Why is it hot at Christmas here, when Christmas cards show snow? Why does the north talk about the wet and the dry instead of autumn and spring? Seasons are full of questions that young children love. Here are the seasons in Australia for kids, explained simply: when each one starts, why ours are opposite to the Northern Hemisphere, how the tropics are different, and the seasonal calendars that First Nations peoples have kept for thousands of years.
What are the four seasons in Australia?
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) divides the Australian year into four seasons of three whole months each:
| Season | Months |
|---|---|
| Spring | September, October, November |
| Summer | December, January, February (the hottest months) |
| Autumn | March, April, May |
| Winter | June, July, August (the coldest months) |
So summer starts on 1 December, autumn on 1 March, winter on 1 June and spring on 1 September. Some countries start their seasons on the solstices and equinoxes instead, a few weeks later. The BOM explains why Australia doesn’t: “it’s a better fit to Australia’s temperatures to use 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December.”
Why do we have seasons?
It isn’t because the Earth gets closer to the Sun in summer. It’s because the Earth is tilted. The BOM puts it like this: “Our rotation axis is tilted about 23.5 degrees relative to the plane of our orbit around the Sun.” As the Earth travels around the Sun over a year, that tilt angles our half of the world towards the Sun for part of the year, and away from it for the rest.
When the southern half leans towards the Sun, we get our summer: the Sun climbs higher in the sky, the days are longer and the sunlight is stronger. In winter, the BOM explains, sunlight strikes us “at a steeper angle”, so it’s spread over a larger area and the ground warms up less.
A simple way to say it to a five-year-old: “The Earth leans a little bit, like a spinning top that’s tipped over. When our side leans towards the Sun, it’s summer. When it leans away, it’s winter.”
Why are Australia’s seasons opposite to the Northern Hemisphere?
Because of the same tilt. When the north leans towards the Sun, the south leans away, and the other way around. Museums Victoria says: “When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere (and vice-versa)”, and “The two hemispheres experience opposite seasons.”
That’s why Christmas falls in our summer, and why a cousin in England might be building a snowman while your child is at the beach. Museums Victoria adds that near the equator there is little seasonal change.
The longest and shortest days
The seasons change the length of our days too. The summer solstice, our longest day, is around 21 or 22 December, and the winter solstice, our shortest day, is around 21 June. How much the days change depends on where you live. The BOM says Hobart “only sees around 9 hours of daylight at the winter solstice but 15 hours of daylight at the summer solstice”, while Darwin only varies between about 11.5 and 12.5 hours. Our post on daylight saving, explained for kids shows how some states move their clocks to make the most of those long summer evenings.
Wet and dry seasons in the tropical north
If you live in Darwin, Cairns or Broome, “summer” and “winter” may not mean much. The BOM says that in Australia’s northern tropics “there is less difference between average temperatures in ‘winter’ and ‘summer’”, so the year is divided by rain instead:
- The wet season, the months that generally include the heaviest rainfall, from about October to April.
- The dry season, the months that generally see less rain, from about May to September.
The BOM adds that “the arrival of heavy rains varies by year and location”, so the wet doesn’t start on the same day every year.
First Nations seasonal calendars
Long before the four-season calendar arrived, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were reading the seasons from the land, the sky, plants and animals, and they still do. The BOM notes that Australia “is home to more than 500 individual nations or countries”, and that their seasonal cycles “differ for each location”. The names of the seasons “are linked to local events, plants and animals.”
So there isn’t one First Nations calendar, and there isn’t one number of seasons. The BOM hosts 18 traditional seasonal calendars, shared with the permission of the communities they belong to. They range from two seasons to six, and the Tiwi calendar has three major seasons and 13 minor ones. The Gulumoerrgin (Larrakia) calendar for the Darwin region, hosted by CSIRO, has seven main seasons.
