1987 in Australia

See also:

Incumbents

March 7 - Elections in the Northern Territory return CLP government of Stephen Hatton to power.
July 11 - With a good deal of help from the Joh for Canberra campaign which splits the conservative vote between his National Party & the Liberal Party's John Howard, Prime Minister Bob Hawke's ALP government is re-elected for a 3rd term.
August 9 - 9 people die and 11 injured when 19 year old Julian Knight goes on a shooting rampage in Melbourne (Hoddle St Massacre)
October 20 - Black Monday: After the largest fall in the Dow Jones's history, stock markets nosedive around the world. Australia is no exception. The All Ordinaries falls 25%, making it the single biggest one day drop in the market's history.
November 24 - Sir Joh sacks three ministers from his cabinet, accusing them of gross disloyalty.
November 26 - The National Party depose Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen as party leader, but he refuses to resign as Premier. He was not present at the caucus meeting.
December 1 - Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen resigns as Premier of Queensland after 19 years at the top. He is replaced by Mike Ahern, who becomes the only Premier never to contest an election as Premier.
December 8 - Queen Street Massacre: 22 year old Frank Vitkovic kills 8 and injures another 5 in an Australia Post office building in Queen Street before committing suicide by jumping from the 11th floor.

January - Alan Bond, who already owns QTQ-9 & STW-9 purchases TCN-9 & GTV-9 from Kerry Packer for $1.055 billion. The expanded Nine Network becomes the first coast-to-coast network.
February - Fairfax, owners of ATN-7 & BTQ-7 purchase HSV-7 from The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd for $320 million. The move sees the replacement of most Melbourne-produced programming with networked programming from Sydney, including long-running shows such as World of Sport & sees Mal Walden sacked as newsreader. The revamped news service, read by former STW-9 newsreader Greg Pearce plunges to as low as zero in the ratings.
July - Westfield purchases Network Ten from Rupert Murdoch's News Limited for $842 million.
August - New cross-media ownership rules force the sale of the Seven Network. Fairfax sells its stations to Christopher Skase's Qintex company for $780 million.
December 27 - Rupert Murdoch's ownership of ADS-7, combined with TVW-7's ownership of SAS-10, result in the stations deciding to swap callsigns & affiliations. So, on this day, ADS-7 becomes ADS-10 & SAS-10 becomes SAS-7.

March 27 - The Brisbane Bears (now the Brisbane Lions) make their debut in the VFL. At the MCG, the Bears upset North Melbourne 19.23.137 to 15.12.104.
March 29 - The West Coast Eagles make their debut in the Victorian Football League. At Subiaco Oval, they deffeat the Richmond Tigers 20.13.133 to 16.12.119.
April 5 - It is announced that Newcastle will join the NSWRL in 1988. They are later joined by Brisbane & the Gold Coast to form a 16-team competition.
September 26 - The Carlton Blues (15.14.104) defeat the Hawthorn Hawks (9.17.71) to win the 91st VFL/AFL premiership.
September 27 - Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles defeat the Canberra Raiders 18-8 to win the 80th NSWRL premiership. It is the last grand final ever to be played at the SCG.
Brownlow Medal is shared by John Platten (Hawthorn) & Tony Lockett (St Kilda). Lockett becomes the first full-forward to win the Brownlow Medal.