Image at right: Daylight saving is often promoted as a way to achieve better health, through providing more time for exercise and other outdoor activity.
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Background information
The information below on the history of daylight saving is adapted from a KidsNews article titled 'Let's learn more about daylight saving as it comes to an end for another year'. The full text can be accessed at
The history of daylight saving
George Vernon Hudson, an entomologist and astronomer from New Zealand, proposed the idea of daylight saving in 1895.
He suggested shifting the time forward by two hours. His idea did not attract support. Seven years later, a British builder, William Willett, took the idea to England's parliament to prevent the nation from wasting daylight. His proposal was rejected.The first place to introduce daylight saving was the Canadian city of Port Arthur, on July 1, 1908, after a local businessman urged the council to move the clocks forward in summer so children could enjoy an extra hour of sun.
In 1916, two years into World War I, the German government began investigating energy saving. Drawing on Willet's proposal, they introduced daylight saving into wartime Germany. England and most other nations fighting in World War 1 soon made the same change. At that time, coal was the main source of home heating and of supplying energy for industry. By reducing domestic consumption of coal for approximately an hour each day, more energy was available for wartime industries. The history of daylight saving in Australia
Tasmania was the first Australian state to use daylight saving in 1916, during World War I. The following year, all states and territories used it; however, it was removed in 1918 at the end of the war.
It was reintroduced during World War II when it was used from 1942 to 1944. After the end of World War II, daylight saving was not adapted again until October 1, 1967, when Tasmania reintroduced it during a drought. Tasmania has used daylight saving in the warmer months ever since.
Victoria, NSW, the ACT, South Australia and Queensland readopted daylight saving in 1971. However, Queensland abandoned it the following year and, except for a trial from 1989 to 1992, it has not used it since. On four occasions Western Australia has had a referendum on daylight saving - 1975, 1984, 1992 and 2009. They have voted 'no' each time.
The current operation of daylight saving in Australia
The information below is condensed from a Wikipedia entry titled 'Daylight saving in Australia'. The full entry can be accessed at
Each state and territory of Australia determines whether to use daylight saving time (DST).
New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia observe DST every year. This has resulted in three time zones becoming five during the daylight-saving period.
Officially, the change to and from DST takes place at 02:00 local standard time (which is 03:00 DST) on the appropriate Sunday.
Of the states that observe DST, most began on the last Sunday in October, and ended on the last Sunday in March, until 2007. Tasmania, owing to its further southern latitude began DST earlier, on the first Sunday in October, and ended on the last Sunday in March.
In the 2007-08 season, Tasmania started on the first Sunday in October whilst the ACT, NSW, Vic and SA started in the last Sunday in October. As part of the transition to earlier daylight saving, those states and Tasmania all finished on the first Sunday in April. For subsequent years, DST in the south-eastern states and SA now starts on the first Sunday in October, finishing on the first Sunday in April the next year.
Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia do not observe DST, although Western Australia has adopted it briefly on a couple of occasions.