Although they are declared on a state and territory basis, they comprise a mixture of nationally celebrated days and holidays exclusive to the individual jurisdictions.
[1] Where they fall on a weekend, public holidays are generally declared in lieu for the following Monday.
Statutory holidays in Australia are based on varying religious, cultural and civic observations.
When a public holiday occurs on a Friday or Monday, the three-day period is colloquially known as a "long weekend".
For example, businesses that normally open on a public holiday may request employees to work on that day.
Prior to 2008, Victorian law only specified substitute holidays for New Year and Boxing Day, and only if they fell on a Sunday.
State Acts do not give a provision to separate the days when this occurs, so no additional public holiday is given by law.
[34] 26 January was chosen because it is the day of the establishment of the first British settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip in 1788.
[36] Since 1960, the winner of the Australian of the Year award is announced by the Prime Minister on the eve of Australia Day (25 Jan).
However, the states where that day is a public holiday use different terminology – it is officially gazetted as "Easter Saturday" in the ACT, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and South Australia,[5][6][7][2] as "the day after Good Friday" in Queensland,[8] and as "Saturday before Easter Sunday" in Victoria.
The tradition began to remember the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers who landed at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. ANZAC Day commemoration features marches by veterans and by solemn "Dawn Services", a tradition started in Albany, Western Australia on 25 April 1923 and now held at war memorials around the country, accompanied by thoughts of those lost at war to the ceremonial sounds of The Last Post on the bugle.
In all states and territories except Queensland[4] and Western Australia, the King's Birthday is observed on the second Monday in June.
[4] The day has been celebrated since 1788, when Governor Arthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark the birthday of King George III.
Until 1936 it was held on the actual birthday of the Monarch, but after the death of King George V, it was decided to keep the date at mid-year.
The King's Birthday weekend and Empire Day, 24 May, were long the traditional times for public fireworks displays in Australia.
The minister of the state may proclaim and adjustments or additions, such as the date of the Brisbane Ekka Show day holiday.
[45] Public holidays generally follow the national pattern, but special cases are resolved by the State Government and advised by proclamation.
Victorian employees fall under the Workchoices system either as coming within the Commonwealth constitutional power (called "constitutional corporation employees") or because of Victoria's referral of its legislative powers to the Commonwealth for particular workplace relations matters.
Employee entitlements to public holidays and additional pay depend on whether they are covered by a federal award or agreement.
Many federal awards and agreements also provide for additional penalty rates for work performed on a public holiday.
[48] In August 2015, the day before the AFL Grand Final, as well as Easter Sunday, were gazetted as Public Holidays within Victoria.
[51] Easter Tuesday was observed as a Bank Holiday in Victoria until 1994 (also abolished by the state government).