Chhath Puja 2026 runs November 13-16: Nahay Khay, Kharna, Sandhya Arghya (evening offering to the setting sun, November 15), and Usha Arghya (morning offering to the rising sun, November 16). For Bihari and Purvanchali families in Australia, the dates match India’s, but the arghya times are tied entirely to local sunrise and sunset.
Why this is entirely about your local sun times
Arghya is offered at the exact moment of sunset (Sandhya Arghya, November 15) and sunrise (Usha Arghya, November 16). These are, by definition, local astronomical events; an India-published clock time for Patna or Delhi has no direct bearing on when the sun sets or rises in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane.
Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are not interchangeable
Melbourne and Sydney both observe Australian daylight saving time in November, while Brisbane (Queensland) does not, so the three cities are not all on the same effective clock offset from each other during this period despite being roughly in the same part of the country. Add in each city’s own longitude, and sunset on the 15th and sunrise on the 16th fall at genuinely different local clock hours in each.
The 36-hour fast in between
Vratins observe a roughly 36-hour nirjala fast from Kharna’s evening through Usha Arghya the next morning, so knowing your local sunset on the 15th and sunrise on the 16th in advance helps plan the fast’s timing precisely. Access to a river, lake, or beach for the arghya itself is also worth confirming with your local Bihari or Purvanchali community association ahead of time, since not every Australian city has an established public gathering spot the way some North American or UK cities do.
It’s early summer in Australia, not autumn
One detail that trips up families new to Australia: mid-November there is late spring heading into summer, the opposite season from Bihar’s post-monsoon cool. Evenings stay light until around 7:30 to 8pm in Melbourne and Sydney in mid-November, and mornings for Usha Arghya on November 16 start brightening well before 6am. This matters for planning: the Sandhya Arghya gathering on the evening of the 15th will be in full daylight for longer than families used to a Patna November evening might expect, and the pre-dawn Usha Arghya the next morning starts earlier by the clock than it would back home.
Finding a spot for the arghya
Melbourne families commonly gather along the Yarra River or at Port Phillip Bay beaches such as St Kilda; Sydney’s community has used spots along the Parramatta River and various harbour-adjacent parks; Brisbane families often use the Brisbane River foreshore or a local lake. None of these are official Chhath ghats the way stretches of the Ganga are, so check with your local Bihari, Purvanchali, or Chhath Puja Samiti group well before Nahay Khay on the 13th, both to confirm the agreed gathering point for that year and to find out whether the group has arranged any permits or set up needed for a shared community offering, since some councils require notice for larger river or beach gatherings.
Sourcing the puja items
The bamboo soop and daura baskets traditional to Chhath, along with fresh sugarcane, thekua, and specific fruits like coconut and seasonal citrus, aren’t always easy to find in a standard Australian supermarket. Melbourne and Sydney’s larger Indian grocery areas, Dandenong and Harris Park respectively, typically stock most of what’s needed in the week before Chhath, though thekua is more often homemade than bought given how few stores carry it fresh. Brisbane’s smaller Bihari and Purvanchali community more often coordinates a shared order or brings items back from a Sydney or Melbourne trip, since local stock can be thinner.
Getting your city’s exact times
Use the panchang page with your Australian city selected to see the exact sunset for November 15 and sunrise for November 16.