Saturday, October 25, 2008
quicko: school holidays
This is bizarre: the whole country takes a vacation at the same time. That's right, they schedule every single school around to have collective time off. It's called "school holidays" and everybody talks about them. Colleges might be on a slightly different schedule, but similarly have simultaneous "uni holidays."
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Maybe I'm not quite catching on here, but our schools are all closed on certain days, too, like Thanksgiving, and the month of July, for example. Are these Australian holidays just random days for no reason, as opposed to our Monday holiday observations, or several days together, to make a good amount of time to travel?
They're several days together. As in, between "terms" they take a week break here and a week break there. It's happened several times and is a bit unnerving ...
All the mainland states and territories have a 4 term year; Tassie has yet to make the switch from a three term year to a 4 term year. Queensland switched ready for the start of 1982.
For the 4 term year states, there's normally 6 weeks break over summer (Dec - Jan), a week at Easter and two weeks in June / July and September / October. Private schools will often have variants such as 3 weeks in the middle of the year or 7 at the end or 2 at Easter.
The term breaks will also commonly vary by a week or two (in terms of when they start) between states. This at least gives teachers and their families a chance to see a part of the country without being completely inundated by hordes of screaming kids.
Apart from that there are the public holidays. Eight or so of these are on generally nationally agreed dates:
New Years Day
Australia Day - 26 Jan
Good Friday
Easter Saturday (how 'observed' this is varies and most who work Monday to Friday don't realise it's a national public holiday)
Easter Monday
ANZAC Day
Queen's Birthday (2nd Monday of June unless you're in WA, in which case it's in September)
Christmas Day
Boxing Day
Then there are a few that vary by locality. Labour Day (also known as May Day or 8 hour day) is the first Monday in May in Qld and NT but is observed in either March or October in the other states. Some states have other extras, such as Bank Holiday in NSW.
Then there are Show days (called People's Day in Brisbane) - a day off ostensibly to allow you to go to your local Show (like a State Fair). When I lived in Walgett, NSW, we didn't get a day off, but then the Show started on a Friday and finished on the Sunday.
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