Queen of Australia – 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
17 January - Ian Sinclair is elected leader of the National Party of Australia following Doug Anthony's retirement.
26 January - Aboriginal leader Lowitja (Lois) O'Donoghue becomes Australian of the Year.
27 January - 30 January - The final Narara Music Festival at Central Coast, New South Wales features INXS, Simple Minds, Pretenders, Talking Heads, Eurythmics and Def Leppard.
1 February – Medicare comes into effect in Australia.
2 February – Melbourne newspaper The Age publishes phone taps incriminating an unknown judge.
6 February – High Court Judge, Justice Lionel Murphy is named in Parliament as the judge referred to in The Age tapes published on 2 February.
14 February - Elton John marries Renate Blauel in Sydney.
6 March – A bomb blast wrecks the home of Judge Richard Gee in the Sydney suburb of Belrose.
24 March – Wran Government re-elected in NSW for a 4th term.
26 March - The $100 note is introduced.
April – A 115g jar of Vegemite is the first product in Australia to be electronically scanned at a checkout.
19 April – Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
14 May – The one dollar coin is introduced in Australia.
18 May – In New South Wales gay sex between consenting adult males is decriminalised.
July – Pearl, wife of Justice Ray Watson killed when their home is bombed. It is believed Judge Watson was the target.
18 July – National Crime Authority is established.
August – Brenda Hodge becomes the last person to be sentenced to death by Western Australia, and in the country as a whole, before the complete abolition of capital punishment. Her sentence is later commuted to life imprisonment.
1 August – Australian banks are deregulated.
21 August – The Federal budget is televised for the first time.
2 September - 7 people shot dead and 12 wounded in a bikie shootout between rival bikie gangs the Bandidos and Comancheros in the Sydney suburb of Milperra.
5 September – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment for ordinary crimes (i.e. 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.
1 November – National Film and Sound Archive (Screensound Australia) opens in Canberra.
6 November – In a crime that shocks the city, Melbourne schoolgirl Kylie Maybury is kidnapped, raped and murdered after being sent on an errand to buy a bag of sugar.
26 November –
Former NSW Corrective Services Minister Rex Jackson appears in Court on conspiracy charges for the early release of prisoners.
A good performance by Andrew Peacock in the leaders' televised debate boosts his poll ratings.
2 December – Hawke Government re-elected with a reduced majority.
7 December - Andrew Peacock and John Howard retain their respective positions in the Opposition.
Arts and literature
Tim Winton's novel Shallows wins the Miles Franklin Award
Annie's Coming Out
Razorback
30 January – Perfect Match is launched in the 5:30 pm timeslot, bringing in record ratings for that timeslot & ensuring Ten's Eyewitness News won the 6–7 p.m. timeslot.
3 February – Australia's first nationally-televised telethon screens on Network Ten. It is a 26-hour effort to raise money for Australia's Olympic athletes.
11 February – The Nine Network's Hey Hey It's Saturday moves from Saturday mornings to the 9:30 pm 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.
29 September – Essendon (14.21.105) defeat Hawthorn (12.9.81) to win the 88th VFL premiership
Brownlow Medal awarded to Peter Moore (Melbourne)
23 September – Canterbury Bulldogs defeat Parramatta Eels 6-4 to win the 77th NSWRL premiership.
25 March – 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.
10 June – 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.
6 November – Black Knight wins the Melbourne Cup.
1 January – Michael Witt, rugby league player
10 January - Trent Cutler, rugby league player
26 January - Ryan Hoffman, rugby league player
30 March – Samantha Stosur, tennis player
3 April – Allana Slater, gymnast
13 April – Kris Britt, cricketer
26 April – Petrina Price, high jumper
4 May – Kiel Brown, field hockey midfielder
10 May – Alana Boyd, pole vaulter
15 May – Beau Scott, Australian rugby league player
31 May – Jason Smith, actor
9 July – Alexandra Croak, gymnast & diver
24 July – Patrick Harvey, actor
30 July – Trudy McIntosh, gymnast
17 October – Michelle Ang, actress
9 November – Delta Goodrem, singer and actress
13 November – Jamie Soward, rugby league player
14 November – Courtney Johns, Australian footballer
25 November – Peter Siddle, cricketer
28 November – Andrew Bogut, basketball player
8 December – Tim Paine, cricketer
12 December
Sophie Edington, swimmer
Daniel Merrett, Australian footballer
25 December – Lisa and Jessica Origliasso, singer/songwriters
10 December – Grace Cossington Smith (born 1892), artist
unknown – Bob Dyer (born 1912), TV Host
1984 in Australia Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
