South Australia
No — today is not a public holiday in South Australia.
Tuesday 8 September 2026.
South Australia runs on a Public Holidays Act only two years old, calls Boxing Day the Proclamation Day holiday, and has two part-day holidays that start at 7pm.
Monday
5October 2026
Labour Day
in 27 days- Public holidays left in 2026
- 6
- Next long weekend
- 3–5 OctoberSaturday to Monday
- Shops open today?
- YesShop Trading Hours Act 1977 (SA)
- Applies in
- All of SARegional dates not yet listed
2026 at a glance
The whole year on one screen — every public holiday, and today. This is the view worth printing, and every date in it is in the table below in words.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Every SA public holiday in 2026
The working behind the answer. Each row names the provision it comes from, and where a rule changes the date the rule is stated rather than hidden.
| Date | Holiday | Why this date |
|---|---|---|
| Thu 1 Jan | New Year's Day | Section 3(a) of the Act |
| Mon 26 Jan | Australia Day | Section 3(b) of the Act |
| Mon 9 Mar | Adelaide Cup Day | The second Monday in March — the same Monday Victoria takes as Labour Day. |
| Fri 3 Apr | Good Friday | Section 3(d) of the Act |
| Sat 4 Apr | Easter Saturday | Section 3(e) of the Act |
| Sun 5 Apr | Easter Sunday | Section 3(f) of the Act |
| Mon 6 Apr | Easter Monday | Section 3(g) of the Act |
| Sat 25 Apr | Anzac Day | Falls on a Saturday. South Australia adds nothing and moves nothing — there is no replacement day. |
| Mon 8 Jun | King's Birthday | Section 3(i) of the Act |
| Mon 5 Oct | Labour Day | Section 3(j) of the Act |
| Thu 24 Dec | Christmas Evefrom 7pm to midnight | Section 4(a) of the Act |
| Fri 25 Dec | Christmas Day | Section 3(k) of the Act |
| Sat 26 Dec | Proclamation Day holiday | South Australia's name for it. Proclamation Day itself is 28 December; the holiday is observed on the 26th. It falls on a Saturday, so the following Monday is a public holiday as well. |
| Mon 28 Dec | Additional public holiday for Proclamation Day | Section 3(3)(a) of the Act |
| Thu 31 Dec | New Year's Evefrom 7pm to midnight | Section 4(b) of the Act |
And 2027
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| Fri 1 Jan | New Year's Day |
| Tue 26 Jan | Australia Day |
| Mon 8 Mar | Adelaide Cup Day |
| Fri 26 Mar | Good Friday |
| Sat 27 Mar | Easter Saturday |
| Sun 28 Mar | Easter Sunday |
| Mon 29 Mar | Easter Monday |
| Sun 25 Apr | Anzac Day |
| Mon 14 Jun | King's Birthday |
| Mon 4 Oct | Labour Day |
| Fri 24 Dec | Christmas Evefrom 7pm to midnight |
| Sat 25 Dec | Christmas Day |
| Sun 26 Dec | Proclamation Day holiday |
| Mon 27 Dec | Additional public holiday for Christmas Day |
| Tue 28 Dec | Additional public holiday for Proclamation Day |
| Fri 31 Dec | New Year's Evefrom 7pm to midnight |
Long weekends in SA
Three days or more in a row without a working day in the middle. A holiday landing on a Saturday does not make one by itself, which is why these are measured from the gazetted dates rather than assumed. This models a standard Monday-to-Friday week, which is not everyone's. For the same question asked the other way round — who else is off that weekend — see long weekends month by month.
| Dates | Days | Because of |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 24 Jan – Mon 26 Jan | 3 | Australia Day |
| Sat 7 Mar – Mon 9 Mar | 3 | Adelaide Cup Day |
| Fri 3 Apr – Mon 6 Apr | 4 | Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday |
| Sat 6 Jun – Mon 8 Jun | 3 | King's Birthday |
| Sat 3 Oct – Mon 5 Oct | 3 | Labour Day |
| Fri 25 Dec – Mon 28 Dec | 4 | Christmas Day, Proclamation Day holiday and Additional public holiday for Proclamation Day |
Which days do SA shops have to close?
The trading list is not the holiday list
South Australia does not restrict a handful of days either. Section 6 says the Act applies only to shops inside a SHOPPING DISTRICT, and section 4 defines that as the Central Business District (CBD) Tourist Precinct, the Metropolitan Shopping District — which is the rest of the metropolitan area — or any Proclaimed Shopping District. Inside one, section 13 sets ordinary hours and then adds the sentence that matters: the shopkeeper 'is not entitled to open the shop on a day that is a public holiday'. Every public holiday, not five of them. What follows is a list of named exceptions, and they are where the real answer lives.
In SA the restricted days are every public holiday, inside a proclaimed shopping district — shorter than the holiday list above, and it does not line up with it. Whether a day is a public holiday and whether shops must shut are two separate questions with two separate Acts behind them.
Three states, three shapes, and South Australia's is the one that turns on where you are standing. New South Wales names five restricted days and exempts small shops. Victoria names two and a half. South Australia restricts EVERY public holiday but only inside a shopping district, and outside greater Adelaide that means only where a council applied for it. Western Australia restricts by class of shop rather than by day at all, and the ACT and the Northern Territory restrict nothing. A national answer to 'can shops open on a public holiday' does not exist in any useful form.
