WA Public Holidays 2026: Full Calendar, Dates and How Perth Celebrates

Western Australia’s public holiday calendar has a few genuine quirks: it’s the only state that skips Easter Saturday, Labour Day falls in March rather than October, and Western Australia Day is a uniquely WA celebration with its own colonial-era origin story. This guide covers every WA public holiday for 2026, exactly how Perth marks the big ones (with real locations), and a change coming in 2028 that’s worth knowing about now.

Full 2026 WA public holiday calendar

This is the complete list of Western Australia’s gazetted public holidays for 2026.

Australia Day in WA: 26 January

Perth’s Australia Day evening centres on the Swan River foreshore, where a fireworks and drone show over the Derbarl Yerrigan (the Noongar name for the Swan River) is held around Langley Park, with a separate fireworks event down the coast in Rockingham. This replaced the long-running City of Perth Skyworks, which for years was one of the largest Australia Day fireworks displays in the country and was also centred on Perth Water. Kings Park remains a popular, less crowded vantage point for watching the display over the river and city skyline, even though the show itself is now more compact around the foreshore.

For the full background on Australia Day’s history and the ongoing debate around the date, see our Australia Day guide.

Anzac Day in WA: 25 April (plus an Additional Day, 27 April)

Perth’s Dawn Service is held at the State War Memorial in Kings Park & Botanic Garden, with the service starting around 5.30-5.45am – arriving by 4am is recommended given the crowds. A Gunfire Breakfast follows at the Government House Gardens from around 7am. The Anzac Day March runs from about 9am to 11am, starting on William Street, moving east along St Georges Terrace, then south on Victoria Avenue, before dispersing at Langley Park.

Because Anzac Day falls on a Saturday in 2026, WA adds a separate Additional Day public holiday on Monday 27 April – one of only three jurisdictions (with NSW and the ACT) to do this. For the full history of Anzac Day, see our Anzac Day guide.

Labour Day and Easter in WA: 2 March and 3-6 April

WA’s Labour Day falls on the first Monday in March – well ahead of NSW, South Australia and the ACT, which observe it in October. Like elsewhere, it commemorates the 19th-century eight-hour-day movement, though WA settled on its own March date. Easter in WA runs Good Friday through Easter Monday, with Easter Saturday notably not gazetted (see the info box above) – unlike NSW and Queensland. For the full history of Easter in Australia, see our Easter in Australia guide.

Western Australia Day: 1 June

Western Australia Day traces back to 1 June 1829, the date the ship Parmelia’s civilian settlers sighted the coast after arriving the previous night, ahead of the Swan River Colony being formally proclaimed on 11 June. In 1832, colonial administrator Sir James Stirling established an annual celebration on 1 June to mark the occasion and unite the colony’s population. The holiday was known as Foundation Day for most of its history, before the WA Parliament passed the Western Australia Day (Renaming) Bill in 2011, and the day was formally renamed Western Australia Day from 2012. Then-Premier Colin Barnett said the change better reflected the state’s full history, including its Aboriginal population and the roughly 200 nationalities that now call WA home, rather than centring the day solely on British settlement. It’s now observed on the first Monday in June and functions mainly as a long weekend rather than a single centralised public event.

King's Birthday in WA: 28 September

WA is unusual in observing the King’s Birthday holiday on the last Monday in September, rather than in June like most other states. There’s a change coming, though: the WA Government has announced that from 2028, King’s Birthday will move to June to align with the rest of the country, and its current September slot will instead become a dedicated Show Day public holiday, timed to coincide with the Perth Royal Show. For 2026, however, the calendar stays as it currently is – King’s Birthday in September, with no separate Show Day yet.

Two regions observe King’s Birthday on a different date to the rest of the state: the City of Karratha and the Town of Port Hedland both take their King’s Birthday public holiday on Monday 3 August 2026 instead of the statewide 28 September date, to avoid clashing with the local school holidays and Pilbara events calendar. If you’re working out payroll or travel plans for either area, use 3 August rather than the statewide date.

WA public holiday long weekends 2026

Six of WA’s 2026 public holidays line up with a weekend to create a long weekend without needing to take extra leave. Easter and Christmas both stretch to four days.

Taking a single day of annual leave stretches several of these further – for example, a Tuesday off after the Easter long weekend turns it into five days, and a Friday off before Western Australia Day turns that into a four-day break.

Christmas and Boxing Day in WA: 25-28 December

Christmas Day (Friday 25 December 2026) is a quiet public holiday in WA, with most retail, banks and government services closed. Boxing Day (Saturday 26 December 2026) falls on a weekend, so WA adds an Additional Day public holiday on Monday 28 December. For the full history of Boxing Day, see our Boxing Day in Australia guide.

What's open, and what working on a public holiday means for pay

Most major retailers, banks and government offices close on WA public holidays, though large shopping centres and supermarkets in Perth’s CBD and tourist areas commonly stay open on all but Christmas Day and Anzac Day morning. Cafes, restaurants and tourist attractions typically continue trading, often with a surcharge.

If you work on a WA public holiday, you’re generally entitled to a penalty rate loading on top of your normal pay, with the exact rate set by your award or agreement. For a full breakdown, see our public holiday penalty rates guide.

Getting ready for WA's public holiday long weekends

A few practical picks for whichever long weekend from the table above you’re planning around.

Related guides

For the full national public holiday calendar and how other states compare, see our Australian public holidays guide, our NSW public holidays guide, and our QLD public holidays guide. We also have dedicated guides to Australia Day, Anzac Day, Easter in Australia and Boxing Day.

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