When is May Day?

The Territory's Labour Day

May Day is the Northern Territory's version of Labour Day, held on the first Monday in May. Like the Labour Day holidays in the states, it honours the campaign for the eight-hour working day and the wider labour movement; the Territory simply kept the international name for workers' day. Darwin marks it with a union march and a public holiday that falls at the beginning of the dry season.

Queensland takes its Labour Day on the same Monday, so the two jurisdictions share a long weekend that the rest of the country works through. If you are planning interstate travel from the Territory, that shared date is worth knowing: Queensland destinations are busier that weekend than the southern states.

The autumn run of holidays

May Day comes soon after the Anzac Day and Easter block, and only a month or so before the King's Birthday in June. In years when Easter is late the Territory has four public holidays in about six weeks, which makes the period one of the best-value stretches for annual leave. The planner ranks the combinations for the NT calendar.

Why the Territory kept the name

May Day, 1 May, has been the international workers' day since the 1880s, chosen to commemorate the Chicago strikes for an eight-hour day. Most Australian states already had a Labour Day tied to their own local anniversary by the time the Territory gained self-government in 1978, so the NT simply attached its holiday to the international date and its nearest Monday. The Darwin May Day march, organised by the unions, is one of the larger annual gatherings in the city.

Because the holiday is defined as the first Monday in May it can fall anywhere from 1 to 7 May, and it never needs substitution. In years when Easter is late and Anzac Day falls on a Friday or Monday, May Day is the third long weekend in a row for Territorians.