My wife and I have this running joke every time the phone rings. You see, just about every single time (no exaggeration) that we are on the phone with a relative or a friend in the states the question, “what time is it there?” is asked.
And every time, my wife and I will look at each other and have a chuckle.
The question seems like a simple one, but can get a bit confusing especially when the topic of daylight saving enters the picture.
For about half of the year, or during the CNY summer, Western Australia is 12 hours ahead of Eastern US time. At times, I feel like we are living in the future, I guess technically we are. I jump even farther into the future with ultra-light speed with the time change during the month of November. CNY clocks move back an hour and the clocks in WA go forward an hour. The time difference then becomes 14 hours. And for some reason, this confuses everyone. I am getting confused just trying to write about it. Fortunately, for my family and I, that is something we no longer have to worry about.
Some background:
Western Australia has a rather long history, or reluctance, to observe daylight saving time.
Over the past several decades, daylight saving and the state of Western Australia have had many attempts at marriage. In 1975, then 1984, and another time in 1992 there were efforts to bring daylight saving to WA to see if the people wanted it. All of these trials lasted only one year, and all three failed.
In 2006 a three year trial of daylight saving commenced instead of the previous one year trials. The idea was to give daylight saving a reasonable shot, one year just doesn’t allow for a fair judgment. At the end of the three year trial, on May 16 2009, a referendum was held to see if daylight saving would be a permanent fixture in Western Australia.
This year the outcome of the referendum was no different than in years past as daylight saving once again failed to pass.
Why do the people of WA feel so strongly about this topic? Well, in WA’s defense, there is the issue of size. Remember, the state of WA is the largest state in Australia as it makes up 1/3 of the entire country. It extends from the tropics in the north, to the mid-latitudes in the south. The distance between the north and south is about 3500 km (or roughly 2200 miles). In tropic and sub tropic regions of the earth daylight saving is really not needed. The time of sunrise and sunset during the summer is less dramatic than in higher latitudes (further away from the equator). In fact, Queensland and the Northern Territory of Australia, both entirely in tropic or sub tropic regions, do not observe daylight saving. In other words, the northern half of the state of WA has little to gain from daylight saving where in the southern part of the state would benefit.
The main reason why it seems most people in WA don’t want daylight saving has to do with the lifestyle in this part of the country. Summers are quite hot and morning hours are the coolest time of day. If the sun is up early people are able to be out and enjoy the morning weather. Conversely, summer evenings near the coast are typically much windier than mornings. Being lighter earlier allows people to enjoy the beach for longer without getting sandblasted. Lastly, people (and businesses – especially cafes) have gotten used to bright early mornings as opposed to the alternative. Whatever the reason people chose not to vote yes won’t have to be a topic of discussion for a while because part of the referendum was that daylight saving can’t be introduced again for another 20 years.
Daylight saving or not, people will still ask me what time it is and I will still chuckle when I answer them!
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/daylight-saving-dead-and-buried-in-wa-20090515-b5wj.html
