Queensland
No — today is not a public holiday in Queensland.
Saturday 24 October 2026.
Friday
25December 2026
Christmas Day
in 62 daysBefore then: Christmas Eve on Thu 24 Dec, from 6pm to midnight only — not a day off.
- Public holidays left in 2026
- 3 Plus Christmas Eve (evening only)
- Next long weekend
- 25–28 DecemberFriday to Monday
- Shops open today?
- YesWhich days shops close
- Applies in
- All of QLD Plus show holidays in 98 districts, each set for its own council area
QLD public holidays coming up
Checked against Queensland's own law and the government's published dates. Where each one comes from is at the bottom of the page.
The rest of 2026
| Date | Holiday | Shops |
|---|---|---|
| Thu 24 Dec | Christmas Eve Evening only, from 6pm to midnight — not a day off | Shops open |
| Fri 25 Dec | Christmas Day | Shops closed |
| Sat 26 Dec | Boxing Day Falls on a Saturday, so 28 December is a public holiday as well. | Shops open |
| Mon 28 Dec | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | Shops open |
2027
| Date | Holiday | Shops |
|---|---|---|
| Fri 1 Jan | New Year's Day | Shops open |
| Tue 26 Jan | Australia Day | Shops open |
| Fri 26 Mar | Good Friday | Shops closed |
| Sat 27 Mar | The day after Good Friday | Shops open |
| Sun 28 Mar | Easter Sunday | Shops open |
| Mon 29 Mar | Easter Monday | Shops open |
| Mon 26 Apr | Anzac Day | Shops open |
| Mon 3 May | Labour Day | Shops closed |
| Wed 11 Aug | Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) Only in the Brisbane local government area | Shops open |
| Mon 4 Oct | King's Birthday | Shops open |
| Fri 24 Dec | Christmas Eve Evening only, from 6pm to midnight — not a day off | Shops open |
| Sat 25 Dec | Christmas Day Falls on a Saturday, so 27 December is a public holiday as well. | Shops closed |
| Sun 26 Dec | Boxing Day Falls on a Sunday, so 28 December is a public holiday as well. | Shops open |
| Mon 27 Dec | Additional public holiday for Christmas Day | Shops open |
| Tue 28 Dec | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | Shops open |
2028
Queensland has already published a third year. Not every state and territory has.
| Date | Holiday | Shops |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 1 Jan | New Year's Day Falls on a Saturday, so 3 January is a public holiday as well. | Shops open |
| Mon 3 Jan | Additional public holiday for New Year's Day | Shops open |
| Wed 26 Jan | Australia Day | Shops open |
| Fri 14 Apr | Good Friday | Shops closed |
| Sat 15 Apr | The day after Good Friday | Shops open |
| Sun 16 Apr | Easter Sunday | Shops open |
| Mon 17 Apr | Easter Monday | Shops open |
| Tue 25 Apr | Anzac Day | Shops closed |
| Mon 1 May | Labour Day | Shops closed |
| Wed 16 Aug | Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) Only in the Brisbane local government area | Shops open |
| Mon 2 Oct | King's Birthday | Shops open |
| Sun 24 Dec | Christmas Eve Evening only, from 6pm to midnight — not a day off | Shops open |
| Mon 25 Dec | Christmas Day | Shops closed |
| Tue 26 Dec | Boxing Day | Shops open |
Earlier in 2026 — eleven dates already passed
| Date | Holiday | Shops |
|---|---|---|
| Thu 1 Jan | New Year's Day | Shops open |
| Mon 26 Jan | Australia Day | Shops open |
| Fri 3 Apr | Good Friday | Shops closed |
| Sat 4 Apr | The day after Good Friday | Shops open |
| Sun 5 Apr | Easter Sunday A public holiday in Queensland since 2017. | Shops open |
| Mon 6 Apr | Easter Monday | Shops open |
| Sat 25 Apr | Anzac Day Falls on a Saturday and stays there. Queensland moves Anzac Day only when it falls on a Sunday. | Shops closed |
| Mon 4 May | Labour Day The first Monday in May. Victoria takes Labour Day in March and NSW in October. | Shops closed |
| Mon 10 Aug | Royal Queensland Show Only in fifteen districts outside Brisbane | Shops open |
| Wed 12 Aug | Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) Only in the Brisbane local government area | Shops open |
| Mon 5 Oct | King's Birthday The first Monday in October. NSW and Victoria observe it in June. | Shops open |
Good to know: Queensland runs on its own calendar: Labour Day in May, the King’s Birthday in October, a part-day public holiday on Christmas Eve, and show days set council by council.
