<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive -->
<!-- IF POSSIBLE, PLEASE USE PRESENT TENSE -->
The following lists events that happened during 1885 in South Africa.
Incumbents
- Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Hercules Robinson.
- Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer.
- State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.
- State President of the South African Republic: Paul Kruger.
- Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Thomas Upington.
Events
;February
- 26 – The Berlin Conference ends and the Scramble for Africa begins.
;September
- 30 – A British force abolishes the Boer republic of Stellaland and adds it to British Bechuanaland.
;November
- 28 – The railway line from Cape Town to Kimberley is completed.
Births
- 31 January – Marthinus Johannes de Jong, landscape painter, is born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Deaths
Railways
Railway lines opened
- 2 September – Cape Eastern – Molteno to Aliwal North, .
- 28 November – Cape Western – Oranjerivier to Kimberley, .