List of earthquakes in Australia

This is a list of significant earthquakes recorded in Australia and its territories. The currency used is the Australian dollar (A$) unless noted otherwise.

List of earthquakes
StateLocationDateMTypeMMIDeathsInjuriesTotal damage / notes
Offshore Cape Schanck 1855-09-17 5.5 Minor damage in Melbourne and surroundings.
New South Wales Newcastle 1868-06-18 5.3 Damage in Hunter Street and the Newcastle suburbs of The Hill and Wallsend (then known as Pitt Town). [1]
Queensland Gayndah 1883-08-28 5.9 Caused major damage in the Gayndah region. [2]
Victoria Cape Liptrap 1885-07-02 5.7 Tied with the 1922 and 1965 events as Victoria's largest earthquake. Felt throughout Victoria, including Melbourne and Geelong. Minor damage around epicentre.
New South Wales/ACT Yass 1886-11-15 5.5 Damage caused in Yass, felt strongly in Queanbeyan. [3]
South Australia Beachport – Robe 1897-05-10 6.5 UK IX 50 NGDC[4]
South Australia Warooka 1902-09-19 6.0 2 Significant damage to the township of Warooka [5]
Victoria Warrnambool 1903-07-14 5.3 Extensive minor damage in Warrnambool
Victoria Alpine National Park 1904-04-10 5.0 Felt throughout North East Victoria and Southern New South Wales, but not in Melbourne.
New South Wales Newcastle 1906-05-16 UK Damage in the suburb of The Hill. Ruptured water mains. Caused some cliff erosion [6][7]
New South Wales Taree – Newcastle 1916-06-11 UK Damage to the Seal Rocks lighthouse. Caused alarm along the Mid-North Coast. [8]
Queensland Bundaberg – Rockhampton 1918-06-07 6.0 Offshore. Caused "serious damage" to Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Gladstone. [9]
Victoria Offshore Ocean Grove 1922-04-10 5.7 Chimney collapse in Glen Iris. Objects thrown from shelves in Cranbourne, East Malvern, Pakenham and Portalington. Felt as far north as Ivanhoe, as far west as Warnambool and as far south as Burnie, Tasmania. A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck a few kilometres east of this earthquake back on the morning of 1 March 1922, which was felt throughout Melbourne, knocking picture frames off a wall in Cowes.
New South Wales Newcastle 1925-12-18 5.3 Damage and panic in Hunter Street (particularly at the Theatre Royal). [10]
Tasmania North East Tasmania 1929-12-29 5.6 Significant damage in Launceston, Tasmania; felt across Western Tasmania from Burnie to Hobart. [11][12]
Victoria Mornington 1932-09-03 4.5 Felt widely in Melbourne, Geelong, Mornington Peninsula, Westernport Bay and Gippsland. Minor damage. Largest earthquake along the infamous Selwyn Fault since the 5.5 magnitude quake of 1855, which occurred a few kilometres offshore of Cape Schanck.
New South Wales Gunning 1934-11-15 5.6 Damaged a majority of the buildings in Gunning. Felt strongly in Canberra. [3]
Queensland Gayndah 1935-04-12 5.4 Caused considerable damage to the town of Gayndah. One fatality.[13] [14]
Western Australia Meeberrie 1941-04-29 7.2 Severe shaking, burst water tanks and cracked ground at Meeberrie homestead. Minor damage reported in Perth, 500 kilometres (311 mi) away. Strongest onshore earthquake recorded in Australia. [15]
Victoria / Tasmania Bass Strait 1946-09-15 6.2 Minor damage reported in Tasmania from Burnie to Huonville, and in Gippsland, Victoria. Offshore earthquake [16][17][18]
New South Wales Dalton and Gunning 1949-03-10 5.5 Significant damage in Dalton and Gunning; minor cracks in some buildings in Canberra. Felt from Sydney in the north to Narooma and Cooma in the south. [3][19]
South Australia Adelaide 1954-03-01 5.5 VIII Damage totaling $90 million. Widespread minor damage. Considerable damage to many buildings. [20]
Western Australia Gabalong 1955-08-30 5.8 Felt in Perth. Epicentre near Gabalong, about 30 km east of Moora and 200 km NNE of Perth [21][22]
Victoria Cape Otway 1960-12-25 5.3 No major damage reported.
New South Wales Robertson and Bowral 1961-05-21 5.5 ML $3.4 million
Victoria Mt Hotham 1966-05-04 5.5 Broken Windows at Mt Hotham Ski Village. Felt across North-eastern Victoria, Gippsland and South-eastern New South Wales. Not felt in Melbourne.
Western Australia Meckering 1968-10-14 6.5 Mw IX 20–28 $2.2 million