2026 at a glance
The whole year on one screen, with every public holiday marked and today circled. This is the view worth printing.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Long weekends in QLD
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 worked out from the published 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 | Because of |
|---|---|
| Fri 25 – Mon 28 Dec 4 days | Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the additional public holiday for Boxing Day |
| Fri 1 – Sun 3 Jan 2027 3 days | New Year's Day |
| Fri 26 – Mon 29 Mar 2027 4 days | Good Friday, the day after Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday |
| Sat 24 – Mon 26 Apr 2027 3 days | Anzac Day |
| Sat 1 – Mon 3 May 2027 3 days | Labour Day |
| Sat 2 – Mon 4 Oct 2027 3 days | King's Birthday |
Turn QLD's public holidays into longer breaks
Worked out from the QLD dates above: which days to book, and what each one buys. Monday-to-Friday assumed, as everywhere else on this page.
| Book | What you get |
|---|---|
| Tue 29 – Thu 31 Dec 3 days of leave | 10 days off, Fri 25 Dec – Sun 3 Jan 2027 Christmas Day, Boxing Day, the additional public holiday for Boxing Day and New Year's Day |
| Mon 25 Jan 2027 1 day of leave | 4 days off, Sat 23 – Tue 26 Jan Australia Day Best value: the most days off per day of leave |
| Mon 22 – Thu 25 Mar 2027 4 days of leave | 10 days off, Sat 20 – Mon 29 Mar Good Friday, the day after Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday |
| Tue 27 – Fri 30 Apr 2027 4 days of leave | 10 days off, Sat 24 Apr – Mon 3 May Anzac Day and Labour Day |
| Tue 5 – Fri 8 Oct 2027 4 days of leave | 9 days off, Sat 2 – Sun 10 Oct King's Birthday |
A public holiday inside booked annual leave does not come out of your balance, and the rule turns on where you are based for work rather than where you live — what a day of leave is worth sets out the section and what it means for a regional day.
Which days do QLD shops have to close?
The trading list is not the holiday list
Queensland names four closed days and no more: Good Friday, Anzac Day, Labour Day and Christmas Day. On every other public holiday a non-exempt shop trades, on the hours its trading area allows — the Act's own table reads 'Sunday and public holidays, other than closed days'. So Boxing Day, Australia Day, Easter Monday and the King's Birthday are all ordinary trading days in Queensland.
The law: Trading (Allowable Hours) Act 1990 (Qld), ss 5, 6, 16A-16G, 20-21.
In Queensland the restricted days are Good Friday, Anzac Day (25 April), Labour Day (the first Monday in May) and Christmas Day. That list is shorter than the holiday list above and 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.
Labour Day is on Queensland's short list of closed days, and on no other jurisdiction's: New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania leave it off theirs, and the ACT and the Northern Territory restrict nothing. South Australia and Western Australia close some shops on public holidays generally, Labour Day included, which is a different kind of rule. Note also that the Act names the date for Anzac Day — 'Anzac Day (25 April)' — rather than the public holiday, so in a year like 2027, when the Queensland public holiday moves to Monday 26 April, the closed trading day and the public holiday are not the same day.
The exemptions:
- Exempt shops (s5) — the descriptions in schedule 1AA, any independent retail shop as defined in s6, and any shop in an area covered by a special event declaration — are outside the non-exempt shop hours. Independent retail shops still have closures of their own (s17(2)): all of Christmas Day and Good Friday, and 25 April until 1pm, unless they sell mainly food or groceries.
- Hours differ by trading area, not just by day. The Act sets type 1, type 2 and type 3 areas with different opening and closing times — type 1 includes the Cairns CBD, the Gold Coast coastal tourist area and Pacific Fair — and the Industrial Relations Commission can declare more by trading area order (s21).
- Hardware shops and shops selling motor vehicles or caravans have their own hours again (ss 16D, 16E).
- Extended Christmas hours apply to the three Sundays before 18 December, to 18-23 December, and to Christmas Eve until 6pm (s16F).
