Australia Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what time it is in Australia right now. Australia is wide enough that there is no single answer, and in summer it gets more tangled still. The clock at the top of this page shows Australian Eastern Standard Time, AEST, the time kept in Brisbane and the rest of Queensland, over on the populous east coast. It ticks forward every second.

But the east coast is only part of the story, and in the warmer months the country splits into more zones than it has in winter. So this page lays out all of Australia's zones and how they shift across the year, with the steady Brisbane clock above as the point to read from.

The time zones of Australia

Australia has three main time zones in winter. Starting on the west coast and moving east, here they are. The summer column is where it gets interesting, because some areas spring forward and some do not.

The eastern zone is where most Australians live, strung along the seaboard from Brisbane through Sydney to Melbourne. Note that the central zone runs on a half hour, UTC plus 9:30, one of the few in the world that does.

Reading the other Australian zones off the clock

The clock above is on AEST, the Brisbane time that stays fixed all year. In winter the whole east coast matches it, but in summer the southern states jump ahead, so the gaps shift. Here is how the others compare, assuming the clock reads 12 noon in Brisbane.

Brisbane makes a handy anchor precisely because Queensland does not change its clocks, so the Brisbane time on this page holds steady while the daylight saving states move around it.

Daylight saving in Australia, and the summer split

Here is the southern hemisphere twist. Because Australia sits below the equator, its summer falls at the other end of the year from Europe and North America, so daylight saving runs roughly October to April, the reverse of the northern pattern. It starts on the first Sunday of October and ends on the first Sunday of April.

And it is not nationwide. New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, Tasmania, and South Australia observe it and spring forward each summer. Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory do not, and stay on standard time all year. That is why the country runs on three zones in winter but five in summer, as the observing states peel off onto their own daylight times. Daylight saving in Australia is set by each state and territory rather than nationally.

Australian cities by zone

If you want a live clock for one particular Australian city rather than the Brisbane clock above, here are a couple to jump to:

• Sydney time now (Eastern, on AEDT in summer)
• Perth time now (Western)

You can also read up on the eastern zone itself at AEST Time Now and the central zone at ACST Time Now.

A few quick examples

Let us run a couple, so you can see how this works.

Say the clock here reads 12 noon in Brisbane, on AEST. In the winter, Sydney and Melbourne read the same, 12 noon, while Adelaide is half an hour behind at 11:30, and Perth is two hours behind at 10 in the morning.

Now the summer. Sydney and Melbourne spring forward to AEDT, so they are now an hour ahead of Brisbane, reading 1 in the afternoon while Brisbane still says 12 noon. Adelaide flips from half an hour behind to half an hour ahead. Perth and Darwin, which do not change, stay exactly where they were. So the same noon in Brisbane lands differently across the country depending on the season, which is exactly why a remembered offset can let you down here.

Questions people ask

What time is it in Australia right now?

There is no single Australian time, because the country spans several zones. The clock near the top of this page shows Australian Eastern Standard Time, kept in Brisbane on the east coast where most people live. To get another part of the country, use the table above, or open one of the city clocks lower down.

How many time zones does Australia have?

Three in winter: Western, Central, and Eastern. In summer it becomes five, because the states that observe daylight saving move onto their own daylight times while the others stay put.

What time zone is the clock on this page showing?

Australian Eastern Standard Time, the zone of Brisbane and Queensland. Queensland does not change its clocks, so this is a steady year-round reference, and the other zones can be read off it from the table above.

Why does Australia have five time zones in summer?

Because daylight saving is observed in some places and not others. When New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, Tasmania, and South Australia spring forward, they split off from Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory, which stay on standard time. The three winter zones become five.

Does all of Australia observe daylight saving?

No. New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, Tasmania, and South Australia do, from October to April. Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory do not, and keep a fixed offset all year.

What is the time difference between Sydney and Perth?

Two hours in the Australian winter, when both are on standard time. In summer Sydney springs forward and Perth does not, so the gap widens to three hours.

What is the IANA name for the zone shown here?

It is Australia/Brisbane in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. Brisbane holds a fixed UTC plus 10, and it is what drives the live clock on this page. Cities that change their clocks use identifiers like Australia/Sydney and Australia/Adelaide.

References

1. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Time Zone Database (the tz database), home of the Australia/Brisbane, Australia/Sydney, and Australia/Adelaide identifiers. https://www.iana.org/time-zones
2. National Measurement Institute (NMI), Department of Industry, Science and Resources, which maintains UTC(AUS), the legal standard for time in Australia under the National Measurement Act 1960. https://www.industry.gov.au/national-measurement-institute/nmi-services/physical-measurement-services/time-and-frequency-services
3. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Time Department, which maintains Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the reference Australian time is set against. https://www.bipm.org/en/work-programme/time