Each calendar tells you what to look for. For the Wardaman people, the BOM explains, March flies appearing in September or October are a sign that the dry season is ending. In D’harawal Country, which stretches from the southern shores of Sydney Harbour to the Shoalhaven River, the season of Marrai’gang (April to June) is, in the calendar’s words, “the time of year when the cries of the marrai’gang (quoll) seeking his mate can be heard through the forests and woodlands, and when the lilly pillies ripen on the trees.”
These calendars belong to their communities, so the best way to explore them is on the BOM and CSIRO pages themselves. Look for one from the Country where you live, if there is one, and read it together.
What children learn about seasons at school
Seasons come up early, in both science and geography:
- In Victoria, Science from Prep (Foundation) to Year 2 covers how “daily and seasonal changes in the weather and the environment can be observed and affect decisions made in everyday life” (VC2S2U07). Geography in the same band covers “weather and seasons, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ seasonal calendars” (VC2HG2K06).
- In the Australian Curriculum, used in most other states, it’s Year 1 Science (Grade 1 at many schools): children “describe daily and seasonal changes in the environment and explore how these changes affect everyday life” (AC9S1U02). Year 1 HASS adds describing the daily and seasonal weather of their place (AC9HS1K03) and how places change with the weather and seasons (AC9HS1K04).
Season activities to try at home
- One tree, four photos. Pick a tree in your street or park and take a photo of it in each season. Line the photos up at the end of the year and talk about what changed.
- A weather diary. Each morning, draw the weather on a calendar: sun, cloud, rain or wind. At the end of the month, count the sunny days.
- A season walk. Walk the same route once a season and look for flowers, fruit, birds and insects. What’s new since last time?
- Dress the teddy. Lay out clothes and ask your child to dress a toy for summer, then for winter. Talk about why a hat and sunscreen matter most in the warm months (our sun safety guide has more).
- Compare with family far away. If you have relatives overseas, ask what season it is there today. It’s a great way to see the opposite seasons in action.
- Find your local calendar. Look through the BOM’s Indigenous seasonal calendars together and see whether there’s one for a place you know.
For more about Australia’s places, see our guide to Australia’s states and territories for kids.
Questions parents ask
What are the 4 seasons in Australia?
Spring is September to November, summer is December to February, autumn is March to May, and winter is June to August. That’s how the Bureau of Meteorology divides the year.
When does summer start in Australia?
On 1 December. The Bureau of Meteorology starts each season on the first day of the month because it fits Australia’s temperatures better than the solstices and equinoxes.
Why are Australia’s seasons opposite to the Northern Hemisphere?
Because the Earth is tilted about 23.5 degrees. When the northern half leans towards the Sun and has summer, the southern half leans away and has winter, and the other way around.
What causes the seasons?
The tilt of the Earth as it travels around the Sun, not how close the Earth is to the Sun. The tilt changes how high the Sun climbs, how long the days are and how strong the sunlight is.
Does northern Australia have four seasons?
In the tropical north, the year is usually described as a wet season (about October to April) and a dry season (about May to September), because temperatures change less between “winter” and “summer”.
How many seasons do Aboriginal calendars have?
It depends on the Country. First Nations seasonal calendars differ for each location. The calendars on the Bureau of Meteorology’s website range from two seasons to six, and the Gulumoerrgin (Larrakia) calendar has seven main seasons.
Sources
- Glossary: seasons, wet season, dry season, Bureau of Meteorology
- Solstices, equinoxes and the seasons, Bureau of Meteorology
- Reasons for the seasons on Earth, Museums Victoria
- Indigenous weather knowledge, Bureau of Meteorology
- Indigenous culture and seasonal knowledge, Bureau of Meteorology
- Indigenous seasonal calendars, Bureau of Meteorology
- D’harawal calendar, Bureau of Meteorology, with permission of the D’harawal Traditional Knowledge holders and Descendants Circle
- Gulumoerrgin (Larrakia) seasons calendar, CSIRO
- Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0: Science, VCAA
- Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0: Geography, VCAA
- Australian Curriculum v9.0: Science, Year 1, ACARA
- Australian Curriculum v9.0: HASS, Year 1, ACARA
