| 1852 | The legislation establishing the University is introduced late in the year |
| 1853 | The legislation establishing the University is passed. Its foundation was principally the result of the efforts of three men - barrister Redmond Barry, colonial auditor-general Hugh Childers and Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe. |
| 1853 | Government of the University was complex, consisting of a Council, a Senate and a Professorial Board. The University was largely dominated by the foundation Chancellor, Redmond Barry. The first Vice-Chancellor was Hugh Childers, then only in his twenties. |
| 1854 | Foundation stone laid |
| 1855 | University officially declared open. |
| 1855 | The four foundation professors arrive - W.P. Wilson (Mathematics), H.E. Rowe (Classics & Ancient History) who died soon after arrival and was replaced by M.H. Irving, F. McCoy (Natural Sciences), W.E. Hearn (Modern History, Literature & Political Economy) |
| April 1855 | The building was not yet ready so classes commenced in the exhibition building in William Street, with sixteen students. The University building was occupied late in the year. |
| 1856 | First conferring of degrees |
| 1857 | Law is introduced |
| 1860s | Medicine and Engineering is introduced |
| 1861 | The lake is formed. |
| 1861 | Lectureship in Civil Engineering and Surveying established |
| 1862 | Foundation of the Medical School |
| 1864 | New Museum Building at University opened - ‘almost a facsimile of Ruskin’s new Oxford Museum, with stone Gothic windows, a tower and a great hall 150 feet long and 60 feet wide’. |
| 1865 | First graduates in Law |
| October 1879 | Motions passed at Council Meeting permitting the admission of women to the University of Melbourne, and recommending the creation of three new Chairs in the pure and applied sciences, including Engineering, Chemistry and Natural Philosphy. |
| 1880 - | Physics, chemistry physiology and elementary botany are approved as Matriculation subjects |
| 1880 | Death of Redmond Barry |
| 1881 | Women admitted to University courses - at first confined to Arts |
| 1882 | Motion to approve a Science degree, but necessary regulations not framed until 1885 |
| 1882 | Wyselaskie scholarships founded |
| 1883 | Bella Guerin is the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts |
| 1885 | University Council asks £46,800 from the governement of which £5,500 would be spent on scientific apparatus and a smaller sum on salaries for demonstrators in practical biology and physics. |
| 1886 | Three year Bachelor of Science and the Doctor of Science introduced (regulations framed) |
| 1887 | Woman are admitted to Medicine |
| 1888 | A student 'Science Club' is founded |
| 1890s | The contentious issue of the role of the University is still being debated because of depression cutbacks and falling enrolments. There is some broadening of courses in areas of Engineering and the Sciences |
| 1891 | First 1851 London Exhibition awarded to a Melbourne graduate |
| 1893 | Leonora Jessie Little is the first woman to graduate with a BSc from the University of Melbourne |
| 1902 | Frederick Dickson, the Bursar, is discovered siphoning off large sums of University money and that it was effectively bankrupt. A Royal Commission is conducted, chaired by Theodore Fink, into the governance and operation of the institution. |
| 1902 | The recommendations led to a broadening into more utilitarian courses in such areas as Agriculture, Dentistry and Education, and a restoration of funding. |
| 1904 | First Rhodes Scholarships awarded |
| 1923 | Significant reforms of university government in 1923 legislation reduced the significance of the Senate and made the Council more clearly the pre-eminent forum. |
| 1933 | New University Act passed |
| 1934 | Raymond Priestley appointed first salaried Vice-Chancellor |
| 1936 | The first paid Vice-Chancellor, Raymond Priestley, is appointed |
| 1938 | Student Physics club formed |
| 1939 | John Medley becomes Vice Chancellor |
| June 1940 | Council passes resolution in confidence in staff and students. |
| 1945 | The first volume of Melbourne University Gazette comes out |
| c. 1945 | A rapidly growing demand for higher education transformed the University from a small and elite institution, to one drawing more broadly across the population. It offered an increasing range of courses, and was now essentially Commonwealth funded. |
| 1946 | PhD available in all faculties for the first time in Australia |
| 1947 | Mildura branch opens |
| 1980s - 1990s | The University of Melbourne amalgamates with a number of tertiary colleges, including the Melbourne College of Advanced Education and the Victorian College of the Arts. |
| 1998 | The University of Melbourne's private arm, Melbourne University Private, is established |
