Tag: ‘Flagship’ Sydney Spectaculars

‘Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race’ Sails On As Newest Flagship ‘Sydney Spectacular’

The world’s most famous annual sailing event – The Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race – has been designated as the 6th & newest flagship Sydney Spectacular.

This means the flagship Sydney Spectaculars are as follows:

  • Sydney New Year’s Eve (31 December/1 January)
  • Australia Day In Sydney (26 January)
  • Vivid Sydney (Late May to Mid-June)
  • State Of Origin (Late May to Mid-July)
  • Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race (6 December-6 January)
  • Airshows Downunder Shellharbour (November bi-annually)

The yacht race, affectionally known as The Great Race South, starts annually at 1pm & traditionally on Boxing Day (26 December) in Sydney Harbour & sees single-hulled yachts of roughly 9 to 30 metres in length, travel 628 nautical miles (1163.06 kilometres) in order to be the 1st yacht & crew to arrive in Hobart, Tasmania. The journey involves navigating out of Sydney Harbour & Heads passing 2 buoys before travelling south down the New South Wales coast before crossing the edge of the notorious Bass Strait to reach Tasmania, where they travel down its eastern coast, around the iconic Tasman Island & up the Derwent River to Hobart. The 1st to reach in line with & to the east of Hobart’s Battery Point wins the race’s line honours. There are other race categories, mostly handicaps, but line honours is the only category that features all competitors.

Historically, out of 78 editions, the yacht that has won the most line honours is Wild Oats XI, who was skippered by Mark Richards with Robbie Naismith, Iain Murray & Rodney Daniel as 3 of the many crewpersons, winning 9 times in the editions of 2005-2008, 2010, 2012-2014 & 2018.

The current race record was set in 2017 by LDV Comanche, skippered by Jim Cooney with Casey Smith as Sailing Master, Stan Honey as Navigator & a crew of 17 other people, in a time of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes & 24 seconds (or 27 December, 10:15:24pm).

The sailor with the most line honours victories is Steve Jarvin at 15 victories while Bruce Farr of Farr Yacht Design is the designer of the most winning line honours yachts.

Entering yachts are confirmed about 2 months prior to the race in late October. Entries for the 2024 race closed on Friday the 25th of October 2024 with 112 yachts confirmed including 23 double-handed entrants & 4 30.48 metre long (100 foot) maxis. These yachts include 105 from Australia, 2 from France & 1 each from the United States of America (USA), New Zealand (NZ), China, the Philippines & Japan. Out of the 105 yachts from Australia, currently there are:

  • 61 from New South Wales
  • 15 from Queensland
  • 12 from Victoria
  • 10 from Tasmania
  • 4 from South Australia,
  • 2 from Western Australia &
  • 1 from an unknown state/territory

Winning against the world’s best was a dream come true & we are working hard to do it again.

Christian Beck, ‘LawConnect’ Owner & 2023 Race Skipper

Notable confirmed entries include LawConnect, last year’s line honours winner, Comanche, 4-time line honours winner, Bacardi (‘The Bus’), the yacht with the most races entered, URM Group, Moneypenny, No Limit, Whisper, Willow, Caro (NZ), Katwinchar, Wild Thing 100, Ocean Crusaders J-Bird & debutants, Maritimo 100, Fika, Bacchanal (USA) & Cocody (France). The current International Rating Certificate (IRC) handicap class trophy, the Tattersall Cup, holder, Alive, will also try to win it for a 3rd time:

We’re excited to be back, proudly representing Tasmania in the 79th edition & we are hopeful to back up our previous victory. We are in it to win it. Phillip (Turner, the yacht owner) & the whole team are very excited.

Duncan Hine, ‘Alive’ skipper

Officiating the race are umpires, 3 committees (technical, race & protest) & an international jury.

Spectators can watch the race for free. However, to gain access to the Sydney Harbour exclusion zone & be precisely on the start line, there is only 1 spectator boat allowed – the official spectator vessel. This year, the official spectator vessel is The Jackson, a luxury superyacht. Public access is only to the main deck, which has 270-degree views, with the mid & top decks reserved for private functions. New for 2024 are additional, even more comfortable, tables & seating. Tickets are $390 per person & are on sale usually from June. Apart from the race, The Jackson‘s main deck includes canapĂŠs, substantial snacks, premium beverages & a 5-meter light-emitting diode screen of the official television broadcast. Official event merchandise is also available for purchase on board. It departs from King Street Wharf 2.75 hours before the race start, returning 2 hours after the race start. Boarding begins half an hour prior to departure from King Street Wharf. There are many other private cruises available for purchase, but they are all are outside of the exclusion zone.

The Jackson
Photograph: Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race

While the race begins on 26 December & can finish within 2 days, the yachts can finish as late as January 6 – 11 days later! Also, at the start & finish cities are Race Villages. These Villages have entertainment, event merchandise, food, drinks & children’s activities.

The Sydney Race Village, held at the Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia, opens about 20 days prior to the race start, on the 6th of December, formally beginning the whole event. It hosts a Women in Sailing Cocktail Party, The Commodore’s Beer & Prawn Night, an outdoor screen for live coverage of sailing events on Sydney Harbour & outdoor seating. On Boxing Day, for the race start, family activities are held at the Sydney Race Village before the Village closes for that edition later that day.

Between the 13th & 15th December inclusive is the Sydney-Hobart Classic Yacht Regatta. A regatta is a series of boat races. This regatta features previous Sydney-Hobart race entrants that launched their yacht over 33 years ago. It features 2 pointscore races of varying courses in 3 handicap divisions while an extra race to open the Regatta combines all divisions into 1, with no points scored & uses the same course. All races are held in the iconic stretch of waterway that features the start of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race with 1 race occurring each day.

The Hobart Race Village, held waterside at Constitution Dock, opens at 12pm on the 27th of December & closes on January 1st, formally ending the whole event unless there are still more yachts to finish, which could be the case. The Hobart Race Village has an information desk, question and answer sessions, daily live music & the informal trophy prizegiving ceremonies for the line honours & IRC handicap winners, the latter handicap category making up about 63% of the racing fleet.

Vendors already confirmed for the Hobart Race Village include Richard Bennett, Brown Brothers Family Winemakers, Devil’s Corner, Dark Lab, Daiquiri Isle PL, KaKi LiMa Indonesian Street Food, Kung Fu Canteen, Culinary Kitchen, Jasmine Kitchen, Orlando Plenty & Monica’s Fairy Floss.

There is also a formal trophy prizegiving ceremony at Hobart’s Hotel Grand Chancellor at 3pm on New Year’s Eve.

The 2024 race will have its media launch in late November. 8 rule changes though were announced in June when entries opened but they were mainly to do with safety/weather, handicap category requirements/allowances & crew composition but nothing that would significantly affect line honours or change the sporting nature of line honours.

The Rationale

Why this event you ask?

Earlier this year, Australia Day In Sydney expanded their Salute To Australia & Navy Helicopter Flag Display into a new daytime event program called Harbourfest. One of the events in Harbourfest was the Tall Ships Race, a sailing race up Sydney Harbour from Bradley’s Head to the Sydney Harbour Bridge involving heritage tall ships.

Therefore, Sydney Spectaculars believes it is the right time to include sailing events into the events we cover & the most famous sailing race in Sydney is the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race, that starts in Sydney Harbour.

