Australian Holidays Throughout the Year

Australia is an extremely diverse multi cultural country. Easter is a public holiday and is part of the Australian national holidays calendar (although the date of Good Friday through to Easter Sunday changes each year), but it is celebrated to varying degrees depending on cultural background and religious beliefs. Many Australians have modified the 'Easter Bunny' concept to a more uniquely Australian 'Easter Bilby' (a small Australian native animal), and in recognition of the fact the rabbit is an introduced pest which has caused extensive damage to the landscape and environment.

Many Australians have time off work and school over the summer period. In Australia, lots of workplaces shut down a few days before Christmas and often don't reopen until after the New Year. There are a few Australian national holidays which fall in this period: Christmas Day (learn more about Christmas in Australia), Boxing Day (December 26th) and New Year's Day. Schools generally close in the week before Christmas, and reopen in the last few days of January. Students have about five to six weeks off school, and the end of the school year coincides with the end of the calendar year.

Sport forms an important part of Australian culture and traditions. During the Australian holidays period from Christmas to New Year time sees many Australians indulging in their love of sport - either actively or passively. The Boxing Day cricket test match is a huge draw card, and the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, which also starts on Boxing Day, sees yachts large and small sailing down the eastern coastline from Sydney to Hobart, the capital of the state of Tasmania.

Later in the month of January, there is also the Australian Open tennis tournament to look forward to.

Labour Day celebrates the concept of the eight hours work day. It is held on different days in different states, in recognition of the fact that each state achieved 'eight hours of work' at different times. In Victoria, for example, Labour Day is in March. Labour Day is an Australian national holiday in the sense that everyone has a public holiday at some point during the year, although it is not on the same day for all states and territories.

ANZAC stands for 'Australia and New Zealand Army Corp'. Anzac Day is held in memory of the first military action during World War of one of the combined Australian and New Zealand military forces. The legend of the Anzac was made on April 25th in 1915, when a determined fighting force of Australians and New Zealanders attempted to take and hold the Gallipoli Peninsula, in an attempt to knock Turkey out of the war. Their endeavors ultimately failed, and many thousands of brave young lives were lost in the months following the Gallipoli landing. But a legend was born, and Anzac day has come to mean a celebration of all those who gave their lives in service during wartime.

I'm afraid Halloween in the form known in the USA has not made it to Australia and is not part of Australian culture and traditions, so it is not one of the important Australian national holidays! Some determined children spend the early evening knocking on doors and begging lollies from neighbors, but it is not a commonly held celebration. Australians know of Halloween, and those with young children may allow them to dress up and visit people in the neighborhood, but many let the day pass unrecognized.