Western Australia
No — today is not a public holiday in Western Australia.
Saturday 24 October 2026.
Friday
25December 2026
Christmas Day
in 62 days- Public holidays left in 2026
- 3
- Next long weekend
- 25–28 DecemberFriday to Monday
- Shops open today?
- YesWhich days shops close
- Applies in
- All of WA In the City of Karratha and the Town of Port Hedland, the King's Birthday falls on another day
WA public holidays coming up
Checked against Western Australia'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 |
|---|---|
| Fri 25 Dec | Christmas Day |
| 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 |
2027
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| Fri 1 Jan | New Year's Day |
| Tue 26 Jan | Australia Day |
| Mon 1 Mar | Labour Day 1 March 2027 is itself a Monday, so the holiday falls on the 1st. |
| Fri 26 Mar | Good Friday |
| Sun 28 Mar | Easter Sunday |
| Mon 29 Mar | Easter Monday |
| Sun 25 Apr | Anzac Day Falls on a Sunday, so the following Monday is a public holiday as well. |
| 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 Falls on a Saturday, so the following Monday is a public holiday as well. |
| Sun 26 Dec | Boxing Day Falls on a Sunday, so the following Tuesday is a public holiday as well. |
| Mon 27 Dec | Additional public holiday for Christmas Day |
| Tue 28 Dec | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day |
Earlier in 2026 — eleven dates already passed
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| Thu 1 Jan | New Year's Day |
| Mon 26 Jan | Australia Day |
| Mon 2 Mar | Labour Day 1 March 2026 is a Sunday, so the holiday is the first Monday following. |
| Fri 3 Apr | Good Friday |
| Sun 5 Apr | Easter Sunday There is no Easter Saturday public holiday in Western Australia. |
| Mon 6 Apr | Easter Monday |
| 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 |
| 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 Birthday Only in the 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 |
Good to know: 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.
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 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 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 |
| Sat 27 Feb – Mon 1 Mar 2027 3 days | Labour Day |
| Fri 26 – Mon 29 Mar 2027 4 days | Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday |
| Sat 24 – Mon 26 Apr 2027 3 days | Anzac Day and the additional public holiday for Anzac Day |
| Sat 5 – Mon 7 Jun 2027 3 days | Western Australia Day |
| Sat 25 – Mon 27 Sep 2027 3 days | King's Birthday |
Turn WA's public holidays into longer breaks
Worked out from the WA 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 |
| Tue 2 – Fri 5 Mar 2027 4 days of leave | 9 days off, Sat 27 Feb – Sun 7 Mar Labour Day |
| Mon 22 – Thu 25 Mar 2027 4 days of leave | 10 days off, Sat 20 – Mon 29 Mar Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday |
| Tue 27 – Fri 30 Apr 2027 4 days of leave | 9 days off, Sat 24 Apr – Sun 2 May Anzac Day and the additional public holiday for Anzac Day |
| Tue 8 – Fri 11 Jun 2027 4 days of leave | 9 days off, Sat 5 – Sun 13 Jun Western Australia Day |
| Tue 28 Sep – Fri 1 Oct 2027 4 days of leave | 9 days off, Sat 25 Sep – Sun 3 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 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.
The law: Retail Trading Hours Act 1987 (WA), ss 10, 12, 12B-12E.
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
Some regional districts observe the King's Birthday on a different day, and this is a swap rather than an extra. In 2026 the City of Karratha and the Town of Port Hedland took it on Monday 3 August, and the statewide September date is then not a public holiday in those districts. That is the opposite of Queensland's show days, which are an additional day for a district on top of the statewide list — the same-looking sentence with the opposite effect on your leave balance.
So whether you get one of these days depends on where in Western Australia you are based, not only on the state. The statewide table above is complete, and the local days in the tables above are every one the state publishes.
Where these dates come from
Public holidays in Western Australia are set by the Public and Bank Holidays Act 1972 (WA), with some dates set by orders, proclamations or notices made under it. Every date was checked against the dates published by the Government of Western Australia (Private Sector Labour Relations, Wageline) on Friday 4 September 2026.
Which part of the law sets each day
- New Year's Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Australia Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Labour Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Good Friday — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Easter Sunday — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Easter Monday — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Anzac Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Additional public holiday for Anzac Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Western Australia Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Regional King's Birthday — section 7 of the Act
- King's Birthday — Schedule 2 of the Act, with the date proclaimed each year
- Christmas Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Boxing Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Additional public holiday for Boxing Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
- Additional public holiday for Christmas Day — Schedule 2 of the Act
Notes on particular dates
- King's Birthday (Mon 28 Sep 2026): Appointed for the year by proclamation; the Act fixes no rule for this one.
- King's Birthday (Mon 27 Sep 2027): Appointed by proclamation.
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 WA?
On Saturday 24 October 2026, no.
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 the additional public holiday for Boxing Day on Monday 28 December 2026; in the City of Karratha and the Town of Port Hedland, the King's Birthday falls on a local day. 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 WA?
Christmas Day, on Friday 25 December 2026: 62 days after Saturday 24 October 2026. Western Australia 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 WA?
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 WA?
Only Easter Sunday. The WA public holidays for Easter 2027 are Good Friday (Friday 26 March), Easter Sunday (Sunday 28 March) and Easter Monday (Monday 29 March). Saturday 27 March is not a public holiday there.
Are Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve public holidays in WA?
No. Neither is a public holiday in WA. Its public holidays at Christmas are Friday 25, Saturday 26 and Monday 28 December 2026, and at New Year Friday 1 January 2027.
Is Boxing Day a public holiday in WA?
Yes. Saturday 26 December 2026 is a public holiday in WA. 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 WA?
Yes. In 2027 the WA public holiday for Anzac Day is Sunday 25 April 2027, and Monday 26 April 2027 is a public holiday as well — the additional public holiday for Anzac Day — under the 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, so a list giving one date for everyone gets it wrong somewhere; the Anzac Day page sets all eight answers side by side.
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. Tasmania has no Easter Saturday either, so they are the two jurisdictions on this site where the Saturday of the Easter weekend is an ordinary Saturday.
It catches out national employers. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and Darwin each have four public holidays over Easter; Perth has three and Hobart two. A roster written once for the whole company gets the Saturday wrong in two states.
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 three different answers across the country for one commemoration. Western Australia, New South Wales and the ACT end up with two days, by three routes: WA through its Act, NSW through a ministerial order and the ACT through a declaration. Queensland and the Northern Territory swap the day, and only when it is a Sunday. Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania add nothing at all.
Verified
Checked against the Public and Bank Holidays Act 1972 (WA) and the dates published by the Government of Western Australia (Private Sector Labour Relations, Wageline) on . If the date affects your pay, check your award or agreement.