Feiertage - public holidays

Jedesmal, wenn wir einen Public Holiday hier hatten, wollte ich es hier im Blog erwähnen. Ihr seht ja, was daraus geworden ist - nichts. Von daher kommen heute alle Feiertage gebündelt!!! Eine tolle Regelung für jeden AN ist folgende: fällt der Feiertag auf einen "Off-Tag" (normalerweise Sa oder So, so ist der nachfolgende Werktag frei! Eine Ausnahme bildet der ANZAC DAY: fällt er auf einen Samstag, wird montags gearbeitet; fällt er auf einen Sonntag, so ist der Montag frei (vielleicht damit alle AN ihren Kater ausschlafen können ?!?)

Hier also in kalendarischer Abfolge:

Wie auch bei uns ist NEUJAHR ein Feiertag in allen Bundesstaaten und wird am 1.1. jeden Jahres gefeiert.

Der AUSTRALIA DAY ist ein Nationalfeiertag in allen Staaten. Am 26.1.1788 besiedelte Captain Phillip als erster Weißer (Brite) bei Port Jackson (Sydney) Australien.
An diesem Tag gibt es viele Paraden und auch ganz spezielle Zeremonien für Leute, die an diesem Tag ihre australische Staatsbürgerschaft erhalten. Schon vielfach habe ich gehört, dass die Leute dafür gerungen haben, an diesem Tag Australier zu werden und nicht an einem anderen Tag des Jahres, weil es etwas so besonders ist!

Je nachdem in welchen Staat man gerade ist, wird der LABOUR DAY an unterschiedlichen Tagen gefeiert: In West Australien ist es der erste Montag im März und in Tasmanien und Victoria der Zweite, in Queensland und Northern Territory ist es der erste Montag im May und in den restlichen Staaten (New South Wales, South Australia und Australien Capital Territory) ist es der erste Montag im Oktober!
Vergleichbar ist es mit dem Maifeiertag / Tag der Arbeit.

Auch hier am anderen Ende der Welt ist OSTERN nach dem christlich religiösem Kalender festgelegt. Zu bemerken ist, dass der Ostersamstag grundsätzlich als Tag zwischen Karfreitag (GOOD FRIDAY)und Ostersonntag betitelt wird. Die Geschäfte haben hier am Karfreitag geschlossen, sonst aber geöffnet.

ANZAC DAY ist gebietsübergreifend der 25.4. Traditionell werden hier den Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC)Soldaten gedacht, die während des ersten Weltkrieges in Gallipoli (Türkei) gelandet sind. Es werden überall Paraden und Gedenkzeremonien abgehalten und inzwischen allen (!) gefallenen Soldaten und Soldatinnen sämtlicher Kriege gedacht.

In allen Staaten, ausgenommen WA, wo er erst am letzten Montag im September oder erstem Montag im Oktober gefeiert wird, wird der "QUEENS BIRTHDAY" am zweiten Montag im Juni zelebriert.
Generell wurde dieser Feiertag mit der Ankunft von Cpt. Phillip in Sydney 1788 eingeführt, der den Geburtstag King George III gewürdigt hatte. Bis 1936 wurde immer am "richtigen" Geburtstag des jeweiligen Monarchen gefeiert (nicht gearbeitet); nach dem Tod King George V wurde beschlossen, diesen Feiretag auf die Jahresmitte zu legen.

WEIHNACHTEN wird hier am 25.12 gefeiert, der Geburtstag Jesu Christi.
Der 26.12 ist als BOXING DAY bekannt, an dem traditionell Geschenke (in einer BOX) an ärmere Mitglieder der GEmeinschaft verschenkt wurden.
Inzwischen ist der 26.12 der Starttag für die Nach - Weihnachts - Verkauf.
In Südaustralien gibt es keinen Feiertag am 26.12, dafür aber den Proclamation Day am ersten Tag nach Weihnachten.

Andere Feiertage gibt es ebenfalls in einigen Staaten:

* Proclamation Day im Dezember und nur in South Australia.
* Canberra Day ist der 3. Montag in Mätz im ACT.
* Melbourne Cup Day :der erste Dienstag im November - der aAg des Melbourne Cup.
* Geelong Cup Day : der 4. Mittwoch im Oktober in Geelong, Victoria
* Queensland Day wird am 6. Juni jeden Jahres gefeiert, ist aber kein offizieller Feiertag.
* Adelaide Cup Day ist am zweiten Montag im März in South Australia
* Foundation Day in Western Australia in Juni
* Picnic Day im Northern Territory in August, und auch May Day
* Tasmania hat Easter Tuesday als public holiday
* Royal Queensland Show Day in Brisbane area in August



SO, I am here for 6 months now and still didn't mentioned the public holidays! So here they are, all together!

I'd like to thank WIKIPEDIA for these summaries, as otherwise it would have taken me much longer to write it down!!!


New Year

New Year's Day is celebrated on 1 January each year in all states and territories.

Australia Day

Australia Day is Australia's national day celebrated on 26 January annually in all states and territories. 26 January was chosen because it is the day of the establishment of white, English settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip in 1788.

Since 1960, the winner of the Australian of the Year award is announced by the Prime Minister on Australia Day.

