Australia Time Zone Map

Australia runs on three standard offsets — AWST, ACST, and AEST — and adds daylight saving in the south during its summer (southern hemisphere). Watch how it inverts against the northern world: while New York is in the middle of the day, Sydney is often asleep.

Adelaide · ACST/ACDT4:38 AMUTC+9:30

Your time11:38 PMSAT, OCT 31UTC+5:30

Adelaide timeAdelaide4:38 AMSUN, NOV 1UTC+10:30

Darwin timeDarwin3:38 AMSUN, NOV 1UTC+9:30

Brisbane timeBrisbane4:08 AMSUN, NOV 1UTC+10

Sydney timeSydney5:08 AMSUN, NOV 1UTC+11

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Zones in this view

Zone	IANA	Standard	Daylight	Abbr
Adelaide	Australia/Adelaide	UTC+9:30	UTC+10:30 (ACDT)	ACST/ACDT
Darwin	Australia/Darwin	UTC+9:30	—	ACST
Brisbane	Australia/Brisbane	UTC+10	—	AEST
Sydney	Australia/Sydney	UTC+10	UTC+11 (AEDT)	AEST/AEDT

Good to know

Where the offsets come from

Every offset on this map is counted from Greenwich. Five dates in how the world agreed on that.

Before 1883

Sun time

Every town set its clocks by the sun overhead, so noon in Boston came about twelve minutes before noon in New York, and railroads juggled dozens of local times.

A weathered stone sundial with Roman numerals and an iron gnomon — A sundial on the porch of St Giles’ Church, Chesterton, England.

November 18, 1883

Railroad time

U.S. and Canadian railroads switched to standard zones an hour apart, set from Greenwich. Many towns reset their clocks the same day, remembered as “the day of two noons.”

A gold railroad pocket watch with a white dial, lying on its chain — A railroad pocket watch made for the Plant System, a railroad of the Southeast.

1884

Greenwich

Delegates at the International Meridian Conference in Washington chose the Greenwich meridian as longitude zero — the line every UTC offset on this site is counted from.

A red time ball on its mast above the octagonal turret of the Royal Observatory — The time ball on the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, dropped at 1 p.m. as a public time signal since 1833.

1918 and 1966

Time by law

The Standard Time Act made the zones federal law in 1918. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 set common daylight-saving rules and let a state opt out, as Arizona and Hawaii do.

The open back of a railroad-grade pocket watch, showing its jewelled movement — The movement of a Hamilton railroad-grade pocket watch, about 1929.

2026

Daylight saving

Since 2007 clocks spring forward on the second Sunday of March and fall back on the first Sunday of November: March 8 and November 1 this year.

A large 24-hour clock face set into a red brick wall beneath a sign reading Royal Observatory Greenwich — The Shepherd Gate Clock at Greenwich, which shows Greenwich Mean Time on a 24-hour dial.

Frequently asked questions

How many time zones does Australia have?

Three on the mainland: AWST (UTC+8), ACST (UTC+9:30), and AEST (UTC+10) — plus the Lord Howe half-hour offset in the sea.

When does Australia switch to daylight saving?

In the states that observe it, clocks go forward on the first Sunday of October and back on the first Sunday of April (southern summer/winter).

Is Brisbane on the same time as Sydney?

Brisbane is on AEST (UTC+10) with no DST, so it’s one hour behind Sydney during the southern summer, when Sydney is on AEDT (UTC+11).

Sources: offsets and daylight saving rules from theIANA time zone database; zone shapes from Timezone Boundary Builder. See Data Sources for versions and limitations.