18 events the sources record for this year, grouped by region.
What happened
China (2)
The self-organized hierarchy suspended its activity. Doubting the validity of their orders, they decided to write a letter of inquiry to the bishop of Beijing. The place is not in the text. (Dallet, History of the Church in Korea part_05.txt 줄(0부터) 1352)
In the first month Nguyễn Huệ again took Yuexing, and Xu Shiheng and others died in battle. (Draft History of Qing (Qingshigao) 清史稿 卷15 乾隆54年正月)
Korean Peninsula (2)
Floods hit the Gwanbuk region (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty 正祖實錄 十三年 · 正祖實錄 27책 27권 50장 A면 · 기사 wva_11307026_002)
Yun Yu-il (Paul), disguised as a merchant, went from Hanyang to Beijing carrying the letter of inquiry to the bishop. (Dallet, History of the Church in Korea part_05.txt 줄(0부터) 1379)
Southeast Asia (1)
In the first month, Nguyễn Văn Huệ crushed the Qing army at Thượng Phúc; Sun Shiyi fled north and the emperor fled to the Qing. (Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư 續編卷之五 「'''己酉，三年（淸乾隆五十四年」)
Oceania (13)
The Supply sails again for Norfolk Island; the governor rides with it as far as below the harbour, and Arabanoo boards, reluctantly and with distrust (Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson CHAPTER III (raw line 524))
Sixteen convicts desert their brick-kiln work and march to Botany Bay to seize the natives' fishing gear and spears, but are counterattacked by the natives; one killed, seven wounded (Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson CHAPTER III (raw line 555))
A court-martial made up only of officers sentences six marines to be hanged for stealing flour, meat, liquor and tobacco from the government storehouse (Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson CHAPTER III (raw line 587))
Native corpses are found in many places around the harbour; their bodies were thickly covered with pustules resembling smallpox, and the record states they could not explain why a disease unknown to the natives spread (Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson CHAPTER IV (raw line 604))
The Sirius (Captain Hunter) returns from the Cape of Good Hope and announces its arrival at sunset on 2 May; the flour and salt it carried delay the day of famine (Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson CHAPTER IV (raw line 720))
With two boats and a large party, the governor again surveys Broken Bay; following a waterway that looked like a short inlet, he suddenly reaches the mouth of a freshwater river (later the Hawkesbury River) (Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson CHAPTER V (raw line 839))
On the governor's second expedition, the boats go some 60–70 miles up the river, measured along its bed, and stop at a waterfall; the water is fresh throughout, but opinions of the land differ from person to person (Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson CHAPTER V (raw line 854))
Tench sets out at dawn from the Rose Hill redoubt with the surgeon and soldiers, heading west; from a hill five miles on he sights the Carmarthen Hills. This route later leads to the discovery of the Nepean River (later sections describe its width and name) (Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson CHAPTER V (raw line 881))
In September, surveys Botany Bay for nine days; the relative positions of more than 30 miles of coastline are drawn on a chart by Captain Hunter. Tench concludes that this bay is not the one widely spoken of (Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson CHAPTER V (raw line 959))