Australia and NZ End Daylight Saving April 4, 2010

The DST end date for both countries coincides with Easter Sunday in 2010.

Australia’s Daylight Saving Schedule

Not all states and territories in Australia observe DST. However, there are four states and one territory that follow DST each year and will end the 2009–2010 schedule on Sunday, April 4, 2010.

The states and territory that have an annual DST schedule are:

• Australian Capital Territory.
• New South Wales.
• South Australia.
• Tasmania.
• Victoria.

DST is synchronized across these states and territory, although not all of these places are on the same time zone. Australia has different time zones due to its large geographical size. DST ends at 3am (03:00) when the clocks move back to 2am (02:00) local time on the first Sunday of April – which is Sunday, April 4, in 2010. The DST schedule resumes at 2am (02:00) on first Sunday of October, when the clocks move forward by one hour to 3am (03:00) local time. DST starts again on Sunday, October 3, 2010.

The Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia do not observe DST, nor does Norfolk Island. Lord Howe Island does observe DST, along with the other territory and states that follow DST. Therefore will move its clocks back by half an hour from being 11 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC+11, to UTC+10:30 when DST ends. timeanddate.com has more background information about time in Australia.

Australian Antarctic Stations

The Australian Antarctic Division is seeing some time changes as the southern hemisphere’s winter period approaches in 2010. Casey station already went back to being on UTC+8 on March 5, 2010, while Davis station changes its time to UTC+7 on March 10, 2010. Mawson station will continue to stay on UTC+5.

Macquarie Island station will not follow Tasmania in ending daylight saving time (DST). Instead, it will remain on Australian Eastern Daylight Time ( AEDT), which is 11 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or UTC+11.

New Zealand’s Daylight Saving Schedule

New Zealand’s daylight saving schedule annually starts from on the last Sunday of September, when the clocks move forward from 2am (02:00) to 3am (03:00) local time. It ends on the first Sunday of April the following year, when 3am (03:00) becomes 2am (02:00) local time. In 2010, DST ends in New Zealand on Sunday, April 4, 2010. It starts again on Sunday, September 26, 2010. timeanddate.com has more background information on the time in New Zealand.

The Chatham Islands currently observe DST from the last Sunday of September until the first Sunday of April each year, as with the rest of New Zealand. The Chatham Islands are on UTC+12:45 when they do not observe DST. The islands move their clocks forward by one hour to UTC+13:45 when it is on DST.