Queensland celebrates the King's Birthday in October. The rest of the country celebrates it in June (except WA, which gazettes a different date every year). That single difference can shift a 10-working-day deadline by a full day if your contract spans state lines.
Australia has only seven nationally consistent public holidays. Everything else varies by state—and some variations are genuinely surprising.
The Seven National Holidays
Here are the public holidays observed across all of Australia on the same date:
- New Year's Day – January 1
- Australia Day – January 26
- Good Friday – Variable (March/April)
- Easter Monday – Variable (March/April)
- Anzac Day – April 25
- Christmas Day – December 25
- Boxing Day – December 26 (called Proclamation Day in South Australia)
Note on Easter Sunday: Easter Sunday is a public holiday in all states except Tasmania. It was progressively declared across most jurisdictions between 2016 and 2022, but because Tasmania does not observe it, it is not truly national.
Note on Easter Saturday: Most states observe Easter Saturday (the day after Good Friday) as a public holiday, but it is not a statewide public holiday in Tasmania or Western Australia. Tasmania observes Easter Tuesday instead (restricted to public service workers), while Western Australia does not observe Easter Saturday statewide.
Even these national holidays have variations. Substitute day rules differ by state. Anzac Day falling on a weekend triggers different responses depending on where you are.
Beyond these seven, it's a free-for-all.
Here's the quickest way to spot where the divergence usually shows up:
| Holiday | Who diverges | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| King's Birthday | QLD, WA | Different months, different long weekends |
| Labour Day | Most states | Different months; payroll cycles drift |
| Easter Saturday | WA, TAS | Not a statewide holiday there |
| Easter Sunday | TAS | Not a public holiday in Tasmania |
| Regional show days | QLD, VIC, NT | Local-only holidays break "national" calendars |
The King's Birthday Puzzle
Most states observe the King's Birthday on the second Monday in June. But not all of them—and the ones that diverge create the single biggest cross-border deadline risk in the calendar.
Queensland moved it to the first Monday in October back in 2012. Why? To avoid clashing with school holidays and other events. This created immediate confusion for national businesses: Queensland is on a different calendar than every other state for half the year.
Western Australia doesn't have a fixed date. It's usually late September or early October, gazetted annually. Again, strategic timing to avoid conflicts with other events.
The result: if you have staff in Queensland and New South Wales and you are calculating a 10-working-day deadline, you might count a King's Birthday that does not exist in one location, throwing your entire calculation off.
Bank Holiday – Often Not a General Public Holiday
This is the one that confuses legal teams and finance departments.
"Bank Holiday" isn't a universal Australian public holiday. In some jurisdictions, it's a banking/financial sector closure day rather than a general public holiday for everyone.
For example, New South Wales treats the Bank Holiday as a day for banks and financial institutions, not a declared public holiday for all employees. ACT guidance also makes clear it doesn't apply to everyone. South Australia uses a Bank Holiday in early August, but whether it's a full public holiday or industry-specific depends on how it's gazetted for that year.
The distinction matters for settlement dates, financial deadlines, and whether employees actually get the day off.
If you're calculating a deadline for a financial transaction that spans a Bank Holiday weekend, you need to know which state rules apply.
Other State-Specific Holidays
Beyond the national holidays and the King's Birthday divergence, each state adds its own. Some are well-known; others catch interstate employers off guard.
Australian Capital Territory — Reconciliation Day (Monday on or after May 27) and Canberra Day (March). Clean and predictable—the ACT has the simplest additional calendar of any jurisdiction.
South Australia — Adelaide Cup Day (a Monday in March) and Proclamation Day (December 26, replacing what other states call Boxing Day). SA also has part-day public holidays on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve from 7pm—see our part-day holidays article.
Tasmania — Royal Hobart Regatta (February, southern Tasmania only) and Recreation Day (November, northern Tasmania only). Tasmania is the only state where the north and south have completely different additional holidays.
Northern Territory — May Day (first Monday in May) and Picnic Day (first Monday in August), plus show days for Darwin, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, and Borroloola. The NT has more gazetted show days per capita than any other jurisdiction.
Western Australia — Western Australia Day (first Monday in June). WA has the fewest additional holidays of any state, but the gazetted King's Birthday date—which can fall anywhere in late September or early October—is the one that catches interstate planners.
New South Wales — Labour Day (October), King's Birthday (June), plus regional show days in some areas and a Bank Holiday that is not a general public holiday (see above).
Victoria — Labour Day (March), King's Birthday (June), Melbourne Cup Day (statewide default, but dozens of regional councils substitute their own local show day instead—see our Melbourne Cup article).
Queensland — Labour Day (May), King's Birthday (October), and the most extensive regional show day system in the country. Brisbane gets the Ekka in August; travel north or south and you hit a different show day in almost every region.
Cross-Border Deadline Risks
Here's where state differences create real problems:
Scenario 1: Contract Governed by One State, Performance in Another
You sign a contract governed by New South Wales law, but the work is performed in Queensland. A deadline says "10 working days from notice." NSW doesn't have an extra public holiday in that period, but Queensland does (King's Birthday is in October there, not June). Which holiday applies? The answer depends on the contract language and the courts' interpretation—and you shouldn't rely on uncertainty.
Scenario 2: Federal Court Deadlines
Federal institutions typically follow the holiday calendar for the registry or place of work. That still means you need the relevant state or territory calendar rather than assuming a single "federal" list.
Scenario 3: Employment Law
Employment law follows where the employee works, not where the employer is headquartered. If an employee works in South Australia and is given 2 weeks' notice, Adelaide Cup Day in March counts as a non-working day even if the employer is based in NSW and Adelaide Cup doesn't exist there.
Multi-State Employers
If you're a national employer with staff across multiple states, you need multiple public holiday calendars:
- Don't assume a state-specific holiday is known across the organisation
- When communicating deadlines, specify the location those deadlines apply to
- Payroll systems need to track holidays by employee location, not headquarters location
- When calculating notice periods or contract timelines, confirm which state's holidays apply
FAQ
Q: Why is King's Birthday on different dates in different states? A: States choose their own dates. Queensland and Western Australia moved theirs to avoid clashing with school holidays and other events. There's no requirement for uniformity across Australia.
Q: Is Easter Tuesday a public holiday? A: Easter Tuesday is a restricted public holiday in Tasmania, applying only to public service workers and some award-covered employees. It does not apply universally to all Tasmanian workers. Most private sector workers in Tasmania do not get Easter Tuesday off. Everywhere else in Australia, Easter Saturday is the public holiday (not Easter Tuesday).
Q: Do federal employees get state public holidays? A: Sometimes. Federal public servants get federal public holidays plus some state holidays depending on where they're based. It's complex—check the relevant enterprise agreement or APS conditions of service.
Q: If I'm in NSW but my counterparty is in Queensland, which public holidays apply to a contract deadline? A: That depends on the contract. If it specifies "Queensland law applies," use Queensland holidays. If it says "NSW law," use NSW holidays. If it's ambiguous, get legal advice—don't guess.
