1988 in Australia

Infobox Australian year
monarch = Elizabeth II
governor-general = Ninian Stephen
pm =Bob Hawke
population = 16,532,164
australian =
elections =VIC, NSW"See also:"
1987 in Australia,
other events of 1988,
1989 in Australia----

See also:
* 1988 Australian incumbents

Incumbents

*Queen of Australia - HM Queen Elizabeth II
*Governor General - Sir Ninian Stephen
*Prime Minister - Bob Hawke
*Premier of New South Wales - Barrie Unsworth, then Nick Greiner
*Premier of South Australia - John Bannon
*Premier of Queensland - Mike Ahern
*Premier of Tasmania - Robin Gray
*Premier of Western Australia - Brian Burke, then Peter Dowding
*Premier of Victoria - John Cain
*Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory - Post did not exist in 1988
*Chief Minister of the Northern Territory - Stephen Hatton, then Marshall Perron

Events

*Australia's Bicentenary year, celebrations lasting throughout year.
*January 26 - Australia Day, Australia celebrates its bicentennial day with a tall ships parade in Sydney Harbour.
*March 19 - Nick Greiner & the Liberal Party win NSW election in a landside, removing the ALP government of Barrie Unsworth.
*April 30 - World Expo '88 opens in Brisbane, Queensland. The exhibition runs for 6 months hosting pavilions from over 70 countries and thrusts Brisbane into the international spotlight.
*May 9 - Queen Elizabeth II opens the New Parliament House in Canberra
*September 1 - "Acacia pycnantha" proclaimed Australia's national floral emblem.
*September 3 - Federal referendums on 4-year parliamentary terms, recognition of local government and other issues are defeated
*October 1 - The ALP government of John Cain is narrowly re-elected for a third term in Victoria.
*October 12 - Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings.
*October 30 - Expo '88 draws to a close after a 6 month spectacular.
*November 29 - The four acts granting the ACT self-government are given Royal Assent.
*Olympic Dam, the world's largest uranium deposit and the largest underground mine in Australian opens

Arts and literature

* No Miles Franklin Award winner is announced as date changed from year of publication to year of announcement

Film

Television

*January 1 - "Australia Live", a four-hour celebration welcoming a year of celebrations for Australia's bicentennial of European settlement airs on the ABC, SBS, the Nine Network & regional solus stations.
*January 2 - Imparja starts broadcasting to remote Central Australia via satellite It would have its official launch on January 15.
*January 17 - The first episode of Home and Away one of the longest running Australian TV soaps
*January 17 - The very first episode of funny home video and public current affairs program, A Current Affair debuts on Channel Nine and hosted by Jana Wendt.
*January 24 - Network Ten unveils new logo, the "X" logo.
*April 29 - QSTV (now Seven Central) starts broadcasting to remote Eastern Australia via satellite.
*May 20 - Perth's third commercial television station NEW-10 opens, giving Perth the same number of stations as the eastern states.
*September 10 - Brisbane's TVQ-0 becomes TVQ-10. On the same day, Toowoomba's DDQ-10 became DDQ-0.
*Christopher Skase buys Perth's TVW-7 & SAS-7 from Alan Bond's Bell Group for $130 million, meaning that all stations in the Seven Network were owned by the one company for the first time.
*"The Comedy Company" debuts on Network 10 (1988-1990)

port

*50m penalty introduced in the VFL.
*March 4 - First game of rugby league played at the newly-built Sydney Football Stadium (now Aussie Stadium). St. George defeat Eastern Suburbs 24-14.
*March 5 - Newcastle Knights play their first game in the NSWRL. At Newcastle International Sports Centre (later EnergyAustralia Stadium), Parramatta win 28-4. On the same day, the Gold Coast Giants (later Seagulls & finally Chargers) play their first game in the same competition. At Seagulls Stadium, Canterbury win 21-10.
*March 6 - Brisbane Broncos make their debut at Lang Park (now Suncorp Stadium), defeating defending premiers Manly 44-10.
*June 11 - In the 100th rugby league test between the two nations, Australia defeat Great Britain 17-6.
*July 17 - Australia thrash reigning World Champions Argentina 4-1 in the Bicentennial Gold Cup, at Sydney Football Stadium.
*July 24 - Patrick Carroll wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:10:44 in Brisbane, while Karen McCann claims the women's title in 2:44:05.
*September 11 - Canterbury defeat Balmain 24-12 to win the 81st NSWRL premiership. It is the first Grand Final played at the S.F.S. & the last game for Steve Mortimer. The Grand Final was played early so that Channel Ten could broadcast the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
*September 24 - Hawthorn Hawks (22.20.152) defeat Melbourne Demons (6.20.56) to with the 92nd VFL premiership.
*October 9 - Australia defeat New Zealand 25-12 in the final of the Rugby League World Cup, played at Eden Park in Auckland
*Debbie Flintoff-King wins gold in the women's 400m over Tatyana Ledovskaya (Soviet Union) in a photo finish by 0.01s
*Duncan Armstrong wins gold in the men's 200m freestyle over Anders Holmertz of Sweden & race favourite Matt Biondi of the United States.
*Brownlow Medal awarded to Gerard Healy (Sydney)

Births

* May 13 – Casey Donovan, singer, winner of "Australian Idol" 2004
* December 7 – Emily Browning, actress

Deaths

* February 28 – Kylie Tennant, author
* March 31 – William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia
* December 1 – Lloyd Rees, artist