A Douglas C-47 Skytrain will fly in tribute from the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) Aviation Museum in Shellharbour to Sydney & back via the coast at 12:39pm, 17th of December for the 90th anniversary of the Douglas DC-3.
The approximate flight path Image: Google Maps
The route in Air Traffic Control (ATC) terms is designated ‘Victor 1’ & ‘Harbour Scenic 1’. After take-off, altitude begins at a mandatory 152.4 metres (500 feet) above mean sea level (AMSL) (Sydney Query Nautical Height). As they go past the Royal National Park, they will ascend to 304.8 metres (1000 feet) AMSL to Long Reef. From Long Reef & around Sydney Harbour the altitude is increased once again to a mandatory 457.2 metres (1500 feet) AMSL. The return journey is the same.
The approximate flight path in Sydney Image: Google Maps
After the tribute flight, the Douglas C-47 SkyTrain will be back at the HARS Aviation Museum in Shellharbour on display. The HARS Aviation Museum is open daily at Shellharbour Airport from 9:30am to 3:30pm.
Schedule
9:30am – HARS Aviation Museum opens
12:39pm – Shellharbour Take-Off
12:48pm – Stanwell Park Southerly Flypast
12:54pm – Cronulla Southerly Flypast
12:59pm – Coogee Southerly Flypast
1pm – Bondi Southerly Flypast
1:02pm – Manly Southerly Flypast
1:03pm – Long Reef Turn-Around
1:04pm – Manly Northerly Flypast
1:06pm – Sydney Harbour Bridge Flypast
1:06pm-1:08pm – 1st Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:08pm-1:10pm – 2nd Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:10pm-1:12pm – 3rd Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:12pm-1:14pm – 4th Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:14pm-1:16pm – 5th Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:16pm-1:18pm – 6th Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:18pm-1:20pm – 7th Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:20pm-1:22pm – 8th Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:22pm-1:24pm – 9th Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:24pm-1:26pm – 10th Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:26pm-1:28pm – 11th Sydney Harbour ‘orbit’
1:29pm – Manly Southerly Flypast
1:30pm – Long Reef Turn-Around
1:31pm – Manly Northerly Flypast
1:33pm – Bondi Northerly Flypast
1:34pm – Coogee Northerly Flypast
1:39pm – Cronulla Northerly Flypast
1:45pm – Stanwell Park Northerly Flypast
1:54pm – Shellharbour Landing
3:30pm – HARS Aviation Museum closes
The Planes
The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner, first built in 1935, that revolutionised airliner travel but the Museum’s own is currently undergoing planned maintenance.
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain, a military transport aircraft developed from the Douglas DC-3 will instead fly in tribute, which incidentally had its 80th anniversary this year. The HARS Museum has 4 of these, 1 of which is undergoing restoration.
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain was built during World War II in Oklahoma City in the United States Of America in early 1945. The particular one that will fly around Sydney Harbour was used to make the first Royal Australian Air Force operational mission of the Vietnam War, delivering food & medical supplies to fleeing refugees. It was also flown by the United States Air Force for a month in 1945.
The time & order of the flypast may change on the day, subject to aircraft serviceability, prevailing weather & ATC.
The 9 candles of the Chanukiah have been lit up on the western sails of the Sydney Opera House for Chunukah.
Chanukah, more commonly known as Hanukkah, is an 8-day Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of the city of Jerusalem & the subsequent rededication of the 2nd Temple in 164 BCE. Though it is of major cultural significance to Jewish people, it is actually a relatively minor holiday in strictly religious terms. Tonight is the 2nd night of Chanukah.
The Chanukiah, more commonly known as a hanukkiah, is simply a candlestick/ menorah, with 9 branches, which is used during Chanukah.
It is told in the Talmud Bavli (‘Babylonian Study‘) that during the 2nd Temple’s rededication, its menorah, a 7-branched candlestick, needed to burn for 8 nights. However, only a single small jar of olive oil, with an unbroken seal, was found throughout all of Jerusalem – enough to last only 1 night. The oil, nevertheless, is said to have lasted all required 8 nights, constituting a miracle, which is celebrated & symbolised to this day in the festival of Chanukah.
