Australia Time Zones

Wondering about Australia time zones - how many they are and when does daylight saving happen?

There are tree time zones are:

Eastern Standard (EST) in Australian Capital Territories, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria;
Central Standard (CST) in Northern Territory and South Australia;
Western Standard (WST) in Western Australia.

All states with the exception of Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia set clocks forward one hour in summer to benefit from the longer days.

This happens for 6 months from October till April.

Daylight Saving

Daylight saving in Sydney Australia begins on the first Sunday in October and ends on the first Sunday in April. All the other states that move clocks back and forward are doing this on the same dates.

There's a funny or unusual side to clocks down under. The difference between one time zone and the other does not always come in one hour increments.

For example:

Adelaide is half an hour behind Sydney and one hour and a half ahead of Perth.
New South Wales has the same time as Sydney with the exception of Broken Hill, which is 30 minutes behind and Lord Howe Island which is 30 minutes ahead.

Local time in Darwin (Northern Territory) is the same as in Adelaide during winter months. But in summer, as folks in Adelaide wind their clock ahead, Darwin is one hour behind.

Quite confusing sometimes...