North Australia: Polity Style: 1847

9 Nov 1846	part of the Colony of New South Wales is separated and erected into a separate colony to be called the Colony of North Australia on 9 Nov 1846, the date of issuance of a proclamation in Sydney, publishing letters patent (charter) issued by command of the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 17 Feb 1846 under an act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom (House of Commons on 1 Jul 1842, House of Lords on 25 Jul 1842 with amendments, House of Commons agreed to amendments on 26 Jul 1842, received royal assent on 30 Jul 1842) (TNA CO 380/105, f 269-280; New South Wales Government Gazette, No. 95, 13 Nov 1846, p. 1422; UK Statutes, 1842, pp. 709-725) [1]
11 Dec 1846	the letters patent, erecting North Australia into a separate colony, and a commission, appointing the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of North Australia, are revoked in accordance with an instrument issued by command of the Queen of the United Kingdom on 11 Dec 1846 (TNA CO 380/105, f 418-421)
30 Jan 1847	the establishment of the Colony of North Australia is proclaimed by Lieutenant Governor of North Australia at a public ceremony held on Facing Island (now in the Gladstone Region, Queensland) (Sydney Morning Herald, No. 3090, 14 Apr 1847, p. 2) [2]
30 Jan 1847 - 15 Apr 1847	Colony of North Australia
15 Apr 1847	a dispatch from the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies of the United Kingdom directing the abandonment of the colony is delivered to the settlement at Port Curtis (Sydney Morning Herald, No. 3108, 5 May 1847, p. 2; Australia Historical Records, Series 1, 25:262-263)

Full title: An Act for the Government of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.
A party of settlers, together with military personnel and convicts, was dispatched from Sydney to establish a settlement at Port Curtis as part of the proposed colonization of North Australia. Unaware of the revocation of the letters patent authorizing the colony, the expedition landed on Facing Island, off the southern entrance to Port Curtis. The projected colony was intended to comprise that portion of the Colony of New South Wales corresponding to the present Northern Territory of Australia and the area of what is now the state of Queensland lying north of the 26th parallel. Only a temporary settlement was established at Port Curtis before instructions to abandon the colonization reached the expedition.