We considered whether or not the sailing in The Games Of The Olympiad, which Sydney hosted in 2000, is more ‘spectacular’. We decided that the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race is unique from the sailing in the Olympics. In 1896, whilst cancelled, the sailing in The Games Of The Olympiad involved only naval ships. In 1900, events were based on weight. In 1904-1968, events were based on length. In 1920, geometric area was also considered. In 1924 & from 1932 to the present, the races were also based on the overall design of the boats (i.e. all boats must be of the same design. That is, ‘one design’.).

To enter the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race, yachts mainly are required to be single-hulled & with a length of 9 to 31 metres. Currently in the Games Of The Olympiad, events require boats of a length less than 9 metres. The longest sailing boats in the Games Of The Olympiad are 5 metres long & out of the 10 events, 1 event involves a multi-hulled boat. Even though there is no ‘one design’ rule for all entrants in the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race (there is a special handicap category though), the race’s boat eligibility requirements are distinct enough from The Games Of The Olympiad’s rules to deem the race just as spectacular as Olympic sailing.

History

In 1944, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) was formed. A yacht cruise from Sydney to Hobart was proposed by some club members in early 1945 to take place on Boxing Day (26 December) that year. In the middle of 1945, Royal Navy (UK) Officer, Captain John Illingworth, visited the Club & heard about the plans for the cruise. He suggested to turn it into a race – an idea the club took up & on Boxing Day 1945, The Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race first set sail.

It was an immediate hit. The race record dropped dramatically over the 1st generation of competitive sailors from a week to 2.5 days, where it halted for 2 decades, when it was broken twice in 4 editions in the late 1990’s. It took another 6 editions before it was broken again in 2005. Another 12 years passed before it was most recently broken in 2017.

The 1982 edition was the most competitive race so far with the top 2 finishing, for line honours, 7 seconds apart. Last year’s edition comes in at a close 2nd with a gap of 51 seconds.

Tragedy stuck in the 1998 edition when 5 people drowned, 1 dying from a heart attack, 55 people being rescued, 5 boats sinking & 7 boats being left abandoned when an unusually intense low-pressure system formed, resulting in winds of 118 kilometres per hour with gusts of 148 kilometres per hour. It resulted in Australia’s largest peacetime rescue operation with 27 Royal Australian Navy vessels & 35 aircraft searching. Only 38% of the racing fleet completed the race.

For the 1999 edition, rules were tightened but by the 2000 edition, the Coronial Inquest found the CYCA simply “observed” the race rather than “managing” it while also criticising the Bureau Of Meteorology, the Australian Government’s weather forecast agency, for failing to provide an updated forecast, which included the fateful storm, to the CYCA. The CYCA’s Race Director also resigned as a result, particularly after the Coroner felt they would repeat the same mistakes in the future.

In the 2001 edition, a 500-metre wide 190km/h waterspout with golf ball-size hail struck several boats on Boxing Day, severely damaging one, which managed to finish the race. In the 2004 edition, just over half the fleet finished the race due to severe storms, which this time only caused 1 sinking with no lives lost.

The Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race currently has a daily average attendance of 67,000 people and a daily broadcast average audience of 86,000 people though up until 2019, only the start was televised as a special event broadcast. The start sees 400,000 people gather around Sydney Harbour & 700,000 watch on television and via the Internet from around the world. 93,000 people from around the world, on average, watch the line honours finish via television or the Internet. The actual in-person attendance for the line honours finish fluctuates greatly every year as the finish could be in the early morning hours! However, we estimate that if it was in the middle of the daytime with perfect weather for watching & competitive sailing, it would be no more than 13,000 people.

So to acknowledge the fact it is the world’s most famous annual sailing race & it’s sporting iconography for Sydney, we have decided to designate The Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race as a flagship Sydney Spectacular.

What if I cannot attend the event?

From 2024 & in a multi-year deal, the Australian broadcast rights for the start are held by the 9 Network, after a long stint by the 7 Network, but if it is like recent rights with the 7 Network, they are non-exclusive rights. The whole race is livestreamed via YouTube in the form of morning and afternoon updates with live coverage of the start & finish of various yachts & categories including line honours as well as the prizegiving ceremony. It has been confirmed 9Now will show all this, which is a significant change to the previous 7+ coverage, which only featured the start live & on-demand.

The Rolex Sydney Hobart is Australia’s summer sporting icon & we couldn’t be more excited to chart a new era for the race and its competitors through Nine’s huge storytelling ecosystem. It aligns perfectly with our portfolio of world class sporting events & we look forward to partnering with the Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia, their team and sponsors to grow the footprint of this extraordinary event across Australia.

Michael Stephenson, 9 Network Chief Sales Officer & Local Markets Managing Director

Sydney Spectaculars will be providing coverage of the 2024 race. Assuming the television & digital rights are still non-exclusive, this will include all scheduled live streams embedded on our ‘Watch LIVE’ page. We will try to embed unscheduled live streams but owing to the effect of weather on the race and the fact some yachts may finish suddenly in the middle of the night, this may not be possible. However, we will provide a link to where you can find the unscheduled live streams. This will especially be the case if the television & digital rights turn out to be exclusive to the 9 Network in Australia.

The Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race is also part of the Blue Water Pointscore – a series of 6 races from July to December, concluding with the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race. These additional races are not considered a ‘flagship’ Sydney Spectacular. The series began in 1958 & currently begins in July with the 2nd most ‘spectacular’ race on Sydney Harbour – the Sydney-Gold Coast Yacht Race. The other 4 races currently include the Flinders Islet Race (Sydney-Illawarra-Sydney), the Tollgate Islands Race (Sydney-Batemans Bay-Sydney), the Bird Island Race (Sydney-Central Coast-Sydney) & the Cabbage Tree Island Race (Sydney-Nelson Bay-Sydney). The latter race actually begins on the day the Sydney Race Village opens & is the opening race in the international Australian Maxi Championship.

The Australian Maxi Championship lasts 5 days & features 3 other races down Sydney Harbour and out to off Sydney’s coast & back. A maxi is a yacht that is a minimum of 18 metres long. On the Australian Maxi Championships‘ final day, the Big Boat Challenge is the final race held & just like in the Sydney-Hobart, is open to all yachts down to a minimum of 9 metres in length. This race is held mainly along the waterway that hosts the iconic start of the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race but instead of finishing in Hobart, they finish at the World Heritage-Listed Sydney Opera House!

If speed, rather than meteorological tactics, is more your style, the Australia Sail Grand Prize (SailGP) of the SailGP Championship is held just to the northwest of Shark Island in early February each year. All sailing vessels in this event are the F50 – a 15-metre-long multi-hull foiling sailing vessel.

There are also other regattas held on Sydney Harbour throughout the year including the one on Australia Day around Shark Island, which is the oldest continuously run annual sailing event in the world & is open to any racing boat. If more than 5 similar boats enter, organisers may form a special division for those boats to race against each other.

The Sail Sydney Regatta is held on Sydney Harbour on the 6-9th December when the Sydney Race Village is open & includes the sailing boat classes that feature in The Games Of The Olympiad excluding windsurfing & kiteboarding, as well as classes of similar to mid-sized sailing craft. Races are held in classes, but some classes may race at the same time on the same course.

