Summer begins on 1 December, and December carries the two biggest fixed public holidays of the year: Christmas Day on 25 December and Boxing Day on 26 December. 8 December 2026 falls inside this 31-day month, at the height of the Australian retail and travel calendar for the year.
The Melbourne Cup is held on the first Tuesday of November every year, a public holiday in metropolitan Melbourne. Tuesday 8 December 2026 falls on this day of the week, the same weekday the race runs on every year regardless of the date it lands on, drawing national attention well beyond Victoria's own borders.
2026 has 365 days on the calendar. Leap years add a single extra day to February, giving those years 366 days instead of 365 and shifting the day-of-year number for every date from March onward by one compared with an ordinary year. This is the only irregularity in the length of the Australian calendar year.
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