Recorded celebrations date back to 1808, and in 1818, Governor Lachlan Macquarie held the first official celebration of Australia Day. It was made a public holiday in New South Wales in 1836, and Victoria adopted the day as a public holiday in 1931. It commenced to be celebrated by all states and territories in 1946, but began to be actually celebrated on 26 January from 1994.

Labour Day

Labour Day commemorates the achievements of the Australian labour movement. The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. On 21 April 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organized workers in the world to achieve an eight hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day and May Day.

The Labour Day public holiday varies considerably between the various states and territories. It is the first Monday in October in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In both Victoria and Tasmania, it is the second Monday in March (though the latter calls it Eight Hours Day). In Western Australia, Labour Day is the first Monday in March. In both Queensland and the Northern Territory, it is the first Monday in May.

Easter

The days of Easter vary each year depending on the day determined by the Christian religious calendar. For the basis of how the days are determined see Easter. Note that "Easter Saturday" in Australia is legally defined to be the day between Good Friday and Easter Day (Sunday) , which is different to the terminology used in other countries.

Anzac Day

Anzac Day is a day on which the country remembers those citizens who fell fighting or who served the country in wars. Anzac Day is commemorated on 25 April every year. The tradition began to remember the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers who landed at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.

Anzac Day commemoration features marches by veterans and by solemn "Dawn Services", a tradition started in Albany, Western Australia on 25 April 1923 and now held at war memorials around the country, accompanied by thoughts of those lost at war to the ceremonial sounds of The Last Post on the bugle. The fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen (known as the "Ode of Remembrance") is often recited.

Queen's Birthday

In all states and territories except Western Australia, Queen's Birthday is observed on the second Monday in June. Because Western Australia celebrates its Foundation Day on the first Monday in June, the Governor of Western Australia proclaims the day on which the state will observe the Queen's Birthday, based on school terms and the Perth Royal Show. There is no firm rule to determine this date before it is proclaimed, though it is typically the last Monday of September or the first Monday of October.

The day has been celebrated since 1788, when Governor Arthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark the birthday of King George III. Until 1936 it was held on the actual birthday of the Monarch, but after the death of King George V it was decided to keep the date at mid-year.

On that day the "Queen's Birthday honours list" is released naming new members of the Order of Australia and other Australian honours. This occurs on the date observed in the Eastern States, not the date observed in Western Australia.

The Queen's Birthday weekend and Empire Day, 24 May, were long the traditional times for public fireworks displays in Australia. Although they still occur, the tradition has recently been overshadowed by larger New Year's Eve fireworks, as the sale of fireworks to the public was progressively banned by the states in the 1980s. The sale of fireworks in the Australian Capital Territory is only legal during the Queen's Birthday weekend.

Christmas

Christmas is observed on 25 December each year to commemorate the birth of Jesus. In Australia it was brought over as a matter of course with white English settlement in 1788. Though a Christian religious festival it does not breach the constitution's separation of Church and State provision, because it is declared under State law, which is not subject to the provision.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is on the day after Christmas, ie. 26 December each year, except in South Australia. In South Australia, the first otherwise working day after Christmas is a public holiday called Proclamation Day.
Boxing Day is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, as well as many other members of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is based on the tradition of giving gifts to the less fortunate members of society
Other holidays


Boxing Day is noted for the start of the post-Christmas sale season. The day has also become a significant sporting day. Melbourne hosts the Boxing Day Test Match and the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starts on this day.

* Proclamation Day is in December in South Australia only.
* Canberra Day is held on the 3rd Monday in March in the ACT. From 2008, this holiday will be celebrated on the 2nd Monday of March (10 March 2008)
* Melbourne Cup Day is held on the first Tuesday of November - the day of the Melbourne Cup in the Melbourne metropolitan area. From 2007 in ACT Melbourne Cup day is also a holiday called "Family and Community day"
* Geelong Cup Day is held on the fourth Wednesday of October in the city of Geelong, Victoria
* Queensland Day is celebrated on 6 June each year, but not with a public holiday.
* Adelaide Cup Day is held on the second Monday in March in South Australia (held in May before 2006)
* Foundation Day in Western Australia in June
* Picnic Day in the Northern Territory in August, and also May Day
* Tasmania has Easter Tuesday as a public holiday which at one stage Victoria acknowledged until 1993.
* Royal Queensland Show Day in Brisbane area in August

Long weekends

Where New Year's Day, Australia Day, Christmas Day fall on a Saturday or Sunday the standard is for another day to be gazetted as a holiday in substitution. By common law, the Boxing Day holiday automatically occurs on Monday 27 December if the 26 December is a Sunday, so a substitute holiday is only gazetted if Boxing Day falls on a Saturday. But Boxing Day is always on the 26 December.

If Anzac Day falls on a Saturday then there is NO holiday on the following Monday. If it falls on a Sunday then there is a holiday on the following Monday.

In Victoria, however, where Christmas falls on a Saturday or Sunday no substitute holiday is given. In the event of New Year's Day falling on a Sunday the following Monday is provided as the substitute public holiday.

Australia has been traditionally known as the "land of the long weekend", both within Australia[1] and by those outside Australia.[2] However, Australians have "fewer public holidays than workers in most other industrialised countries."