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Years in Australia:	1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
Years:	1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

Incumbents

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.

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.

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.

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)