Noosa Show 2026

The Noosa show holiday falls on Friday 11 September 2026 and it covers the Shire of Noosa alone. The rest of the Sunshine Coast is on different days: the former Caloundra area took Friday 29 May 2026 and the former Maroochy area took Friday 12 June.

Next date: Friday, 11 September 2026. Applies to Shire of Noosa only, not the wider Sunshine Coast. Appointed annually by the Queensland Government as the show holiday for the Shire of Noosa. It has fallen on the Friday of Noosa Show week in September in each of the last six years.

Confirmed dates

YearDayDateApplies to
2026
Friday11 SeptemberShire of Noosa only, not the wider Sunshine Coast
Future dates are not yet set. The 2027 date is not yet appointed. Queensland appoints show holidays one year at a time. The Noosa day has fallen on a Friday in the second week of September in each of the last six years, but that is an observed pattern rather than a rule, so treat any 2027 date published elsewhere as an estimate.

When it has fallen before

With no appointed future date, the run of past appointments is the best guide available. This is evidence of a pattern, not a forecast, and the pattern has broken before.

YearDayDate appointed
2023
Friday8 September
2024
Friday13 September
2025
Friday12 September
2026
Friday11 September
Dates and scope verified against Queensland Government, Show holiday dates (Queensland Government), checked 27 August 2026.

Who actually gets the day off

This is a regional public holiday, so it does not cover the whole of Queensland. The gazetted scope is:

Shire of Noosa

A single stretch of coast runs on three separate show holiday calendars, and the boundaries are the pre-2008 council areas rather than anything on a current map. Caloundra, Maroochy and Noosa were amalgamated into one regional council in 2008, Noosa de-amalgamated in 2014, and Queensland has kept appointing the show holidays against the original district boundaries throughout. Noosa is therefore both a council area in its own right and a separately appointed show district, which is why its day sits three months after the Caloundra one.

Do not treat "Sunshine Coast" as one public holiday district. Noosa Heads, Tewantin and Cooroy take the September date. Nambour, Maroochydore and Mooloolaba take the June date. Caloundra, Landsborough and Maleny take the May date. An employer with sites in Noosa and Maroochydore owes two different public holidays three months apart, and rostering both to the same calendar underpays one set of staff and overpays the other.

If you are outside that area, your normal Queensland public holiday calendar applies instead, and this day is an ordinary working day for you.

What you are paid

If you do not work the day and it is a day you would ordinarily work, you are paid your base rate for the ordinary hours you would have worked. That obligation sits in the National Employment Standards, not your award, so it applies whether or not an award covers you.

Fair Work Act 2009, section 116: an employer must pay an employee at the employee's base rate of pay for the ordinary hours the employee would have worked had the day not been a public holiday. Section 114 gives the right to be absent, subject to a reasonable request to work.

If you do work it, the penalty rate comes from your award or enterprise agreement rather than the NES. Customer-facing awards commonly set public holiday rates between 200% and 250% of the base rate. Work out what a specific day is worth with the public holiday pay calculator, and check your own award on the modern award pay pages.

Casual employees are the common exception. A casual has no ordinary hours, so there is nothing to be paid for on a day not worked. A casual who does work the day gets the public holiday penalty rate in the award, usually on top of casual loading. The casual versus permanent guide sets out how the two interact.

If it falls during your annual leave

You keep the day. A public holiday that falls inside a period of paid annual leave is not deducted from your balance, so a week of leave containing this holiday costs you four days of leave rather than five.

Fair Work Act 2009, section 89: if a period of paid annual leave includes a day that is a public holiday in the place where the employee is based for work purposes, the employee is taken not to be on paid annual leave on that day.

That phrase, "the place where the employee is based for work purposes", is what makes a regional holiday like this one worth checking. It is your work base that decides the entitlement, not your home address. Model the effect on a balance with the annual leave calculator.

Other Queensland show holidays

Queensland appoints 98 district show holidays a year, more than every other state combined, and none of them is statewide. If you work across more than one district, or you are running payroll for sites in several, the Queensland show holidays directory lists every appointed date and district for 2026.

The most commonly confused day is the Royal Queensland Show, the Ekka. It is not Brisbane only: the City of Brisbane takes it on the Wednesday and 15 further districts take it on the Monday. Districts with their own show, including this one, take that instead and get no Ekka day at all.

For the full Queensland calendar including every statewide date, see public holidays in Queensland, or start from the Queensland leave calculator for annual leave, long service leave and final pay under QLD rules. For every state at once, see the public holidays hub and public holidays 2027. If you are planning leave around it, the long weekends page shows which dates fall next to a weekend, and a public holiday inside a booked break does not consume your balance: check it on the annual leave calculator.

Q & A

Noosa Show questions.

The entitlement questions people ask most about this day.

When is Noosa Show Day in 2026?
Noosa Show falls on Friday, 11 September in 2026. Appointed annually by the Queensland Government as the show holiday for the Shire of Noosa. It has fallen on the Friday of Noosa Show week in September in each of the last six years.
Who gets Noosa Show as a public holiday?
This holiday covers Shire of Noosa only, not the wider Sunshine Coast. The gazetted scope is: "Shire of Noosa" Under the Fair Work Act the test is the place where you are based for work purposes, not where you live.
Do I get paid if I do not work on Noosa Show?
Yes, if it is a day you would ordinarily work. Section 116 of the Fair Work Act 2009 requires payment at your base rate of pay for the ordinary hours you would have worked. Casuals are not paid for a public holiday they do not work, because they have no ordinary hours.
What am I paid if I work on Noosa Show?
Public holiday penalty rates come from your award or agreement, not the National Employment Standards. Rates commonly run between 200% and 250% of the base rate in customer-facing awards. Check your specific award, because the NES sets no penalty rate of its own.
What if Noosa Show falls during my annual leave?
You do not lose the day. Section 89 of the Fair Work Act says that if a public holiday falls inside a period of paid annual leave, you are taken not to be on annual leave that day, so it is paid as a public holiday and not deducted from your leave balance.
Can my employer make me work on Noosa Show?
Only if the request is reasonable. Section 114 of the Fair Work Act gives you the right to be absent on a public holiday, but an employer may make a reasonable request for you to work, and you may refuse if that request is unreasonable or your refusal is reasonable. The Act lists the factors, including the nature of the work, your personal circumstances and how much notice you were given.