The weather's getting warmer and more flowers are coming into bloom, meaning Australia has well and truly entered spring.
It also means most of the country will soon have to move their clocks forward an hour for daylight saving.
This is what will happen where you live, and when.
When does daylight saving start in Australia in 2023 and when does it end?
Daylight saving starts at 2am on the first Sunday of October every year.
That means that this year, clocks will move forward by an hour at 2am this Sunday 1 October.
Daylight saving ends at 2am standard time on the first Sunday of April, when clocks are put back an hour.
The end of daylight saving falls on Sunday 7 April next year.
Which Australian states and territories observe daylight saving time?
Daylight saving is observed in:
- NSW
- Victoria
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- The ACT
- Norfolk Island
Daylight saving is not observed in:
- Queensland
- The Northern Territory
- Western Australia
- Christmas Island
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands
That means that during daylight saving time, Queensland will be one hour behind the rest of the east coast of Australia, the NT will be an hour and a half behind, and WA will be three hours behind.
Daylight saving lasts for six months. Source: Getty / Tim E White
Why doesn't all of Australia observe daylight saving?
Daylight saving time is effectively designed to give us an extra hour of daylight during the warmer months — but it's up to individual states and territories to decide if they wish to observe it or not.
In 1916, Tasmania became the first Australian jurisdiction to introduce daylight saving, in a bid to save energy during World War One.
The rest of the country followed a year later, before it was scrapped in 1918.
Daylight saving was temporarily reintroduced across Australia during World War Two, between 1942 and 1944.
It was brought in again in Tasmania in 1967, with Victoria, NSW, SA, the ACT, and Queensland following in 1971 — but it only lasted in the Sunshine State until 1972.
In the years since, both Queensland and WA have trialled daylight saving and held referendums on the issue, but the states' residents voted against implementing it permanently.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner last year called for another daylight saving referendum, but by the then-health minister Yvette D'Ath, who said it wasn't a focus for the government.
