How many time zones does Australia have?

Answer 1

Australia has three time zones - Eastern Standard Time covering the eastern states of Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and all of New South Wales except Broken Hill; Central Standard Time covering South Australia, Northern Territory, and Broken Hill; and Western Standard Time in Western Australia. Daylight Saving is observed in some of these zones beginning and ending at different times of the year, resulting in some confusion.

Mainland Australia is divided among four time offsets during Standard Time and six time offsets during Summer Time.

Including its overseas territories, Australia is divided among eight time offsets during Standard Time and nine time offsets during Summer Time.

Australia's time offsets include...

• UTC + 6.5 hours: Cocos Islands Time
• UTC + 7 hours: Christmas Island Time
• UTC + 8 hours: Western Standard Time
• UTC + 8.75 hours: Central Western Standard Time
• UTC + 9.5 hours: Central Standard Time
• UTC + 10 hours: Eastern Standard Time
• UTC + 10.5 hours: Central Summer Time & Lord Howe Standard Time
• UTC + 11 hours: Eastern Summer Time & Lord Howe Summer Time
• UTC + 11.5 hours: Norfolk Time

The parts of Australia that observe Summer Time do so from the first Sunday of October to the first Sunday of April.

Lord Howe Island is currently the only part of the world that adjusts its clocks annually for Summer Time by an amount other than one hour.