49 Fun Facts About Australia Day

The name 'Australia Day' was first used on 30 July 1915 for a day raising funds for whom?

Wounded soldiers were the cause: Ellen Wharton Kirke, a mother of four servicemen, proposed the fundraising day, and the patriotic name only migrated to 26 January later.

Which governor marked the colony's thirtieth year in 1818 with a public holiday and a thirty-gun salute?

Lachlan Macquarie ordered the first official celebration of 26 January, with thirty guns at Dawes Point counting out the colony's years, a salute his successors kept up.

Which protest began on 26 January 1972 as four men under a beach umbrella outside Parliament House?

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy began when four young activists planted a beach umbrella on the Parliament House lawn to protest the McMahon government's stance on land rights, and tents soon replaced it.

Which radio station moved its annual music countdown off Australia Day from 2018 after polling its listeners?

Triple J moved the Hottest 100 after 60 per cent of listeners in its 2017 survey backed a change, shifting the countdown to the fourth weekend of January.

Which singer was hastily naturalised just before accepting the 1987 Australian of the Year award?

John Farnham had lived in Australia since boyhood, yet it emerged just before the presentation that the English-born singer had never been naturalised, so he was sworn in almost overnight.

What did protester David Kang fire at Prince Charles during an Australia Day speech in Sydney?

A starting pistol loaded with blanks was fired twice at Darling Harbour before Kang was pinned down; Ian Kiernan, that year's Australian of the Year, said he 'got a good headlock on him'.

Which 1978 Australian of the Year, who bankrolled America's Cup bids, was later jailed for fraud?

Alan Bond shared the 1978 award with land-rights leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu, then presided over what was then Australia's biggest corporate collapse and served four years in prison.

Protesters who march on 26 January commonly call Australia Day by which name?

Invasion Day was how protesters styled the Bicentenary in 1988, when more than 40,000 people marched through Sydney while tall ships filled the harbour.

Why did Arthur Phillip abandon Botany Bay for Port Jackson within days of the First Fleet's arrival?

Shallow water, scarce fresh water and poor soil ruled out Botany Bay, so Phillip took boats north and found Port Jackson, which he called 'the finest harbour in the world'.

Which supermarket dropped Australia Day merchandise in 2024, prompting Peter Dutton to urge a boycott?

Woolworths and sister chain Big W cited a 'gradual decline in community demand', and Dutton told 2GB listeners to take their business elsewhere.

Which country's Republic Day falls on 26 January, the same date as Australia Day?

India's Republic Day marks its constitution coming into force on 26 January 1950, so two former British possessions hold national days on the same date for unrelated reasons.

From which English city did the First Fleet sail on 13 May 1787, bound for Botany Bay?

Portsmouth saw eleven ships leave on a voyage of more than 24,000 kilometres, and some 250 days later all eleven reached Botany Bay without a single vessel lost.

Which French explorer's two ships sailed into Botany Bay six days after the First Fleet arrived there?

La Pérouse's Astrolabe and Boussole had expected a thriving colony where they could repair and restock, not a newly arrived convict fleet even worse provisioned than themselves.

Which armed tender reached Botany Bay on 18 January 1788, two days before the First Fleet's flagship?

Supply led a 'flying squadron' of the fastest ships that was meant to prepare the site, but the first transports arrived the next day, so no groundwork was possible.

What formally happened at Sydney Cove on 7 February 1788?

The colony was proclaimed that day, along with Phillip's governorship, so 26 January marks the flag-raising and not the legal founding of New South Wales.

About how many people died on the First Fleet's eight-month voyage, which carried more than 1,400?

About 50: surgeon John White counted 48 deaths, a rate of roughly three per cent, whereas the Second Fleet in 1790 lost a quarter of its convicts at sea.

In which South American port did the First Fleet spend a month in 1787 taking on food and water?

Rio de Janeiro was a port Phillip knew from his years as a captain in the Portuguese Navy, and the fleet stayed a month from 5 August while ships were repaired and he bought large quantities of food.

The First Fleet flagship HMS Sirius was wrecked on a reef in 1790 at which second penal colony?

Norfolk Island, settled for its flax and timber, claimed Sirius on a reef on 19 March 1790 while she was landing stores, leaving the colony a single naval vessel.

What name did Aboriginal leaders give the protest meeting they held in Sydney on 26 January 1938?

The Day of Mourning was organised by Jack Patten and William Ferguson's Aborigines Progressive Association, whose members marched to Australian Hall and days later put their demands to Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.

Which alternative name for 26 January is shared by a Sydney concert first staged in 1992?

Survival Day was also the name of the concert, first held at La Perouse to celebrate the fact that Indigenous people and culture have survived despite colonisation and discrimination.

Which festival, 'music to a beat' in Gadigal language, fills Sydney's Victoria Park on 26 January?

Yabun has run since 2003, Aboriginal-owned and led through Redfern's Gadigal Information Service, as the successor to protest concerts held on the date in the 1990s.

Which band topped the first two Hottest 100 polls, in 1989 and 1990, with a song released in 1980?

Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' won both times because the poll was then an all-time list; it was rested in 1992 and relaunched as an annual countdown the next year.

Which Victorian society first promoted 26 January as a common holiday outside NSW?

The Australian Natives' Association, a society of Australian-born white men, dubbed it ANA Day and lobbied until Victoria adopted 26 January as Australia Day in 1931, with every state following by 1935.

Which colonial capital alone withheld a full public holiday for the 1888 centenary of the First Fleet's landing?

