Australia Day: A Quick Look at How Long It’s Been an Official Public Holiday

Hey there, everyone! I’m your go-to public holiday assistant. A while back, one of you lovely folks hit me up asking about how long Australia Day has been a public holiday. I figured it was worth breaking down properly, since there’s actually a lot more to that question than just a simple number. So grab a cuppa (or an iced coffee, depending on where you are) and let’s dig into it.

So here’s the deal — Australia Day has a history that’s a lot more recent than most people think. The day itself marks January 26, which is the anniversary of the First Fleet landing at Port Jackson (now Sydney Cove) back in 1788. But the idea of celebrating that day as a holiday? That didn’t really start for decades. The first official “Anniversary Day” or “Foundation Day” (as they called it back then) was actually celebrated in New South Wales in 1818, on the 30th anniversary of the First Fleet’s arrival. So if you’re counting from that very first celebration, we’re looking at over 200 years. But here’s the catch — that was only in New South Wales, and it wasn’t even an official public holiday in the modern sense. It was more of a one-off commemoration, not something locked into the calendar every year.

Fast forward to 1838, and New South Wales made it a proper annual celebration. Other colonies started to hop on board, but they all had their own names for it, and they didn’t always pick the same date. It wasn’t until 1935 that all states and territories agreed to call it “Australia Day” officially. But even then, it still wasn’t a national public holiday. The real turning point came in 1946, when the Commonwealth government decided to make it a national public holiday — but here’s the funky part — it was observed on the Monday nearest to January 26, not on the actual date itself. So the number of years it’s been a *national* public holiday is around 79 years as of 2025. But if you’re asking how long it’s been celebrated *on January 26 itself* as a unified national holiday, that’s much more recent: 1994. That’s just over 30 years ago. All the states and territories finally got together and agreed to drop the “nearest Monday” thing and just make January 26 the actual holiday, no exceptions.

Questions related to how long Australia Day has been a public holiday

One thing people always ask is whether Australia Day is the oldest public holiday in the country. It’s actually not, believe it or not. The very first official public holiday in Australia was actually celebrated in Tasmania (then Van Diemen’s Land) in 1834, and it was a day of “thanksgiving” for the end of martial law. So Australia Day doesn’t hold that crown. But it’s still one of the longest-running annual commemorations, just with a twisted and bumpy road to becoming what it is today.

Another big question is why some folks don’t celebrate it, and that ties into the same history. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, January 26 is known as “Invasion Day” or “Survival Day,” because it marks the beginning of British colonization and a whole lot of pain that came with it. That’s why in recent years there’s been a huge push to change the date — not because the holiday is too old, but because it celebrates something that not everyone sees as worth throwing a party over. In fact, some councils and local governments have already moved their official celebrations to a different date, and the debate over whether to keep January 26 as the national holiday is one of the most heated conversations happening down under right now.

People also get confused about the difference between a “commemoration” and a “public holiday” when it comes to Australia Day. A commemoration is just a ceremony or a moment of reflection, while a public holiday means everything shuts down — no mail, no banks, most stores closed (although big shops and tourist spots usually stay open). Australia Day did become a public holiday in all states and territories progressively before 1994, but the exact timing differed. For example, South Australia actually used to celebrate something called “Proclamation Day” on December 28 instead of January 26, and they only fully switched to observing Australia Day on January 26 much later. So the answer to “how long” really depends on which state you’re talking about and whether you’re counting the official national status or just local celebrations.

There’s also the question of public holiday pay and entitlements. Since it became a national public holiday in 1946, Aussie workers have gotten the day off with pay (or penalty rates if they have to work). That’s a big deal in a country that loves its work-life balance. These days, just about everything the average person associates with Australia Day — the BBQ, the beach, the cricket, the fireworks, the citizenship ceremonies — all became linked to the holiday over the decades. In fact, citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day only became a big tradition in the mid-20th century, and today it’s the largest annual citizenship ceremony event in the country. So the holiday has grown from a simple historical marker into a full-blown cultural event, even as the debates around it get louder.

At the end of the day, if you want a simple answer: Australia Day has been an official national public holiday since 1946, which makes it about 79 years old as a national holiday. But if you’re asking about the day actually being on January 26 for the entire country, that’s only been the case since 1994. And if you’re asking about the very first celebrations of the date at all, that goes back to 1818. So it’s not a one-size-fits-all answer — but hopefully this clears up the timeline for you.

public holiday calendar.COM — thanks for sticking with me through this one! I hope this article helps you get a solid handle on how long Australia Day has been a public holiday. If you’ve got more questions about holidays, dates, or the history behind them, don’t be shy — hit us up and I’ll do my best to break it down for you. Catch you in the next one!