The middle branch of the Chanukiah, called the ‘shamash’ (‘helper’), is used each night of Chanukah to light 1 more candle than the previous night out of the remaining branches until all are lit. Each of these 8 other candles represent each night of Chanukah.
The Chanukiah is one of the most widely produced & iconic objects of Jewish ritual art.
Tonight, I made the decision to light the Sydney Opera House with candles on the menorah, marking the 2nd day of Chanukah.
Lighting the Opera House is a simple but powerful gesture: a message to the world that we cherish our Jewish community, that we honour their courage & that we stand with them in solidarity and love.
Tonight, those candles are a symbol of resilience & a reminder that even in darkness, we choose to stand with one another.
Chris Minns, NSW Premier
The projection comes a day after a Jewish genocide, by gunfire, at Sydney’s iconic suburb of Bondi Beach killed 15 people at the Chanukah By The Sea event, held at Archer Park, as well as killing bystanders & injuring other members of the public including police officers and other brave local heroes who tried to stop the shooting, in what is now being seen as an act of terrorism.
Terrorism is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. In this case, the terrorists seemed to seek to establish a global institution to return to the traditions of the first 3 generations of Muslims, under the leadership of an Islamic ruler who is considered a successor to Muhammad, in this case, through his closest companion, Abu Bakr. This is evidenced by 2 homemade flags of the Islamic State, who have this aim, being found in the terrorists’ car.
A genocide is any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, anational, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing group members
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to group members
Deliberately inflicting on the group life conditions calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Genocide can be punished with up to life imprisonment under international law while terrorism is punished with life imprisonment in Australia.
In a post on social media, the Sydney Opera House honoured the victims & sent their “deepest” condolences to everyone affected.
Sydney Spectaculars does not expect the upcoming major events, the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race & Sydney New Year’s Eve to be cancelled despite the significant circumstances.
Amid a heightened concern & a mourning period, the projection of the Chanukiah drew praise from Jewish leaders and community members.
As this projection is for Chanukah rather than as a projection in remembrance of the victims of the massacre & Jewish genocide, Sydney Spectacularsis considering this projection as a ‘Spectacular‘.
However, in 2014, Sydney New Year’s Eve was announced to have projections of flowers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylons in remembrance to the 2 victims of the Lindt Cafe siege, though no photographic/video footage of the projections is known to exist, thus we are unable to confirm it actually happened in the end. It is expected the City Of Sydney will announce a similar measure to be implemented in due course.
Sydney Spectaculars has reached out to the City Of Sydney.
Sydney Spectaculars has decided to begin removing old historic imagery from our blog in order to allow us to publish news stories with new imagery.
The decision was not taken lightly due to how we like to promote the history of Sydney’s iconic events. However, this was the only way to continue the blog.
In May, we began asking for donations in order to avoid today’s decision. We thank everyone who donated & all donors have been offered full refunds as a courtesy.
While this announcement currently only affects imagery, it may one day affecting video footage, though we hope this won’t end up being the case.
Despite today’s announcement, we would still like to request & receive donations of minimum 65 cents in order to try, keep & return historic imagery of Sydney’s iconic events online. If we do end up being successful in our aim, we will announce it via our donation counter on the side of our site (as you can see, we reached 21% of our aim so far). We also still encourage readers to become members (as ‘Spectators’) of the Sydney Spectaculars Society, which is free of charge to join currently.
If you look at our Frontcover page, you may have seen that it is called Sydney Spectaculars Society.
We would now like to introduce it.
The Sydney Spectaculars Society will work to promote Sydney’s iconic events’ history & future through:
historical research,
historical conservation,
spectator representation,
event management education &
creative art education
Historical research will see the Society delve into historical records to bring to light the rich history of Sydney’s iconic events while historical conservation will see the Society preserve & restore historical artefacts related to Sydney’s iconic events.
