ACST Definition

In Australia, the keeping of standard time is divided into three time zones: Australian Eastern Standard Time EST/AEST (UTC+10), Australian Central Standard Time CST/ACST (UTC+9:30) and Australian Western Standard Time WST/AWST (UTC+8). There are also some areas using a time unofficially known as Australian Western Central Standard Time (UTC+8:45).

Time Zones

The standardisation of time in Australia began in 1892, when surveyors from the Australian colonies gathered in Melbourne for the Intercolonial Conference of Surveyors. The delegates accepted the recommendation of the 1884 International Meridian Conference to adopt Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as the basis for standard time, and in line with common practice in other parts of the world, devised a system of time zones with offsets in multiples of one hour from GMT. In the years that followed, the colonies enacted legislation to this effect, with Western Australia leading GMT by 8 hours, South Australia by 9 hours, and Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania leading by 10 hours. The three time zones became known as Western, Central and Eastern Standard Time.

In 1898, South Australia moved its standard time to GMT+9:30. This non-integer offset has at times been subject to criticism, with unsuccessful proposals in 1986 and 1994 to adopt GMT+10 or revert to GMT+9 in South Australia.

Since that time, the only major change has been the adoption of Central Standard Time in Broken Hill, New South Wales, and the use of GMT+10:30 on Lord Howe Island.

The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory maintained the standard time zones of their parent states (New South Wales and South Australia) when they separated from them in 1910 and 1911.

Anomalies

The town of Broken Hill, in far-western New South Wales, follows South Australian time.

Some towns on the Eyre Highway in the south-east corner of Western Australia do not follow official Western Australian time. Instead, they use what is unofficially known as Western Central Standard Time, which is halfway between Western and Central time - UTC+8:45. Towns following this zone include Caiguna, Madura, Mundrabilla, Eucla and Border Village in South Australia.

The Indian Pacific train has its own time zone - a so-called "train time" when traveling between Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta which was UTC+9 hours during November 2005 when daylight saving was observed in the east. This is because of the 2 1/2 hour difference in times between South Australia and Western Australia.

Daylight Saving

Only the states and territories in the south east of the country (South Australia, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania) observe daylight saving time. This has resulted in three time zones becoming five for half the year. South Australia follows Australian Central Daylight Time (ACDT, UTC+10:30) and the south eastern states follow Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT, UTC+11).

Of the states that observe daylight saving, most begin on the last Sunday in October at 2:00 am local standard time, and end on the last Sunday in March at 3:00 am local daylight saving time. An exception to this is the island state of Tasmania, which (due to its southern latitude) begins daylight saving earlier, on the first Sunday in October at 2:00 am local standard time.

Debate over daylight saving

Public opinion of daylight saving in Queensland is divided. The Queensland-New South Wales border area is heavily populated and as a result businesses are inconvenienced by the difference in time. Generally, the urban south east corner would prefer daylight saving, and the rural towns and farming regions elsewhere are against it. There are currently two online petitions on the Queensland Government website about daylight saving. One supports its introduction and one advocates maintaining the status quo.

Western Australia has also had much debate over daylight saving, with the issue being put to referendum three times in 1975, 1984 and 1992, being defeated all three times. Daylight saving has been trialled in the state on various occasions.

Special events

In 2000, all states that normally observe Eastern Daylight Time over summer — New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania — started daylight saving early, due to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. These states changed on the 27 August 2000. South Australia did not change until the regular time, which that year was on the 29 October 2000.

In 2006, all states that followed daylight saving time (the above listed states plus South Australia) delayed the return to their respective Standard Times by a week, due to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Daylight saving ended on 2 April 2006.

Accuracy and Standards

References

• The Australian National Time System National Standards Commission Leaflet No. 8, January 2003. Linked via Wayback machine
• NSW Legislative Council Hansard, 2 March 2005
• Daylight Saving Petitions
• Daylight Saving Time History of daylight saving time implementation dates at the Bureau of Meteorology website.

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