- Banking and insurance offices must close on the bank holidays prescribed under the Holidays Act 1983 (s20) — a separate rule from the shop one.
Does your council get it?
Some public holidays apply to part of the state only
Section 4 is where Queensland's regional variation lives. On a written request from the local government, the Minister may appoint a holiday for a named district — and s4(4) draws the distinction almost nobody explains: a special holiday is only a bank holiday in that district, except where it is for an annual agricultural, horticultural or industrial show, when it is also a public holiday. Brisbane's Royal Queensland Show is exempt from the request requirement under s4(5)(a).
So whether you get one of these days depends on where in Queensland you are based, not only on the state. The statewide table above is complete. The district list is a page of its own: every appointed show holiday, district by district. Queensland appoints show holidays one district and one year at a time, so the list is the only answer there is — including, in 2026, the fifteen districts that took the Ekka on the Monday while Brisbane took the Wednesday.
Where these dates come from
Public holidays in Queensland are set by the Holidays Act 1983 (Qld), with some dates set by orders, proclamations or notices made under it. Every date was checked against the dates published by the Queensland Government (Office of Industrial Relations) on Saturday 12 September 2026.
Which part of the law sets each day
- New Year's Day — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Australia Day — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Good Friday — named in the Schedule to the Act
- The day after Good Friday — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Easter Sunday — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Easter Monday — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Anzac Day — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Labour Day — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Royal Queensland Show — appointed for a district under section 4
- Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) — appointed for a district under section 4
- King's Birthday — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Christmas Eve — section 2(3) of the Act
- Christmas Day — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Boxing Day — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Additional public holiday for Boxing Day — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Additional public holiday for Christmas Day — named in the Schedule to the Act
- Additional public holiday for New Year's Day — named in the Schedule to the Act
Notes on particular dates
- The day after Good Friday (Sat 4 Apr 2026): The Act's own name for it — Queensland does not call this day Easter Saturday.
- Royal Queensland Show (Mon 10 Aug 2026): Appointed district by district on each council's request, so this is a different holiday from Brisbane's Wednesday rather than a substitute for it: Bundaberg region — within the postcode of 4671, City of Moreton Bay, City of Redland, Gladstone region, Gympie region — Goomeri township and the parish of Goomeribong, Lockyer Valley region, Logan City, North Burnett region — Biggenden, Eidsvold, Gayndah, Mount Perry and Monto areas, Scenic Rim region, Shire of Balonne, Shire of Cherbourg, Somerset region, South Burnett region, Toowoomba region — that part of the Toowoomba Regional Council area comprising Yarraman, Upper Yarraman and Cooyar areas, Western Downs region — Tara and District. A sixteenth district is off the same day for a different show — Goondiwindi's Texas district takes the Texas Show Holiday on 10 August, not the Ekka.
- Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) (Wed 12 Aug 2026): The Wednesday of the RNA Show, which opens on the first Friday in August unless that Friday is before 5 August, in which case the second. Brisbane alone takes the Wednesday; fifteen other districts take the same show on Monday 10 August under a separate s4 appointment.
- Christmas Eve (Thu 24 Dec 2026): A part-day public holiday from 6pm, and only for working out entitlements under the Industrial Relations Act 2016, the Fair Work Act and the portable long service leave Acts. Not a day off.
- Anzac Day (Mon 26 Apr 2027): 25 April 2027 is a Sunday, so the public holiday is the Monday instead — Queensland substitutes rather than adds. NSW keeps the 25th and adds the Monday; Victoria keeps the 25th and adds nothing. Note the split: the public holiday is this Monday, but the closed trading day under the Trading (Allowable Hours) Act is 25 April itself, which the Act names by date rather than by holiday.
- Christmas Eve (Fri 24 Dec 2027 and Sun 24 Dec 2028): A part-day public holiday from 6pm, for entitlement purposes only.
- Anzac Day (Tue 25 Apr 2028): 25 April 2028 is a Tuesday, so no weekend rule applies anywhere in the country — the four different Anzac mechanisms are invisible this year.
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 rules.
- 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 QLD?
On Saturday 24 October 2026, no.
How many public holidays are there in QLD in 2026?
Thirteen across the whole state — the first is New Year's Day on Thursday 1 January 2026 and the last is the additional public holiday for Boxing Day on Monday 28 December 2026, with two more that apply 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; the bottom of this page lists which part of the law sets each one.
