- ✓Australia observes seven national public holidays that apply everywhere: New Year's Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
- ✓Some are fixed calendar dates (Australia Day on 26 January, ANZAC Day on 25 April); others shift each year because they're tied to the Easter calendar.
- ✓Every state and territory adds its own extra holidays on top of the national set, often on different dates — so a single national list only tells half the story.
- ✓Melbourne Cup Day is the classic example: it's a public holiday only in Victoria, and even there, only in part of the state.
- ✓Always check the specific state calendar for your travel dates — a holiday that closes half of Melbourne might be an ordinary Tuesday in Perth.
What are Australia's national public holidays?
Seven public holidays apply Australia-wide, regardless of which state or territory you're in: New Year's Day (1 January), Australia Day (26 January), Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day (25 April), Christmas Day (25 December) and Boxing Day (26 December). Those seven are the reliable, plan-around-them constant — everything past that list is where it gets more local.
- New Year's Day — 1 January
- Australia Day — 26 January
- Good Friday — date shifts with Easter
- Easter Monday — date shifts with Easter
- ANZAC Day — 25 April
- Christmas Day — 25 December
- Boxing Day — 26 December
Which holidays have a fixed date, and which move?
New Year's Day, Australia Day, ANZAC Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day sit on the same calendar date every year, which makes them easy to plan around well in advance. Good Friday and Easter Monday are the exceptions — they're tied to the Easter calendar, which shifts from year to year, so it's worth checking the current year's dates specifically rather than assuming they'll land on the same weekend as last time.
A small extra wrinkle: when a fixed-date holiday like Australia Day or ANZAC Day falls on a weekend, some states substitute the following Monday as the observed public holiday — another detail worth a quick check for your specific travel dates rather than assuming.
Do all states observe the same extra holidays?
No — beyond the national seven, every state and territory adds its own holidays, on its own dates, and the differences are real enough to matter for trip planning. A Labour Day (sometimes called Labour Day, sometimes something else) is observed in every state, but the date varies considerably state to state rather than falling on a single national day. Other add-ons are entirely local: Victoria layers in its own extras that aren't observed anywhere else, and other states do the same with their own regional or historical dates.
The upshot: don't assume a "public holiday in Australia" list applies uniformly. Check the specific state calendar for wherever you'll actually be on your travel dates — attractions, restaurants and even some transport schedules can run on holiday hours in one state while it's a completely ordinary weekday in another.
What is Australia Day, and why is the date debated?
Australia Day falls on 26 January every year and is a fixed national public holiday marking the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove. The date is also the subject of genuine, ongoing public debate in Australia — some communities and events instead mark the day as "Invasion Day" or "Survival Day," reflecting its very different meaning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This guide isn't the place to adjudicate that debate, only to flag that it exists and that you'll likely see both framings referenced while you're here.
What about Melbourne Cup Day?
Melbourne Cup Day is the classic illustration of just how local Australian public holidays can get: it's a public holiday in Victoria — built around "the race that stops a nation," a major annual horse race held at Flemington Racecourse — but it isn't observed nationally, and even within Victoria it's only formally a holiday in part of the state rather than everywhere. If your itinerary includes Melbourne on the day itself, expect a genuinely festive, distracted city; anywhere else in the country, it'll likely be an ordinary working Tuesday.
How should this affect your travel planning?
Public holidays are worth a quick check against your itinerary for two practical reasons: some attractions, shops and services run reduced hours (or close entirely) on the day, and many restaurants and cafes add a legally required public-holiday surcharge to the bill — a real, disclosed charge rather than a tip, and worth knowing about in advance so it isn't a surprise. Booking ahead for anything time-sensitive around a public holiday (transport, popular restaurants, tours) is generally the safer move.
If your trip spans a public holiday in one state but not another, that's genuinely useful route-planning information — it's one more reason the month-by-month picture matters as much as the fixed national dates.
Public holidays, at a glance
- National set
- New Year's Day, Australia Day (26 Jan), Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day (25 Apr), Christmas Day, Boxing Day
- Dates that shift
- Good Friday and Easter Monday move each year with the Easter calendar
- State add-ons
- Each state/territory layers on its own extra holidays (Labour Day, Melbourne Cup Day, etc.) on different dates
- Melbourne Cup Day
- A public holiday in Victoria only — and only part of the state at that