There is also, as mentioned earlier, the Tall Ships Race at 1pm on Australia Day from Bradley’s Head to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Ferrython on Australia Day does not count as that is not a sailing event due to the ferries having motors.

As you can see, Sydney Harbour has a rich history of sailing with its pinnacle the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race.

Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race, it’s time to set sail!

REVIEW: Vivid’s Creative But Faulty Light

Whilst Vivid Sydney was again creatively well done with their theme of Humanity, numerous things put a downer on this year’s edition.

During & after the recent edition of Vivid Sydney, a lot of people who attended Vivid Sydney were claiming the iconic Light Walk was not as interesting as previous years so, we decided to compare the 2 previous Light Walks.

Our analysis reveals what people thought was the case in 2024 – the Vivid Light Walk was not as entertaining as the previous year. The below graphs are designed to follow the Light Walk, from Bennelong Point to Railway Square. The lower the line, the less entertaining the Light Walk was.

As you can see 2023’s line is notably higher & fluctuating more than 2024’s line, this signals an entertaining Light Walk with something new always around the corner, particularly at the Museum Of Contemporary Art, the Sydney Harbour Bridge south-eastern pylon, Tumblalong Park, the Powerhouse Museum & Central Railway Station. Whilst Barangaroo Reserve was a significant rise in attention-grabbing, the line notably dips at the Barangaroo development just south of the Reserve & around the western and eastern shores of Cockle Bay in Darling Harbour – the only parts deemed not entertaining, though Cockle Bay’s dip is due to the best vantage point for the Bay’s water light show being on the southern shore.

2024’s line though is nearly flat with the Light Walk only entertaining around West Circular Quay & around Tumblalong Park and The Goods Line. Again, take into account Cockle Bay’s water light show. This time the line only significant peaks at The Goods Line. It seems like The Goods Line has been a target for this year’s edition particularly as the popular Fire Kitchen of Vivid Food (The Fire Kitchen is not part of the Vivid Light Walk) was relocated there after making its debut at Barangaroo Reserve in 2023.

Vivid‘s planning relies on interest from the artists. Expressions of interest (EOI) are advertised in August the year prior, closing around October. If there are less EOIs, there will be less installations – nothing Vivid Sydney can do about that. In 2023, there were 54 Light Walk installations. This year, there was 32 Light Walk installations – a decline of 40%.

And whilst the drone shows themselves was good, don’t get me started on their logistical planning…

The lack of activation in Walsh Bay & Barangaroo Reserve could have spread crowds out but given the line is so low, those areas may have looked like any ordinary night for spectators & so they turned around and headed back into Circular Quay, exacerbating the crowds waiting &/or watching the drone show.

I will point out that Vivid may have made another critical error here. Whilst last year’s drone shows were obviously extremely popular, the organisers may have only received 1 EOI for a drone show & for 3 nights only due to availability. They may then have accepted it as ‘better than no drone show’ and forgot to take into account the concept’s popularity due to the well-used EOI process. This was partly how the 2016 near-crowd crush occurred.

A counterargument to that is that the event’s director, Gill Minervini, personally creatively directed the drone show. She also creatively directed the extremely popular 2023 drone shows called Written In The Stars so she will have been well aware of their popularity & thus could have insisted on a requirement for more drone shows or none at all.

Those near-crowd crushes may have had an effect on the attendance as it occurred on the busiest day of the event. The next 2 days were expected to be the 2nd & 3rd busiest days of the event. The event’s final night was also expected to be a significant night with the final drone show but that drone show got cancelled. Whilst Circular Quay reached capacity the night after the near-crowd crushes, this might not have been enough to indicate usual attendance as we predicted a quarter of a million people to attend & Circular Quay’s capacity is around 70,000 so we can only be sure that 70,000 people attended the 2nd scheduled drone show unlike the previous night, where we are sure a quarter of a million people showed up, capacity wasn’t enforced, resulting in 94,000 affected by the near-crowd crushes.

All this has resulted in a first for Vivid Sydney – a decline in attendance & not just a small decline. It was 900,000 people less at 2.42 million. This after breaking the record last edition to 3.3 million. Whilst we speculated Vivid‘s approaching peak in 2017, the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent 2 consecutive cancellations, prolonged the time before Vivid reached its peak. Last year’s drone shows resulted in an extraordinarily high record attendance, which puts to question why organisers didn’t see how 2024’s drone shows wouldn’t be as popular.

Whilst Vivid Sydney‘s creativity is ensured, its logistics and engagement (and not just on social media) needs improving.

NSW Win State Of Origin Shield In Match For The Ages

New South Wales 2-1 Queensland (Series)

New South Wales 14-4 Queensland (Final Decider)

New South Wales (NSW) played gallantly, after a close but near-scoreless 1st half by both sides, to win the final State Of Origin decider & thus, the 2024 series.

The event begun just under 3 hours prior to kick-off, at sunset at 5:12pm, when the Story and Victoria Bridges, City Hall, the Tropical Dome & Reddacliff Place sculptures were all lit up maroon.

At 6pm, with an exhibition Queensland (QLD) RISE Academy under-15’s men’s rugby league match between North & South Brisbane. South Brisbane won 16-4.

At 7:15pm, the coin toss occurred & Queensland chose to kick-off.

The Nine Network, in their pre-match coverage, showed Brisbane’s Story Bridge lit up in maroon with match facts in front of it as well as a segment on inaugural women’s Olympic canoe slalom single’s gold medallist, Jessica Fox & her love of the NSW Blues. This segment was also broadcast, on a few minutes’ delay, inside Lang Park, the venue for Game 3 of the 2024 State Of Origin series.

At 7:30pm, the pre-match entertainment began with a light and pyrotechnic show. The State Of Origin shield was brought out by NSW & QLD rugby league juniors & their coaches before ‘The King’, former Queensland player, Wally Lewis, brought out the match ball. This all was in front of a stadium crowd of 52,457.

The New South Wales side then ran out onto the field where they met the Queensland side on the field, who ran out pass a ‘QLD’ flame sign.

The customary Welcome To Country ceremony, conducted by Ashley Ruska and performance of the National Anthem, sung by Ruva Ngwenya, then followed. A tribute & moment’s silence for David Morrow, rugby league radio commentator, who passed away today at the age of 71 concluded the pre-match ceremonies. A 10 second countdown to kick-off then started the main match.

Early in the game, Channel 9’s on-screen clock was not ticking over correctly for nearly half of the 1st half.

Anyway, to the actual sport. Despite no points being scored until the dying seconds of the 1st half, both sides played fiercely but New South Wales clearly had the upper hand the entire 1st half, with numerous close chances to score a try. With 37 seconds left on the clock, a brain fade by New South Wales player, Spencer Leniu, for tackling Queensland captain, Daly Cherry-Evans, after he clearly kicked the ball, gave Queensland the opportunity to score the first points by a penalty goal. Valentine Holmes successfully kicked the penalty goal.

Throughout the 1st half, tensions boiled over a couple of times leading to scuffles. In the 30th minute, tensions not just boiled over but erupted both on & off the field. Queensland captain, Daly-Cherry Evans & NSW 5/8th, Jerome Luai, started pushing each other’s face after the latter seemed to avoid grabbing the ball in order to target the former but the former pushed first. Queensland 2nd rower, Jeremiah Nanai, then pushed the two off the field, bringing even the bench in it – notably New South Wales’s 19th man, Haumole Olakau’atu, who was wearing a dinner suit & lock, Cameron Murray, who had recently been interchanged 4 minutes prior.

