Easter Saturday 2027

Type of holiday: statutory public holiday, a non-working day.

Easter Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, is one of the few public holidays in Australia that isn't observed uniformly across the country — a fact that regularly catches people out when they assume every state gets the full four-day Easter long weekend. Its date moves with the rest of Easter, calculated from the same ecclesiastical formula that sets Good Friday, so it shifts across late March and April from year to year.

The name itself is a source of minor confusion. In Australia, "Easter Saturday" refers to the Saturday within the Easter long weekend, sitting between Good Friday and Easter Sunday — not, as the term is sometimes used elsewhere, the Saturday after Easter Sunday. Locally the day is understood clearly enough, but visitors and anyone reading international material should be aware the terminology isn't universal.

How it's marked

With the solemnity of Good Friday behind it and Easter Sunday's celebrations still to come, Easter Saturday tends to be the most relaxed and commercially active day of the long weekend where it's observed as a holiday. Shops that were closed on Good Friday typically reopen, and it's a popular day for Easter shopping, sport and family outings, effectively functioning as a normal Saturday with slightly heavier retail and hospitality trade.

Where it's a public holiday

Easter Saturday is a public holiday in most, but not all, states and territories:

• New South Wales — public holiday
• Victoria — public holiday
• Queensland — public holiday
• South Australia — public holiday
• Australian Capital Territory — public holiday
• Northern Territory — public holiday
• Western Australia — not a public holiday
• Tasmania — not a public holiday

In Western Australia and Tasmania, the Saturday of the Easter long weekend is treated as an ordinary Saturday, with no special public holiday penalty rates applying, even though Good Friday and Easter Monday are observed as holidays in both states.

No transfer needed

Easter Saturday is always a Saturday by definition, so there's no weekday transfer to consider, though its exclusion from the WA and Tasmanian calendars means workers there effectively lose one day of the long weekend that applies elsewhere.

Practicalities

In the states where it is a public holiday, ordinary Saturday trading hours typically apply for retail, since Easter Saturday is not subject to the same tight restrictions as Good Friday or Christmas Day. Public transport generally runs a normal Saturday timetable rather than a reduced holiday service. Anyone travelling between Western Australia or Tasmania and the rest of the country over Easter should note the discrepancy, since it can affect penalty rates for anyone working across state lines and occasionally causes confusion in national rostering and payroll systems.