Australia does not have one public-holiday calendar for every working-day calculation. States and territories observe some shared occasions on different dates and add their own holidays. Regional, part-day and restricted holidays create further differences within a jurisdiction.
The applicable calendar comes from the source governing the period. A contract may name a place or define "business day" by reference to a particular office. For National Employment Standards entitlements, the Fair Work Ombudsman uses the place where the employee is based for work.
Eight occasions appear in every jurisdiction
All states and territories observe these occasions:
- New Year's Day;
- Australia Day;
- Good Friday;
- Easter Monday;
- Anzac Day;
- King's Birthday;
- Christmas Day; and
- the 26 December holiday, called Proclamation Day in South Australia and Boxing Day elsewhere.
The dates and weekend treatment can still differ. In 2026, King's Birthday is 8 June in most jurisdictions, 28 September in most of Western Australia and 5 October in Queensland. Karratha and Port Hedland observe the WA holiday on 3 August instead of 28 September.
Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December 2026. Every general state and territory profile has a weekday holiday on Monday 28 December. Some jurisdictions retain 26 December as an additional public holiday; Tasmania uses the Monday replacement only.
The main differences in 2026
This table identifies dates and categories that distinguish the general calendars. It is not a complete annual holiday list.
| Jurisdiction | Examples that distinguish its calendar | Local, restricted or part-day point |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Additional Anzac holiday on 27 April; King's Birthday on 8 June | The August Bank Holiday closes retail bank branches and certain financial institutions but is not a declared public holiday; local public holidays and Local Event Days are different categories |
| Victoria | Labour Day on 9 March; Melbourne Cup Day is the statewide default on 3 November | Non-metropolitan areas can use an annual local alternative instead of Melbourne Cup Day |
| Queensland | Labour Day on 4 May; King's Birthday on 5 October | Show holidays are appointed for named districts and dates |
| Western Australia | Easter Sunday but no Easter Saturday; general King's Birthday on 28 September | Karratha and Port Hedland use 3 August instead of the general King's Birthday date |
| South Australia | Adelaide Cup Day on 9 March; Proclamation Day naming for 26 December | Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are part-day holidays from 7pm to midnight |
| Tasmania | No general Easter Saturday or Easter Sunday holiday | Regional profiles differ, and Easter Tuesday generally applies only to the Tasmanian Public Service |
| Northern Territory | May Day on 4 May and Picnic Day on 3 August | Five regional show-day calendars and two evening part-day holidays apply |
| Australian Capital Territory | Canberra Day on 9 March and Reconciliation Day on 1 June | The August Bank Holiday does not apply to everyone |
The calculator's general profiles contain full-day holidays for the selected state or territory. Supported regional dates require a more specific profile. Part-day, sector-specific and restricted holidays are not converted into whole-day closures.
NSW and Queensland differ in the same June calculation
Start on Wednesday 3 June 2026 and add five working days. Exclude the start date and use an ordinary Monday-to-Friday week.
New South Wales observes King's Birthday on Monday 8 June:
| Count | Date | NSW treatment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thu 4 Jun | Working day |
| 2 | Fri 5 Jun | Working day |
| - | Sat 6-Sun 7 Jun | Weekend |
| - | Mon 8 Jun | King's Birthday; excluded |
| 3-5 | Tue 9-Thu 11 Jun | Working days |
The NSW result is Thursday 11 June 2026.
Queensland does not observe King's Birthday in June. Monday 8 June is working day 3, so the Queensland result is Wednesday 10 June 2026. Queensland's King's Birthday is on 5 October that year.
Select NSW under State or Territory for the first calculation, then change it to QLD without changing the dates, period or boundaries. The one-day difference comes from the selected holiday calendar.
A contract may use a place other than its governing law
A governing-law clause identifies the legal system that applies to a contract. It may not identify the holidays excluded from a particular period. The business-day definition or operative clause may instead refer to:
- the place where an act must be done;
- a named office or registry;
- a specified state or territory;
- days on which banks are open in a place;
- an exchange, market or institution; or
- its own list of excluded dates.
A payment date, notice period and filing date can also use different definitions in the same contract. The relevant clause supplies the calendar for each calculation.
Employment uses the employee's work base
The Fair Work Ombudsman says an employee is entitled to the public holidays that apply where they are based for work, not where they happen to be working on the day. That place is not automatically the employer's head office.
After the holiday has been established, an award, enterprise agreement, ordinary hours or agreed substitute day may affect pay and attendance. Those employment questions are separate from selecting the calendar date.
Local and limited holidays need separate treatment
Statewide full-day holidays form the general calculator profiles. Regional or local holidays apply only within their declared boundaries. Queensland and the Northern Territory publish show-day districts, Victoria publishes annual local alternatives to Melbourne Cup Day, and Tasmania has regional dates. Where supported, select the applicable Local Holiday Area as well as the state or territory.
Part-day and restricted holidays cannot be treated as ordinary whole-day exclusions. South Australia and the Northern Territory have evening holidays on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Tasmania's Easter Tuesday generally applies only to the Tasmanian Public Service.
Bank-holiday wording also needs its own source. NSW says the first Monday in August is a closure requirement for retail bank branches and certain financial institutions, unless exempt, but is not a declared public holiday. The ACT's Holidays Act provides an August Bank Holiday, while the ACT Government states that it does not apply to everyone and refers users to their award or enterprise agreement.
NSW also distinguishes a declared local public holiday from a Local Event Day. The latter is not a public holiday for work purposes, even where its name contains "show" or "cup".
Match the calculator profile to the source
For an ordinary period, select the required State or Territory, add a supported Local Holiday Area where applicable, and leave Calendar days off when the period uses the selected working-day calendar. The result lists the full-day holidays excluded from the count.
Use Court Rules or the SOPA (Construction) industry preset only where the governing rule matches a supported profile. Court, registry and statutory schemes can define their own days and closures rather than using the general state calendar alone.
Annual local lists can change after calculator data is stored. Business Victoria added six entries to its 2026 non-metropolitan list on 3 August, for example. The calculator was updated on 4 August using that page and the underlying Government Gazette declarations. Recheck the official sources for the year you are counting, because a council can publish an alternative at any point and the summary page may omit a declaration. The regional show-day guide explains regional coverage and the affected Victorian areas.
Sources and verification
Sources checked on 4 August 2026:
- NSW Government: NSW public holidays — statewide and local categories, the August bank-closure rule and the 2026 additional Anzac holiday.
- Business Victoria: Victorian public holidays 2026 — statewide dates and the Melbourne Cup alternative-locality note.
- Business Victoria: Victorian non-metropolitan public holidays 2026 — the 11 rows in the list updated on 3 August 2026.
- Victoria Government Gazette G24, 11 June 2026 — the declarations used to complete and separate the Victorian locality profiles.
- Queensland Government: Public holidays — Queensland's statewide 2026 dates.
- Queensland Government: Show holiday dates — annual district-specific show holidays.
- Western Australian Government: Public holidays in Western Australia — statewide dates, substitute rules and regional King's Birthday alternatives.
- SafeWork SA: Public holidays — statewide and part-day South Australian dates.
- Tasmanian Legislation: Statutory Holidays Act 2000, ss 4-6 and Schedules 1-2 — general holidays, local holidays and the restricted Easter Tuesday entitlement.
- Northern Territory Government: NT public and regional holidays — Territory-wide, regional and part-day dates.
- ACT Government: Public holidays — ACT dates and the August Bank Holiday limitation.
- Fair Work Ombudsman: Public holidays — the employee work-base rule and the separation of public-holiday dates from workplace entitlements.
