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Events

Australia Day Celebrations

Australia’s National Day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet and is a celebration of all that is Australian. It is the biggest day celebration in the country and includes a wide variety of water and land based activities and shows. Favourite annual events include the Ferrython, Tall Ships Race, Australia Day Parade and the traditional Regatta. Various venues throughout the city stage formal ceremonies, food and wine fairs, Australian musical performances and street entertainment, and the day culminates at Darling Harbour with a dazzling fireworks display set to music.

Venue: Various
Date: 26 January
Website: www.australiaday.com.au

New Year’s Eve Fireworks Spectacular

The splendid setting of Sydney Harbour becomes the stage for one of the most fabulous and largest annual fireworks displays in the world, watched by millions of people around the globe. The 9pm display offers an opportunity for families with young children to enjoy the celebrations. The midnight spectacular covers a four-mile (7km) stretch of the harbour and the fireworks are fired from barges on either side of the Harbour Bridge and from the bridge itself. Other activities take place throughout the evening including the traditional Tall Ships Parade decorated with lighting effects, and various carnival attractions.

Venue: Sydney Harbour
Date: 31 December 2008
Time: 9pm and midnight
Website: www.sydneynewyearseve.com.au

Carols in the Domain

Woolworths' Carols in the Domain is Australia's largest and most loved Christmas celebration. Every year family and friends come together at this spectacular event to celebrate the magic and joy of Christmas. The Domain, in the heart of Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens becomes a hive of activity as people from all over Australia join in and sing along to their favourite Christmas Carols. As the sun sets the Domain is transformed into a sea of flickering candlelight as Australia's best talent takes to the stage in this Christmas spectacular. Woolworths' Carols in the Domain showcases the very best of the Australian entertainment industry, from theatre, opera, and recording artists, to our most loved television personalities.

Venue: The Domain, Sydney Botanical Gardens
Date: December 2008, TBC
Time: 8.15pm to 11pm
Website: www.carolsinthedomain.com

Sydney's Big Day Out

Australia's massive touring music festival, Big Day Out, begins in Auckland, New Zealand each summer, then moves on to the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide before offering up its grand finale in Perth. The festival is world-renowned and certainly Australia's biggest music event, attracting top international bands as well as some Australian pop idols.

Venue: Sydney Showground
Date: January 2009, TBC
Time: 11am
Website: www.bigdayout.com

Sydney Festival

This huge extravaganza is one of the largest and most prestigious cultural events in Australia, presenting the finest international artists and most acclaimed local talent in the performing and visual arts. Every summer the city’s concert venues, theatres, galleries, streets and various outdoor venues are taken over by the creative arts, featuring a wide range of music, dance and drama, exhibitions, circuses and free outdoor entertainment in a celebration of artistic innovation unmatched anywhere else in the country. A free outdoor programme, including the enormously popular symphony and jazz concerts in the Domain, complements the ticketed events, and takes place in venues such as the Rocks, Darling Harbour and in front of the Sydney Opera House.

Venue: CBD
Date: January 2009, TBC
Website: www.sydneyfestival.org.au

Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

What began in 1979 as a protest march has become a huge colourful annual event to display Sydney’s tolerant spirit. The city’s gay and lesbian community, joined by thousands of visitors from around the world, holds a three-week festival each February culminating in a massive parade of sumptuous floats, reputedly the biggest outdoor night time parade in the world. The traditional parade route runs from Hyde Park, through Liverpool Street, Oxford Street, across Anzac Parade and on to Moore Park where it ends in an all night party at Fox Studios. Other events in the weeks leading up to the parade include a film festival, concerts, picnics, art exhibitions and sports events.

Date: 28 February 2009
Website: www.mardigras.org.au