Daly Cherry-Evans was penalised for pushing Jerome Luai but the referees put into the sin bin for 10 minutes Nanai, Murray AND Olakau’atu for their melee, giving the latter the notable distinction of the 1st player in rugby league history to be sin binned without playing in the match! All 3 were in the bin until the 2nd half except for Olakau’atu, who was also banned from any post-match celebrations on-field if New South Wales won, which they eventually did.

Murray’s sin bin was from the interchange bench, so someone had to be removed off the field, which the referee gave to New South Wales’ s discretion.

At half-time, the score was 2-0 in favour of Queensland.

During half-time, a Little Origin match was held.

The 2nd half began with Queensland dominating but New South Wales quickly returned to take the crown and keep it. In the 44th minute, Queensland centre Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow blocked NSW winger, Zac Lomax, from having a fair attempt at the ball, which had just been kicked on the final tackle. NSW was awarded a penalty goal attempt, which Lomax successfully scored, making it anyone’s series once again.

The game was still fierce, tense but still with NSW keeping their return to dominance. In the 60th minute, NSW hooker, Reece Robson, wasn’t square when facing against his opposite, Harry Grant as well as clearly grabbing his face in an attempt to tackle him. The referee awarded QLD a penalty goal attempt, which Valentine Holmes successfully kicked, putting QLD back in the lead again by 2 points despite clear NSW dominance.

4 minutes later, the straw that broke the camel’s back for Queensland. New South Wales 5/8th, Jerome Luai, found a gap in QLD’s defence and stormed 35 minutes up the field before passing it to NSW Centre, Bradman Best, who, after juggling the ball, managed to run up the very edge of the field while fending off 2 Queenslanders to score the 1st try of the night – 64 minutes after kick-off – and which was also the series winning try, which was also converted. NSW now led by 4 points.

3 minutes later, NSW halfback, Mitchell Moses, made a gap in QLD’s defence 15 metres out to confirm the series win. NSW increased their lead to 10 points.

By the 78th minute, QLD were exhausted and NSW sadly, made one of the greatest matches of State Of Origin history led to a disappointing conclusion by running out the clock for the last 90 seconds. It was full-on for 78 minutes and then both teams stopped – one understandably tired but still trying their best and the other avoiding play in any meaningful form to avoid any extremely unluckiness in the final 90 seconds.

The successful conversions were kicked by Valentine Holmes for Queensland & Zac Lomax for New South Wales.

At full time, the final score for the final game was New South Wales 14-4 Queensland & the final score for the 2024 series was New South Wales 2-1 Queensland.

It was the 3rd time NSW had won a final decider at Lang Park, the last time being 19 years ago in 2005.

NSW fullback, Dylan Edwards, was Player of the Match, who was given his medal as part of the Channel 9’s broadcast rather than part of the formal series presentation. It was presented by Channel 9’s rugby league reporter & former NSW 5/8th, Allana Ferguson.

To a near-empty Lang Park, the series presentation followed on a stage in the field’s centre with James Bracey as Master Of Ceremonies & Wally ‘The King‘ Lewis, Queensland rugby league great, Peter V’landys, Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman, Bruce Hatcher, Queensland Rugby League Chairman, Paul Condon, New South Wales Rugby League Chairman and Andrew Abdo, Chief Executive Officer of the National Rugby League.

The winner of the Wally Lewis Medal, awarded to the player of the series by Wally Lewis, was then announced as Angus Crichton.

Ooo!

Ah, I like to say thank you very much to Queensland, um, great series.

Thank you to all the coaches for believing in us & giving us the chance to come up here and do something special, uh.

Thank you to my family, my beautiful partner, Chloe & thank you to my teammates.

Boys, it’s coming home! Chick-a-woo!

Angus Crichton, New South Wales rugby league player

As most of the crowd, who were Queenslanders, left in an unsportsman-like manner by not watching the series presentation, it only left New South Welshmen in attendance, thus when the QLD captain, Daly Cherry-Evans, was invited to the stage, he was greeted by one of the loudest boos he would ever hear as a Queensland rugby league player at the team’s home ground.

Yeah, look, first of all, congratulations, ahm, too good tonight fellas, um. It’s been a cracking series so well done and enjoy, uh.

Thank you to everyone whose come through, not to tonight but every single game, uhm, all 3 games had amazing fans, amazing support from both sides & thank you very much for that, um.

Last much but not least, we’ve gotta thank, uh, Bill, the staff & all of the teammates. It’s not, not our year this year boys but that’s footy. We’ll be back again so take it all in, uh.

Last but not least, thank you to the families, uh. We spend a lot of time away from home, but we know how much love & support we got from you so thank you.

Cheers guys!

Daly Cherry-Evans, Queensland captain

I just wanna start by, um, saying thanks to, thanks to Queensland. Billy, cheers, um. You’re great competitors. It was a hell of a series so thanks a lot guys, really appreciate it, um.

Secondly, I just want to, to ‘Madge’ & um, the boys over there, just it’s been, honestly, the greatest 6 weeks. Greatest 6 weeks. It’s been a hell of a ride, um (chuckles) yeah, um. It’s been really, really special so just really enjoy the night & we really, really deserve this so good on ya, boys & um, I’ve got to thank Westpac & our sponsor family so thanks for getting behind us & to all our families over there, um, appreciate everything. You’ve been along for the journey so thanks so much & uh, last but not least, uh, to the Blatchey’s Blues for following us everywhere.

Thanks heaps, guys.

Jake Trbojevic, New South Wales captain

Peter V’landys then presented the State Of Origin Shield to Jake Trbojevic, who brought the Shield to the centre of the gathering NSW team in front of the stage before lifting it up in victory as flamethrowers lit up the stage & around the sidelines. The NSW staff & the team’s families then came to join in the celebrations. That was State Of Origin 2024.

Until next year!

NSW Seal The Deal In Just Half An Hour To Take State Of Origin 2024 To A Final Decider

New South Wales 38-18 Queensland

A dominant New South Wales side scored 6 consecutive tries to achieve victory in Game 2 of State Of Origin 2024, taking the series to a final decider.

Over in Brisbane, Story and Victoria Bridges, City Hall, the Tropical Dome & Reddacliff Place sculptures were all lit up maroon from sunset at 5:03pm.

Back in Melbourne, the event begun just under 2.5 hours prior to kick-off, at 5:40pm, with an exhibition Combined All-Schools under-18’s boys’ rugby league match between Silver & Blue. Silver won 30-28.

At 7:15pm was the coin toss before at 7:30pm, the pre-match entertainment began. A light and pyrotechnic show introduced Indigenous performances before the State Of Origin Shield was brought out onto the field by NSW & QLD children. The Temper Trap then performed with their iconic song, Sweet Disposition, televised. 4-time basketball Aussie Olympian, Patty Mills, then brought out the match ball. After the spectators were encouraged to cheer out the slogans of their respective teams, the pre-match entertainment concluded with pyrotechnics for the stadium crowd of 90,084 and the multi-million sized TV audience.

