South Australia Public Holidays 2026
Last reviewed: October 14, 2026 · Holiday data: August 26, 2026
The 2026 table for South Australia lists 13 dates: 9 fall on a weekday and 4 on a weekend, and 1 of them is marked (observed) or (additional). That leaves 252 working days in 2026. Like the Australia calculator, this page counts Monday to Friday as working days; what changes is the holiday list.
How South Australia differs from the national Australian holidays
South Australia keeps every national Australian public holiday and adds Adelaide Cup Day on the second Monday of March, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday and Labour Day on the first Monday of October. SafeWork SA states that from 1 January 2024 Easter Sunday is a public holiday, under the Public Holidays Act 2023. The King's Birthday stays on the national June date. Anzac Day is a public holiday whatever day it falls on, with no substitute or additional day when it is a Saturday or Sunday. When 25 December or 1 January falls on a weekend, that day and the following Monday are both public holidays; for 26 December, the following Monday is added when it is a Saturday and the following Tuesday when it is a Sunday or Monday. A weekend Australia Day is different: the following Monday is the public holiday instead of that day. South Australia observes its Proclamation Day holiday on 26 December (Proclamation Day itself is 28 December), and this calendar shows those dates under the national name Boxing Day.
Added in South Australia (2026)
- Adelaide Cup Day (Monday, March 9)
- Easter Saturday (Saturday, April 4)
- Easter Sunday (Sunday, April 5)
- Labour Day (Monday, October 5)
National dates not in South Australia's table (2026)
South Australia observes every national Australian public holiday on its national date and drops none.
South Australia holiday calendar 2026
| Date | Day | Holiday |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | Thursday | New Year's Day |
| January 26 | Monday | Australia Day |
| March 9 | Monday | Adelaide Cup Day |
| April 3 | Friday | Good Friday |
| April 4 | Saturday (weekend) | Easter Saturday |
| April 5 | Sunday (weekend) | Easter Sunday |
| April 6 | Monday | Easter Monday |
| April 25 | Saturday (weekend) | ANZAC Day |
| June 8 | Monday | King's Birthday |
| October 5 | Monday | Labour Day |
| December 25 | Friday | Christmas Day |
| December 26 | Saturday (weekend) | Boxing Day |
| December 28 | Monday | Boxing Day (additional) |
2026 summary
Total days
365
Weekend days
104
Holidays on weekdays
9
Working days
252
After subtracting 104 weekend days and 9 weekday-falling holidays, South Australia has 252 working days in 2026. The count on this page uses South Australia's calendar, not the national Australian set on its own.
South Australia in 2026: how the calendar falls
Every figure below is computed from the 2026 dates in the table above and the Monday to Friday week, and each rule names the provision or the official list it is taken from. When a date changes, the sentences change with it.
South Australia's public holiday rules, applied to 2026
South Australia adds Adelaide Cup Day on the second Monday of March (s 3(1)(c)), Easter Saturday (s 3(1)(e)), Easter Sunday (s 3(1)(f)) and Labour Day on the first Monday of October (s 3(1)(j)). In 2026 those days are Adelaide Cup Day on Monday, March 9, Easter Saturday on Saturday, April 4, Easter Sunday on Sunday, April 5, and Labour Day on Monday, October 5.
25 April is a Saturday in 2026. Under s 3(1)(h), a bare date with no weekend clause, no weekday is granted, so the holiday costs no working day this year.
The Public Holidays Act 2023 adds a weekday for a weekend year-end holiday rather than replacing the weekend date. The rule is stated in s 3(2) and (3), which grant the weekday 'in addition to that day'. The Proclamation Day holiday, which South Australia observes on 26 December, falls on a Saturday and stays a public holiday, with Monday, December 28 added.
Easter Sunday (Sunday, April 5 in 2026) has been a public holiday since 2024 under the 2023 Act. As a Sunday it changes no count, but it belongs in the list.
How South Australia's 2026 total is built
A year's working days are its weekdays minus the holidays that land on them, and both halves move. The weekday supply depends only on the year's length and the weekday it starts on; the holiday half depends on where each fixed date falls that year. 2026 runs 365 days, 52 whole weeks and one day over. It opens and closes on a Thursday, so the spare day is a weekday and the year holds 261 of them.
Nine public holidays in this page's count fall on weekdays (four more land on a weekend and cost nothing), so South Australia has 252 working days in 2026. 2027 lands on the same 252.
Weekend public holidays in 2026, and what South Australia does with each
A public holiday on a Saturday or Sunday removes no working day; what changes the count is whether South Australia's law adds a weekday for it or puts one in its place. In South Australia in 2026:
- ANZAC Day falls on Saturday, April 25. South Australia keeps the date and grants no weekday for it, so it removes no working day from 2026.
- Boxing Day falls on Saturday, December 26 and stays a public holiday; Monday, December 28 is added on top, so the weekend date takes no working day and the weekday does.