Victoria Boolarra, Victoria 1969-06-20 5.3 5.0 aftershock two days later. Cracked walls and stacked chimneys in and around epicentral area. Felt in central and eastern Victoria including Geelong, Benalla and Orbost and on Flinders Island. [23]
Western Australia Canning Basin 1970-03-24 6.7 Little damage due to the remoteness of the area. Part of a sequence of c. 25 quakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater in the Canning Basin area of northern Western Australia between 1970 and 1982. [24]
Victoria Western Port 1971-07-07 5.0 Minor damage in Cowes, Flinders and Shoreham. Felt throughout Melbourne, Western Port Bay and Gippsland.
Western Australia Canning Basin 1971-07-16 6.4 Part of a sequence of c. 25 quakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater in the Canning Basin area of northern Western Australia between 1970 and 1982 [24]
New South Wales Picton 1973-03-09 5.6 Damage totaling $2.8 million. Minor damage in Picton, Bowral and Wollongong [25]
Western Australia Canning Basin 1975-10-03 6.2 Part of a sequence of c. 25 quakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater in the Canning Basin area of northern Western Australia between 1970 and 1982 [24]
Victoria Balliang 1977-12-02 4.7 1 Felt strongly in Geelong and across the suburbs of Melbourne, caused minor damage in the Anakie area. [26]
Western Australia Cadoux 1979-06-02 6.1 25 buildings in Cadoux were damaged. Damage cost $3.8 million. Perth, 180 kilometres (112 mi) away experienced some swaying of tall buildings but no damage was reported. This was one of the largest onshore earthquakes recorded in Australia. [27]
Victoria Wonnangatta, Victoria 1982-11-21 5.4 The epicentre was in the remote Wonnangatta Valley, along the Wonnangatta Fault; it was mostly felt widely in Eastern Victoria and South Eastern New South Wales and throughout Melbourne and its South Eastern suburbs but not in Geelong. [28]
Northern Territory Marryat Creek 1986-10-30 5.9 Damage was minor, cracked walls observed in DeRose Hill and Victory Downs stations. Felt in Alice Springs 300 kilometres (186 mi) to the north, and Coober Pedy 350 kilometres (217 mi) to the south. [29]
Northern Territory Tennant Creek 1988-01-22 6.7, 6.4, 6.3 Two buildings and 3 other structures damaged, damage caused to natural gas pipeline. Total damage $2.5 million. Three earthquakes of between 6.3 and 6.7 on the Richter scale. Remarkably caused little damage, despite the intensity of the quake. Felt in high-rise buildings as far away as Perth and Adelaide [30][31]
Northern Territory Uluru 1989-05-28 5.7 Minor damage was reported at Yulara resort [32]
New South Wales Newcastle, New South Wales 1989-12-28 5.6 ML VIII 13 160 $4 billion in damage
New South Wales Ellalong 1994-08-06 5.4 2 1,000 homes and 50 other buildings damaged. Total damage $36 million. [33]
Victoria Mount Baw Baw 1996-09-25 5.0 Thomson Dam region. No major damage [34]
South Australia Burra 1997-03-05 5.0 No major damage. Felt over a wide area.
Western Australia Collier Bay 1997-08-10 6.3 Mw No major damage. Felt from Broome to Halls Creek and Kununurra. Strongest earthquake recorded in Australia since the 1988 Tennant Creek earthquake.
New South Wales Appin, New South Wales, southwest of Sydney 1999-03-17 4.8 65 kilometres (40 mi) southwest of Sydney. Depth only 3.2 km. Felt in Sydney and caused 1000 homes to lose power. [35]
Victoria Boolarra, Victoria 2000-08-29 5.0 Caused minor damage. Felt strongly throughout Gippsland and South Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne.
Victoria Swan Hill, Victoria 2001-10-27 4.8 Felt in Swan Hill near VIC–NSW border, Minor damage including fallen chimneys and fallen shelve items. Power disruptions.
Western Australia Kalgoorlie-Boulder 2010-04-20 5.2 Mw V 2 Buildings damaged
Victoria Gippsland 2012-06-19 5.4 ML V Minor [36]
Queensland Coral Sea 2015-07-30 5.5 Mw V Slight building damage [37]
The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described are also applicable to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded. Mw = moment magnitude scale | Ms = surface wave magnitude | UK = Unknown

