Good Friday in Australia 2027

A nationwide day off, unlike in the United States

Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday, commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus and is a public holiday in all six Australian states and both territories. A public holiday is Australia's equivalent of a US federal holiday, except that it covers virtually the whole workforce: under the National Employment Standards in the federal Fair Work Act, employees have the right to be absent on a public holiday with pay, and those who do work are typically owed penalty rates — extra holiday pay. That makes Good Friday a much bigger deal than in the United States, where it is not a federal holiday and only a minoirty of states close offices, though the New York Stock Exchange does close! In Australia, essentially everyone is off, and the Australian Securities Exchange shuts as well.

Why the date moves

Good Friday follows the Western Christian calculation of Easter: Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21, so Good Friday can fall anywhere from late March to late April. It opens a four-day national long weekend that runs through Easter Monday, which is also a public holiday in every state and territory — another contrast with the US, where Easter Monday is a normal workday.

History and trading restrictions

The observance arrived with British settlement in 1788, when the colony followed the Church of England calendar and treated Good Friday and Christmas Day as the most solemn days of the year. That legacy survives in shop-trading laws: in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, Good Friday remains a restricted trading day on which most large retailers, including the major supermarket chains, must stay closed — a stritcer shutdown than Australia applies to almost any other holiday. Victoria and Tasmania restrict some liquor and gamnig trade, while the territories are more relaxed.

How Australians spend it

Churches hold services and Stations of the Cross processions, and many Australians keep the old custom of eating fish rather than meat, so fish-and-chip shops do a roaring trade - hot cross buns — spiced fruit buns marked with a cross — are the season's signature food. In Victoria, Good Friday means the Good Friday Appeal, a telethon for the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne that grew out of a fundraising carnival started by Herald newspaper staff in 1931 and now raises millions of dollars each year. In Sydney, the Royal Easter Show, the country's biggest agricultural fair, runs through the holiday. Since 2017 the Australian Football League has also played football on Good Friday, ending a long-standing informal ban.

Who observes it where

• All states and territories: full public holiday with paid leave entitlements.
• NSW, Queensland, SA, WA: most shops legally closed; essential services and small exempt stores open.
• Victoria, Tasmania, ACT, NT: holiday applies, trading rules lighter, though many businesses close anyway.

For American visitors, the practical advice is simple: treat Good Friday like Thanksgiving Day in the US — plan ahead, because the country largely stops.