Western Australia
No — today is not a public holiday in Western Australia.
Tuesday 8 September 2026.
Western Australia has no Easter Saturday, a Western Australia Day nobody else has, and a King’s Birthday that is proclaimed each year rather than fixed by a rule.
Monday
28September 2026
King's Birthday
in 20 days- Public holidays left in 2026
- 4
- Next long weekend
- 26–28 SeptemberSaturday to Monday
- Shops open today?
- YesRetail Trading Hours Act 1987 (WA)
- Applies in
- All of WAPlus 1 regional day listed below
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 WA 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 ch2 of the Act |
| Mon 26 Jan | Australia Day | Section ch2 of the Act |
| Mon 2 Mar | Labour Day | 1 March 2026 is a Sunday, so the holiday is the first Monday following. |
| Fri 3 Apr | Good Friday | Section ch2 of the Act |
| Sun 5 Apr | Easter Sunday | There is no Easter Saturday public holiday in Western Australia. |
| Mon 6 Apr | Easter Monday | Section ch2 of the Act |
| Sat 25 Apr | Anzac Day | Falls on a Saturday, so the following Monday is a public holiday as well. The 25th stays one too. |
| Mon 27 Apr | Additional public holiday for Anzac Day | Section ch2 of the Act |
| Mon 1 Jun | Western Australia Day | 1 June 2026 is itself a Monday, so the holiday falls on the 1st. |
| Mon 3 Aug | Regional King's Birthdaythe City of Karratha and the Town of Port Hedland | Observed INSTEAD of the statewide King's Birthday, not as well as it — the September date is not a public holiday in these districts. |
| Mon 28 Sep | King's Birthday | Appointed for the year by proclamation; the Act fixes no rule for this one. |
| Fri 25 Dec | Christmas Day | Section ch2 of the Act |
| Sat 26 Dec | Boxing Day | Falls on a Saturday, so the following Monday is a public holiday as well. |
| Mon 28 Dec | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | Section ch2 of the Act |
And 2027
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| Fri 1 Jan | New Year's Day |
| Tue 26 Jan | Australia Day |
| Mon 1 Mar | Labour Day |
| Fri 26 Mar | Good Friday |
| Sun 28 Mar | Easter Sunday |
| Mon 29 Mar | Easter Monday |
| Sun 25 Apr | Anzac Day |
| Mon 26 Apr | Additional public holiday for Anzac Day |
| Mon 7 Jun | Western Australia Day |
| Mon 27 Sep | King's Birthday |
| Sat 25 Dec | Christmas Day |
| Sun 26 Dec | Boxing Day |
| Mon 27 Dec | Additional public holiday for Christmas Day |
| Tue 28 Dec | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day |
Long weekends in WA
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 28 Feb – Mon 2 Mar | 3 | Labour Day |
| Fri 3 Apr – Mon 6 Apr | 4 | Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday |
| Sat 25 Apr – Mon 27 Apr | 3 | Anzac Day and Additional public holiday for Anzac Day |
| Sat 30 May – Mon 1 Jun | 3 | Western Australia Day |
| Sat 26 Sep – Mon 28 Sep | 3 | King's Birthday |
| Fri 25 Dec – Mon 28 Dec | 4 | Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Additional public holiday for Boxing Day |
Which days do WA shops have to close?
The trading list is not the holiday list
Western Australia asks a different question from every other state. It does not name a handful of restricted days: it sorts shops into classes and tells each class when it may open. A GENERAL retail shop is closed on every public holiday and public half-holiday, in the metropolitan area and outside it. A SMALL retail shop may be open at any time, on any day. So whether your local shop is open on a public holiday depends on which class it is in, not on which holiday it is.
In WA the restricted days are Good Friday, Christmas Day and Anzac Day — 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 DAYS ARE ABSOLUTE. Section 12E(3A) says an order can NEVER authorise a general retail shop in the metropolitan area to open on Anzac Day, Christmas Day or Good Friday. Every other public holiday closure can be lifted by order; those three cannot. That is a harder floor than any eastern state has: New South Wales closes on five days but exempts small shops and lets Boxing Day open on a free-election basis, and Victoria closes on two and a half.
The exemptions:
- SMALL RETAIL SHOPS have no trading-hour restrictions at all (s12C). The definition in s10(3) is strict: at most six eligible owners, personally and actively engaged in the shop, no more than 25 people working there at any one time, and no motor vehicles sold.
- SPECIAL RETAIL SHOPS are closed only between 11.30pm and 6am (s12D) — a certificate names the category and the goods that may be sold.
- FILLING STATIONS and MOTOR VEHICLE SHOPS are separate categories again, each with their own hours (ss 10(5), 12B).
- The Minister may vary any of it by order under s12E — which is why a general retail shop is sometimes open on a public holiday that the Act would otherwise close. For metropolitan general retail shops those orders can only touch public holidays and the 28 days ending on 1 January.
Does your council get it?
Some public holidays apply to part of the state only
So the honest answer to "do I get the show day" depends on which local government area you are in, not which state. The statewide table above is complete; the district-by-district list is the next thing being added here.
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 WA?
The first line of this page answers that for today on Perth 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 WA in 2026?
Thirteen across the whole state — the first is New Year's Day on Thursday 1 January 2026 and the last is Additional public holiday for Boxing Day on Monday 28 December 2026, with one more that applies in part of the state only. 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 WA?
The calendar leaf near the top of this page names it and counts the days from today on Perth 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 WA?
Yes. In 2026 the WA public holiday for Anzac Day is Saturday 25 April 2026, and Monday 27 April 2026 is a public holiday as well — additional public holiday for Anzac Day — under Public and Bank Holidays Act 1972 (WA). 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 WA should never be taken from a national list.
Why is there no Easter Saturday public holiday in WA?
Because the Second Schedule never listed one. It names Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday and stops there — so Western Australia is the only jurisdiction on this site where the Saturday of the Easter weekend is an ordinary Saturday.
It catches out national employers every year. A four-day Easter in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and Darwin is a three-day Easter in Perth, and a roster written once for the whole company gets Saturday wrong in exactly one state.
When is the King’s Birthday holiday in Western Australia?
Whenever the Governor proclaims it, which is the honest answer. Every other Western Australian public holiday can be worked out from a rule in the Second Schedule; this one is described only as a day to be appointed for each year by proclamation, gazetted at least three weeks beforehand.
In practice it has been landing in late September — the 28th in 2026 and the 27th in 2027. What it is not is the second Monday in June, which is when the eastern states take it, so a June long weekend on the east coast is an ordinary working Monday in Perth.
Do Karratha and Port Hedland get an extra public holiday?
No — they get the same number on different days. Both districts observe the King’s Birthday on a Monday in early August, and the statewide September date is then not a public holiday there at all. It is a swap, not a bonus.
That is the opposite of how Queensland handles its show days, where a district gets an additional day on top of the statewide list. Two states, two very similar-sounding arrangements, and opposite effects on a leave balance.
Does WA move Anzac Day when it falls on a weekend?
It keeps the 25th and adds a Monday. The Second Schedule groups Anzac Day with New Year’s Day and Christmas Day: when any of them falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the next Monday is also a public holiday.
That makes four different national answers for the same commemoration. WA and NSW end up with two days, though NSW gets there through a Ministerial order rather than its Act. Queensland, the ACT and the NT swap the day, and only when it is a Sunday. Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania add nothing at all.
Verified
Checked against Public and Bank Holidays Act 1972 (WA) and the dates published by Government of Western Australia (Private Sector Labour Relations, Wageline) on. Built for. If the date affects your pay, check your award or agreement.