Spectator representation will eventually see the Society represent you if you & others have a dispute regarding an event. Using as an example the rail strike threat to Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) last year (which wasn’t covered on our blog as it had not got serious enough to justify coverage). There was no formal body to represent event spectators at the Fair Work Commission. Only New South Wales (NSW) locals were represented via the NSW Government. As this didn’t include the international audience of Sydney NYE, this Society will eventually include international members, who we intend to help represent in any dispute they have with an event or its stakeholders. Due to the legal nature of this part of the Society, this feature won’t immediately be available. We want to ensure we have a sufficient number of members before exploring this feature in more detail.
Event management & creative art education will see the Society, as it states, offer education on the management of events & how to be creative, particularly in regards to events. Initially, this service will only be friendly advice, but we hope to expand to include formal credentials.
Membership is currently open for FREE, though in the future, as the Society expands, it is likely we will have to begin charging membership fees so get in while it is FREE!
Our initial membership tier is called Spectator & includes all Sydney Spectaculars. In the future, there will be other membership tiers based on specific events & different pricing levels and features.
Spectator will give you a digital pass, which can be put into your Google or Apple Wallet & allow you to attend monthly meetings of the Society, where you would have a right to vote. These would be held in Sydney except in March & September, when it will be in Shellharbour – the home of Airshows Downunder Shellharbour. Your concerns regarding Sydney’s iconic events will also be represented (but as stated above, this feature won’t initially be implemented).
While anyone can apply to become a member, applications will only be accepted from Australian residents aged 18 years & over. This is due to our hope to incorporate the Society, which due to NSW legal requirements, requires local people above that age to form the core of the incorporated association’s committee. We also hope to be eventually registered as a not-for-profit organisation. Once the initial committee is formed, they will decide whether or not the time is right to expand the current acceptance of membership applications.
So, without further ado, join the Sydney Spectaculars Society now!
After over a decade, our site has now reached the point where we need to earn revenue in order to provide further coverage of Sydney’s major events without losing existing popular content. Therefore, Sydney Spectaculars has joined Frontcover.
We want to still keep our content as free as possible but in order to do that, we need donations. Initially, we were going to request a donation of 5 cents per year per visitor but due to technology limitations, it will have to be a minimumdonation of 65 Australian cents per year. Out of our annual site visitation, we estimate 9% of our visitors to end up contributing 65 Australian cents compared to 100% if it was just 5 cents per year.
To donate, head to our Frontcover page. Then, click ‘Support’, sign up to Frontcover & then follow the prompts to donate. You can donate any amount but it is a minimum of 65 cents regardless. We, unfortunately, cannot make it any lower. A processing fee rounds up the full cost to 1 Australian dollar. A tip to the Frontcover platform is completely optional.
We are initially raising funds in order to fund an expansion of our storage so we can continue to add imagery to our posts. Unfortunately, we have ran out of storage to continuing providing imagery on our posts even after deleting unnecessary existing media & keeping imagery to the minimum requirements in terms of pixels. This is why there have been no posts since March (though luckily, no super major news has broken in that time).
If we find we are not raising sufficient funds to cover this cost, we will have to remove old content in order to publish new content, at least in the short term.
If you donate more than 65 cents, contact us if you have a suggestion on where you want the extra funds to go.
In regards to Frontcover, you may have seen that our (rather empty) page is called Sydney Spectaculars Society. We have plans to expand in the very near future so sign up to Frontcover through our page & stay tuned!
…but for now, in the short term, 65 Australian cent donations are appreciated.
The 5th chapter of the Badu Gili (‘Water Light’) projection series at the Sydney Opera House debuted just over a month ago, uniting First Nations artists from Australia & Brazil in a new projection themed Healing Spirit.
The artists from Australia are late Bidjigal elder, Aunty Esme Timbery & 2 of her children, Marilyn Russell and Steven Russell while the artist from Brazil is Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami of the Yanomami people, the Amazon basin’s largest Indigenous group.
