‘Will you marry me?’: Not so fast says the Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is fielding dozens of requests each year to light its sails to celebrate national days and anniversaries and personal charitable causes – as well as the rare romantic request to billboard marriage proposals.

About half the 163 requests for illumination in 2022 came from individuals to commemorate the deaths of family members, to express support of global events and acts of solidarity, to promote local charitable causes and cultural and religious events, and to mark significant moments of artistic and cultural expression.

How the Sydney Opera House has been illuminated in the past.Credit: Wolter Peeters / Supplied

In one case in 2021, the Opera House was asked to carry one groom’s request, ‘Will You Marry me?’

For such requests, the Opera House had to kill the hopes of this romantic Romeo and politely reject applications for personal memorials. Blossoming love and personal grief alone is not reason enough to illuminate the shells of the World Heritage-listed building.

New figures obtained by this masthead show that requests to the Opera House for illuminations grew by almost 50 per cent over the past two years. Requests from individuals more than doubled.

The upsurge has been attributed to the broadening precedence set for illuminations as the Opera House.

Last month, this masthead disclosed that the Opera House sails were illuminated one day in every five last year. Most requests had come from the former Perrottet government.

The shells have come to be regularly lit for national days of significance (Indian independence), international festivals (Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights; Lunar New Year), military invasions (twice for Ukraine), sporting achievements (Beijing Winter Olympics) and in Australia’s soft diplomatic interests (anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty).

The deaths of notable leaders and citizens have been increasingly marked by projections on the state’s most valuable cultural asset, from Queen Elizabeth II to Olivia Newton-John and former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, as well as police officers and paramedics killed while on duty.

“It is natural that as the number of and reasons [for lighting the sails] have expanded, so too, have public expectations about when and for what the sails should be lit,” the Opera House’s chief executive Louise Herron said.

Artist John Olsen’s work projected on the sails of the Opera House for Vivid 2023.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

In its first review of current guidelines in a decade, Herron said the Opera House was proposing more detailed limits and controls over illumination events, while still supporting the sails being lit for significant artistic, community and cultural moments such as Vivid.

It’s thought the revised guidelines would be likely to clamp down on illuminations celebrating national days and commemorating celebrity deaths.

NSW Arts Minister John Graham, who is reviewing the suggested new protocols, said the government supported “consistent decision-making and greater clarity and limits on the number, frequency, and duration of Opera House projections”. The revised draft guidelines, he said, were being circulated within government and no decision had been made.

The issue hit the political spotlight last month after the Minns government blocked the illumination of the Opera House sails for the coronation of King Charles III on cost grounds.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has said the building should not be treated as a billboard.

Inconsistencies in approach were highlighted when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese then directly requested the sails be lit in honour of visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But government requests are just the tip of the iceberg. Requests have also come from not-for-profit organisations, community groups, companies and individuals.

Raising awareness about causes or celebrating national or international days, weeks and months or anniversaries across a range of causes made up the largest category of requests, the Opera House said.

In 2022, there were 82 requests from individuals to the Opera House, more than double the 31 made in 2021. Embassies and consulates made eight direct requests last year compared to nine the previous year. Sporting organisations made three requests each in 2021 and 2022.

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