See also: 1897 in Australia, other events of 1898, 1899 in Australia and the Timeline of Australian history.

Incumbents

• Premier of New South Wales - George Reid
• Premier of South Australia - Charles Kingston
• Premier of Queensland - Hugh Nelson (until April 13), Thomas Joseph Byrnes (died in office September 27) then James Dickson
• Premier of Tasmania - Edward Braddon
• Premier of Western Australia - John Forrest
• Premier of Victoria - George Turner

Events

• May 6 - The paddle steamer Maitland sinks near Broken Bay, drowning 24 people.
• 3–June 4 - A referendum is held in New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria to approve the draft Constitution of Australia. The constitution was accepted by the required majority in South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, but not in New South Wales.
• October 17 - The Perth Zoo opens with two lions and a tiger.
• December 26 - Gatton murders - Three members of the same family are sexually molested and murdered near the town of Gatton, Queensland (unsolved).

• The Queen Victoria Building in Sydney is completed

Science & Technology

Arts and literature

• W. Lister Lister wins the Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figure sculpture for his landscape The Last Gleam

Sport

• The Grafter wins the Melbourne Cup
• Victoria wins the Sheffield Shield

Births

• February 12 - Sali Herman (d. 1993), war artist
• September 24 - Howard Walter Florey (d. 1968), pharmacologist and Nobel Prize winner

Deaths

• March 20 - Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer (b. 1819), Premier of Queensland
• September 19 - George Edward Grey (b. 1812), Governor of South Australia
• September 27 - Thomas Joseph Byrnes (b. 1860), Premier of Queensland
• November 2 - George Goyder (b. 1826), Surveyor-General of South Australia

See also

• 1898
• 1800s