Date and time notation in Australia
Date and time notation in Australia most commonly records the date using the day-month-year format (9 February 2021), while the ISO 8601 format (2021-02-09) is increasingly used for all-numeric dates. The time can be written using either the 12-hour clock (6:45 am) or the 24-hour clock (06:45).
| Full date | 9 February 2021 |
|---|---|
| All-numeric date | 2021-02-09 09/02/2021 |
| Time | 06:45 6:45 am [refresh] |
Date
Australians typically write the date with the day leading, as in the United Kingdom and New Zealand:
- 9 February 2021
- 2021-02-09 or 09/02/2021
The ISO 8601 date format (2021-02-09) is the recommended short date format for government publications.[1] The first two digits of the year are often omitted in everyday use and on forms (09/02/21).
Weeks are most identified by the last day of the week, either the Friday in business (e.g., "week ending 19/1") or the Sunday in other use (e.g., "week ending 21/1"). Week ending is often abbreviated to "W/E" or "W.E." The first day of the week or the day of an event are sometimes referred to (e.g., "week of 15/1"). Week numbers (as in "the third week of 2007") are not often used, but may appear in some business diaries in numeral-only form (e.g., "3" at the top or bottom of the page). ISO 8601 week notation (e.g. 2021-W06) is not widely understood. Some more traditional calendars instead treat Sunday as the first day of the week.
Time
The Australian government allows writing the time using either the 24-hour clock (06:45), which is commonplace in technical fields such as military, aviation, computing, navigation, and the sciences; or the 12-hour clock (6:45 am). The before noon/after noon qualifier is usually written as "am" or "pm". A colon is the preferred time separator.[2]
References
- Style manual for authors, editors and printers (6 ed.). John Wiley & Sons Australia. 2002. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-7016-3647-0.
- "Numbers and measurement". GOV.AU Content Guide. Retrieved 23 July 2018.