# Western Australians confused about the queen's birthday? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2002, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937 "2002-12-11T03:38:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/1 "2002-12-11T03:38:22Z")
I have a new 2003 calendar. It’s the antique map calendar for the third year in a row, very nice. Anyway, it has the dates for a number of holidays in several countries. On June 9, we have “Queen’s Birthday _Australia, all states except WA_”. Hm. So I flipped through the calendar a little more, and on September 29, we have “Queen’s Birthday _Australia-WA_”. Huh? I Googled a bit, and discovered that the Queen’s actual birthday is neither of these dates, it’s April 21 (ironically, no one celebrates her birthday on this date). In Britain, her birthday is celebrated on the third Sunday of June (entirely logical), and in Canada, it’s celebrated on Victoria Day, which is May 19. So. I don’t get it. What are the Western Australians doing? Google brought up a lot of links, but they all seem to be calendars and school schedules. For that matter, what are the Canadians and British doing? Why not celebrate her birthday on April 21, or is that just too crazy a notion? ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/2 "2002-12-11T03:46:37Z")
The Queen has two birthdays(one of the perks of the jobs) one offical and one when she was actually born. Her offical birthday is usually used for celebrations, I assume Western Austrailia for some reason just celebrates it on a different date. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/3 "2002-12-11T03:54:40Z")
I don’t understand why two birthdays would be necessary. The rest of us do okay with just the one. Still, why September 29? What the heck are they doing in Western Australia? I know we have some Perthites (Perthians? Perthers?) on the SDMB. Perhaps they could enlighten me? ---
**Author:** ![enzo\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e99b99/32.png) [@enzo\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enzo_J)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/4 "2002-12-11T04:49:58Z")
Foundation Day, which celebrates the birth of Western Australia (back before Australia was even a country), is celebrated on the first Friday in June. This tends to fall roughly near the Queen’s Birthday (as celebrated in other locales), and the local powers that be decided that that would be just far too much holiday action in a small period of time, decided to move the public holiday to later in the year. This is actually a very good thing, since the revised date gives all the unhappy workers a much needed public holiday during a time of the year when there is a serious lack of them - most of the holidays are clustered in the first half of the year (if we start the year at Christmas, of course). ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/5 "2002-12-11T05:02:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Cermonies \* > \*\*The Queen has two birthdays(one of the perks of the jobs) one offical and one when she was actually born. Her offical birthday is usually used for celebrations, I assume Western Austrailia for some reason just celebrates it on a different date. \*\* Basically that’s right. Western Australia has a holiday in June for Foundation Day that is not celebrated in the other states. In NSW we get a holiday for Labour Day in October that WA don’t get. The date they choose for the Queen’s Birthday makes a long weekend for the start of the break between third and fourth school terms. ---
**Author:** ![enzo\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e99b99/32.png) [@enzo\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enzo_J)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/6 "2002-12-11T05:02:53Z")
And the correct term for Perthite/Perthoid/whatever would be “Sandgroper”. I don’t know why, either. I’m yet to discover a difference in the groping habits of east and west coasters. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/7 "2002-12-11T06:36:09Z")
Perth resident checking in. **enzo J** and **don’t ask** have it right: we simply don’t need another public holiday in June. The end of September is more convenient. Perhaps **Kyla’s** confusion arises from the misconception that anyone is actually “celebrating” the Queen’s birthday on the designated public holiday. It’s just a day off work/school; the reason is no longer important. Many people don’t even realise the holiday we have at the end of September is the Queen’s “Birthday”. (Like Foundation Day, but that’s another topic.) BTW, I prefer “Perthling”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/8 "2002-12-11T08:22:10Z")
And don’t forget that while an individual monarch celebrates their beirthday on their birthday, the official celebration of a monarch’s birthday will remain the same no matter whose bum is warming the monarchial throne. So when Chuck ascends the throne, we will still get our holiday on the same day. ---
**Author:** ![rampisad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@rampisad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rampisad)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/9 "2002-12-11T09:00:15Z")
“Sandgroper” refers to all West Australians. I like Narrad’s choice - never heard anything better! 😃 ex-pErthling checking out 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/10 "2002-12-11T10:39:47Z")
The June date was actually King’s Birthday when George III was on the throne. That was his genuine birthday (actually June 4th). ---
**Author:** ![ShadowWarrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7993a0/32.png) [@ShadowWarrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowWarrior)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/11 "2002-12-11T10:56:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyla \* > \*\*I don’t understand why two birthdays would be necessary. The rest of us do okay with just the one. > \*\* I believe (although I have no cite) that the official birthday (in britain) was placed in the summer so loyal subjects could go and wave flags/throw flowers/whatever with less danger of getting rained on. (although this is Britain we’re talking about, so it’s not really guaranteed) ---
**Author:** ![ravage2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@ravage2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ravage2)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/12 "2002-12-11T14:18:00Z")
Another Perth dude here. The reason IMHO is for the Royal show. The queen’s bday is on the starting monday of the show. So to answer the OP question, yes, i doubt that anyone in WA knows the queen’s bday. I can’t even remember it, even after reading this thread. We just get told not to rock up to work or whatever on the weekend before. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/13 "2002-12-11T14:42:06Z")
Ah, okay. Thank you all very much! I don’t see why it’s called the Queen’s Birthday, when it isn’t, and apparently no one even notices. Why isn’t it called a Bank Holiday or some such? Still, my question has been answered. Grazie. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/14 "2002-12-11T15:09:16Z")
> [@](#): > > _Kyla_ > Why isn’t it called a Bank Holiday or some such? We don’t call them “Bank Holidays”, they’re “Public Holidays” or more commonly “Long Weekends”, the latter of which explains why > [@](#): > > apparently no one even notices. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-australians-confused-about-the-queens-birthday/141937/15 "2002-12-11T15:15:33Z")
> [@](#): > > We don’t call them “Bank Holidays”, they’re “Public Holidays” or more commonly “Long Weekends” Yeah, we don’t call them Bank Holidays either, but I know that’s a common phrase in some countries.