Australia day

How it works

The date marks 26 January 1788, when the First Fleet under Governor Arthur Phillip raised a British flag at Sydney Cove in the colony that became New South Wales. The civil holiday is the anniversary of that landing as Australia’s national day. Citizenship ceremonies are commonly held. Parades, concerts, and barbecues are local extras. The public holiday is the legal fact: offices, banks, and many shops follow the state or territory gazette for that Monday or Tuesday, not a mood on social media.

From Thursday, 3 September 2026, Australia Day 2026 is behind you. Count one hundred and forty-five days to Tuesday, 26 January 2027. The date does not slide to a convenient Friday. When 26 January falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, Australian jurisdictions still treat the 26th as Australia Day and typically give the public holiday on the Monday after. In 2025 the 26th was a Sunday and the weekday off was Monday 27 January. In 2026 the 26th was already a Monday, so the date and the day off were the same square. In 2027 the 26th is a Tuesday; expect the holiday on that Tuesday unless a later gazette says otherwise.

A national day with more than one name

Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and many others, call 26 January Invasion Day or Survival Day. The 1938 Day of Mourning in Sydney, on the 150th anniversary, is part of that record. The argument is about what the landing began: a nation for settlers, and dispossession for the people already there. A holiday page that pretends the second name does not exist is not describing the day as it is kept. A holiday page that pretends the public holiday does not exist is not describing the gazette.

Civil date: 26 January every year. Next date from 3 September 2026: Tuesday, 26 January 2027 (145 days). Public holiday: nationwide, with weekend substitution to Monday when the 26th is a weekend. Other names in public use: Invasion Day, Survival Day.

Not a United States federal holiday, and not ANZAC Day on 25 April. ANZAC Day is 25 April. It is a different national date with a dawn service, not a substitute Australia Day. Waitangi Day in New Zealand is 6 February. It is not this landing. If you are outside Australia, 26 January is an ordinary workday unless your own employer added it. The barbecue in another hemisphere does not close a U.S. bank.

A national day that needs a second name is still the same date. The argument is the point, not a filing error.

How to read the next square

If you need a closed counter, read the state or territory list for 2027, then the hours of the shop in front of you. A surf club breakfast is not a statute. If you need a ceremony, read the council’s citizenship timetable for that 26 January. If you need to stand with Invasion Day or Survival Day events, those gatherings publish their own routes and times. They do not move the numeral off the 26th. They contest what the numeral is for.

Australia has several time zones. The holiday begins at local midnight in each zone. When it is already Australia Day morning in Sydney, it can still be 25 January in much of the Americas. The date did not travel. The offset did.