His artwork is drawings of the remote Yanomami Forest landscapes & spirits while Marilyn & Aunty Esme’s artwork is delicate shellwork with Steven’s being prints & weavings.
Their artworks have been combined & animated by VANDAL, well known for their work on Sydney New Year’s Eve, with a soundscape by James Henry, bringing together Indigenous artists from Bidjigal (Australia) and Yanomami (the Amazon’s largest Indigenous group) for the first time on Australia’s most iconic canvas.
The final projection explores rituals & the bonds of cultural and familial connection forged through art and storytelling.
Opening against an ocean backdrop, the 1st section is a tribute to the life and work of Aunty Esme Timbery by her children. Exploring the deep spiritual connection between a mother, her family & their Country, it represents the enduring passage of artistic practice across generations.
The final section transitions to the forests and rivers of the Yanomami with butterflies, jaguars and the songs of its people, where a shamanic curing ceremony is depicted. The ceremony is a ritual performed when community members fall ill to call upon good spirits to ward off the bad. Illuminating the relationship between the metaphysical and natural worlds, it offers a glimpse into Yanomami cosmology.
Badu Gili: Healing Spirit is held for 6 minutes at the eastern Bennelong (smaller) sails 5 times each night from sunset.
It launched on the 13th of December last year with Badu Gili: LIVE – a night of live music & food.
Badu Gili: Healing Spirit marks the 2nd year of a creative partnership between the Sydney Opera House, & the Cartier Foundation For Contemporary Art.
Apart from the first 2 “chapters” of Badu Gili (debuting in 2017 & 2018), which was a rotating series of artworks, subsequent chapters have been themed, Wonder Woman (2021) & had narratives added, Celestial (2023).
Since Badu Gili’s beginnings in 2017, we’ve welcomed over 650,000 visitors on-site & nearly 3 million online to enjoy this free cultural experience showcasing the work of artists from different corners of the globe, whose creations reflect a deep, generational connection to their respective lands.
Jade McKellar, Sydney Opera House Chief Customer Officer
Healing Spirit is a journey of connectivity & caring through culture. From the fresh water deep in the Amazon rainforest to the crashing saltwater waves at La Perouse, we are all connected. I believe Badu Gili showcases the absolute best of Indigenous art in a growing movement recognising the way in which our stories, art & culture continue to resonate in the most impactful of ways.
Tony Albert, Cartier Foundation For Contemporary Art First Nations Curatorial Fellow
As a family we are so proud & grateful for this opportunity to shine a spotlight on Mum, known as Aunty Esme to the broader community. She taught us the beauty of our heritage & shared with us her incredible talent for shellwork. For us, Badu Gili represents the pinnacle of her artistic career & honours her strength, creativity and the way she continues to inspire us every day. This project brings her children, grandchildren & great grandchildren pride & joy in our culture. We love Mum deeply & we are forever blessed to walk in her footsteps.
Statement Of Marilyn & Steven Russell, Artists & Children of Aunty Esme Timbery
I’m happy to be a part of Badu Gili & excited to be coming to Australia to share my drawings and the stories of the Yanomami people. As Indigenous people we will look each other in the face, get to know one another & share this special work with the community.
Circular Quay drone shows, Vivid Sydney water shows, Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour, Australia SailGP & fireworks from barges over Sydney Harbour at any time of the year are under threat from a proposed high-density housing development at Glebe Island. This does not affect Sydney NYE2024 (the upcoming edition).
Glebe Island is home to a port with 260 metres of deep waterfront wharf space, where Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour‘s enormous stage is prepared before been moved to Fleet Steps. Barges & pontoons are also moored at Glebe Island for the preparation of pyrotechnic displays & drone shows held from them. For the pyrotechnics, cranes are used to load the fireworks onto the barges & pontoons while for both drones & fireworks, the barges & pontoons are then moved into Sydney Harbour (or in the drone shows’ case, moored at Campbells’ Cove) for the displays. The same also applies for the annual water show held in Cockle Bay during Vivid Sydney, whose water pump infrastructure is first prepared at Glebe Island while Australia SailGP requires the delivery of 120 shipping containers.
Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE), the most significant annual pyrotechnic event on Sydney Harbour, uses 6 barges and 4 pontoons. Without these, the display would be reduced to just the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House & city buildings. Fireworks displays at any other time of year & drone/water shows as well as Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour & Australia SailGP will be impossible to be held.
And according to Adam Huie of Banks Events, who has helped produce Sydney Spectaculars (the events, not the blog) since 1997, that’s what will happen if Glebe Island is no longer a port.
First things first, Glebe Island is a bit of a misnomer. It was an island originally, but it doesn’t exist anymore. It was joined to the mainland just over a century ago but now, fast forward to 2016.
On the 14th of November 2016, the New South Wales (NSW) Government announced Sydney Metro West, an underground rapid transit line. One of its proposed stations is to be at The Bays precinct, “Sydney’s new innovation hub where 95 hectares of land is being regenerated”.
Green: Glebe Island, Brown: Reclaimed Land, Blue Line: Sydney Metro West (under construction), Blue Boxes: Sydney Metro West Stations (under construction).
At the time, the land regeneration wasn’t to include Glebe Island, which was instead marked as “for further study”.
The Bays Precinct Urban Renewal Area In 2014 Image: The Sydney Morning Herald
And indeed, further study it was, in secret. On the 25th of July this year, The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the NSW Government had secretly commissioned a review into Glebe Island. The now not-so-secret review is being undertaken by Michael Schur, a consultant who was a former NSW Treasury secretary in 2011, who will also review the non-cruise ship terminal portion of the White Bay foreshore. He will be assessing options including:
Retaining the ports with no nearby high-density housing
Moving the ports for nearby high-density housing
Building a hybrid model
The proposal by the NSW Government to turn it into high-density housing is made due to the now-under construction The Bays Metro Station, which would be able to handle large amounts of passengers & therefore, potential residents. The NSW Government later admitted the review was real.
Tom Forrest, Urban Taskforce Chief Executive said Glebe Island had the potential to be Sydney’s next Barangaroo which he described as “vibrant, open & perfect” but industry wants to stay at Glebe Island.
For example, the Port Authority of NSW, a corporation of the NSW Government, while supporting the Schur review, is opposed to the Glebe Island port closing down or being relocated. As noise, pollution & truck movements are all key considerations in whether the hybrid model can work, they even warned against that option, saying “sensitive uses” near ports & shipping threatened to upset operations. It is this position that has led event producers to not make a collective submission.
The NSW Liberal Party is also opposed to the relocation while Stuart Aryes, Urban Development Institute Of Australia, Chief Executive said a mixed-use precinct “could be a new jewel in the Sydney Harbour crown”.
The City Of Sydney, in a statement (below), gave a response which sounds like a wait and see approach with supreme confidence. The confidence is justified as Glebe Island/White Bay has not always been the location the pyrotechnic barges been prepared from. For example, in 1996, Wooloomooloo was the location for the set-up of the main barge used in the 9pm Family Fireworks that year. It relocated to White Bay/Glebe Island the following year.
However, Adam Huie told Sydney Spectaculars (the blog this time) that Wooloomooloo is “now occupied by other uses and unavailable”. You can read his full comments, which were published by The Daily Telegraph, at the bottom of this article.
The review is likely to be published by the end of the year.
The Sydney NYE2024 Glebe Island media call is on Friday the 27th of December at 10am & it wouldn’t be a surprise if questions are asked there about this situation.
Sydney NYE2024 is on at 7:30pm on the 31st of December while Australia SailGP returns on the 8th-9th of February with Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour 2025 being held between March 21 and April 20 & will be musical Guys & Dolls this edition.
There is a range of things that you could do with Glebe Island that are better than the way it has been used for a long period of time & one of those is obviously housing.
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister Of Australia
If the government has an announcement to make, it will be made at an appropriate time.
