Time Zones| Zone areas | Time now | January 2026 | July 2026 | Largest cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perth | --:-- | UTC+8 | UTC+8 | Perth, Mandurah, Bunbury, Geraldton |
| Eucla | --:-- | UTC+8:45 | UTC+8:45 | no large city |
| Darwin | --:-- | UTC+9:30 | UTC+9:30 | Darwin, Palmerston, Alice Springs |
| Brisbane, Lindeman | --:-- | UTC+10 | UTC+10 | Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Logan City |
| Adelaide, Broken Hill | --:-- | UTC+10:30 | UTC+9:30 | Adelaide, Adelaide Hills, Mount Gambier, Mount Barker |
| Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Macquarie | --:-- | UTC+11 | UTC+10 | Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra, Central Coast |
| Lord Howe | --:-- | UTC+11 | UTC+10:30 | no large city |
How many times does Australia have?
The IANA database lists 12 separate zone areas for Australia. Grouped by the time they actually show through 2026, that makes 7 different clocks, listed above. The offsets in use run from UTC+8 to UTC+11 in January.
7 of the 12 areas change their clocks during the year. Open an area to see its dates.
Planning across the country
When you fix a call or a broadcast for people in several parts of Australia, give the time with its zone, or use the converter to show every zone at once.
Where most people are
Measured by the people living in towns of 15,000 or more (GeoNames figures), the busiest clock in Australia is the one kept in Sydney, UTC+11 in January: about 15 million people, or 60% of the total across all the zone areas. Next comes the clock of Brisbane (UTC+10) with about 5.2 million. At the other end, 1 of the 7 clocks covers less than 1% of those people.
A worked example
When it is 9:00 am in Sydney in January, it is 6:00 am in Perth, 6:45 am in Eucla, 7:30 am in Darwin, 8:00 am in Brisbane, 8:30 am in Adelaide, 9:00 am in Lord Howe.
A worked example for July
When it is 9:00 am in Sydney in July, it is 7:00 am in Perth, 7:45 am in Eucla, 8:30 am in Adelaide, 8:30 am in Darwin, 9:00 am in Brisbane, 9:30 am in Lord Howe.
The widest gap inside the country
The two clocks that are farthest apart differ by 3 hours in January and by 2 hours 30 minutes in July, because not every part moves its clocks. On the map, the main cities run from Perth at about 115.9° east to Brisbane at about 153° east. By the sun alone those two are about 2 hours 29 minutes apart.
The sun across Australia
Clocks are set by law, but the sun keeps its own time. In Perth, the most westerly of the main cities (about 115.9° east), the sun is highest at about 12:17 pm by the clock in January. In Brisbane, the most easterly (about 153° east), it is highest at about 11:48 am. The closer that figure is to 12:00, the better the clock fits the daylight in that city. From north to south the length of the day differs too: around 21 June the sun is up for about 11 hours 23 minutes in Darwin and about 9 hours 1 minute in Hobart.
Australia and the rest of the world
When it is 12:00 noon in Sydney, it is 6:30 am in India in January and 7:30 am in July; 1:00 am in London in January and 3:00 am in July; 8:00 pm the previous day in New York in January and 10:00 pm the previous day in July. Other parts of Australia are earlier or later than that by the amounts in the table at the top of this page.
Not every part is on a whole hour: UTC+8:45, UTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 are used here.
Clock changes in 2026
In Sydney the dates are: Sunday 5 April 2026: at 3:00 am clocks go back 1 hour to 2:00 am; Sunday 4 October 2026: at 2:00 am clocks go forward 1 hour to 3:00 am. These areas do not move their clocks at all: Brisbane, Darwin, Perth. So the time difference between them and the rest of the country changes twice a year.