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1998 in Australia

See also: 1997 in Australia, other events of 1998, 1999 in Australia

Incumbents

• Queen of Australia - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Governor General - Sir William Deane
• Prime Minister - John Howard
• Premier of New South Wales - Bob Carr
• Premier of South Australia - John Olsen
• Premier of Queensland - Rob Borbidge, then Peter Beattie
• Premier of Tasmania - Tony Rundle, then Jim Bacon
• Premier of Western Australia - Richard Court
• Premier of Victoria - Jeff Kennett
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory - Kate Carnell
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory - Shane Stone

Events

• January - Floods in Katherine in the Northern Territory kill 3 people.
• February 2-13 - Constitutional Convention held to decide which model of republic should be put before the people of Australia in a referendum. The model chosen is one where the president is chosen by a joint sitting of both houses of parliament
• February 21 - Elections in the ACT re-elect the Liberal Party government of Kate Carnell. To date, it is the most recent State or Territory election that the Liberal Party have managed to form government after.
• February 23-March - After generator breakdowns at four major coal-fired power stations, rolling blackouts hit the city of Brisbane and much of South-East Queensland.
• April 7-June 3 - Patrick Corporation sacks 2,000 dock workers to try & improve efficiency on the waterfront. In response, the Maritime Union of Australia stages possibly the largest industrial dispute Australia has ever seen. In the end, the jobs are restored to the workers in exchange for improvements in efficiency.
• May - Christopher Skase's passport is cancelled & he is ordered to leave Majorca by July 23. However, he renounces his Australian citizenship & becomes a citizen of Dominica.
• May 5 - A gas leak aboard the HMAS Westralia kills four people.
• 26 May - first National Sorry Day, one year after the tabling of the report Bringing them Home which was the result of an inquiry into the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families (the Stolen Generation). The day was held annually until 2004. It was renamed National Day of Healing from 2005.
• June 13 - The Queensland state elections depose the ruling National Party government of Rob Borbidge & elect a minority ALP government, led by Peter Beattie. Pauline Hanson's One Nation scored 23% of the vote & 11 seats, leading to anti-racism protests & four former Prime Ministers to sign an open letter rejecting racism.
• August - High levels of cryptosporidium & giardia force Sydney residents to boil their drinking water for 6 weeks.
• August 16 - Silk-Miller police murders: Two Victoria Police officers murdered in Moorabbin, Victoria.
• August 29 - The Liberal Party government of Tony Rundle is voted out in Tasmania & replaced with an ALP government of Jim Bacon.
• September 25 - A gas explosion at Esso's Longford plant killed 2, injured 8 & left most of Victoria without gas for two weeks. Hundreds of businesses were affected.
• October 3 - With the help of One Nation preferences, John Howard's Liberal/National coalition government is re-elected in the federal election.
• December 1 - The federal government rejects an attempt by UNESCO to suspend construction of the Jabiluka uranium mine pending a further environmental impact report.
• December 2 - The Linton bushfire kills five volunteer firefighters in Linton, Victoria.
• December - A man posts 28 mail bombs in a Canberra post office after losing a legal battle with the Australian Taxation Office which had been going since 1994. One of the bombs explodes, injuring two workers.

Arts and literature

Film

• May 2 - Fox Studios Australia opens in Sydney on the site of the former Sydney Showgrounds.

Television

• March 27 - Darwin finally gets a second commercial television station when TND-34 opens, taking a Seven Network affiliation.
• WIN Television WA is granted a licence to broadcast to regional & remote Western Australia.
• November - After 25 years, the Midday Show is axed by the Nine Network.
• December - The remote Central & Eastern Australia markets are aggregated, with Imparja taking a Nine Network affiliation & Seven Central (formerly QSTV) taking a joint Seven & Network Ten affiliation.

Sport

• January 8 to January 17 – The VIII FINA World Championships are held in Perth. Ian Thorpe wins his first gold medal at a major meet in the 400m freestyle. Human growth hormone was found in a Chinese swimmer's bag at Sydney Airport, resulting in her deportation.
• February - Zali Steggall wins bronze in the women's slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. It is Australia's first ever individual Winter Olympic medal.
• March 13 – First day of the Australian Track & Field Championships for the 1997-1998 season, which are held at the Olympic Park in Melbourne, Victoria. The 10,000 metres was conducted at the Zatopek Classic, Melbourne on December 18, 1998. The men's decathlon event was staged at the Hobart Grand Prix on February 21-22.
• March 13 - The NRL competition kicks off, with the South Sydney Rabbitohs upsetting the Auckland Warriors 24-18 at Ericsson Stadium.
• March 15 - In their first match, the Melbourne Storm upset the Illawarra Steelers 14-12 at WIN Stadium. The Storm go on to have a remarkable debut season, going within one game of the grand final.
• April 24 - The Kangaroos play their first 'fully-fledged' international match in four years. The Kiwis spoil the party however, winning 22-16.
• May 16 - South Melbourne become Australian Champions for the third time in their history, beating newly formed Carlton in the NSL Grand Final at Olympic Park.
• June 12 - Rugby league rocked by drugs scandal. Three Newcastle Knights players test positive, as do one Melbourne player & a Western Suburbs player.
• July 12 - Greg Lyons wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:17:00 in Brisbane, while Lisa Dick claims her second women's title in 2:36:54.
• August 7 - The Adelaide Thunderbirds defeat the Sydney Swifts 48-42 in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy netball grand final
• September - Australia comes home with a record 199 medals, 80 of them gold from the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• September 23 - The St. George Dragons & the Illawarra Steelers announce they will form the game's first joint venture team, the St George Illawarra Dragons.
• September 26 - The Adelaide Crows (15.15.105) defeat North Melbourne (8.22.70) to win the 102nd VFL/AFL premiership.
• September 27 - The Brisbane Broncos defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs 38-12 to win the 91st NSWRL/ARL/NRL premiership. It is the first premiership held under the NRL name & the last grand final to be played at the Sydney Football Stadium (now Aussie Stadium). It is also the second consecutive premiership for the Broncos, if you count their 1997 success in Super League
• October - Mark Taylor equals Don Bradman's record of 334 in a test match against Pakistan. However, unlike Bradman, Taylor is not out & declares the innings closed when he reaches that score.
• October 4 - Jim Richards and Swede Rickard Rydell win the Bathurst 1000 in their TWR prepared Volvo S40, defeating Richards son Steven Richards and Brit Matt Neal in a Nissan Primera by the smallest competitive margin in the races history. It was Richards' sixth Bathurst victory.
• November 3 - Jezabeel wins the Melbourne Cup.
• November 15 - Jason Bright and Steven Richards in a Ford Falcon take victory in the Bathurst Classic, the first major victory for Stone Brothers Racing team.
• December 1 & December 3 - The Adelaide Rams & the Gold Coast Chargers are eliminated from the NRL competition for 1999.
• December - Six sailors die in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
• Shane Warne & Mark Waugh confess to accepting money from an Indian bookmaker when the Australian cricket team was on tour in Pakistan & Sri Lanka in 1994.

Births

• July 24 - Bindi Irwin - television presenter

Deaths

• January 16 – Alphonse Gangitano, Melbourne gangster
• April 28 – Mum (Shirl) Smith, Aboriginal activist
• July 17 – Marc Hunter, lead singer of the band Dragon
• September 2 – Tommy J. Smith, trainer of thoroughbred racehorses
• November 21 – Sir Otto Frankel, geneticist