See also: 1886 in Australia, other events of 1887, 1888 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.

Incumbents

• Premier of New South Wales - Patrick Jenning (til January 19) then Henry Parkes
• Premier of South Australia - John Downer (til June 11) then Thomas Playford II
• Premier of Queensland - Samuel Griffith
• Premier of Tasmania - James Agnew (til March 29) then Philip Fysh
• Premier of Victoria - Duncan Gillies
• Governor of the Crown Colony of Western Australia - Sir Frederick Broome

Events

• January 1 - Clement Wragge is appointed Government Meteorologist for Queensland
• January 21 - Brisbane receives a daily rainfall of 465 millimetres (18.3 inches), a record for any Australian capital city.
• March 23 - 81 miners are killed during a coal gas explosion at Bulli, New South Wales
• April 22 - A cyclone hits a pearling fleet off Eighty Mile Beach, 120 men drown.

Science & Technology

• Construction of Goulburn Weir commenced, one of Australia's earliest irrigation schemes.

Sport

• Dunlop wins the Melbourne Cup

Births

• February 2 - Pat Sullivan, film director (d. 1933)
• April 16 - Henry Gordon Bennett, soldier (d. 1962)

Deaths

See also

• 1887
• 1800s