The following lists events that happened during 1887 in Australia.

Incumbents

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislatu ...

– Patrick Jenning (until 19 January), then

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has ...

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

–

John Downer Sir John William Downer, KCMG, KC (6 July 1843 – 2 August 1915) was an Australian politician who served two terms as Premier of South Australia, from 1885 to 1887 and again from 1892 to 1893. He later entered federal politics and served as ...

(until 11 June), then

Thomas Playford II Thomas Playford (26 November 1837 – 19 April 1915) was an Australian politician who served two terms as Premier of South Australia (1887–1889; 1890–1892). He subsequently entered federal politics, serving as a Senator for South Australi ...

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...

–

Samuel Griffith Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, (21 June 1845 – 9 August 1920) was an Australian judge and politician who served as the inaugural Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1903 to 1919. He also served a term as Chief Justice of Queensland and t ...

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of ...

– James Agnew (until 29 March), then

Philip Fysh Sir Philip Oakley Fysh (1 March 1835 – 20 December 1919) was an English-born Australian politician. He arrived in Tasmania in 1859 and became a leading merchant in Hobart. He served two terms as premier of Tasmania (1877–1878, 1887–1892) ...

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assemb ...

–

Duncan Gillies Duncan Gillies (14 January 1834 – 12 September 1903), was an Australian colonial politician who served as the 14th Premier of Victoria. Gillies was born at Overnewton near Glasgow, Scotland, where his father had a market garden. He was sent ...

* Governor of the Crown Colony of Western Australia – Sir Frederick Broome

Events

* 1 January – Clement Wragge is appointed Government Meteorologist for Queensland * 21 January –

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

receives a daily rainfall of 465 millimetres (18.3 inches), a record for any Australian capital city. * 23 March – 81 miners are killed during a coal gas explosion at

Bulli, New South Wales Bulli ( ) is a northern suburb of Wollongong situated on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. History Bulli is possibly derived from an Aboriginal word signifying "double or two mountains", but other derivations have been suggeste ...

* 22 April – A cyclone hits a pearling fleet off

Eighty Mile Beach Eighty Mile Beach, also spelled Eighty-mile Beach or 80-mile Beach, lies along the north-west coast of Western Australia about half-way between the towns of Broome and Port Hedland. It is a beach some in length, forming the coastline where t ...

, 120 men drown. * 22 June – The Fremantle Town Hall is opened. * 26 Sept – The Celtic Club Melbourne is formed and remains today as Australia's oldest Irish Club * 19 October – The Sydney-bound steamer SS ''Cheviot'' is wrecked near

Point Nepean Point Nepean ( Boonwurrung: ''Boona-djalang'') marks the southern point of The Rip (the entrance to Port Phillip) and the most westerly point of the Mornington Peninsula, in Victoria, Australia. It was named in 1802 after the British polit ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, claiming 35 lives.

Science and technology

*Construction of

Goulburn Weir Goulburn Weir is a weir built between 1887 and early 1891 across the Goulburn River near Nagambie, Victoria, Australia. It was the first major diversion structure built for irrigation development in Australia. The weir also forms Lake Nagambie ...

commenced, one of Australia's earliest irrigation schemes.

Arts and literature

Sport

* ''Dunlop'' wins the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...

Births

* 2 February – Pat Sullivan, film director (died 1933) * 16 April – Henry Gordon Bennett, soldier (died 1962) * 6 July – Annette Kellerman, swimming celebrity (died 1975) * 28 October –

Herb Byrne Herbert Richard Byrne, (28 October 1887 – 3 August 1959) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Austral ...

, Australian rules footballer (died 1959) * 30 November – Beatrice Kerr, swimmer, diver, and aquatic performer (died 1971)

Deaths

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1887 in Australia Australia Years of the 19th century in Australia