I don’t know if this is super reliable, Australia has labour day celebrations but they’re all over the place
Only the October 7 ones don’t (I think) have anything to do with labour day, the March dates are about the eight hour working day, for why NT and Qld don’t fall on 1 May…
Labour Day was first celebrated with a public holiday in Queensland in 1865 as Eight Hours Celebration Day. It occurred on 1 March and celebrated the winning of an eight-hour work day by Brisbane workers in 1858. The date was moved to May Day around 1896, in solidarity with the attack on United States workers on the first May Day parade in the Haymarket affair. In 1901, the holiday was moved to the first Monday in May, to ensure a long weekend
“Yeah nah mate we support the US workers but fuck me dead it’s been five years already, I just want a long bloody weekend”
This is a running theme in Australia. Most public holidays (aside from xmas and new years IIRC) were arranged to fall on the closest Monday, regardless of the actual date. It’s only changed relatively recently.