The Queensland side then ran out onto the field past flame signs saying ‘QLD’ before the New South Wales side ran out onto the field through a banner past ‘NSW’ flame signs.

The customary Welcome To Country, conducted by Aunty Joy Murphy and performance of the National Anthem, sung by Sheridan Adams, then immediately preceded the main match,

Anyway, to the game. Light rain at kick-off but after 10 minutes, it led to heavy falls of 6 NSW tries, with all but 1 converted. Completed dominating the first half, with a short pause for Jerome Luai to put on a shoe that fell off, NSW’s series of converted tries began with Liam Martin finding a hole in Queensland’s defence to open the Blues’ account. From his reaction, which repeated with every NSW try scorer, NSW was pumped up. 7 minutes later, Brian To’o squeezed into the left corner to reach 12-0. In the 23rd minute, Zac Lomax reached for the heavens for a kick on the final tackle to score NSW’s 3rd try, which he didn’t convert.

In the 24th minute, NSW dragged Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow over the tryline, resulting in a shoulder injury. Whilst initially looking dislocated, he only need a brief break and some painkillers before returning to the field. However, a few minutes later, he went back off the field into the changing rooms and didn’t return.

With Jerome Luai’s shoes fitted back on, a kick through Queensland’s defence by Mitchell Moses towards the left corner in the 26th minute saw Brian To’o score his 2nd try increasing NSW’s lead to 22 points. This try, in hindsight, sealed the victory for NSW.

To cap it off, in his 1st State Of Origin match since 2021, Latrell Mitchell ran with the ball from the 10-metre mark to score another try for NSW increasing the lead to 28 points. A lapse in QLD’s wing defence on NSW’s right side saw the 1st half conclude with a 6th try for NSW scored once again by Zac Lomax, who didn’t miss the conversion this time.

At half-time, the score was 34-0 in favour of New South Wales. This was the largest lead ever in the 1st half of a State Of Origin match.

During half-time, a Little Origin match was held.

Queensland returned to form in the 2nd half but couldn’t match New South Wales’s 1st half performance. A grapple on Queensland captain, Daly Cherry-Evans, by Stephen Crichton, 9 minutes into the 2nd half saw tensions boil over with the referee giving both teams a warning of a potential sin bin, which was disregarded less than 30 seconds later (in game time), resulting in a 10-minute sin bin of 1 player for both teams. In this case, Liam Martin (NSW), the instigator, who pushed Jaydn Su’A’s head & Patrick Carrigan (QLD), the 5th Queenslander to respond to Martin but the one most in sight of the referee & the only one who had a tight grip on Martin in response.

In the 53rd minute, Queensland’s Jeremiah Nanai managed to push through the NSW defence to score Queensland’s opening try. In the 2nd half, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow surprisingly returned to the field and 5 minutes after Nanai’s try, made his return count, hammering through the NSW defence to catch a 3rd tackle kick to dive near the goalposts to decrease Queensland’s deficit to a still distant 22 points.

To remind Queensland who is still winning, New South Welshmen, Dylan Edwards, on debut, shimmied for 10 metres in the 61st minute through the Queensland defence to score what was NSW’s final try for the night. An massive hole in NSW’s wing defence appeared 6 minutes later allowing Murray Taulagi to score a final consolation try for Queensland after NSW’s record-breaking 1st half. The remaining 12 minutes were uneventful, given NSW were going to be clear winners, though both sides never gave up in attempting to add tries to their scoresheet.

The final score was New South Wales 38-18 Queensland.

All successful conversions were kicked by Valentine Holmes for Queensland & Zac Lomax for New South Wales.

At the end of the match, Channel 9 celebrated the series being levelled by showing a drone shot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge & Opera House with computer-generated blue fireworks exploding around the shot & a blue-tinted box appearing saying ‘NSW Levels The Series’ in blue.

Mitchell Moses was player of the match.

After the match, Queensland coach, Billy Slater, confirmed Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow had suffered an AC shoulder joint injury.

I think the whole dressing room in there is pretty disappointed, so it was a tough old first half, um. (loudly separates lips) It just felt like we were running uphill & we couldn’t stop the, the momentum of the game & um, you know, part of that is on us so you know, we’ll look at our game & work out what we need to adjust & what we need to go after & I think I do know is there’s another game in 3 weeks’ time.

I thought the first 8-9 minutes, it was a, (sharply inhales) a bit of a tussle & then New South Wales got a, (sharply inhales) a snowball of possession & ummm, (loudly separates lips), you know, we held them out for a few sets & and they broke & um, got a try & yeah, just sort of went downhill from there.

It’s a tough game to play. It’s a lot tougher when you’re tired so, um, like I said, it snowballed against the team & we just couldn’t stop it.

Yeah, I thought the 2nd half was quite good, um. (notably separates lips audibly) I’m not sure what the 2nd half score was but, um, I thought our actions, the way we started the 2nd half, we (sharply inhales) went after our footy a little bit more, um. We were a little bit more patient, uh. We weren’t looking for (sharply inhales) any shortcuts to, to draw back the scoreline, um, you know, so, yeah, it’s a positive in the 2nd half but um, yeah, yeah, there was too many things in that 1st half on our behalf that, you know, we didn’t do as well as we would have liked &, uhm, we all know that.

I think it was nearly 70-30 possession in that 1st half & you know, the scoreline, the scoreline reflected that so, um, any individuals’ its’ going to be hard for them so that, that’s where we are with that.

Queensland coach, Billy Slater

Yeah, I mean, uh, you know, making sure that I, um, credit the guys that have been in, you know, in the 1st campaign like you, you don’t know what could, could happen in that game obviously, um, but you know, Mitch has come in and he did what I believe he is capable of doing and I think what we all thought he was capable of doing. You know, he kicked well & I thought he’d jumped into the campaign straight up when he 1st walked in, uh. He was strong with the way he, he wanted to, uh, play the game but everyone just jumped on board and did their jobs. Um, I think all of them, & I mean, I mean not just Mitch but Dylan Edwards out the back, I thought he was excellent. He has just, just shown that he’s an Origin player and I said that from day 1 when I first picked him.

You know, Rome. He did his job but I thought, I thought someone like Payne Haas & Jake, they laid the platform so, you know, we’ll. They all just jumped in together & made sure that they played their part for the team which is something there they have spoken about as a group, you know & what they want to be able to achieve so we got to take that forward now.

New South Wales coach, Micheal Maguire

It is now all on the line in Game 3, which will be held at Brisbane’s Lang Park on Wednesday, July 17 at 8:05pm AEST & the deciding finale of an equalising 3-game Women’s State Of Origin series is on tomorrow (Thursday 27th June) at 7:45pm at North Queensland Stadium in Townsville.

Final ‘Love Is In The Air’ Drone Show At ‘Vivid Sydney’ Cancelled Due To Approaching Significant Wind Cell, Not To Be Rescheduled

UPDATED 16th of June

The final Love Is In The Air drone show at Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity has been cancelled. It will not be rescheduled due to the event ending tonight.

Drones are highly vulnerable in rain as well as wind of 28 kilometres per hour (km/h) or higher. The Bureau Of Meteorology Terrey Hills radar picked up a “significant” rain/wind “cell approaching”, which the drone show provider, the Australian Traffic Network, concluded would arrive at 9:10pm, the same time as the start of the drone show. Despite forecasts of south-westerly winds at speeds of 17km/h, the approaching cell must have contained minimum 28km/h winds. They then made the decision to cancel “to ensure the safety of the public” around 8:15pm, with Vivid Sydney announcing it at 8:43pm.

