When is Australia Day?

What the date marks

Australia Day marks 26 January 1788, the day Captain Arthur Phillip raised the British flag at Sydney Cove and the colony of New South Wales was formally established. Colonial anniversaries were kept in Sydney from the early 1800s, but the states used different names and dates well into the twentieth century. It was only in 1935 that all states agreed on the name Australia Day, and only from 1994 that every state observed the public holiday on 26 January itself rather than on the nearest Monday.

The date is also a day of mourning and protest for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who mark it as Invasion Day or Survival Day. That debate has been running for decades and shows no sign of settling; this site only records when the holiday falls, not whether it should.

Weekend rules

When 26 January falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the public holiday is observed on the following Monday in every state and territory. The weekend day itself is an ordinary day, which is different from how Christmas is handled.

Victoria is the one exception. If 26 January is a Sunday, Victoria keeps the Sunday as a public holiday and adds the Monday as well. A Saturday 26th in Victoria works like everywhere else: Monday only. The distinction matters for weekend workers in Victoria, who are paid public holiday rates on a Sunday Australia Day.

Because it always resolves to a Monday when it clashes with a weekend, Australia Day is one of the most dependable long weekends in the calendar. Only when it falls mid-week (Tuesday to Thursday) does it fail to touch a weekend, and even then a single day of leave bridges it.

Working on Australia Day

Under the national employment standards you are entitled to the day off if it is a day you would normally work, and to be paid your base rate for it. An employer can ask you to work if the request is reasonable, and penalty rates under your award or agreement apply if you do. Since 2022 some employers, including the Australian Public Service, let staff work on 26 January and take a substitute day instead; that is a workplace arrangement, not a change to the holiday. The pay and penalty rates guide covers the general rules.

Citizenship ceremonies are traditionally held on the day, and the Australian of the Year awards are announced the evening before in Canberra. Retail trading is largely unrestricted in most states, unlike Anzac Day or Good Friday.