Australia’s Weird Little Time Zone

Continental Australia is divided into three standard time zones, Western, Central and Eastern. It’s pretty simple to understand even bearing in mind that Australian Central Standard Time aligns with the half-hour (UTC+9:30). Individual Australian states and territories determine whether to recognise Daylight Saving Time (DST) or not. Far-flung Australian island territories and its Antarctic stations add a few more complexities. Overall, Australian time is fairly straightforward and understandable.

Australia States Timezones. Based on blank map by Rycherr [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

However Australia also has an unofficial but de facto hybrid time zone called “Australian Central Western Standard Time” (ACWST), which is set halfway between the official Western and Central times. With Western Time at UTC+8:00 and Central Time at UTC+9:30, splitting the difference makes the so-called Central Western Time UTC+8:45. Yes, a time zone that’s based not on the hour or the half-hour, but on the quarter hour!

Entering Central Western Time Zone. Photo by Groogle [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This is quite rare, something found nowhere else except Nepal and in a few small, isolated corners of the globe. Visitors entering or leaving ACWST have to remember to set their watches in the proper direction either forward or back by 45 minutes. A highway sign reminds travelers to account for this peculiarity.


Just a Tiny Sliver

ACWST is observed only in a tiny sliver in the far southeastern corner of Western Australia along the Eyre Highway, extending from just outside of Caiguna to Border Village, about 50 metres across the state line into South Australia, for a total length of about 340 kilometres. The northern boundary is less precise but it doesn’t really matter. This is part of the Nullarbor Plain, a vast, dry, flat, expanse of scrubland and not much else besides nature. Time doesn’t really matter in that immense empty acreage north of the Eyre Highway.


Settlements in ACWST

Mercedes-Benz F-CELL World Drive 2011; Australia From Ceduna to Perth. Photo by  Mercedes-Benz F-Cell; (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Roadhouse settlements hug the highway on a long string with as much as a hundred kilometres between them. Places that follow ACWST include:

  • Cocklebiddy, with its world-class cave systems
  • Madura, and its panoramic views from the Hampton Tablelands
  • Mundrabilla, where pioneers first settled on the Nullarbor in 1872
  • Eucla, with its old telegraph station ruins and oddly enough, a golf course
  • Border Village, which as the name implies, sits just across the border and has the distinction of being the only spot in South Australia to follow ACWST

Perhaps only a couple hundred people live within the narrow ACWST strip. This of course made it much easier for them to agree upon a standard time. A couple hundred people can probably come to consensus on just about anything, apparently even the complete departure from a standard time that the government say should apply to them. That doesn’t concern them. They set their clocks as they please. It’s such a small population that the authorities turn a blind eye and allows ACWST to continue albeit without official sanction.


Oddly, It Works

It’s not as illogical as it seems on the surface, and in fact it makes a lot of sense. The hour and a half gap at the border between Western and Central time provides plenty of incentive on its own, but it gets even worse in the summer when South Australia switches to Daylight Saving Time but Western Australia does not. When that happens the gap becomes an incredible two and a half hours just by crossing from one state to another. Meanwhile ACWST continues to be followed regardless of official sanction.

Comments

5 responses to “Australia’s Weird Little Time Zone”

  1. Guy Avatar
    Guy

    Apparently this is not the only time zone anomaly in Australia: Broken Hill does not observe Eastern Standard Time as would be expected for a location in New South Wales, but Central Standard Time, the time zone observed by neighbouring South Australia. Even stranger, the Indian Pacific train seems to observe its own time zone. See this article.

  2. Rob Ken Avatar
    Rob Ken

    And if you consider that Norfolk Island, off the east coast of Australia is GMT+12 and Christmas Island, off the west coast of Australia is GMT+7 – those time zones seem even weirder lol

  3. Mladen Avatar
    Mladen

    Many remote communities along the WA/NT border (e.g. Kiwirrkurra, Mantamaru, Irrunytju, Warakurna, Wanarn and Tjukurla) observe NT time given they gravitate toward the NT for administrative and health services, shopping and travel etc.

  4. Jerold Crawford Avatar
    Jerold Crawford

    We have a few places like this here in the USA. Phenix City, Alabama is in Central (US) Time. It is across the river from the much larger Columbus in Georgia, It is and several suburbs operate on Eastern (US) Time. Some friends said that it is referred to it as “fast time” (ET) and “slow time” (CT) and if you are making an appointment for one city and you live across the border. They will tell you this is fast time or slow time. I was unable to find any time change signs on the internet for the area, and it is unofficial but was voted on by the 4 cities involved.

    This is in contrast to West Wendover, Nevada which petitioned the US government and is the only NV town officially on Mountian US time since the businesses on the Nevada side are closer to Salt Lake City US MT) than Reno, NV on the US Pacific time, However, 4 other towns in northeast Elko County, NV that unofficially observe US Mountain time as well. They are Jackpot, Owyhee, Mountain City, and Jarbidge. This is again because of the businesses in Idaho they trade with are in a different time zone

    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

      You might enjoy the 12MC article: (West) Wendover: What Time? What State?. Also, I was fortunate enough to visit Phenix City, Alabama in 2022 to experience the situation first hand! Time zone anomalies are fun.

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