1 December - The first annual Hobart Regatta is held. Undated - Five nuns from the Religious Sisters of Charity in Ireland became the first women of religion to set foot on Australian soil. Arts and literature The Guardian: a tale published in Sydney by Anna Maria Bunn - the first Australian novel written by a woman Births 2 December - James Erskine, Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station 7 December - Thomas Bent, one of Australia's more colourful politicians, and Premier of Victoria, is born in Penrith, New South Wales. 15 December - John King, the sole survivor of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, is born at Moy in the county of Tyrone, Ireland. Bernhardt Holtermann George Thorn Barcroft Boake Thomas Naghten Fitzgerald John Henry Nicholson John James Clark John Horbury Hunt Deaths 20 August – Joshua Gregory, Western Australian settler (b. 1790) 1 December – Thomas Pamphlett, convict and castaway (b. 1788) John Harris Samuel Terry Solomon Wiseman George Tobin Robert Knopwood Samuel Marsden Aboriginals References Australia Years of the 19th century in Australia