When is the next public holiday in QLD?
Christmas Day, on Friday 25 December 2026: 62 days after Saturday 24 October 2026. Queensland has published 2027 as well, so the list on this page carries on past New Year — those are the dates to plan travel or rosters around.
When is the next long weekend in QLD?
Friday 25 to Monday 28 December 2026 — 4 days around Christmas Day, with 3 public holidays in it. After that, Friday 1 to Sunday 3 January 2027 — 3 days around New Year's Day.
Are Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday public holidays in QLD?
Yes, both. The QLD public holidays for Easter 2027 are Good Friday (Friday 26 March), the day after Good Friday (Saturday 27 March), Easter Sunday (Sunday 28 March) and Easter Monday (Monday 29 March).
Are Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve public holidays in QLD?
One of them, for part of the day: Christmas Eve from 6pm to midnight on Thursday 24 December 2026. New Year's Eve is not. It is a public holiday for those hours only; the rest of the day is not.
Is Boxing Day a public holiday in QLD?
Yes. Saturday 26 December 2026 is a public holiday in QLD. Monday 28 December 2026 is the additional public holiday for Boxing Day, because 26 December falls on a Saturday.
Is Anzac Day a public holiday in QLD?
Yes. In 2027 the QLD public holiday for Anzac Day is Monday 26 April 2027 — under the Holidays Act 1983 (Qld). 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, so a list giving one date for everyone gets it wrong somewhere; the Anzac Day page sets all eight answers side by side.
Is 25 April 2027 a public holiday in Queensland?
No — the Monday is. Anzac Day 2027 falls on a Sunday, and the Schedule to the Holidays Act 1983 says the public holiday is observed on 25 April or, if that is a Sunday, on the following Monday. That "or" makes it a swap, so the holiday moves to Monday 26 April and the Sunday itself is not a public holiday. It is still a closed trading day, though: the trading law names the date, "Anzac Day (25 April)", so in 2027 non-exempt shops close on the Sunday and the holiday is the Monday.
Three states, three answers, same weekend. New South Wales keeps the Sunday as Anzac Day and declares the Monday as an extra holiday on top, so it gets both. Victoria keeps the Sunday and adds nothing at all. Queensland swaps. If you run payroll across a border, that is three different results from one commemoration.
What is the Christmas Eve public holiday in Queensland?
An evening, not a day. Section 2(3) makes 24 December a public holiday from 6pm to midnight, an hour earlier than the Christmas Eve evenings in South Australia and the Northern Territory, which both start at 7pm and add New Year’s Eve as well.
It is also narrower than it looks. Section 2(4) says it applies only for working out entitlements under the Industrial Relations Act 2016, the Fair Work Act and the two portable long service leave Acts. Nobody gets 24 December off because of it: what it does is make the evening shift a public-holiday shift, which is a pay question rather than a calendar one.
Does everyone in Queensland get the Ekka public holiday?
Not on the same day, and not everywhere. Brisbane takes the Royal Queensland Show holiday on the Wednesday of the show. In 2026, fifteen other districts, among them Logan City, the City of Moreton Bay and the City of Redland, take the same show on the Monday under their own appointments. Ipswich and the Gold Coast do not get it at all: each has its own show day on its own date.
The mechanism is section 4: a local government asks the Minister in writing, and the Minister appoints the day for that district. Section 4(4) then draws a distinction almost nobody explains — a special holiday is only a bank holiday, except when it is for an annual agricultural, horticultural or industrial show, when it is a public holiday too. So a show day is the real thing, and your council decides whether and when you get one.
Why is Queensland’s King’s Birthday in October?
Because that is where Queensland’s own law puts it. Since 2016 the Schedule to the Holidays Act 1983 has put the Birthday of the Sovereign on the first Monday in October and Labour Day on the first Monday in May.
The result catches people out at the border. The first Monday in October is a long weekend in both Queensland and New South Wales — but in Queensland it is the King’s Birthday and in New South Wales it is Labour Day, while the June Monday that is the King’s Birthday down south is an ordinary working day in Brisbane.
Verified
Checked against the Holidays Act 1983 (Qld) and the dates published by the Queensland Government (Office of Industrial Relations) on . If the date affects your pay, check your award or agreement.