How many time zones does Australia have?
Mainland Australia has three main time zones: Australian Eastern Standard Time, Australian Central Standard Time and Australian Western Standard Time. Daylight saving in some states adds extra time differences in summer.
Eastern time, ten hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time, is used in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. Central time, half an hour behind it, is used in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Western Australia uses Western time, two hours behind the east coast for most of the year. A small strip along the Eyre Highway near the border uses an unofficial Central Western time zone.
Summer confusion
In summer, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT and South Australia move their clocks forward one hour for daylight saving. Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia do not.
This means that during summer, parts of the east coast are an hour apart, and there are several different clock times across the mainland. Broken Hill in New South Wales also follows South Australian time.
Australia's external territories, such as Christmas Island and Norfolk Island, have their own time zones.