Whilst official online posts referred to “forecasted weather conditions”, screens at the event said “inclement weather”.

We’re obviously monitoring the, the weather all the way through yesterday, yesterday: late afternoon & we’ve got, you know, a team of 10 pilots who would have been full operating, full time operations running, running our drone light show so it was about 8:15 last night our Pilot In Command had to make that difficult but critical decision to cancel the final drone show last night that was scheduled for 9:10. The decision was driven by pilot experience, forecasted rains & continuous monitoring of the Bureau Of Meteorology for 2.5 hours before the planned launch. During this period, we tracked a significant weather cell approaching, expected to coincide with our flight time.

The primary reason for this decision was to ensure the safety of the public. The risk of launching drones in such conditions was too great. Flying in poor weather conditions could lead to drone malfunctions or collisions, posing significant safety hazards to the audience.

The potential for malfunction or loss of control in adverse weather conditions presented an unacceptable risk. The Pilot In Command made his best judgement call for the safety & protection of everyone involved.

We fully understand the disappointment this has caused but the wellbeing of the audience & adherence to safety standards must always come first. We are grateful for the opportunity to be part of Vivid Sydney 2024.

We had 2 amazing drone shows last weekend. We’re as disappointed as everybody else but I’m, I’m, I’m, um, I’m happy that I’m talking at this point at not launching them and having a malfunction.


Vic Lorusso, Australian Traffic Network Chief Executive Officer

Sydney Spectaculars saw the Bureau Of Meteorology rain radar last night & while there was a significant band of rain off the coast, which is likely the cell the Australian Traffic Network saw, the speed at which it was travelling, in our opinion, would not have allowed it to reach Circular Quay by the scheduled end time of the drone show, which might explain why a lot of spectators thought the cancellation was odd in, to them, otherwise fine conditions: The speed of the approaching rain/wind band may have been overestimated by Australian Traffic Network. The 27-minute delay in communication from the Pilot in Command to Vivid Sydney event management to the general public also did not help.

Other than the fact it was the event’s final night, it was not postponed to a later hour as Circular Quay needed to re-open to marine traffic.

Whilst crowds were anticipated to be a third down on last Saturday & Circular Quay has a capacity of around 70,000, 167,000 people were probably affected by tonight’s cancellation.

Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, the Vivid Sydney drone show will not proceed this evening. The show will not be rescheduled, as tonight marks the conclusion of Vivid Sydney 2024. We apologise for the inconvenience & thank you for understanding. Please be patient when exiting.

We’re very disappointed that our final drone show was cancelled. Drone operation is very sensitive & the shows are weather dependent. Public safety is paramount & ‘Vivid Sydney’ follows the direction and advice of the specialist operators of the drones. 

Vivid Sydney

In response to a question put by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to Vivid Sydney at 6:30pm about whether the drone show would proceed, organisers said:

We’re all set.

Vivid Sydney

The Love Is In The Air drone show was controversially scheduled for only 3 drone shows despite 7 highly popular drone shows featuring in last year’s edition of Vivid Sydney. The 1st drone show this year was marred by 2 near-crowd crushes around Circular Quay affecting around 94,000 people out of a crowd of a quarter of a million people. Now, the 3rd show has been cancelled, resulting in only 2 drone shows being held this year in a 23-night event.

Drone shows are very hard to book & there is a shortage of barges currently in New South Wales. Therefore, the limited number of drone shows might have been due to the availability of both drone shows & barges to host them from.

The next day (Sunday 16th of June), the New South Wales (NSW) Premier, Chris Minns, acknowledged that families and children would have been disappointed but said the late notice by Vivid Sydney had nothing to do with “inconveniencing” people:

I am really sorry about last night. A lot of families & a lot of kids were looking forward to it so it’s deeply regrettable & I’m sincerely sorry for it. Uh, the decision was made by the, the drone operator & it was completely weather dependent. They made the call as late as possible not to inconvenience families but to actually see whether they could go ahead with the program in any event. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.

I know families are doing it really tough at the moment & the free entertainment that comes about as a result of Vivid & the drone show is welcome because it means you can take your kids and family out & it doesn’t cost anything to see it.

We are determined to see more of that in Sydney particularly over the next 12 months. This one didn’t go ahead but there will be many more opportunities in the months & years ahead.

Chris Minns, NSW Premier

He then spoke on last Saturday’s near-crowd crushes:

Last Saturday’s crowd was not good. Mistakes were made. I think there was an under-appreciation of how many people would go out there.

To give the organisers credit, they did a major walkthrough the next morning. No one tried to, I guess sort of, um, sweep it under the rug. They did a huge walkthrough with Police, emergency services & Vivid organisers. As a result of that, there were more road closures.

We are a major city. We should be able to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people even close to a million people on our foreshores. We have done that for the fireworks.

Our job is to communicate for the best way for people to have fun & enjoy it. I am confident that we have learnt the lessons notwithstanding the fact that last Saturday wasn’t great.

Chris Minns, NSW Premier

Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity‘ Director spoke on both topics:

You know, over 2 million people from Sydney & around the world came, uh, to what is the biggest event in Australia & you know, it was fantastic.

I can’t lie it’s, its, you know, a show about love & I was heartbroken.

We will be reviewing all of our plans in, including drone plans &, & crowd management.

Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity‘ Director

Lightning & High Chance Of Showers Cancels Vivid At The Goods Line Tonight, 2 ‘Light Walk’ Installations With 2 Others With Limited Access & Another Non-Interactive

UPDATED 15th of June

Due to a forecast of a high chance of showers, Vivid Sydney in The Goods Line is cancelled tonight along with 2 Vivid Light Walk installations, Neolithic & Horizon. The Vivid Light Walk installation, Embrace, is also in non-interactive mode. Nest & Portal are also with limited access.

Due to continued bad weather, including lightning being detected within the radius of Sydney’s CBD, please be aware of the following changes to the Vivid Light Walk tonight:
🔥 𝗩𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗻 and all other displays at #TheGoodsLine are closed for tonight
✨𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗻 in #Barangaroo will not be open tonight
✨𝗡𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰 in #TumbalongPark will not be open tonight
✨𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 in #CircularQuay is in non-interactive mode
Access to ✨ 𝗡𝗲𝘀𝘁 and ✨ 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹 in #Barangaroo is limited for the remainder of the evening due to wet weather impacts.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you are visiting #vividsydney this evening, please keep a close eye on our social channels & digital screens for further information/updates & please take care when traveling.

Vivid Sydney

High chance of showers forecast for tomorrow, but they are forecast to ease & be less likely during the evening. Tomorrow is also the last day of Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity.

NSW Premier On ‘Vivid Sydney’ Drone Show Crowd Management: “We Need To Do Better”

New South Wales (NSW) Premier, Chris Minns says the NSW Government needs to do better at crowd management at Vivid Sydney‘s Love Is In The Air drone show, where 2 crowd crushes affecting around 17,000 people around Circular Quay occurred on Saturday night.

