Portal:Australia/Anniversaries/January/January 1

1838 – John Pascoe Fawkner founds the Melbourne Advertiser, the first newspaper to be established in what is now Victoria.
1856 – Van Diemen's Land is granted self-government, with the name of the island and colony officially changed to Tasmania.
1901 – The Australian colonies are officially federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia, with John Adrian Louis Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun (pictured) appointed as the first Governor-General of Australia.
1915 – Six people are shot and killed and another seven wounded in an attack at a picnic near Broken Hill, New South Wales.
1983 – The Closer Economic Relations free trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand comes into force.
2005 – The Australia–United States Free Trade Agreement, a preferential trade agreement between Australia and the United States, comes into force.