1797 in Australia

Leaders

June 26 - The HMS Reliance arrives in Sydney from the Cape of Good Hope, carrying stores ordered by Governor Hunter and merino sheep imported by John Macarthur.
July 3 - Following Aboriginal attacks on farms in the Hawkesbury region, Hunter dispatches a party of soldiers from the New South Wales Corps to protect settlers there.
September - Coal is discovered in the estuary of the Hunter River by John Shortland and party.
September 19 - John Shortland is the first European to enter the port of Newcastle. On the 9th he discovered the Hunter River estuary and coal.
December 3 - George Bass sets out from Sydney in a whaleboat with six oarsmen to explore south along the coast. He discovers the Kiama Blowhole (December 6) and the Shoalhaven River (December 7), he also visits Jervis Bay, and named Twofold Bay on December 19, Wilson's Promontory (January 2, 1798) and Western Port (January 5). He returns to Sydney two months later, having greatly increased the settlers' knowledge of the geography of Australia.