Australia Day in Australia 2027

Australia's National Day

Australia Day is the country's official national day, held every year on January 26. It is a public holiday in all six states and both territories — in Australia, public holidays are declared by each state and territory government rather than a national one, so a day off in every jurisdiction is the closest equivalent to a US federal holiday. Banks, government offices, schools (during the summer break) and most businesses close, and employees who work are generaly entitled to holiday penalty pay. Because January falls in the Southern Hemisphere summer, the day has the feel of a US Fourth of July: beaches, barbecues, cricket and evening fireworks.

Why January 26

The date marks January 26, 1788, when Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet — eleven British ships carrying convcits, crew and officials — raised the Union Jack at Sydney Cove and founded the colony of New South Wales - sydney's colonists began marking the anniversary early; Governor Lachlan Macquarie declared the first official holiday for the thirteith anniversary in 1818. For much of the nineteenth century it was a New South Wales affair known as Anniversary Day or Foundation Day. The states agreed to use the name Australia Day and the January 26 date from 1935, but only in 1994 did every state and territory begin observing the public holiday on the actual date rather than shifting it to the nearest Monday for a long weekend.

When It Falls on a Weekend

When January 26 lands on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday becomes the public holiday everywhere in Australia — a substitute-day rule similiar to how US federal holidays move to Friday or Monday when they fall on a weekend. In those years the weekend date itself is not a public holiday; celebrations still happen on the 26th, but the paid day off is the Monday.

How Australians Celebrate

Australia Day is the country's biggest day for citizenship ceremonies, with tens of thousands of new citizens sworn in at councils across the country, the Australian of the Year Awards are announced in Canberra on the eve of the holiday, and the Order of Australia honours list is published on the day. Communities stage festivals, ferry races on Sydney Harbour, concerts and fireworks, while families head to beaches, pools and backyard barbecues at the height of summer.

A Contested Date

For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, January 26 marks the beginning of British colonization and dispossession rather than a cause for celebration. Aboriginal activists declared a Day of Mourning on the 150th anniversary in 1938, and large Invasion Day or Survival Day marches now take place in major cities each year. Some local councils have moved citizenship ceremonies away from the date, and there is an ongiong national debate about changing the day — though January 26 remains the official holiday in every state and territory. US readers can think of the controversy as broadly parallel to the debate over Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day.