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9 January – Yachtsman Tony Bullimore is found alive five days after his boat capsized in the Southern Ocean
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January 17 – A Delta II rocket carrying a military GPS payload explodes, shortly after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.
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April 22 - A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building, rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a heart attack, 2 soldiers are killed by rebel fire, and all 14 Tupac Amaru rebels are slain.
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April 29 - Two trains crash at Hunan, China; 126 are killed.
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Apr 30th - Atlanta Braves win record 19 games in April
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Apr 30th - Big Ben stops at 12:11 PM for 54 minutes
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19 May – New South Wales defeat Queensland 23-22 in the longest (104 minutes) & one of the most exciting games of representative rugby league ever played.
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13 July –A crowd of over 100,000 people watches the Royal Canberra Hospital implosion. A 12-year-old girl, Katie Bender, is killed instantly and nine others are injured when debris from the site travels across Lake Burley Griffin.
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20 September – The Brisbane Broncos defeat the Cronulla Sharks 26-8 at ANZ Stadium (now Queen Elizabeth II stadium) to become premiers of the Super League (Australia) season 1997. It is the first ever night grand final played in rugby league.
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September 26 - An air crash in Indonesia (likely caused by smoke rising from numerous forest fires in the area) kills 235 people
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19 December – After a series of meetings at the Sydney Football Stadium (now Aussie Stadium), the Super League war is declared over. The ARL & Super League agree to form the National Rugby League, and the Perth Reds, Hunter Mariners & South Queensland Crushers are shut down to give a 20-team competition for 1998. The NRL is to be reduced to 14 teams for 2000 after reform.
