Daylight saving beyond the fading curtains

As is well known, the longest days are around December 20 each year. What is less recognised is the fact that, due to the effects of The Equation of Time, the earliest sunrise is towards the end of November and the latest sunset is in late January. The magnitude of the effect is greater in the Southern hemisphere than in the Northern hemisphere and is greater towards the Equator. In Far North Queensland the sun noon, i.e. when the sun is at its zenith is at a clock time of just gone 12pm in late November, but is about 12.30pm in late January.

The effects of the combination of longitudinal and latitudinal variation, compounded by variations in the effect of the Equation of Time are relevant to the issue of the introduction of daylight saving.

If, or when daylight saving is introduced here we shall have the fantastic situation that sun will rise in Cairns on December 20 at almost the same (clock) time as it will be on the June 20. Even a southerner (defined here as anyone south of Rockhampton!), should be able to see that to have sunrise in mid summer at the same clock time as sunrise in mid winter is peculiar - to put it mildly.

There are frequent grumbles from business people that it is very difficult to do business between Queensland and the southern states because of the lack of daylight saving in Queensland. That is truly pathetic. How do they think businesses in the United States survive - and they have to deal with five time zones on the mainland: Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific? People and businesses there seem to survive. One has to presume that people here are either inflexible or plain dumb or, the most probable, just exercising their good old Aussie right to cry “we’ll all be rooned”.

Contrary to fashionable thinking the issue of whether to introduce daylight saving is not simple. The effects vary from one area to another as a consequence of basic geographic facts. To deny that and to think there is some nice simple answer would be akin to King Canute proverbially trying to command the sea.

Sooner or later I expect that daylight saving will be introduced in this state. Well, I won’t be “rooned”, but I will think it silly that I will get up to make our early morning tea and listen to the radio by 6am onwards in mid summer in the dark. That will be caused by a human decision to impose “daylight saving”.

Never mind, put the lights on.

Daylight saving?