Australia Day: Old and new citizens honour island home

From the nation’s world famous Sydney Harbour to the suburbs and communities great and small, Australians lapped up the national holiday and launched into an ­unofficial long weekend.

Akira Crombie, 11, at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Picture: Jonathan Ng

From the nation’s world famous Sydney Harbour to suburban ­citizenship ceremonies, caravan parks, beaches and along the rivers of communities great and small, Australians lapped up the national holiday and launched into an ­unofficial long weekend.

While our nation’s rebellious spirit and passion for a protest was on display in capital city streets and rightly grabbed the headlines, elsewhere Aussies chose to just enjoy Australia Day.

On the banks of the Yarra, basking in perfect mid-20s warmth, brilliant blue skies offering the perfect contrast to the mud-brown river, sausages were thrown on the barbecues.

Melbourne’s official Australia Day parade may have been canned, but that didn’t deter those who took the party into their own hands. The Roulettes still managed a flyover.

After the navy Seakhawk chopper left the skies above Bondi Beach, it choppered its giant Aussie flag to Sydney Harbour where it buzzed around the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Along the banks, gunners from the 9th Regiment fired a 21-gun salute.

In nearby The Rocks, a different army of Australians clad in their uniform – Australia flag shirts – filled the pubs and drank to the health of the nation.

In Glen Eira, in Melbourne’s inner southeast, our newest Australians posed with their citizenship certificates, waving both the Australian and Indigenous flags, in a perfect display of recognising the old and new of our nation.

The traditional flag-raising and citizenship ceremony on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra also built a symbolic bridge on a day that increasingly seems to divide us. A record six flags – two Australian, two Indigenous and two Torres Strait Island – were raised during the ceremony.

The Luminescence children’s choir joined Indigenous singer Alinta Barlow in delivering the ­national anthem, which included a verse repeated in the local Ngunnawal language.

In her Welcome to Country, elder Aunty Violet Sheridan called on Australians to support the voice to parliament when they head to the polls to vote in the government’s referendum later this year.

Yared and Fraser Pritchard take William and James Smith down the hill in the Woombye Australia Day Billy Cart Challenge on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Picture Lachie Millard

“We need to take a look at ourselves and make change for the ­future,” Ms Sheridan said. “We need to come together as one people and celebrate this day together, instead of us and them, because I want to make a difference.”

It was a sentiment shared by Anthony Albanese, who was attending the ceremony for the first time as Prime Minister. He asked Australians to consider the consequences of voting No.

Dozens of Canberrans gathered to watch on while high-profile politicians, recently crowned Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt and other dignitaries such as US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy rubbed shoulders at the event.

The ceremony is a staple of the nation’s Australia Day festivities. The Royal Military College, Duntroon band kicked off the ceremony with a rendition of Waltzing Matilda.

Twenty three people from nine countries were invited to become citizens at the ceremony.

Nashieli Garcia Alaniz, an ecologist from Mexico, said it was a special occasion.

“It’s a really special day. I feel honoured that a country like Australia opens its door to welcome someone like me … I am really lucky to be here,” she said.

The event was just one of more than 420 occurring across the country on Thursday. More than 19,600 people from over 140 nations have been invited to become citizens on or around Australia Day in 2023.

In his address, Mr Albanese said the day marked the beginning of a “new chapter”.

“I want you to know that you are now becoming citizens of a country where no matter where you live, or who you worship, no matter who you love or what your last name is, you can write your own future,” he said.