hellhq.com - Daylight Saving info

Daylight Saving (frequently seen incorrectly as Daylight Savings - there is no 's' on Saving) periods for New Zealand:

2012-2013 begins on Sunday 23 September 2012 and ends on Sunday 7 April 2013.

2011-2012 begins on Sunday 25 September 2011 and ends on Sunday 1 April 2012.

2010-2011 begins on Sunday 26 September 2010 and ends on Sunday 3 April 2011.

2009-2010 began on Sunday 27 September 2009 and ended on Sunday 4 April 2010.

2008-2009 began on Sunday 28 September 2008 and ended on Sunday 5 April 2009.

2007-2008 began on Sunday 30 September 2007 and ended on Sunday 6 April 2008.

2006-2007 began on Sunday 1st October 2006 and ended on Sunday 18th March 2007.

2005-2006 began on Sunday 2nd October 2005 and ended on Sunday 19th March 2006.

2004-2005 began on Sunday 3rd October 2004 and ended on Sunday 20th March 2005.

New Zealand clocks go forward on the last Sunday in September, and back on the first Sunday in April. On Monday 30 April 2007, The Government announced an extension to Daylight Saving of an extra three weeks, to a 27-week period. Clocks now go forward a week earlier than in the past and go back two weeks later than in the past.

Daylight Saving always begins and ends at 2am NZST. Beginning Daylight Saving is clear enough, because on the last Sunday in September clocks move forward from NZST to show the new NZDT time as 3am. The end always confuses some people, because when on the first Sunday in April clocks move back from 2am NZST, that's 3am NZDT. As a result of debate building into the Autumn of 2007, the summer of 2007-2008 saw Daylight Saving start a week earlier and finish two weeks later than in previous years.

NZST: New Zealand Standard Time, 12 hours ahead of Co-ordinated Universal Time, UTC.
NZDT: New Zealand Daylight Time, which is one hour ahead of NZST and thus 13 hours ahead of UTC.

Most people adjust their clocks at bed-time Saturday night, and catch up with things like the car, microwave and fax machine over the following day or two. Several New Zealand communities, mainly rural, resist for as long as they can because of the clockshift impact on dairy herds and other stock.

Changeover dates arise from the Daylight Time Order, 1990. It declared Daylight Time would commence at 2.00am Standard Time on the first Sunday in October each year and cease at 2.00am Standard Time (3am Daylight Time) on the third Sunday in March of the following year.

New Zealand Standard and Daylight Time

Standard Time - NZST

On 2 November 1868, New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed nationally, and was perhaps the first country to do so. It was based on the longitude 172° 30' East of Greenwich, that is 11 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. This standard was known as New Zealand Mean Time. Greenwich Mean Time was the mean time determined by observation of the sun at longitude measuring 0° east and west at Greenwich Observatory, England, that is Mean Time for the Greenwich Meridian.

In 1884, at an international conference in Washington DC, the Greenwich meridian was adopted as the prime meridian, with all time reckoned to the longitude east or west of the prime meridian (Greenwich). The development of a system of standard time zones based on 24 meridians each 15° or 1 hour apart as measured from Greenwich, was prompted by the expansion of railroads. Time differences between communities became a critical factor in the running of railroads over great distances such as in Canada and the United States.

In 1928 the term Universal Time Ordinance (UTO) was adopted internationally as a more appropriate term the Greenwich Mean Time for the basis of an international standard of time. This was again prompted by expansion of rail transport and also shipping and air transport. But the term Greenwich Mean Time persisted in common usage, probably because at first the two were the same.

Clocks were advanced 1/2 an hour in New Zealand fom 1941 until the end of World War 2. This advance of time was made permanent in 1946 by the Standard Time Act 1945. The Act provides that the time at the meridian 180°E was adopted as the basis for New Zealand Time. The new Act put into effect New Zealand Standard Time which was permanently 1/2 an hour ahead of New Zealand Mean Time as determined in 1868 and 12 hours in advance of Greenwich Mean Time or Universal Time. (The Chatham Islands was 45 minutes in advance of New Zealand Mean Time under the new Act).

In the late 1940's the development of the first atomic clock was announced and several laboratories began atomic time scales. A new time scale known as Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC) was adopted internationally in 1972. This was based on the readings of atomic clocks but updated periodically in accordance with time variations in the earth's rotation by the addition or deletion of seconds (called leap seconds). Fifteen leap seconds have been added to our time since 1972.

New Zealand Standard Time (NZST) is currently defined in the Time Act 1974 as meaning 12 hours in advance of Co-ordinated Universal Time. The Measurements and Standards Laboratory, Industrial Research Ltd (part of the Crown Research Institute), PO Box 31-310, Lower Hutt, co-ordinates time in New Zealand and further information can be obtained from them.

Daylight Time - NZDT

The Summer Time Act of 1929 provided for Daylight Time to be observed in New Zealand from the second Sunday in October to the third Sunday in March of the following year. Clocks were set half an hour in advance during that time. In 1933 the period was extended from the first Sunday in September to the last Sunday in April of the year following. This continued until World War II when in 1941, the Summer Time period was extended by emergency regulations to cover the whole year. This change was made permanent in 1946 with the Standard Time Act of 1945.

A new Time Act was passed in 1974 which empowered the Governor-General to declare a period which Daylight Time is to be observed by Order in Council. Under the Act, Daylight Time is fixed as a one hour advance on New Zealand Standard Time.

The public response to a trial period of Daylight Time in 1974/75 was generally favourable and the new New Zealand Time Order 1975 fixed a period of observance from the last Sunday in October each year to the first Sunday in March of the year following.

In 1985, after 10 years experience with Daylight Time, a comprehensive survey was undertaken by the Department of Internal Affairs. Public attitudes towards Daylight Time and its effects on work, recreation and particular groups of people in society were surveyed. The results of the survey demonstrated that 76.2% of the population either wanted Daylight Time continued or extended.

The survey also concluded that opinion on the topic differed little between sexes, and support for Daylight Time was generally higher in urban centres. Support for shortening or abolishing Daylight Time was always in the minority in the areas surveyed.

In 1988 as a consequence of the survey and further feedback from the public, the Minister of Internal Affairs arranged for a trial period of extended Daylight Time to be held in 1989/90 from the second Sunday in October to the third Sunday in March. The Minister invited the public to write to him with their views on the five week extension.

Again the public response was generally favourable and a new Daylight Time Order was made in 1990. It declared that Daylight Time would commence at 2.00am Standard Time on the first Sunday in October each year and would cease at 2.00am Standard Time (3am Daylight Saving Time) on the third Sunday in March of the following year.

A further change announced on Monday 30 April 2007 extended Daylight Saving by an extra three weeks, to a 27-week period. Clocks in New Zealand now go forward on the last Sunday in September, back on the first Sunday of April.

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Updated May 2010