NSW Government Spokesperson
The harbour is our jewel in the crown & Glebe Island supports that gem. Our harbour is also more complex & multifaceted than people realise so while we excel at events, they need a platform supporting them.
Margy Osmond, Tourism & Transport Forum Australia Chief Executive Officer
The government’s own department is telling them that this is a bad idea – that should tell you all you need to know.
Natalie Ward, NSW Legislative Councillor
Any proposed plans for the Glebe Island site is a matter for the state government.
Our experience over the years has meant we are adept at working around evolving changes to the event’s production to ensure we continue to deliver one of the world’s most spectacular New Year’s Eve celebrations.
City Of Sydney Spokesperson
(Barangaroo) That’s the sort of vision we need to see. Maintaining Sydney as a quasi-working harbour was a prospect that was abandoned by governments 30 years ago. Continuing to operate a hybrid model ensures the Bays Precinct will fail to deliver its potential. The last thing we want is to keep that giant hardstand area in order to satisfy the old Maritime Services Board.
Tom Forrest, Urban Taskforce Chief Executive
Sydney will struggle to be a better city without Glebe Island. The thought that the fireworks & other major events could be in jeopardy is truly alarming. Access to Glebe Island for preparing events is vital for the events sector & for Sydney’s economy, tourism and culture.
Paul Nicolau, Business Sydney Executive Director
We live here because of the working harbour.
Elizabeth Elenius, Pyrmont Action Group Founder
We use Glebe Island for a lot of events that mean so much to this city.
Because the Port Authority has had management of the site and their support for events is strong. We’ve seen that as the state government supporting our events but this report that’s coming has given everyone the jitters. We don’t know what is going on. These events are too important to Sydney. People around the world know us for our NYE celebrations. It would be terrible if we had to scale that back because a necessary work site was not available.
There’s quite a number of events that use that space as an essential part of their work. There’s Australia Day, Vivid, SailGP and Opera On The Harbour. They would all have major issues putting on some of their events without Glebe Island.
The drone show for Vivid in June required 110m of wharf space at Glebe Island for 4 weeks to build a barge & install the equipment allowing 800 drones to take off. Every city in the world that SailGP operates in, they deliver essentials by ship & set up on a wharf. If Sydney doesn’t have Glebe Island port, where are they going to go? All these events need waterfront access on the harbour.
People have spent years trying to work out how to deliver the New Year’s Eve fireworks if Glebe Island suddenly wasn’t available. We’ve never come up with a solution. The only sensible option would be to scale back on the event & surely no one wants that. Sydney has one of the best fireworks displays in the world, but the event could not be done the way it’s currently done without that Glebe Island facility.
I’d laugh at anyone suggesting (Port Botany, Kembla, Newcastle) that. There’s no way you’d be loading barges there & then shipping them here. Logistics require clear weather windows of opportunity. It would be unworkable, virtually impossible but why does that even have to be considered when we’ve got a working wharf right here?
The State Of Origin 2025 schedule has been released with all matches for the women’s version being held only in May after being held over 2 months (May & June) this year.
The announcement was made on the 18th of November.
State Of Origin (men’s version) 2024 will have all matches on a Wednesday night with the matches times, dates & venues being:
Game III – 8:05pm, 9th of July, Stadium Australia, Sydney
Tickets for Game 2 went on sale on the 22nd of November at 1pm Perth time (4pm Sydney time/3pm Brisbane time) “starting” from AUD$49 for adults & AUD$139 for families (currently cheapest available is AUD$109 for adults & surprisingly, AUD$74.75 for families).
A pre-sale for New South Wales & Queensland Rugby League members was held from Monday, November 18 before National Rugby League (NRL) club ticketed members had a pre-sale 4-2 hours prior to the general public while NRL account holders & club non-ticketed members had a pre-sale 2 hours prior to the general public.
Meanwhile, the Women’s State Of Origin will take place solely in May:
Game I – 1st of May, Lang Park, Brisbane
Game II – 15th of May, Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Game III – 29th of May, Hunter International Sports Centre, Newcastle
All Women’s State Of Origin matches will be on a Thursday night with kick-off at 7:45pm local time.
