When is Reconciliation Day?

Why the ACT has it

Reconciliation Day is the newest regular public holiday in Australia and the only one dedicated to reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians. The ACT introduced it in 2018, replacing the Family and Community Day holiday, so the number of holidays in the territory did not change.

It falls on the first Monday on or after 27 May. That date is the anniversary of the 1967 referendum, in which more than 90 per cent of Australians voted to count Aboriginal people in the census and to let the Commonwealth make laws for them. National Reconciliation Week runs every year from 27 May to 3 June, the anniversary of the High Court's Mabo decision, so the holiday always opens the week.

How the date behaves

Because the rule is "on or after", the holiday moves between 27 May and 2 June depending on the year. When 27 May is itself a Monday the holiday is on the 27th; otherwise it slides to the next Monday. It is always a Monday, so it always creates a three-day weekend for Canberra.

It also lands only a week or two before the King's Birthday holiday, giving the ACT two long weekends in quick succession at the start of winter. Canberrans who take the four days between them can turn two long weekends into a ten-day break, which is one of the better-value combinations in the territory's calendar.

Other states

No other state or territory has a Reconciliation Day public holiday. Reconciliation Week events run nationally, and several jurisdictions have considered a holiday, but as of now the ACT is on its own. Workers in Queanbeyan and other NSW towns just across the border do not get the day unless their employer observes ACT holidays.