The exemptions:
- EASTER SATURDAY: a shop in the Greater Adelaide Shopping District may open until 5pm (s13(2)(a)) — which is why Easter Saturday is a public holiday in South Australia and an ordinary Saturday for shopping.
- 26 DECEMBER: a shop whose business is not wholly or predominantly foodstuffs may open 9am to 5pm (s13(2)(b)).
- ANY ADDITIONAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY: 9am to 5pm (s13(2)(e)) — so the substitute Mondays and Tuesdays in late December are trading days.
- THE CBD TOURIST PRECINCT is treated differently again: 11am to 5pm on a public holiday other than Good Friday, Christmas Day and Anzac Day, and 12 noon to 5pm on Anzac Day itself (s13(2)(f)).
- PART-DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAYS DO NOT CLOSE SHOPS: s13(5aa) lets a shop open on a part-day public holiday falling on a weekday as if it were not one at all — so the 7pm Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve holidays change what staff are paid without changing when the doors are open.
- The Act does not apply at all to a shop at an agricultural or horticultural show, or to one run for no more than a week where the takings go to a charitable, religious or benevolent purpose (s6(2)).
- The Minister may grant exemptions under s5 — and, under s5A, may REQUIRE shops to close when it would otherwise be lawful to open, for no more than 14 days at a time.
- GEOGRAPHY IS THE FIRST EXEMPTION, and the biggest. Greater Adelaide is a shopping district by definition, so the restrictions simply apply there. Everywhere else in the State is only covered if it is a Proclaimed Shopping District — and section 11(2) says the Governor cannot proclaim one except to give effect to an application from the local council under section 12. So a country town is outside this Act unless its own council asked to be brought inside it.
If the day affects your pay or your trading
Whenday answers what the date is. Two sibling sites answer what it costs, and they are written by the same author — see about Whenday for how they fit together.
- Working this day?Public-holiday penalty rates and how they stack with leave loading— Payjoey works from the Fair Work instruments.
- Trading this day?Your state's restricted-trading rules for small business— Bizroo covers the obligations that follow.
Frequently asked questions
Is today a public holiday in SA?
The first line of this page answers that for today on Adelaide time, worked out from the same dates as the tables below. If your device's clock has moved past the day the page was built, the answer re-checks itself in your browser and says so beside the verified badge. A part-day holiday gets a “Partly” rather than a yes, and a day that applies in one region only is never counted as a holiday for the whole state.
How many public holidays are there in SA in 2026?
Fifteen across the whole state — the first is New Year's Day on Thursday 1 January 2026 and the last is New Year's Eve on Thursday 31 December 2026. The total moves from year to year because several days gain a substitute or an extra Monday when they land on a weekend, and the last column of the table says which rule produced each date.
When is the next public holiday in SA?
The calendar leaf near the top of this page names it and counts the days from today on Adelaide time. Holidays are gazetted a year at a time, so the 2027 list already sits under the 2026 one — the answer keeps working through December instead of running out at New Year, and the 2027 dates are the ones to plan travel or rosters around.
Is Anzac Day a public holiday in SA?
Yes. In 2026 the SA public holiday for Anzac Day is Saturday 25 April 2026 — under Public Holidays Act 2023 (SA) No 39 of 2023. Whether a jurisdiction adds a day, swaps the day or leaves a weekend Anzac Day where it falls is the rule that differs most across the country, which is why the answer for SA should never be taken from a national list.
Which Act sets South Australia’s public holidays?
The Public Holidays Act 2023, which commenced on 1 January 2024. Any page still citing the Holidays Act 1910 for South Australia is citing repealed law — the legislation register marks the 1910 Act as ceased.
The change was not cosmetic. Easter Sunday became a public holiday under the new Act, so a South Australian Easter is four days now where it used to be three.
Why does South Australia call 26 December Proclamation Day?
Because it is commemorating something else entirely. Proclamation Day marks the reading of the proclamation establishing the province in 1836, and the actual anniversary is 28 December — but the holiday attached to it is observed on the 26th, which is why the Act names that date the "Proclamation Day holiday" rather than Boxing Day.
It behaves like Boxing Day everywhere else for weekend purposes, so nothing about your leave changes. It is the name on the calendar that differs.
What are South Australia’s part-day public holidays?
Two of them: 7pm to midnight on Christmas Eve, and 7pm to midnight on New Year’s Eve. Neither is a day off. What they do is turn an evening shift into a public-holiday shift, so the penalty rates in your award or agreement apply from 7pm.
Queensland is the only other jurisdiction here with a part-day holiday, it has one rather than two, and its window opens at 6pm. If you roster across the border, the hour matters.
Is there an extra day when Anzac Day falls on a weekend in SA?
No. Section 3 lists 25 April with no weekend rule attached, and SafeWork SA states plainly that no substitute or additional public holiday is observed. South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania are the three that add nothing.
It matters in both 2026 and 2027, because Anzac Day falls on a Saturday and then a Sunday. Two years running, South Australians lose a day that Western Australians and New South Welshmen keep.
Verified
Checked against Public Holidays Act 2023 (SA) No 39 of 2023 and the dates published by SafeWork SA, Government of South Australia on. Built for. If the date affects your pay, check your award or agreement.