South Australia's public holidays

Download the 2020-2022 public holiday dates

Public and bank holidays in South Australia are prescribed by the Holidays Act 1910.

Sundays

The Holidays Act 1910 (SA) prescribes every Sunday to be a public holiday.

• When New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Anzac Day and Christmas Day fall on a Sunday there is an additional public holiday on the following Monday.
• When 26 December falls on a Sunday the additional Boxing Day/Proclamation Day public holiday is observed on the following Tuesday (due to the Christmas Day public holiday occupying the Monday).
  • The Sunday is still deemed to be a public holiday in these instances by virtue of all Sundays being prescribed as a public holiday.
• For industrial purposes, the Sunday provisions contained in an Award or Enterprise Agreement will generally prevail over the public holiday provisions unless stated otherwise (eg some Awards and Agreements contain special provisions for when Christmas Day falls on a weekend).

Part-day public holidays

• A person who works between the hours of 7pm and 12 midnight on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve is entitled to the public holiday rates provided by the relevant Award or Enterprise Agreement. This is still the case when those days fall on a Sunday.
• As with other public holidays for workers covered by the national workplace relations system, the Public Holidays National Employment Standard applies during the times of a part-day public holiday.

Impact on shop trading hours

• The definition of public holiday under the Shop Trading Hours Act 1977 (SA) does not include a Sunday.
• There are however certain trading restrictions applicable to Easter Sunday and when 25 December, 26 December and 1 January fall on a Saturday or Sunday in any year. Refer to Holiday trading arrangements for more details.
• The Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve part-day public holidays do not affect prescribed trading hours relevant to the day they fall in a given year.

Industrial relations

The Fair Work Ombudsman has industrial jurisdiction for the South Australian private sector workforce. Enquiries relating to rates of pay and entitlements for working on public holidays should be directed to Fair Work Ombudsman.