1986 in Australia

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Incumbents

• Queen of Australia – Elizabeth II
• Governor General – Sir Ninian Stephen
• Prime Minister – Bob Hawke
• Premier of New South Wales – Neville Wran, then Barrie Unsworth
• Premier of South Australia – John Bannon
• Premier of Queensland – Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
• Premier of Tasmania – Robin Gray
• Premier of Western Australia – Brian Burke
• Premier of Victoria – John Cain
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Ian Tuxworth, then Stephen Hatton

Events

• 2 February – Nurse Anita Cobby is abducted, robbed, raped and murdered by John Travers, Michael Murdoch, and Lesile, Gary and Micheal Murphy at Prospect in Sydney (all 5 men are sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, June 1987).
• 8 February – Elections in Western Australia & Tasmania see the re-election of the ALP in WA & the Liberal Party in Tasmania.
• 27 March – Russell Street Bombing takes place at the headquarters of the Victorian Police in Melbourne. A police constable is killed.
• 4 July – After 10 years in power, Neville Wran resigns as Premier of New South Wales & is replaced by Barrie Unsworth.
• 7 July – Barlow & Chambers are executed at Malaysia's Pudu Prison for drug trafficking. Prime Minister Hawke condemns the move as 'barbaric'.
• 16 July – An explosion at Moura No. 4 mine in Moura, Queensland kills 12 people.
• 6 August – A low pressure system moving from South Australia and redeveloping off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres of rain in a day on Sydney. Resulting floods kill 6 people.
• 9 August – Sydney schoolgirl Samantha Knight disappears in Bondi, Sydney.
• 1 November – Joh Bjelke-Petersen wins his final election as Premier of Queensland with his party, the National Party gaining 38.6% of the vote.

Arts and literature

• Elizabeth Jolley's novel The Well wins the Miles Franklin Award

Film

• 30 April – Crocodile Dundee is released in Australia. The film will go on to become a worldwide smash hit, becoming the highest grossing Australian film ever.
• Malcolm

Television

• 5 January – SBS ceases VHF transmissions on Channel 0 in Sydney & Melbourne.
• 20 January – Neighbours makes its debut on Network Ten & comes to dominate the 7 pm weeknight timeslot
• February – Red Symons signs to Hey Hey It's Saturday as the show launches Red Faces
• April – The Movie Show begins on SBS
• December – The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, owners of HSV-7 & ADS-7 are sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Limited for $1.8 billion. As News Limited owned ATV-10 at this time, HSV-7 is sold to Fairfax (already owners of ATN-7 & BTQ-7) in February 1987 for $320 million.
• Christopher Skase's Qintex company sells TVQ-0 to Darling Downs Television, owners of DDQ-10 in Toowoomba.
• AUSSAT satellites are launched, bringing television to remote areas for the first time.

Sport

• 16 March – Parramatta Stadium is opened. The Parramatta Eels defeat the St. George Dragons 36-6.
• 23 March – Robert de Castella is once again Australia's best finisher at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, this time staged in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He finishes in 14th place (36:10.9) in the long-distance race over 12,000 metres.
• 8 June – Stephen Austin wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:15:59 in Sydney, while Margaret Reddan claims the women's title in 2:48:28.
• 29 June – Last game of rugby league is played at the Sydney Sports Ground. Eastern Suburbs Roosters defeat the North Sydney Bears 21-14.
• 27 September – The Hawthorn Hawks (16.14.110) defeat the Carlton Blues (9.14.68) to win the 90th VFL premiership.
• 28 September – The Parramatta Eels defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs 4-2 in the lowest scoring grand final in history to win the 79th NSWRL premiership.
• Brownlow Medal awarded to Robert DiPierdomenico (Hawthorn)
• Farrier Command 10 "Aussie" was constructed and launched.
• At Talaq wins Melbourne Cup ridden by Michael Clarke.

Births

• 22 February – Joel Brunker, boxer
• 8 March – Michelle Steele, athlete
• 16 April – Bronwen Knox, water polo player
• 31 October – Christie Hayes, actress
• 2 November – Lara Sacher, actress
• 19 November – Jessicah Schipper, swimmer
• 27 December – Torah Bright, snowboarder

Deaths

• 21 October – Lionel Murphy (b. 1922), former Attorney-General of Australia
• 7 November – Tracy Pew, bass guitarist for The Birthday Party