Definitive proof that Aussies are the strangest people on the planet.
Daylight saving may be done and dusted for another six months, but Australia is still no better off when it comes to our absolutely cooked time zones.
Looking forward to Australia returning to 3 time zones instead of 5. Surely there’s something we can do to make things a bit more sensible all year round.
Twitter: @MattThompson
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, let’s dig into the facts.
In the video, Bayley breaks down exactly what time the various Aussie states sit at in relation to one another. “I get it, Australia’s a big country,” he says, “so we’re gonna need a bunch of time zones and the math looks like this.”
TikTok @bayleyistrying
“Pretty good, actually, except those middle two — the Northern Territory and South Australia — they’re actually 30 minute time zones,” he explains. “For whatever reason, they didn’t want to go back a full hour, so they’re only 30 minutes behind the east coast.”
But things get a little more complicated when daylight saving hours take effect, with Bayley pointing out: “This was all fine before DLS, because Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia don’t do it, so the map looks like this.”
TikTok @bayleyistrying
Still sounds simple enough? Just hold on.
“But hang on, it gets better, because a little section in New South Wales, called Broken Hill, decided they wanted to be a part of South Australia’s time zone, so their time zone actually extends a little over into that state,” says Bayley.
TikTok @bayleyistrying
And oh wait, because he’s not done yet.
“Only it gets even better, because a part of the Nullarbor, right between the border of Western Australia and South Australia, decided to invent its own time zones in 45 minute intervals. It’s not official, they just decided to do it and so we have to follow it.”
Bayley hilariously sums all this up, by pointing out: “You get to this awkward situation during daylight saving where it can be 6pm in Western Australia, 6:45pm in the sliver of Nullarbor, 7pm in the Northern Territory, 8pm in Queensland, 8:30pm in South Australia — even though it’s further west than Queensland — and then 9pm in the rest of the country. Except for Broken Hill, of course…WHY!?”
TikTok @bayleyistrying
And if you’ve managed to follow along with that ~logic~, then well bloody done.
In the comments, fellow Australians aired their own grievances over the time zones, as well as a few more confusing facts that were left out:
But you tell me — what do you think of Australia’s cooked time zones? And if you’re a non-Aussie, how do they stack up against your country? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!