Other earthquakes
  • Broome, 16 August 1929, magnitude 6.6, offshore earthquake to the north-west of Broome, Western Australia.
  • Simpson Desert, 21 December 1937, magnitude 6.0, in a remote location of the Simpson Desert in the Northern Territory, south-east of Alice Springs.
  • Simpson Desert, 27 June 1941, magnitude 6.5, in a remote location of the Simpson Desert in the Northern Territory, south-east of Alice Springs.

See also

References
  1. "NEWCASTLE". Trove. The Maitland Mercury. 23 June 1868. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  2. "Gayndah, Qld: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  3. Marion Leiba (December 2007). "Earthquakes in the Canberra Region" (PDF). Geoscience Australia. p. 22. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  4. Hoy, Tiffany (10 July 2012), Australia's worst earthquakes, Australian Geographic, archived from the original on 27 January 2013, retrieved 18 February 2013
  5. "Warooka, SA: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  6. ""EARTHQUAKE" AT NEWCASTLE". Trove. The Border Morning Mail and Riverina Times. 17 May 1906. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  7. "A "CREEP" AT NEWCASTLE". Trove. The West Australian. 16 May 1906. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  8. "Shock of Earthquake". Trove. The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer. 14 June 1916. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  9. "Bundaberg – Rockhampton, Qld: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  10. "Boolaroo (Hunter region) NSW: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  11. http://www.aees.org.au/Articles/McCue_TAS_EQs.pdf
  12. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51638653?
  13. 20 August 2011. Seismicity in Australia. University of Western Australia. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  14. "Gayndah, Qld: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  15. "Meeberrie Earthquake" (PDF). Geoscience Australia. 22 June 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  16. "Bass Strait Earthquake".
  17. "Unknown". Cite uses generic title (help)
  18. "Launceston, Tas: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  19. "Dalton and Gunning, NSW: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  20. C. Kerr-Grant (10 November 1955). "The Adelaide Earthquake of 1st March 1954" (PDF). South Australian Museum. Retrieved 4 April 2009.;
    "Adelaide, SA: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  21. Gabalong WA: Earthquake details. Geoscience Australia. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  22. "Seismicity of Western Australia – Large earthquakes of Western Australia". Seismicity.see.uwa.edu.au. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  23. "Earthquakes @ GA — Earthquake Details". Ga.gov.au. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  24. "Canning Basin, Western Australia". Archived from the original on 19 July 2008.
  25. "Picton, NSW: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  26. "Balliang, Vic, ML 4.7". Archived from the original on 13 September 2009.
  27. "The Cadoux Earthquake, 2 June 1979". Seismicity of Western Australia. University of Western Australia. 28 March 2004. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  28. "Earthquakes @ GA — Earthquake Details". Ga.gov.au. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  29. "Marryat Creek, SA, ML 5.9". Archived from the original on 13 September 2009.
  30. Bowman, J.R. (November 1992). "The 1988 Tennant Creek, northern territory, earthquakes: A synthesis". Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 39 (5): 651–669. doi:10.1080/08120099208728056.
  31. http://www.emknowledge.gov.au/resource/?id=465
  32. "Uluru, NT, ML 5.7". Archived from the original on 19 July 2008.
  33. "Ellalong – Cessnock (Hunter Valley), NSW: Earthquake". EMA Disasters Database. Emergency Management Australia. 13 September 2006. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  34. "Baw Baw Highlights". Retrieved 4 April 2009.;
    "1996-09-25, Thomson Reservoir, Intensity Map". seismology research centre. Archived from the original on 13 September 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  35. "AEES Newsletter" (PDF). aees.org.au. February 2000. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  36. "Magnitude-5.4 quake shakes southern Victoria". ABC News. 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  37. USGS. "M 5.5 – 128km ENE of Rainbow Beach, Australia". United States Geological Survey.

Sources

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