Speaking on Today this morning (Monday 10th of June), the NSW Premier said he believed the crowd size could be attributed in part to the cost-of-living crisis and the draw of a large-scale free event & said the resulting crowd crush criticism was “fair”:

Not good & not enough. We need to do better. We didn’t anticipate the crowds on that night. What I can say is that the organisers, the NSW Police worked quickly to learn from the mistakes of the night before. They did a major walkthrough with all the agencies, Destination NSW as well as NSW Police.

Some street closures were brought in earlier in the day. Some of the crowd barricades were moved to different sections & the following night worked better.

I’m grateful that we learned from the mistakes of the night before but I want to see families out enjoying Sydney. I know people are doing it tough at the moment. When you’ve got free entertainment & this is an opportunity to get with your families to spend time together, you’re going to take it up & enjoy something that doesn’t cost any money. We’ve got to make sure it’s a safe night out. Get out there and enjoy it.

Chris Minns, New South Wales Premier

Vivid Sydney & NSW Government agencies undertook the major walk-through on Sunday morning according to news.com.au.

Last night, the 2nd of the 3 drone shows occurred but thankfully, capacity limits were enforced this time & no incidents occurred. The final Love Is In The Air drone show is on at 9:10pm, Saturday the 15th of June, which is also the final night of Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity. Crowds are expected to be significant but two-thirds the size of last weekend’s drone shows’ crowds.

Circular Quay & The Rocks Reach Capacity 42 Minutes Before ‘Love Is In The Air’ Vivid Drone Show

As of 8:38pm, Circular Quay & The Rocks have reached capacity at Vivid Sydney.

Sydney Spectaculars forewarned on Friday crowds of up to a quarter of a million people are expected to descend onto Circular Quay, which can only handle 70,000, for the drone show.

Yesterday, Circular Quay was at capacity at 8:40pm, 2 minutes later than tonight. 2 crowd crushes then occurred around Circular Quay after the drone show, 1 in The Rocks forming before the drone show even started.

Vantage points for the Vivid Sydney drone show have reached capacity. Please avoid Circular Quay and The Rocks. Other Vivid Sydney locations are operating at Barangaroo, Darling Harbour and The Goods Line.

Vivid Sydney

94,000-Person Near-Crowd Crushes Occur At Vivid Sydney Drone Show, Worst Since 2016, Crowds Of 250,000 Were “Larger Than Expected” To NSW Police

UPDATED 14th of June 2024

Vivid Sydney‘s Love Is In The Air drone show resulted in 2 near-crowd crushes, 1 behind the Overseas Passenger Terminal in The Rocks & 1 at the intersection of Albert & Phillip Streets. The Rocks near-crowd crush occurred before the show had even started.

The Rocks near-crowd crush was the worst near-crowd crush since, though slightly not as bad as the one that occurred at the Moore Steps in 2016. It was 5 times larger in size but less serious in terms of medical incidents, of which there were none.

The scientific definition of a crowd crush is when crowd density reaches 9 to 10 people per square metre & this number is sustained for a significant amount of time but a density of 6-7 people per square metre is when people become uncomfortable & the situation becomes dangerous. When Circular Quay’s capacity of 70,000 for Vivid‘s drone shows are reached, the density should be about 1-2 people per square metre.

1 woman told The Daily Mail that Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity staff were failing to direct the crowd out of the chaos:

We waited 1 hour standing to see 10 mediocre drone formations & a bunch of ads & took us 30 minutes to just leave the spot.

We had to get on top of the grass bedding to avoid the crowded part. It’s half a metre high but we have kid & elderly.

In the crowd there are baby less than a year old crying. Even as an adult. I felt pushed around. Very, very badly organised. Don’t recommend.

Vivid Sydney attendee

Sydney Spectaculars believes 94,000 people were caught in it. Both near-crowd crushes lasted until 9:50pm – half an hour after the drone show concluded.

I felt like I was going to die. It was terrifying. All it would have taken was just 1 person pushing too hard or for someone to fall over for the situation to have catastrophic consequences. There was no form of crowd control. It was shocking & clearly poorly managed.

People were barging through the eating areas to try to find their way out of the crowd. 1 of the women sitting down to eat said people who came to the restaurant were leaving because so many people were in the alfresco area. 

It’s sad that businesses were losing money when ‘Vivid’ is designed to bring business to the CBD (central business district). We decided to keep pushing through the crowd until we were at a laneway & were able to bail out & then we went home.

Vivid Sydney Attendee
‘Love Is In The Air’ drone show near-crowd crush on Argyle Street looking west from West Circular Quay (Photograph: The Daily Mail)

After the drone show, New South Wales (NSW) Police reportedly weren’t told anything & according to Today, the riot squad had to remove metal barriers to let the crowd leave the area from all directions. According to 9News, the mounted unit had to be called in.

Red – Near-crowd crush Locations, Purple – Drone Show Location

Absolutely dangerous scenes at Vivid festival. After the 9:10pm drone show finished, there was a crowd crush starting to happen by the overseas passenger terminal. Police had to step in to remove barriers because of how serious it was.

People management very poor. For example people flowing into dead ends like the food trucks near the passenger terminal entrance and had to turn back.

Last year, the extraordinary crowds for the Written In The Stars drone show created a ‘traffic jam’ from the Circular Quay railway station/ferry wharves after the show due to 98% of people trying to immediately go home. Last night, trains were still at capacity as late as 11pm – when the lights of Vivid go off each night, most likely as a result of the crowds which were anticipated to be 4 times as large as last year.

Australian Associated Press reporter Scott Bailey said people were squeezed in like cattle with no security or event staff to be seen:

Was as if organisers didn’t account for anywhere near the crowd they got.

Scott Bailey, Australian Associated Press Reporter

Saw lots of groups with small kids and prams pretty much stuck in the crowd, moving very, very slowly.

Nick McLaren, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Journalist

At 8:40pm, Vivid Sydney issued an announcement on their website telling attendees to “avoid” Circular Quay.

We were there part of this crowd & it’s very scary. We were pushed from side to side by the crowd. Many kids were crying & parents pushing prams didn’t know where to go. We heard the police saying they were not told anything. 1 mother was crying she lost 2 of her children. It was a total disaster. No proper coordination. They closed lots of areas which was a problem, so difficult to exit.

Vivid Sydney attendee (‘CitrusHoneyComte‘ Daily Mail commentator)

The Love Is In The Air drone show is on again tonight (Sunday 9th June 2024) and next Saturday – the final night of Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity, both at 9:10pm. Attendance is expected to be just as crowded tonight for the drone show.

Victor Dominello attended Saturday’s drone show and told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that crowd control was “non-existent from what I saw”.

It was human sardines. These are New Year’s Eve crowds but on steroids. No-one anticipated how many people would be on the foreshore

Victor Dominello, MyGov Advisory Group Chairperson

Vivid Sydney attendee, Anthony Warren, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, “something bad” was going to happen as people tried to leave the area saying he could not see any crowd control people:

Looking at the crowd, you could see it was all families and people with prams, and they were packed together like sardines. It could have gotten so much worse very quickly, if someone started running or shouted ‘fire’. They had nowhere to go.

People didn’t know where to go and started to crush. People with babies, prams, elderly people — I noticed some were quite distressed. It was quite confronting to see.

People looked a bit panicked but were trying to keep their cool.

People just could not get out – there were people stuck there for over an hour, just standing & I noticed some of the barricades were being disassembled, which eventually eased the crush.

