Canberra Day 2025, 2026 and 2027 - PublicHolidays.com.au (original) (raw)

Canberra Day is a public holiday held on the second Monday of March each year in Canberra, to celebrate the naming ceremony of Australia’s capital which took place on 12 March 1913.

Canberra Day is celebrated with a public holiday for all people in the Australian Capital Territory, and there are many events that take place during March each year as part of the Canberra Day celebrations.

Canberra Day Events

• The Canberra Festival – multiple events taking place throughout March in Canberra.
• The Chief Minister’s Canberra Day Awards Ceremony

Until 2007, Canberra Day was celebrated on the third Monday of March each year. In 2007 the date was moved to the second Monday of March, so that in future years, the celebration would fall closer to the original date of 12 March.

Canberra is Australia’s National Capital, and is located in the Australian Capital Territory. It is frequently referred to as Australia’s ‘bush capital’ because of large areas of natural vegetation that have been retained between areas developed as suburbs.

A national capital separate to Sydney or Melbourne was initially discussed in the late 19th century, and New South Wales transferred land to the newly formed commonwealth in 1911 for this purpose. Canberra is a planned city, designed by American architect Walter Burley Griffin (after whom the lake is named). Almost the total number of people living in ACT today live in Canberra itself.

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