Australia’s Time Zones
Australia has multiple time zones. Some of them are half-hour and quarter-hour time zones. Not all states and territories use Daylight Saving Time (DST).
Australia has several different time zones, and not all states and territories use DST.
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UTC Offsets
Time zones are defined by their offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Australia’s offsets range from UTC+8 to UTC+11. Some of them are half-hour and quarter-hour time zones.
Standard Time Zones
Australia has 5 standard time zones:
- UTC+8:00: Australian Western Standard Time (AWST)
- UTC+8:45: Australian Central Western Standard Time (ACWST)
- UTC+9:30: Australian Central Standard Time (ACST)
- UTC+10:00: Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)
- UTC+10:30: Lord Howe Standard Time (LHST)
Locations with Separate Times
Broken Hill is in New South Wales, but uses Australian Central Standard Time (ACST) which is 30 minutes behind the rest of the state.
Eucla in Western Australia is 45 minutes ahead of the rest of the state. It has its own time zone called Australian Central Western Standard Time (ACWST).
DST in Australia
Not all states and territories in Australia use Daylight Saving Time (DST). The states that use DST are the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria.
Western Australia, Queensland, Northern Territory, and Eucla don’t use DST.
DST October to April
DST starts at 02:00 (2 am) on first Sunday of October, when the clocks move forward by 1 hour to 03:00 (3 am) local time. DST ends at 03:00 (3 am) when the clocks move back to 02:00 (2 am) local time on the first Sunday of April.
During DST, time zones have a different UTC-offset and time zone name. In Australia these are:
- UTC+10:30: Australian Central Daylight Time (ACDT)
- UTC+11:00: Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT)
- UTC+11:00: Lord Howe Daylight Time (LHDT)
Australia Overseas
The Australian dependencies Cocos Islands, Norfolk Island, and Christmas Island all have their own time zones, and do not observe DST.
Macquarie Island has no permanent population and its time zone can vary. Australian Antarctic stations Casey and Davis adjust their time zones to the needs of the personnel on the stations.
