Public holidays in Rhodesia

[n 1] Annual holidays marked various aspects of the arrival of white people during the 1880s and 1890s, as well as the respective unilateral declarations of independence (1965) and of republican government (1970).

A number of Christian holidays were also observed according to custom, in the traditional British manner, and referred to in official documents by name—Christmas Day, for example, or Easter Monday.

[1] Rhodesian non-work days were first defined in 1895, by The Bills of Exchange Regulations passed by Leander Starr Jameson, the second administrator of the territory appointed by the British South Africa Company.

Occupation Day, held on 12 September each year, marked the anniversary of the arrival of the Pioneer Column at Fort Salisbury in 1890, and their raising of the Union Jack on the kopje overlooking the site.

[1] The penultimate Monday in October was designated Republic Day in 1970 following the adoption of a republican system of government.

The Union Jack is raised atop a hill by a man in military uniform. Officers and men in the same uniform stand to attention. Covered wagons and makeshift buildings can be seen in the background.
Lieutenant Edward Tyndale-Biscoe hoists the Union Jack on the kopje overlooking Fort Salisbury on the morning of 13 September 1890. The day of the column's arrival, 12 September, was a national holiday between 1920 and 1979.