Current time in Sydney

Australian Eastern Time, but not the same as Brisbane

Sydney uses Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST, UTC+10) in winter and Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT, UTC+11) in summer. Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart keep the same time all year. Brisbane does not: Queensland stays on UTC+10, so from October to April it is one hour behind Sydney, although it lies further north on the same coast.

Summer time runs from October to April

Clocks go forward at 02:00 on the first Sunday of October and back at 03:00 on the first Sunday of April. The seasons are the reverse of those in the northern hemisphere, so the two sides move in opposite directions. Sydney is 11 hours ahead of London in January, 9 hours ahead in July and 10 hours ahead in the weeks between the changes. With New York the gap is 16 hours in January and 14 in July.

One state, three clocks

New South Wales does not run on a single time. Broken Hill, in the far west, keeps Central time with Adelaide, half an hour behind Sydney. Lord Howe Island, 600 kilometres out in the Tasman Sea, is on UTC+10:30 in winter and moves forward by only thirty minutes in summer, to UTC+11. It is the only place in the world with a half-hour daylight-saving shift.

Sydney: time zone at a glance

Time zone

Australia/Sydney

Standard time

UTC+10

Daylight saving time

UTC+11

Clock changes in 2026

Sunday, April 5, 2026: back 1 hour

Sunday, October 4, 2026: forward 1 hour

Clock changes in 2027

Sunday, April 4, 2027: back 1 hour

Sunday, October 3, 2027: forward 1 hour

Dates reflect the rules in force when this page was last updated. Governments can change them at short notice.

Plan a meeting in Sydney

Use the actual meeting date. Seasonal clock changes can alter the time difference.

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