ACST time now (Australian Central Standard Time)

What ACST means

ACST stands for Australian Central Standard Time, UTC+9:30. It is used in the Northern Territory (all year) and South Australia and Broken Hill (in winter).

It is a standard (winter) time. Places on ACST that observe daylight saving time switch to ACDT (UTC+10:30) in summer, so ACST is a fixed offset while the local clock is not.

Australia’s time zones in practice

Australia’s states choose their own clock rules. Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia stay on standard time all year, while New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT and South Australia move forward in October and back in April. In summer this gives the east coast two different times: Sydney on AEDT (UTC+11) and Brisbane on AEST (UTC+10).

The Northern Territory, South Australia and Broken Hill use a half-hour offset, ACST (UTC+9:30); South Australia and Broken Hill move to ACDT (UTC+10:30) in summer, while Darwin does not. Lord Howe Island moves by only 30 minutes. Because the southern summer spans New Year, the year’s first clock change in Australia is the move back in April.

Where and when ACST is used

1 zone uses ACST all year. 2 zones use it for part of the year only, switching to daylight saving time in the other months. Computed from tzdata under the current rules.

How long ACST has been used

In the tzdata record, Adelaide has used ACST since 1895, Darwin has used ACST since 1895 and Broken Hill has used ACST since 1896. No zone has given up ACST for good.

ACST converted to other zones

Every column is a fixed offset, so this table is valid on any date. Remember that the regions behind some columns switch to summer time (EST to EDT, CET to CEST, GMT to BST); the clock in those cities is then an hour later than the column.

Related zones and conversions

• ACDT time
• Australia/Adelaide time zone
• UTC+9:30 time
• Time zones of the world
• Daylight saving time
• Time zone converter