1986 in Australia

1986 in Australia
Monarchy	Elizabeth II
Governor-General	Ninian Stephen
Prime minister	Bob Hawke
Population	16,018,310
Elections	WA, TAS, QLD

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1986
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Australia

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Decades:

1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s

Incumbents

Premiers and Chief Ministers

Premier of New South Wales – Neville Wran (until 4 July), then Barrie Unsworth
Premier of Queensland – Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Premier of South Australia – John Bannon
Premier of Tasmania – Robin Gray
Premier of Western Australia – Brian Burke
Premier of Victoria – John Cain
Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Ian Tuxworth (until 10 May), then Stephen Hatton

Governors and Administrators

Governor of New South Wales – Sir James Rowland
Governor of Queensland – Sir Walter Campbell
Governor of South Australia – Sir Donald Dunstan
Governor of Tasmania – Sir James Plimsoll
Governor of Western Australia – Gordon Reid
Governor of Victoria – Davis McCaughey (from 18 February)
Administrator of the Northern Territory – Eric Johnston

Events

2 January – A state funeral is held for former Governor of Victoria Sir Henry Winneke at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.
3 January – Federal Opposition Leader John Howard introduces a four-point plan to reduce interest rates.
4 January – A tanker driver is killed instantly when his truck overturns in Aspen, New South Wales, releasing clouds of nitrogen gas.
5 January – Actress Lauren Bacall arrives in Sydney to star in the play Sweet Bird of Youth.
2 February – Nurse Anita Cobby is abducted, robbed, raped and murdered by John Travers, Michael Murdoch, and Leslie, Gary and Michael Murphy at Prospect in Sydney (all five men are sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, June 1987).
8 February – Elections in Western Australia and Tasmania see the re-election of the ALP in WA, and the Liberal Party in Tasmania.
- Post-mortem results support the claim of the sister of Sally Anne Huckstep that she was murdered.
- Dire Straits makes history in Tasmania by drawing the state’s biggest audience ever for an open-air concert.
9 February – Lindy Chamberlain is released from prison in Darwin.
11 February – Joan Child becomes the first female Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.
- More than 100 bushfires burn across the state of Victoria.
3 March – The Australia Act 1986 comes into effect at 1600 AEST, granting Australia legal independence from the United Kingdom by removing the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate with effect in Australia and its states and territories.
27 March – The Russell Street bombing takes place at the headquarters of Victoria Police in Melbourne. A police constable, Angela Taylor, is killed.
4 July – After ten years in power, Neville Wran resigns as Premier of New South Wales, and 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.
25 July – An unusual cold dry change sweeps through south-eastern Australia, causing temperatures to plummet and bringing 8 centimetres (3.15 in) of snow to Hobart, isolating the city until midday. Canberra also receives snow during the early afternoon with reports of snow and sleet also occurring in the suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney.
6 August – A low pressure system moving from South Australia and redeveloping off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 327.6 millimetres (12.90 in) of rain in a day on Sydney. Resulting floods kill six 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 and an absolute majority of seats in the Queensland Parliament

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
The Fringe Dwellers

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 – Hawthorn (16.14.110) defeats Carlton (9.14.68) in the 1986 VFL Grand Final 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.
4 November – At Talaq wins Melbourne Cup ridden by Michael Clarke.
Brownlow Medal awarded to Robert DiPierdomenico (Hawthorn) and Greg Williams (Sydney)
Farrier Command 10 "Aussie" was constructed and launched.

Births

22 February – Joel Brunker, boxer
23 February – Kate Keltie, actress
8 March – Michelle Steele, athlete
20 March – Dean Geyer, actor, singer and Australian Idol (season 4) contestant
16 April – Bronwen Knox, water polo player
7 May – Mark Furze, actor and singer
18 July – James Sorensen, actor
11 August – Dean Timmins, figure skater
2 September – Darcy Bonser, actor
18 September – Eloise Mignon, actress
1 October – Prashanth Sellathurai, gymnast
16 October – Peter George, cricketer
31 October – Christie Hayes, actress
2 November – Lara Sacher, actress
19 November – Jessicah Schipper, swimmer
19 December – Gemma Pranita, actress
27 December – Torah Bright, snowboarder

Deaths

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

Years in Australia (1788–present)

1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800

1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900

1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Timeline of Australian history

1986 in Oceania

Sovereign states	Australia Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu

Associated states of New Zealand	Cook Islands Niue

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