A dramatized version of an office.
REPORTER:
Global businesses have a pretty tricky job to do. They have to coordinate offices and stores all around the world that are in completely different time zones. Even if those businesses are in Australia, they still have to deal with different states working on three different times. But some people in South Australia are getting a bit sick of that. So they've suggested a fix. Why not just change the time? So if we can do that, why do we have time zones at all? Well, they're actually really important.
Animation of ships and clocks on a map.
REPORTER:
The idea for time zones came at the end of the 1800s, when trade and travel were growing between nations. Back then, countries set their own time based on where the sun was in the sky. But people who moved around a lot found it hard to keep track of the different times the sun was up in different countries and that made coordinating their schedules pretty tricky. After missing a train one day, Scottish engineer Sir Sandford Fleming came up with the idea that time should be set depending on how far away each country is from one place on Earth. So he picked this place, Greenwich. From here, the world was split into segments, with the time changing by an hour in each segment. It meant that times now followed a simple system throughout the world, while still matching when the sun rises and sets in each country too. Originally Australia had three time zones - Greenwich plus 8 hours, Greenwich plus 9 and Greenwich plus 10 in the East. So there was an hour between each part of the country. But in 1899 they decided to change things up slightly. So the middle moved to be only half an hour behind the East, instead of an hour. After decades of tinkering like that, global time zones don't look like simple segments anymore. They actually now look like a bit of a mess. But the changes fit around national borders and they help line up countries who regularly work together.
A man in a suit checks his wristwatch.
REPORTER:
But those calling for a change in South Australia say their time zone is still a bit off. They say the half hour difference makes it harder to work with people in other states. For example, while many offices are closing up in Sydney at 5pm, it's only 4:30pm in South Australia and the doors are still open. And they say it's even more difficult to coordinate with other countries. On the other hand, there are people in South Australia who don't want the time zone shifted. Farmers say their cows or other animals could be distressed by a change in schedule because animals can't understand our clocks and they'd be confused if milking suddenly started at a different time.
A sunset.
REPORTER:
And changing to a different time zone could mean the sun is up or down at some pretty odd times of day.
A hand resets the arms of a clock.
REPORTER:
But in the meantime, it's not clear yet whether South Australia will change to Eastern time, Perth time, its own international time zone, or even if it'll change at all. But the debate has now started and the clock is ticking.
(Ticking)
NATHAN BAZLEY:
Let's go to another quiz now.
A question and multiple answers.
NATHAN BAZLEY:
What time do astronauts follow in space? Is it Greenwich Mean Time, Cape Canaveral's time zone in the US or Mission Elapsed Time? The answer is Mission Elapsed Time.