Only the weekday entries change the count; a public holiday on a Saturday or Sunday takes no working day from it.
What South Australia's own days cost in 2026
A public holiday on South Australia's list takes a working day out of the count only when it lands on a weekday that is not also a public holiday on the national Australian set, and a public holiday on the national Australian set that is not on South Australia's list puts one back only when it lands on a weekday. In 2026, South Australia's additions on a weekday are Adelaide Cup Day on Monday, March 9 and Labour Day on Monday, October 5, while Easter Saturday on Saturday, April 4 and Easter Sunday on Sunday, April 5 fall on a weekend and change nothing.
The net effect is two fewer working days than the national Australian set: 252 against 254.
Where the fixed-date holidays land in 2026
A holiday tied to a calendar date moves one weekday later each year, so the week it breaks changes every year while its date stays put. Against 2025, each of these has moved one weekday on:
- New Year's Day is a Thursday in 2026, after a Wednesday in 2025, which leaves Friday, January 2 as a single working day before the weekend on this page's count.
- Australia Day is a Monday in 2026, after a Sunday in 2025, so on this page's count it turns the weekend before it into three days off.
- ANZAC Day is a Saturday in 2026, after a Friday in 2025, a weekend day, so the date itself takes no working day on this page's count; the weekend rules above decide whether a weekday is given for it.
- Christmas Day is a Friday in 2026, after a Thursday in 2025, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Friday, December 25 to Monday, December 28.
- Boxing Day is a Saturday in 2026, after a Friday in 2025, a weekend day, so the date itself takes no working day on this page's count; the weekend rules above decide whether a weekday is given for it.
Long weekends and four-day breaks in South Australia, 2026
A weekday holiday next to a weekend turns two days off into three; two closures side by side, or one on each side of a weekend, make four or more. That is arithmetic on the dates, so the list moves every year even when the holidays do not. On this page's count, South Australia has six such breaks in 2026:
- Saturday, January 24 to Monday, January 26: three days, for Australia Day.
- Saturday, March 7 to Monday, March 9: three days, for Adelaide Cup Day.
- Friday, April 3 to Monday, April 6: four days, for Good Friday and Easter Monday.
- Saturday, June 6 to Monday, June 8: three days, for King's Birthday.
- Saturday, October 3 to Monday, October 5: three days, for Labour Day.
- Friday, December 25 to Monday, December 28: four days, for Christmas Day and Boxing Day (additional).
Stranded working days in 2026
A holiday on a Tuesday or a Thursday leaves one working day stranded between it and the weekend. In 2026 South Australia has one: Friday, January 2, next to New Year's Day. It is a full working day on this page's count even though a day off sits on either side, so a deadline that lands on it is not pushed anywhere.
South Australia month by month, 2026
A month's working days are its weekdays less the holidays on them, so a month with no weekday holiday is set entirely by how its weekdays fall, and every holiday that lands midweek takes one day off the month it sits in.
| Month | Working days, this count | Working days, national set | Weekday holidays |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20 | 20 | New Year's Day (January 1) and Australia Day (January 26) |
| February | 20 | 20 | none |
| March | 21 | 22 | Adelaide Cup Day (March 9) |
| April | 20 | 20 | Good Friday (April 3) and Easter Monday (April 6) |
| May | 21 | 21 | none |
| June | 21 | 21 | King's Birthday (June 8) |
| July | 23 | 23 | none |
| August | 21 | 21 | none |
| September | 22 | 22 | none |
| October | 21 | 22 | Labour Day (October 5) |
| November | 21 | 21 | none |
| December | 21 | 21 | Christmas Day (December 25) and Boxing Day (additional) (December 28) |
The third column counts the same months on the national Australian set, so the gap between the two columns is exactly what South Australia's own calendar changes.
The longest unbroken stretch of 2026
The longest run of working days with no weekday holiday inside it depends on how far apart consecutive closures sit, so it moves whenever one fixed-date holiday changes weekday. In 2026 it runs from Tuesday, June 9 to Friday, October 2, straddling the middle of the year: 84 working days, 16 full working weeks and four days.
The first working day of 2026 on this count is Friday, January 2, after New Year's Day. The last is Thursday, December 31, which is the latest date a count of working days can end on inside 2026.
Which calendar the 2026 count uses
The count uses the public holidays South Australia's own Act declares for the whole state, including any weekday the Act adds or substitutes for a weekend holiday. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are part-day public holidays, from 7 pm to midnight only, and are not counted.
Statutes and schedules cited in this section
Each rule above comes from one of these sources or from the holiday data source below.
- South Australian Legislation: Public Holidays Act 2023 (opens in a new tab)
Other years
Related links
Sources and verification
Official source: safework.sa.gov.au (opens in a new tab)
Cross-checked against this source on August 26, 2026.