1857 in Australia

Incumbents

Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir William Denison
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Richard MacDonnell
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Henry Young
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Henry Barkly
• Governor of Western Australia as a Crown Colony – Sir Arthur Kennedy

  Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – Henry Parker to 7 September then Charles Cowper
• Premier of South Australia – Boyle Travers Finniss, John Baker, Robert Torrens, Richard Hanson
• Premier of Tasmania – William Champ, Thomas Gregson, William Weston, Francis Smith
• Premier of Victoria – Dr William Haines, John O'Shanassy

  Events

• 13 May – St Kilda railway station, Melbourne is opened.
• 4 July – Anti-Chinese riots occur in Victoria.
• 25 July – Matthew Blagden Hale is consecrated as the first Bishop of Perth in a ceremony at the Lambeth Palace Chapel.
• 20 August – The Dunbar is wrecked at the entrance to Sydney Harbour, killing 121 passengers.
• In Victoria, Australia, one adult male in 7 is Chinese.

  Births

• 26 February – Alfred Waldron, Australian rules footballer
• 21 March – Alice Henry, suffragist and trade unionist
• 25 March – Francis Clarke, politician
• 3 May – Robert Hutchinson, WA politician
• 9 May – Sidney Kidman, pastoralist
• 31 May – William Story, politician
• 13 June – Hubert Newman Wigmore Church, poet
• 14 June – Adolphus Taylor, journalist and NSW politician
• 25 June – Louis Gabriel, photographer
• 1 August – John Harry, Test cricketer
• 7 September – John McIlwraith, Test cricketer
• 19 September – John Livingston, politician
• 14 October – Allan McDougall, Senator for New South Wales
• 12 November – Samuel Mauger, politician
• 2 December – Thomas Lavelle, politician
• 5 December – Cyril Cameron, Senator for Tasmania
• 21 December – Joseph Carruthers, Premier of New South Wales
• Arthur Green

  Deaths

• 10 May – John Busby, surveyor and civil engineer
• 10 August – Frank McCallum, bushranger
• 29 August – Archibald Clunes Innes, soldier and pastoralist