SOCIAL TRANSITION PASSPORT | Australian Standard Date Formats
- D. M. Wright
- May 14
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
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WHY ARE THERE DATE FORMATS?
Date formats are there to create consistency and reduce confusion. Without rules on formatting, people can write dates however they wish.
'1st January 2000' looks good.
'January 2000 1st' does not and can be confusing.
WORLD DATE FORMATS
There are two primary ways to format the date in the world… and then there's America.
The majority of the world's countries, including Australia. | International Standard... plus China, Japan, Korea and Iran. | USA |
USA... AND THE AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION
Oh, no, ABC, you're being very un-Australian.
WHY USE THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD DATE FORMAT?
Apart from cultural use for certain Asian countries, the International Standard Date Format is there specifically to combat the confusion created because of America's format's existence and refusal to go away.
If there's a date written '01 / 07 / 2030', how is one to tell whether it is 1st July or 7th January when working with other countries? But write the year first (i.e. '2030 / 07 / 01'), then the month must be the subsequent number.
ACCEPTABLE FORMATS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD DATE FORMAT
YYYY MONTH (D)D
2030 JULY 1st
2030 July 1st
2030 JULY 01
2030 July 01
2030 JULY 1
2030 July 1
YYYY MMM (D)D
2030 JUL 1st
2030 Jul 1st
2030 JUL 01
2030 Jul 01
2030 JUL 1
2030 Jul 1
YYYY / MM / (D)D
2030 / 07 / 01
2030 / 7 / 1
YYYY - MM - (D)D
2030 - 07 - 01
2030 - 7 - 1
WHEN SHOULD YOU USE THE MAJORITY OF COUNTRIES' STANDARD DATE FORMAT?
ALL THE TIME IN DAY-TO-DAY USE.
EVERY TIME YOU PUBLISH ANYTHING.
Your only exception is when communicating with foreigners who may be unsure as to whether you are formatting like an American. Though, even then, if you spell the month (i.e. 'JUL'), no confusion can be made.
On Australian television, broadcasting on radio, in newspapers or posting on the internet; there is no excuse for a poorly formatted date. We're looking at you, ABC.
ACCEPTABLE FORMAT STYLES
With numbers only...
01 / 07 / 2030
01 / 07 / 30
1 / 7 / 2030
1 / 7 / 30
With ordinal numbers...
11AM SATURDAY 1ST OF JULY 2030
SATURDAY 1ST JULY 2030
SAT 1ST JUL 2030
SAT 1ST JUL 30
With numbers and letters...
11am Saturday 1 July 2030
11am Sat 1 Jul 2030
Saturday 1 July 30
Sat 1 Jul 30
With 24h times...
There is a proper format to using 24h time.
Template:
HHHH WWW DD MMM (YY)YY
4x numbers for the time
3x letters for the day
2x for the date
3x for the month
2 or 4x for the year
E.g.
1100 MON 01 JUL 2030
If you forget, it's...
4 numbers, 3 letters, 2 numbers, 3 letters, 4 numbers
(4, 3, 2, 3, 4)
A date may also be formatted in any of the below combinations.
01 JUL 2030
01 JUL 30
SAT 01 JUL 2030
SAT 01 JUL 30
1100 SAT 01 JUL 2030
1100h SAT 01 JUL 2030
1100 SAT 01 JUL 30
1100h SAT 01 JUL 30
1100 01 JUL 2030
1100h 01 JUL 2030
1100 01 JUL 30
1100h 01 JUL 30
AUSTRALIAN RATEL DATE FORMAT
(Radio Telecommunications)
There is a proper format when using radios (either speaking over radios or logging radio transmissions).
The RATEL format is officially called a 'Date-Time Group' or 'DTG'.
The short template:
DDTTTTK
2x numbers of the date
4x numbers for the time
1x letter for the time zone
E.g.
071100Z
'07' is the 7th of the month
'1100' is at 1100h
'Z' is in Zulu time zone (Grenwich Mean Time / UK)
This would be used regularly when the month is known to all.
The extended template:
DDTTTTKMMMYY
2x numbers of the date
4x numbers for the time
1x letter for the time zone
3x letters for the month
2x letters for the year
E.g.
071100ZJUL30
'07' is the 7th of the month
'1100' is at 1100h
'Z' is in Zulu time zone (Grenwich Mean Time / UK)
in 'JUL' of '2030'.
AUSTRALIAN MILITARY TIME ZONES
States/Territories in eastern standard time zones (i.e. QLD, NSW, ACT, VIC and TAS) are located in Time Zone 'Kilo' / 'K'.
During daylight saving, NSW, ACT, VIC and TAS are located in Time Zone 'Lima' / 'L'.
Western Australia is located in Time Zone 'Hotel' / 'H'.
States/Territories in central standard time zones (i.e. SA and NT) or not within a military time zone. Military time zones are set on the hour only, while SA and NT are offset by half an hour. As such, to use the extended date-time group format, instead of a letter (e.g. 'K'), the normal time zone is added.
Central standard time (SA and NT) would be displayed as:
071100+0930JUL30
Central daylight savings time (SA) would be displayed as:
071100+1030JUL30
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