Australia’s year is framed by two very different nights — the dawn services of Anzac Day, when crowds gather at dawn at war memorials across the country, and New Year’s Eve, when fireworks pour off the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Photo: Linh_rOm, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Australia’s two entries in this atlas are Anzac Day on 25 April, the national day of remembrance that began with the landing at Gallipoli in 1915 and is marked with dawn services and marches in cities and towns across the country, and New Year’s Eve in Sydney, one of the first major cities to celebrate the New Year, where more than a million people gather around the harbour for the fireworks.
Sydney New Year's Eve
As one of the first big cities to reach midnight, Sydney sends fireworks off the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and barges across the harbour, watched by an estimated 1.5 million people — after an evening that opens with a smoking ceremony and a Welcome to Country.
December 31, 2026Calculated
On 25 April Australians gather at war memorials in the half-light before dawn — the hour of the Gallipoli landing in 1915 — for the Last Post and a silence, before veterans march through the cities and old comrades meet over a game of two-up.
April 25, 2027Calculated