Why the gap between Easter and ANZAC Day changes each year

·Published: 16 September 2026

The gap between Easter and ANZAC Day changes because Easter moves around the calendar while ANZAC Day stays on 25 April. An early Easter can leave several working weeks between the two occasions; a late Easter can bring them into the same week. In 2027, Easter Monday is 27 calendar days before ANZAC Day. In 2030, it is just three calendar days before it. For anyone planning annual leave, those intervals are a starting point: the weekdays sitting between the holidays show how much of the gap a usual working week occupies.

Why Easter moves and ANZAC Day stays fixed

Easter Sunday follows a church calendar calculation based on the March equinox and an ecclesiastical full moon. Under the Gregorian calculation used for these Easter dates, it falls on the Sunday after that full moon, with 21 March serving as the fixed ecclesiastical equinox. Easter Sunday can therefore fall anywhere from 22 March to 25 April. The calculation uses calendar rules for the moon rather than a fresh observation of the sky over Australia. This gives Easter a range of possible dates while keeping it on the same day of the week.

The surrounding Easter dates move together. Good Friday is two days before Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday is one day after it. ANZAC Day, by contrast, remains on 25 April regardless of its weekday. Its fixed date commemorates the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. As Easter moves towards the later end of its range, the interval contracts; an Easter Sunday in March leaves a longer interval. At the latest possible Easter date, Easter Sunday and ANZAC Day can even coincide, with Easter Monday falling the following day.

What counts as the gap?

Name the Easter date before comparing intervals. Easter can mean the Sunday itself or the whole long weekend, so a single number without a starting date can be misleading. For planning a stretch of annual leave after the Easter weekend, Easter Monday is a useful starting point. A calendar-day difference measures how many days later the second date falls. It excludes the starting date and includes the finishing date. Counting only the dates strictly between the two holidays gives a total one smaller, while counting the whole span including both endpoints gives a total one larger.

Weekday counts answer a different question. They pick out Mondays to Fridays within the interval, leaving Saturdays and Sundays aside. They do not automatically describe every person's working days: a shift roster or a part-time arrangement can produce a different pattern. The examples below count weekdays strictly after Easter Monday and strictly before 25 April. They assume a Monday-to-Friday schedule when discussing leave, with the named public holidays and weekends free from work. Any other applicable holiday or roster arrangement needs to be considered separately.

2027: a March Easter and a longer interval

In 2027, Good Friday falls on 26 March, Easter Sunday on 28 March and Easter Monday on 29 March. ANZAC Day is Sunday 25 April. Measured to 25 April, the calendar-day differences are 30 days from Good Friday, 28 days from Easter Sunday and 27 days from Easter Monday. The Sunday-to-Sunday comparison is exactly four weeks. The Easter Monday comparison leaves 26 dates strictly between the two holidays, running from Tuesday 30 March to Saturday 24 April.

Within that intervening period there are 19 weekdays: four from 30 March to 2 April, followed by five in each of the weeks beginning 5, 12 and 19 April. For someone working every Monday to Friday, connecting the Easter break through to Sunday 25 April would therefore involve covering those 19 weekdays, subject to any other applicable days off. The full period from Good Friday to ANZAC Day contains 31 calendar dates inclusive. This is a substantial stretch of annual leave, even though both occasions sit close together within the broader autumn calendar.

2030: two intervening weekdays

In 2030, Good Friday is 19 April, Easter Sunday is 21 April and Easter Monday is 22 April. ANZAC Day follows on Thursday 25 April. The calendar-day differences are six days from Good Friday, four days from Easter Sunday and three days from Easter Monday. Only Tuesday 23 April and Wednesday 24 April fall strictly between Easter Monday and ANZAC Day. Both are weekdays, so this particular connection requires two days of annual leave under the Monday-to-Friday assumptions above.

Taking those two days would connect Friday 19 April through Thursday 25 April into seven consecutive days away from work. Extending that period through Sunday 28 April would also require Friday 26 April, making three leave days for a ten-day inclusive stretch. Taking Friday 26 April alone would connect ANZAC Day to the following weekend, creating four consecutive days off from Thursday to Sunday. It would leave Tuesday and Wednesday as ordinary working days between the Easter weekend and that later break.

For a usable leave plan, mark the holiday dates, add the surrounding weekends and then identify the remaining scheduled workdays. In 2027, also keep Sunday 25 April distinct from any substitute public holiday that applies where you work; arrangements vary across states and territories. A substitute day can change the available time off without changing ANZAC Day's date or its calendar-day distance from Easter. Keep the final leave count tied to your own working pattern and agreed dates, especially when comparing the long 2027 interval with the much shorter connection in 2030.