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See also: 1983 in Australia, other events of 1984, 1985 in Australia

Incumbents

• Queen of Australia - Queen Elizabeth II
• Governor General - Sir Ninian Stephen
• Prime Minister - Bob Hawke
• Premier of New South Wales - Neville Wran
• Premier of South Australia - John Bannon
• Premier of Queensland - Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
• Premier of Tasmania - Robin Gray
• Premier of Western Australia - Brian Burke
• Premier of Victoria - John Cain
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory - Post did not exist in 1984
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory - Paul Everingham, then Ian Tuxworth

Events

• February 1 - Medicare comes into effect in Australia.
• February 2 - Melbourne newspaper The Age publishes phone taps incriminating an unknown judge.
• February 6 - A bomb blast wrecks the home of Judge Richard Gee in the Sydney suburb of Belrose. High Court Judge, Justice Lionel Murphy is named in Parliament as the judge referred to in The Age tapes published on February 2.
• March 24 - Wran Government re-elected in NSW for a 4th term.
• April 19 - Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
• May 14 - The one dollar coin is introduced in Australia.
• July 18 - National Crime Authority established
• August 1 - Australian banks are deregulated.
• August 21 - The Federal budget is televised for the first time.
• September 2 - 7 people shot dead and 12 wounded in bikie shootout between rival bikie gangs the Bandidos and Comancheros in the Sydney suburb of Milperra.
• September 5 - Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment for ordinary crimes (ie murder). New South Wales maintained it as a punishment for treason and piracy with violence until 1985†, when capital punishment was finally abolished in Australia.
• November 26 - Former NSW Corrective Services Minister Rex Jackson appears in Court on conspiracy charges for the early release of Prisoners.
• December 2 - Hawke Government re-elected with a reduced majority.

†=It should be noted that it was never used in those circumstances, as no-one was prosecuted for those crimes.

Arts and literature

• Tim Winton's novel Shallows wins the Miles Franklin Award

Film

Television

• January 30 - Perfect Match is launched in the 5:30 p.m. timeslot, bringing in record ratings for that timeslot & ensuring Ten's Eyewitness News won the 6-7 p.m. timeslot.
• February 3 - Australia's first nationally-televised telethon screens on Network Ten. It is a 26-hour effort to raise money for Australia's Olympic athletes.
• February 11 - The Nine Network's Hey Hey It's Saturday moves from Saturday mornings to the 9:30 p.m. timeslot and renamed Hey Hey It's Saturday Night.
• Christopher Skase purchases TVQ-0
• Network Ten televises the 1984 Summer Olympics from Los Angeles. Also, all stations adopt a uniform on-air look for the first time.
• The first televised federal election debate takes place.

Sport

AFL

• September 29 – Essendon (14.21.105) defeat Hawthorn (12.9.81) to win the 88th VFL/AFL premiership
• Brownlow Medal awarded to Peter Moore (Melbourne)

Rugby

• September 23 – Canterbury Bulldogs defeat Parramatta Eels 6-4 to win the 77th NSWRL premiership.

Other

• March 25 – Robert de Castella is Australia's only competitor at the twelfth IAAF World Cross Country Championships, staged in New York, USA. He finishes in 21st place (34:08.0) in the race over 12,086 metres.
• June 10 – Andrew Lloyd wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:14:36 in Sydney, while Moira Main claims the women's title in 2:46:00.
• November 6 – Black Knight wins the Melbourne Cup.

Births

• January 1 — Michael Witt, rugby league player
• March 30 — Samantha Stosur, tennis player
• April 3 — Allana Slater, gymnast
• April 13 — Kris Britt, cricketer
• April 26 — Petrina Price, high jumper
• May 4 — Kiel Brown, field hockey midfielder
• May 10 — Alana Boyd, pole vaulter
• May 31 — Jason Smith, actor
• August 26 — Mark Bell, engineer and motivational speaker
• October 17 — Michelle Ang, actress
• November 9 — Delta Goodrem, singer and actress
• November 25 — Peter Siddle, cricketer
• November 28 — Andrew Bogut, basketball player
• December 12 — Sophie Edington, swimmer
• December 25 — Lisa and Jessica Origliasso, singer/songwriters

Deaths

• December 10 - Grace Cossington Smith (b. 1892), artist
• unknown - Bob Dyer (b. 1912), TV Host