‘Women’s State Of Origin’ 2025 Advertisement Image: Women’s State Of Origin
While Women’s State Of Origin will be held in Sydney this year, it will not be classified as a ‘flagship’ Sydney Spectacular yet still. While the gap in attendance is narrowing, the attendance is still too low compared to the men’s version (25,000 per event day vs 73,000 per event day). Sydney Spectaculars will continue to monitor Women’s State Of Origin‘s development for possible future recognition.
Both men’s & women’s versions of State Of Origin 2025 will be broadcast in Australia live and exclusive on the Nine Network & tickets for all other matches will go on sale at a later date. Also, a range of hospitality options for all matches have been on sale since the 18th of November.
Red poppies adorned the Sydney Opera House at sunrise & after 8pm on the 11th of November to mark Remembrance Day.
At sunrise, a special surprise was held at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, hosted by the New South Wales (NSW) Veterans Minister, David Harris. The Returned Services League NSW President Mick Bainbridge recited the Ode before the Last Post rang out to remind everyone of Remembrance Day’s importance.
Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the armistice signing hat brought an end to fighting in the 1st World War, which ceased hostilities 106 years ago. Over 416,000 Australians enlisted for service during the Great War, out of a population of only 4 million. Many more defence personnel have participated in peacekeeping operations & fought in conflicts since. For over 100 years, red poppies have been used as a symbol of community respect & recognition.
Poppies have been projected onto the Sydney Opera House for Remembrance Day annually since 2014 while the sunrise service has been an addition since the COVID-19 pandemic.
This Remembrance Day is an opportunity to reflect on those who bravely laid down their own lives to defend our country & preserve our way of life.
It is important to acknowledge those who continue to serve in our defence, at home and abroad. There is no higher public service than offering your own life to protect your country.
It is also crucial to recognise those who have lost a parent, child or family member in the defence of our country.
Australia’s free & democratic society is built upon the shoulders of these brave service personnel we are commemorating today.
Lest we forget.
Chris Minns, NSW Premier
Today we remember those who have given their lives and served their country in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping missions & we also acknowledge the support of their families.
We wear poppies on Remembrance Day to serve as a reminder for people here & around the world, to take a moment & pause and remember our service men and women.
We owe them an immeasurable debt of gratitude for helping to make Australia the prosperous & free country it is today.
David Harris, NSW Veterans Minister
This Remembrance Day, we not only honour & remember all those who have died or suffered for Australia’s cause in all wars and conflicts, we also continue to reflect on the ongoing impact of military service on our veterans & their families.
Following the conclusion of the Royal Commission into Defence & Veteran Suicide, ex-service organisations now face 122 critical recommendations & RSL NSW will advocate for the implementation of these recommendations to support veterans across Australia.
We must turn remembrance into action, ensuring every veteran across all generations feels supported, heard & valued.
The western sails of the Sydney Opera House were illuminated in gold on the evening of Tuesday the 5th of November in recognition of Diwali.
Also known as Deepavali, Diwali is of great significance to the Hindu, Sikh, Jain & Buddhist communities, celebrating the victory of light over darkness, good over evil & knowledge over ignorance. It is a time spent with family & friends, praying for health, knowledge & peace. Participants wear colourful clothes, exchange gifts and sweets & decorate their homes.
The golden illumination of the Sydney Opera House’s western sails represented the spiritual darkness’s lifting & life’s renewal.
That same night, across Circular Quay at the Museum Of Contemporary Art, the New South Wales (NSW) Government hosted their annual Diwali celebration, which brought the state’s multicultural leaders together.
Wherever you go in NSW you can find the positive impact in our lives made by the Indian diaspora.
The ideals of knowledge over ignorance, good over evil & light over darkness are messages that everyone can embrace.
By sharing in this celebration, we can all join together, foster greater understanding & keep our communities strong.
Sydney Spectaculars 
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