1886 in Australia

Incumbents

• Monarch - Victoria

Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – John Robertson then Patrick Jenning
• Premier of Queensland – Samuel Griffith
• Premier of South Australia – John Downer
• Premier of Tasmania – Adye Douglas then James Agnew
• Premier of Victoria – James Service then Duncan Gillies

Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Lord Carrington
• Governor of Queensland – Anthony Musgrave
• Governor of South Australia – William Robinson
• Governor of Tasmania – George Strahan
• Governor of Victoria – Henry Brougham Loch, 1st Baron Loch
• Governor of the Crown Colony of Western Australia – Sir Frederick Broome

Events

• 25 January – The first assembly of the Federal Council of Australasia is held in Hobart.
• 30 May – The SS Ly-Ee-Moon sinks off Green Cape, New South Wales, with the loss of 71 persons.
• 12 June – William Spence chairs a meeting of shearers in Ballarat, Victoria at which the Australian Shearers Union is formed, an ancestor of the Australian Workers' Union.

Undated

• Queen Victoria grants the Cocos (Keeling) Islands to the Clunies Ross family.

Sport

• November – Arsenal wins the Melbourne Cup
• England defeats Australia 3–0 in The Ashes

Births

• 3 January – Arthur Mailey, cricketer and journalist
• 4 May – Aubrey Abbott, politician and administrator of the Northern Territory
• 28 November – Margaret McIntyre, politician

Deaths

• 4 November – James Martin, Premier of New South Wales