1887 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 1887 in Australia.

Incumbents

 * Premier of New South Wales – Patrick Jenning (until 19 January), then Henry Parkes
 * Premier of South Australia – John Downer (until 11 June), then Thomas Playford II
 * Premier of Queensland – Samuel Griffith
 * Premier of Tasmania – James Agnew (until 29 March), then Philip Fysh
 * Premier of Victoria – Duncan Gillies
 * 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 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
 * 22 April – A cyclone hits a pearling fleet off Eighty Mile Beach, 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, Victoria, claiming 35 lives.

Science and technology

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

Sport

 * Dunlop wins the Melbourne Cup

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