Australia Public Holidays by State and Territory: A Practical Guide
Australia shares a handful of national holidays, but Labour Day alone falls on four different dates across the country. Here is how state and territory calendars differ.
A Sydney-based team books a sprint review for Monday 8 March 2027. The Melbourne developers are off for Labour Day, the Perth team had their Labour Day the week before, and the Brisbane office will not have theirs until May. Public holidays in Australia are set by each state and territory, and the same name can mean a different date depending on where you are.
The national core
Seven holidays are observed across all states and territories:
- New Year's Day (1 January)
- Australia Day (26 January)
- Good Friday
- Easter Monday
- Anzac Day (25 April)
- Christmas Day (25 December)
- Boxing Day (26 December)
Even these are not perfectly uniform. When one falls on a weekend, each jurisdiction decides whether to provide a substitute weekday, and the decisions do not always match. Anzac Day is the most common source of differences: when 25 April falls on a weekend, some states add a Monday holiday and others do not. In 2027, 25 April is a Sunday, so check each state's declaration. Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday are also public holidays in several jurisdictions, which mostly matters for weekend and shift workers.
Labour Day: four dates
| State or territory | Name | Usual date |
|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | Labour Day | First Monday in March |
| Victoria | Labour Day | Second Monday in March |
| Tasmania | Eight Hours Day | Second Monday in March |
| Queensland | Labour Day | First Monday in May |
| Northern Territory | May Day | First Monday in May |
| New South Wales, ACT, South Australia | Labour Day | First Monday in October |
The King's Birthday
The monarch's official birthday is a public holiday everywhere, but not on the same day. Most states and territories observe it on the second Monday in June. Queensland observes it on the first Monday in October. Western Australia sets its date separately, usually in late September or early October. The holiday was called the Queen's Birthday until 2022.
State and territory days
Each jurisdiction also has its own days. Some of the established ones:
- Victoria: Melbourne Cup Day (first Tuesday in November), mainly in metropolitan Melbourne, with some regional areas substituting a local day; and the Friday before the AFL Grand Final, whose date depends on the football calendar.
- Western Australia: WA Day (first Monday in June).
- Australian Capital Territory: Canberra Day (second Monday in March) and Reconciliation Day (the Monday on or after 27 May).
- South Australia: Adelaide Cup Day in March, and Proclamation Day around 26 December. South Australia and the Northern Territory also have part-day holidays on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve evenings.
- Northern Territory: Picnic Day (first Monday in August).
- Queensland: the Royal Queensland Show holiday in the Brisbane area in August, with other show days in regional areas.
- Tasmania: regional days such as Royal Hobart Regatta in the south.
States change these from time to time, rename them or move them, and some local days only apply to certain areas. Treat any list as a starting point and check the state government's current declaration.
Entitlement, not just closure
Under the National Employment Standards, employees are generally entitled to be absent on a public holiday and, if it is a day they would normally work, to be paid their base rate for ordinary hours. An employer can ask an employee to work on a public holiday if the request is reasonable, and the employee can refuse on reasonable grounds. Penalty rates depend on the applicable award or agreement. Check your contract and local rules.
Worked example: March 2027
March 2027 has 23 weekdays. Easter Sunday 2027 is 28 March, so Good Friday is 26 March and Easter Monday is 29 March, both in March. In addition, 1 March is a Monday, so Western Australia's Labour Day falls on 1 March and the second-Monday holidays fall on 8 March.
| NSW / Queensland | Western Australia | Victoria / Tasmania | ACT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekdays in March 2027 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 |
| Good Friday and Easter Monday | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 |
| Labour Day / Eight Hours Day / Canberra Day | 0 | −1 (1 Mar) | −1 (8 Mar) | −1 (8 Mar) |
| Working days | 21 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
South Australia's Adelaide Cup Day is also usually in March, which would bring that state to 20 as well; confirm the declared date. The national team has three different Mondays in March when someone is missing, and a four-day Easter weekend at the end. For a Sydney team working with Perth, the time difference adds a further constraint on top of the different holidays.
Other 2027 dates at a glance
- Australia Day, 26 January 2027, is a Tuesday, making Monday 25 January a likely day of leave.
- Labour Day in Queensland and May Day in the Northern Territory fall on Monday 3 May.
- The King's Birthday in most states is Monday 14 June; Queensland's is Monday 4 October.
- Labour Day in New South Wales, the ACT and South Australia is also Monday 4 October, so Brisbane and Sydney share a long weekend that day for different reasons.
- Melbourne Cup Day is Tuesday 2 November, another likely bridge on the Monday.
- Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on a Saturday and Sunday, so substitute days are expected on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December in most jurisdictions. Confirm each state's declaration.
What to do next
- Attach every Australian employee to a state or territory, and note any regional local days.
- Check the Australia holiday calendar for each state rather than a national list.
- Look ahead with the 2027 Australian long weekends, especially around Easter and Anzac Day.
- For teams spread across Perth and the east coast, compare working hours and holidays with the team overlap tool.
- Recheck substitute-day declarations each year, particularly when Anzac Day or Christmas falls on a weekend.
