1986 in Australia

Infobox Australian year
monarch = Elizabeth II
governor-general = Ninian Stephen
pm =Bob Hawke
population = 16,018,310
australian =
elections =WA, TAS, QLD"See also:"
1985 in Australia,
other events of 1986,
1987 in Australia----

See also:
* 1986 Australian incumbents

Incumbents

*Queen of Australia - HM Queen 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

*February 2 - 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).
*February 8 - Elections in Western Australia & Tasmania see the re-election of the ALP in WA & the Liberal Party in Tasmania.
*March 27 - Russell Street Bombing takes place at the headquarters of the Victorian Police in Melbourne. A police constable is killed.
*July 4 - After 10 years in power, Neville Wran resigns as Premier of New South Wales & is replaced by Barrie Unsworth.
*July 7 - Barlow & Chambers are executed at Malaysia's Pudu Prison for drug trafficking. Prime Minister Hawke condemns the move as 'barbaric'.
*July 16 - An explosion at Moura No. 4 mine in Moura, Queensland kills 12 people.
*August 6 - 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.
* August 9 - Sydney schoolgirl Samantha Knight disappears in Bondi, Sydney.
*November 1 - 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

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

Television

*January 5 - SBS ceases VHF transmissions on Channel 0 in Sydney & Melbourne.
*January 20 - "Neighbours" makes its debut on Network Ten & comes to dominate the 7pm weeknight timeslot
*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.

port

*March 16 – Parramatta Stadium is opened. The Parramatta Eels defeat the St. George Dragons 36-6.
*March 23 – Robert de Castella is once again Australia's best finisher at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, this time staged in Neuchatel, Switzerland. He finishes in 14th place (36:10.9) in the long-distance race over 12,000 metres.
*June 8 – 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.
*June 29 – Last game of rugby league is played at the Sydney Sports Ground. Eastern Suburbs Roosters defeat the North Sydney Bears 21-14.
*September 27 – The Hawthorn Hawks (16.14.110) defeat the Carlton Blues (9.14.68) to win the 90th VFL/AFL premiership.
*September 28 – 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)

Births

*March 8 — Michelle Steele, athlete
*April 16 — Bronwen Knox, water polo player
*October 31 — Christie Hayes, actress
*November 2 — Lara Sacher, actress
*September 13 — Peter Ashman, entrepreneur
*November 19 — Jessicah Schipper, swimmer
*December 27 — Torah Bright, snowboarder

Deaths

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