Anthony Warren

Another attendee wrote that she was sorry she went to the event:

A huge crush saved by a random opening a barrier. Bloody lucky no one panicked. The worst crowd control. No coordination, direction & clearly untrained crowd management staff…

Vivid Sydney attendee

Sydney Spectaculars anticipated this would happen since the drone show was announced in late April, publishing on Friday an article on the drone show stating:

Whilst we cannot be 100% sure when predicting crowd numbers, Sydney Spectaculars is expecting 194,000 people to attend per long weekend drone show in 2024, about a 270% increase on last year, due to the limited number of drone shows. Circular Quay cannot handle this amount of people at once. As implied earlier, Circular Quay’s capacity for a drone show is around 70,000 people. To have nearly 3 times that amount is dangerous, especially with a Harbour on 1 side. People falling into the water, crowd crushes & impatience leading to violence is all very possible if this situation plays out.

The full cancellation of most of Vivid Light on the just recent Saturday didn’t help. That meant about 174,000 people missed out their night and may return, most likely, on the drone show nights. That would add an extra 58,000 people per drone show to the numbers above. In other words, 252,000 people per drone show – nearly 4 times the amount of the average drone show audience of last year.

Sydney Spectaculars

Our article was only published on Friday, a day prior to the 1st drone show, for 3 reasons:

  • Sydney Spectaculars is currently working on a major project, resulting in less time to write.
  • Vivid Sydney should have learnt the lesson from 2016 plus they have issued capacity limits in the past.
  • To avoid extra publicity of the drone show, adding to the predicted crowds.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared in my life. Everyone pushing from all sides with no escape.

Josh Rogers (as reported by news.com.au)

Our predicted quarter of a million people attending did occur as 7 News reported that 500,000 extra trips on public transport were made. If there was 1 trip to the drone show and 1 back home, that would equal to a quarter of a million people.

Staff described the events last night as like New Year’s Eve

Howard Collins, Transport For NSW

Vivid Sydney slowly realised the chaos about to ensure. They did deliberately hold off their drone show announcement by 3-4 weeks after the main media launch, most likely to avoid the publicity but last week, they announced the Facebook LIVE live stream would be screened near the stage in Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour & on the day of the 1st drone show they announced that Macquarie Street between the Sydney Opera House & the State Library Of NSW will be closed to traffic between 8:35pm & 9:20pm due to the Love Is In The Air drone show.

Unlike previous years, we believe Vivid Sydney did not enforce capacity limits last night. Instead they just encouraged people to “avoid” Circular Quay. If you are planning to attend, arrive before 8:40pm – that’s 40 minutes before the drone show starts. Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity Director, Gill Minervini, says capacity limits will be enforced tonight.

According to ABC News, Vivid Sydney & NSW Police met this afternoon (Sunday 9th of June).

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said this morning said that extra police would be on duty tonight for the 2nd drone show. As we’ve said before, more police just takes up more space. Mr Park also advised people not to go to the foreshore unless it was necessary:

It’s an incredibly popular event. It’s a long weekend. It’s good weather at the moment, people are out and about. Police advise that there was a lot of people there, a lot more than expected. They’re not saying anyone was injured or there was any serious incidents. The crowd was able to disperse, uh, very quickly.

We’re saying to people that if you can see the city, you’ll be able to see the light show. You don’t have to be right down there at the foreshore.

NSW Health Minister, Ryan Park

In regards to the drone show, the drone show only faces the southern side of Circular Quay so if you’re on the northern side while you can see the city & the drones, you will see a back to front drone show. The only view of the drone show is on the southern side of Circular Quay and from The Rocks, both places where you can see the city. However, for Vivid Light in general, the main walk is the 8km foreshore walk from Central Railway Station, via Barangaroo, to the Sydney Opera House. For Vivid Light in general, you do not need to be at Circular Quay as the NSW Health Minister states. NSW Police will also tonight more move barriers if needed to, according to 7News.

It’s slow & it’s busy but we will ensure your safety if you listen to what’s said.

NSW Police Detective Superintendent, Jodi Radmore

Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity Director, Gill Minervini, said that all agencies working at the event, including NSW Police, Ambulance & Transport For NSW, had vast experience in managing big crowds & were prepared. She said more police officers were sent to the near-crowd crushes when they occurred. She also urged people to exercise “patience, kindness and tolerance” at future drone shows:

The crowd did move safely through the festival. Yes, it was very busy but like when you go to a football game or a concert, it was a very big crowd, all moving out at once. Of course, we’re always reviewing our plans & have continued to do so today, as we do every day with this event. Police will have a lot of officers on site. We will be closing some of the areas earlier when they’re full & a variety of other operational things are in place for tonight so yes, we’re hoping that it will be a smooth & enjoyable experience for everyone.

It will be slow. If you need to stop & have a rest, stop and have a rest but we just ask for people to bring their understanding & their patience to see this fabulous drone show in the best harbour in the world. Some people weren’t comfortable in the crowds but we just, um, ask people to be very understanding to one another. Be very kind to one another.

Not all people felt afraid for their safety & of course, we’ve acknowledged that some people felt uncomfortable in the crowd but the crowd did move safely through the egress through the festival.

Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity‘ Director

Vivid Sydney organisers work with government partners & agencies to plan & deliver a successful & safe event including to manage the crowds that turned out to see last night’s drone show.

Event and security personnel monitor crowd flow & implement scalable measures to manage crowd flow at various points if required, particularly on the busy nights and peak periods.

This includes advising visitors that certain areas have reached capacity and adjusting infrastructure to support crowd flow

We understand that a large number of people leaving a major event at the same time can be slow & challenging and are grateful to the public for their patience and cooperation.

We encourage our festival attendees to plan for their Vivid Sydney visit & stay up to date including via our social media channels and the digital signage around the footprint.

Vivid Sydney spokesperson

At the conclusion of yesterday’s drone show (Saturday 8 June 2024), officers working for ‘Operation Vivid’ 2024 assisted the large crowd in leaving Circular Quay.

Larger than expected attendees resulted in pedestrian traffic congestion, particularly in and around the transport hubs; however, the crowds dispersed after a short period and there were no injuries or incidents reported.

NSW Police continue to conduct a highly visible and coordinated policing response to this year’s ‘Vivid’ event.

NSW Police

On the King’s Birthday public holiday, NSW Premier, Chris Minns, spoke on national television saying the NSW Government’s crowd management of Vivid Sydney needs to be better.

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Vivid Attendees Told To Avoid Circular Quay 40 Minutes Before Drone Show

As of 8:40pm, Vivid Sydney is telling attendees of Vivid Sydney tonight, particularly of the Love Is In The Air drone show at 9:10pm, to avoid Circular Quay.

Sydney Spectaculars forewarned yesterday crowds of up to a quarter of a million people are expected to descend onto Circular Quay, which can only handle 70,000, for the drone show.

Earlier tonight, Vivid Sydney announced Macquarie Street between the Sydney Opera House & the State Library Of New South Wales will be closed to traffic between 8:35pm & 9:20pm due to the Love Is In The Air drone show.

We are experiencing large crowds for the Vivid Sydney drone show this evening. Please avoid Circular Quay. The show will also be live streamed near the stage at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour.

Vivid Sydney