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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Australia

The list of Australia bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2010, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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21 Feb 2010 (Tasmanian Government Media Release-Hobart) The Minister for Workplace Relations for the Australian state of Tasmania, Lisa Singh, has issued a communique reiterating the Government’s commitment to legislating for a substitute public holiday for ANZAC Day when it falls on a Sunday or on Easter Monday. • 20 Feb 2010 (Northern Territory Government Gazette-Darwin) The government of Australia's Northern Territory has gazetted its official list of 2010 public holidays, including the local Show Day public holidays. • 05 Feb 2010 (The Brisbane Times-Brisbane) The Attorney General of Australia's State of Queensland, Cameron Dick, has announced that, following his intervention, Queensland will have two days off work in lieu of the Christmas and Boxing Day public holidays, which fall on a weekend in 2010. • 27 Nov 2009 (News.com.au-Adelaide) The Industrial Relations Minister of the Australian state of South Australia, Paul Caica, has announced that shops would not be allowed to open on December 26, 2009, even though December 26 is not listed as a public holiday this year. • 03 Nov 2009 (Australasian Transport News-ATN) The Chairman of the Australian Trucking Association (ATA), Trevor Martyn, has written to Treasurer Wayne Swan calling for uniform public holidays across all of Australia's states and territories. • 21 Oct 2009 (The Armidale Express-Armidale) The Executive Director of the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW) Industrial Relations, Don Jones, has confirmed that Monday, December 28, has been gazetted as the 2009 Boxing Day public holiday. • 20 Oct 2009 (The Westender-Brisbane) The QPSU (union of public sector workers of Australia's State of Queensland) is calling on the state government to consider shifting the Queen’s Birthday public holiday to the first Monday in October. • 18 Oct 2009 (The Examiner-Hobart) The Legislative Council of Australia's State of Tasmania has rejected pending legislation which proposed that whenever Anzac Day fell on any Sunday or on Easter Monday, the following day would be made a day in lieu public holiday. • 16 Oct 2009 (ACT Chief Minister Website-Canberra) The Minister for Industrial Relations of Australia's ACT territory, John Hargreaves, has tabled "The Holidays (Family and Community Day) Amendment Bill 2009" which will change the date of the Family and Community Day public holiday. • 12 Sep 2009 (AAP-Sydney) Australia's State of New South Wales has passed laws that ban most shops from opening on public holidays. • 31 Aug 2009 (ABC-Canberra) The government of Australia's Australia Capital Territory (ACT) has finally decided on the future of the November, Family and Community Day public holiday, moving its date to the first week of the September/October school holidays. • 23 Apr 2009 (Australia Broadcasting Corporation-Canberra) The Government of Australia's ACT (Australian Capital Territory) is inviting its residents to have their say on the future of the, early November, Family and Community Day public holiday. • 15 Jan 2009 (Australian Associated Press) The Council for the Australian Federation (CAF) has finally announced the long-awaited agreement to harmonize the treatment of the ANZAC Day public holiday, across all Australian states and territories, when ANZAC Day falls on a Sunday. • 12 Jan 2009 (Government of Western Australia-DOCEP) The Labour Relations Executive Director for the Australian State of Western Australia, Bob Horstman, has published a circular proclaiming the official dates of the Queen's Birthday public holiday for 2011-2013. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Australia public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Overview: Australian is a federal state with each state declaring its own list of public holidays, each list, theoretically, potentially different. In practice, the majority of public holidays in Australia are common to all states, though there are some public holidays that are specific to one or more states only. There are also cases when the same named public holiday is celebrated on different dates in different states. Finally, the rules for moving public holidays that occur on a Saturday or Sunday to the following Monday do vary by state and by holiday. • State Abbreviations: • ACT: Australia Capital Territory. • NSW: New South Wales. • NT: Northern Territory. • QLD: Queensland. • SA: South Australia. • TAS: Tasmania. • VIC: Victoria. • WA: Western Australia. • Labour Day is on various days depending on the region. It is known as Eight Hours Day in TAS. • Canberra Day is a holiday in the ACT. • Holy Saturday is not a holiday in TAS, but TAS is the only territory to celebrate Easter Tuesday. • Foundation Day is celebrated in WA only. • The Queen's Birthday is celebrated in June everywhere but WA. • Picnic Day in NT was also a Bank Holiday in ACT and NSW in August, but it was removed from the list of ACT public holidays in 2006, and replaced with Family and Community Day (see below). • Melbourne Cup Day is, officially speaking, only celebrated in Melbourne; but the race is seen or heard on television or radio by about 85 percent of Australia's 20 million people, according to the Victoria Racing Club, not only during the race itself, but for most of the afternoon. • Family and Community Day (ACT) was created, beginning in 2007, to compensate for the abrogation of Picnic Day (see above). It is set to be held in 2007, and despite strong opposition from business, the ACT government has committed to it for 2008. It will be reviewed for 2009. • Boxing Day is called Proclamation Day in South Australia. • Daylight Saving Time is under the control of State governments. At present, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT use Daylight Saving Time. In Western Australia, there have been 3 referenda that have rejected the implementation of Daylight Saving Time, with the most recent over 12 years ago. Then, on November 21, 2006, a proposed three-year trial of daylight saving time, passed through the Upper House of Parliament with a massive majority. The trial of daylight saving will span three summers and be followed by a referendum. • Australia International Codes AU and AUS (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .au (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of Australia information and news: Reserve Bank of Australia (Australia central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (Australia maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in Australia), and Wikipedia (includes Australia commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Australia, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2010 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Australia, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Australia, before planning any trip to Australia. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.