convict, William Bryant.
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William Clarke discovered coal on the coast of New South Wales in 1797.
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The first coalmine was established near the mouth of the Hunter River.
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Governer King founded Newcastle in 1804 as a permanent settlement near the coalmine established in 1801.
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Between 1804 and 1808, Newcastle coal was used for producing salt by boiling seawater,
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In 1813, a steam engine was installed in John Dickson's flourmill in Sydney.
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Simeon Lord established a mill in Sydney in the year 1815.
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In 1831, the Sophia Jane arrived in Australia from England. While it was being outfitted for its maiden voyage, the Surprise, another steamboat, became the first steamship to sale in Australian waters.
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In 1832, another textile factory was established in Blaackwattle Bay, Sydney. It produced 'the finest was well as the coarsest cloths'.
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By 1840, there were 26 steam engines in flourmills and 10 in other industries.
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In 1848, the first foundry in Australia was established. It was not profitable, however, and was closed in 1877.
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In 1851, gold was discovered in New South Wales and Victoria
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The Australian gold rushes began in 1851 and persisted for almost 100 years, until the last gold rush occured in the 1930s.
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By 1856, steamships were operating between Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Moreton Bay. Adelaide and Tasmania.
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In 1855, a railway opened between Flinders Street in Melbourne and Port Melbourne, known as Sandridge at the time, on 12 September.
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On 12 April, 1856, the first steam-powered railway opened in South Australia, connecting Adelaide and Port Adelaide.
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In the year 1873, the Waverley Woollen Mill located in Distillery Creek, near Launceston, was established and won one thousand pounds offered by the Tasmanian government for the first woollen goods manufactured in Tasmania from locally produced wool.
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In 1885, the Broken Hill Propriety Company Lmited was established. This marked the first major iron and steel company in Australia.
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On the first of October, 1889, a 253 kilometre railway opened between Darwin and Pine Creek. (Complete with mandatory party hat for my birthdate.)
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BHP begins steelworks operation in Newcastle, NSW, on 2 June