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See also: 1987 in Australia, other events of 1988, 1989 in Australia

Incumbents

• Queen of Australia - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Governor General - Sir Ninian Stephen
• Prime Minister - Bob Hawke
• Premier of New South Wales - Barrie Unsworth, then Nick Greiner
• Premier of South Australia - John Bannon
• Premier of Queensland - Mike Ahern
• Premier of Tasmania - Robin Gray
• Premier of Western Australia - Brian Burke, then Peter Dowding
• Premier of Victoria - John Cain
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory - Post did not exist in 1988
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory - Stephen Hatton, then Marshall Perron

Events

• Australia's Bicentenary year, celebrations lasting throughout year.
• January 26 - Australia Day, Australia celebrates its bicentennial day with the arrival of the First Fleet Re-enactment voyage and a tall ships parade in Sydney Harbour.
• March 19 - Nick Greiner & the Liberal Party win NSW election in a landside, removing the ALP government of Barrie Unsworth.
• April 30 - World Expo 88 opens in Brisbane, Queensland. The exhibition runs for 6 months hosting pavilions from over 70 countries and thrusts Brisbane into the international spotlight.
• May 9 - Queen Elizabeth II opens the New Parliament House in Canberra
• September 1 - Acacia pycnantha proclaimed Australia's national floral emblem.
• September 3 - Federal referendums on 4-year parliamentary terms, recognition of local government and other issues are defeated
• October 1 - The ALP government of John Cain is narrowly re-elected for a third term in Victoria.
• October 12 - Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings.
• October 15 - Aus Steam '88 commenced in Melbourne, Victoria
• October 30 - World Expo 88 draws to a close after a 6 month spectacular.
• November 29 - The four acts granting the ACT self-government are given Royal Assent.
• Olympic Dam, the world's largest uranium deposit and the largest underground mine in Australian opens

Arts and literature

• No Miles Franklin Award winner is announced as date changed from year of publication to year of announcement

Film

Television

• January 1 - Australia Live, a four-hour celebration welcoming a year of celebrations for Australia's bicentennial of European settlement airs on the ABC, SBS, the Nine Network & regional solus stations.
• January 2 - Imparja starts broadcasting to remote Central Australia via satellite It would have its official launch on January 15.
• January 17 - The first episode of Home and Away one of the longest running Australian TV soaps
• January 17 - The very first episode of funny home video and public current affairs program, A Current Affair debuts on Channel Nine and hosted by Jana Wendt.
• January 24 - Network Ten unveils new logo, the "X" logo.
• April 29 - QSTV (now Seven Central) starts broadcasting to remote Eastern Australia via satellite.
• May 20 - Perth's third commercial television station NEW-10 opens, giving Perth the same number of stations as the eastern states.
• September 10 - Brisbane's TVQ-0 becomes TVQ-10. On the same day, Toowoomba's DDQ-10 became DDQ-0.
• Christopher Skase buys Perth's TVW-7 & SAS-7 from Alan Bond's Bell Group for $130 million, meaning that all stations in the Seven Network were owned by the one company for the first time.
• The Comedy Company debuts on Network 10 (1988–1990)

Sport

• 50m penalty introduced in the VFL.
• March 4 - First game of rugby league played at the newly-built Sydney Football Stadium (now Aussie Stadium). St. George defeat Eastern Suburbs 24-14.
• March 5 - Newcastle Knights play their first game in the NSWRL. At Newcastle International Sports Centre (later EnergyAustralia Stadium), Parramatta win 28-4. On the same day, the Gold Coast Giants (later Seagulls & finally Chargers) play their first game in the same competition. At Seagulls Stadium, Canterbury win 21-10.
• March 6 - Brisbane Broncos make their debut at Lang Park (now Suncorp Stadium), defeating defending premiers Manly 44-10.
• June 11 - In the 100th rugby league test between the two nations, Australia defeat Great Britain 17-6.
• July 17 - Australia thrash reigning World Champions Argentina 4-1 in the Bicentennial Gold Cup, at Sydney Football Stadium.
• July 24 - Patrick Carroll wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:10:44 in Brisbane, while Karen McCann claims the women's title in 2:44:05.
• September 11 - Canterbury defeat Balmain 24-12 to win the 81st NSWRL premiership. It is the first Grand Final played at the S.F.S. & the last game for Steve Mortimer. The Grand Final was played early so that Channel Ten could broadcast the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
• September 24 - Hawthorn Hawks (22.20.152) defeat Melbourne Demons (6.20.56) to with the 92nd VFL premiership.
• October 9 - Australia defeat New Zealand 25-12 in the final of the Rugby League World Cup, played at Eden Park in Auckland
• Debbie Flintoff-King wins gold in the women's 400m over Tatyana Ledovskaya (Soviet Union) in a photo finish by 0.01s
• Duncan Armstrong wins gold in the men's 200m freestyle over Anders Holmertz of Sweden & race favourite Matt Biondi of the United States.
• Brownlow Medal awarded to Gerard Healy (Sydney)

Births

• May 26 — Dani Samuels, Australian discus thrower
• December 7 — Emily Browning, actress

Deaths

• February 28 – Kylie Tennant, author
• March 31 – William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia
• December 1 – Lloyd Rees, artist