Date and time notation in Australia

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Date and time notation in Australia [ refresh ]
Full date30 March 2024
All-numeric date30/03/2024
Time10:26 am

Date and time notation in Australia most commonly records the date using the day-month-year format (30 March 2024) and with the 12-hour clock (10:26 am).

Contents

Date

Australians typically write the date with the day leading, as in the United Kingdom and New Zealand:

The month–day–year order (March 30, 2024) is sometimes used, often in the mastheads of magazines, schools, newspapers, [1] [2] advertisements, video games, news, and TV shows. MDY in numeric-only form (03/30/2024) is rarely used.

The ISO 8601 date format (2024-03-30) is recommended by the government to be used when communicating internationally. [3] It is also commonly used in software.

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. 2024-W13) is not widely understood.[ citation needed ] Some more traditional calendars instead treat Sunday as the first day of the week.[ citation needed ]

Time

The Australian government recommends using the 12-hour clock (10:26 am), except where the 24-hour clock is more helpful in the context, such as in travel, scientific fields and the military. [3] The government also recommends a colon as the separator, however the single period is still used in some contexts. [3] They also suggest writing the noon/after noon qualifier as "am" or "pm" in lower-case without periods. [3]

Related Research Articles

A calendar date is a reference to a particular day represented within a calendar system. The calendar date allows the specific day to be identified. The number of days between two dates may be calculated. For example, "25 March 2024" is ten days after "15 March 2024". The date of a particular event depends on the observed time zone. For example, the air attack on Pearl Harbor that began at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian time on 7 December 1941 took place at 3:18 a.m. Japan Standard Time, 8 December in Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ISO 8601</span> International standards for dates and times

ISO 8601 is an international standard covering the worldwide exchange and communication of date and time-related data. It is maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and was first published in 1988, with updates in 1991, 2000, 2004, and 2019, and an amendment in 2022. The standard provides a well-defined, unambiguous method of representing calendar dates and times in worldwide communications, especially to avoid misinterpreting numeric dates and times when such data is transferred between countries with different conventions for writing numeric dates and times.

The 12-hour clock is a time convention in which the 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods: a.m. and p.m.. Each period consists of 12 hours numbered: 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. The 12-hour clock has been developed since the second millennium BC and reached its modern form in the 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">24-hour clock</span> Timekeeping convention

The modern 24-hour clock is the convention of timekeeping in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours. This is indicated by the hours passed since midnight, from 00(:00) to 23(:59), with 24(:00) as an option to indicate the end of the day. This system, as opposed to the 12-hour clock, is the most commonly used time notation in the world today, and is used by the international standard ISO 8601.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midnight</span> Transition time from one day to the next

Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours.

Different conventions exist around the world for date and time representation, both written and spoken.

Date and time notation in Canada combines conventions from the United Kingdom, conventions from the United States, and conventions from France, often creating confusion. The Government of Canada specifies the ISO 8601 format for all-numeric dates. It recommends writing the time using the 24-hour clock (19:30) for maximum clarity in both Canadian English and Canadian French, but also allows the 12-hour clock (7:30 p.m.) in English.

Date and time notation in the United States differs from that used in nearly all other countries. It is inherited from one historical branch of conventions from the United Kingdom. American styles of notation have also influenced customs of date notation in Canada, creating confusion in international commerce.

Date and time notation in Hungary has several conventions.

In Poland, the official system for representing dates and times follows the international ISO 8601 standard. However, in less official use, other conventions prevail, such as the day-month-year order and several Polish language abbreviations.

In Spain, date notation follows the DD/MM/YYYY format. Time notation depends on the level of formality and varies in written and spoken formats. Official time is given using the 24-hour clock, and the 12-hour clock is often used in informal speech.

Date and time notation in Sweden mostly follows the ISO 8601 standard: dates are generally written in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Although this format may be abbreviated in a number of ways, almost all Swedish date notations state the month between the year and the day. Months are not capitalised when written. The week number may also be used in writing and in speech. Times are generally written using 24-hour clock notation, with full stops as separators, although 12-hour clock notation is more frequently used in speech.

Date and time notation in the United Kingdom records the date using the day–month–year format. The ISO 8601 format (1999-12-31) is increasingly used for all-numeric dates. The time can be written using either the 24-hour clock (23:59) or the 12-hour clock (11:59 pm).

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and (CENELEC) adopted ISO 8601 with EN 28601, now EN ISO 8601. As a European Norm, CEN and CENELEC member states are obligated to adopt the standard as national standard without alterations as well.

Date and time notation in Japan has historically followed the Japanese calendar and the nengō system of counting years. At the beginning of the Meiji period, Japan switched to the Gregorian calendar on Wednesday, 1 January 1873, but for much domestic and regional government paperwork, the Japanese year is retained. Japanese people and businesses have also adopted various conventions in accordance with their use of kanji, the widespread use of passenger trains, and other aspects of daily life.

Thailand has adopted ISO 8601 under national standard: TIS 1111:2535 in 1992. However, in practice, there are some variations.

The most formal manner of expressing the full date and/or time in South Korea is to suffix each of the year, month, day, ante/post-meridiem indicator, hour, minute and second with the corresponding unit and separating each with a space:

Date and time notation in Italy records the date using the day–month–year format. The time is written using the 24-hour clock (19:29); in spoken language and informal contexts the 12-hour clock is more commonly adopted, but without using "a.m." or "p.m." suffixes (7:29).

Date and time notation in New Zealand most commonly records the date using the day-month-year format, while the ISO 8601 format (2024-03-24) is increasingly used for all-numeric dates, such as date of birth. The time can be written using either the 12-hour clock or the 24-hour clock (13:25).

References

  1. "Latest News". News Corp Australia. Archived from the original on 4 November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  2. "The West Australian Demo". The West Australian. 16 August 2016. Archived from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Dates and time". Australian Government Style Manual. 17 October 2023.