Adelaide observed the day only partly, with a thanksgiving service, cycling races and evening fireworks, while every other capital took a full public holiday.

When every state marked 26 January as Australia Day by 1935, which older name did New South Wales keep?

Anniversary Day stayed the New South Wales name until 1946, when the Commonwealth and the states agreed to unify their celebrations under the single title Australia Day.

After the 1946 agreement to unify celebrations, on which day was the public holiday actually taken?

The nearest Monday gave a long weekend, an arrangement that lasted until 1994, when every state and territory fixed the holiday on the date itself.

Which objection was raised to re-enacting the First Fleet's voyage for the 1988 Bicentenary?

It might offend Indigenous Australians, critics said, and the federal government refused further funding, so a Sydney radio appeal raised the money that kept the ships sailing.

Which Sydney Swans champion was named 2014 Australian of the Year for his stand against racism?

Adam Goodes won Brownlow Medals in 2003 and 2006, and his outspokenness on race made him the target of a sustained booing campaign that became a national debate.

Where did activist Burnum Burnum plant the Aboriginal flag on 26 January 1988 to 'claim' England?

The white cliffs of Dover were his stage for a satirical declaration of possession, mirroring what Arthur Phillip had done at Sydney Cove two centuries before.

Which festival's Sydney organisers asked patrons not to bring Australian flags in January 2007?

Big Day Out's organisers feared a repeat of the 2005 Cronulla riots, where rioters had draped themselves in the flag, but Prime Minister John Howard condemned the request as pushing their politics on young fans.

From 2020, what did the Morrison government require local councils to hold on Australia Day?

Citizenship ceremonies became compulsory for councils on 26 January under a 2019 change to the national code, on the date in 1949 when Australians, until then only British subjects, first became Australian citizens.

Which Melbourne council scrapped its Australia Day events in 2017, earning Malcolm Turnbull's rebuke?

The City of Yarra voted unanimously to stop calling 26 January Australia Day and to hold an event acknowledging Aboriginal culture instead, and the City of Darebin soon followed suit.

Which prime minister made Prince Philip a Knight of the Order of Australia on Australia Day 2015?

Tony Abbott had reinstated knights and dames only the year before and called the award a 'captain's call'; the titles were dropped from the Order again later in 2015.

Besides Australia Day, which public holiday brings the other main Order of Australia honours list each year?

The King's Birthday list appears on a June public holiday that ignores the calendar, since Charles III was actually born in November.

What has been the highest level of the Order of Australia since 2015?

Companion (AC) sits above Officer, Member and the Medal; knights and dames outranked it only from 1976 to 1986 and again in 2014 and 2015, before the grade was abolished a second time.

Which nurse and later ATSIC chair was the first Aboriginal woman admitted to the Order of Australia?

Lowitja O'Donoghue was at first refused nurse training at the Royal Adelaide Hospital because she was Aboriginal, and took her fight to South Australia's premier before she was admitted in 1954.

Which ex-AFL player's deadpan 'un-Australian' rants sold lamb for Australia Day from 2005 to 2014?

Sam Kekovich's first ad for Meat and Livestock Australia cast vegetarians as un-Australian and drew protests from vegetarian groups, yet he was back with a second rant the next January.

Which New Zealand-born eye surgeon, a restorer of sight to the poor, was 1990 Australian of the Year?

Fred Hollows raised funds for factories in Eritrea and Nepal to make cataract lenses at a fraction of Western prices, though both opened only after his death in 1993.

Which city's Skyworks, first held in 1985, was for years the largest single event staged on Australia Day?

Perth staged Skyworks over the Swan River every year until 2022, skipping only 2017 after a plane crashed on the river and 2021 for the pandemic.

Which Australia Day event sends four Sydney ferries racing each other across the harbour?

Ferrython pits four ferries bow-to-bow across the harbour, each dressed up in colours, streamers and flags for the dash to the finish line.

Which Nobel-winning immunologist was named the inaugural Australian of the Year in 1960?

Macfarlane Burnet shared the 1960 Nobel Prize for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance, the finding that opened the way to human organ transplants.

Which boxer became the first Indigenous Australian to be named Australian of the Year, in 1968?

Lionel Rose had gone to Tokyo that February and beaten Fighting Harada for the world bantamweight title, the first world title won by an Indigenous Australian.

Which sailor, first woman to circle the globe alone and non-stop, was 1988 Australian of the Year?

Kay Cottee spent 189 days alone aboard Blackmores First Lady and used the voyage to raise more than $1 million for the Reverend Ted Noffs' Life Education centres.

Which former Essendon footballer, co-founder of the FightMND charity, was 2025 Australian of the Year?

Neale Daniher was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2013, and since 2015 Melbourne and Collingwood's annual holiday match has doubled as FightMND's Big Freeze fundraiser.

Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer shared 2024 Australian of the Year for research into which cancer?

Melanoma Institute Australia's co-directors won jointly after Long adapted their melanoma breakthroughs into a world-first treatment for Scolyer's own brain tumour.

Which quad wheelchair tennis champion, holder of a 2021 Golden Slam, was 2022 Australian of the Year?

Dylan Alcott won all four majors and Paralympic gold in 2021, and had already announced that the 2022 Australian Open, played the week he took the award, would be his last tournament.

Which Tasmanian 'Let Her Speak' campaigner and sexual assault survivor was 2021 Australian of the Year?

Grace Tame's campaign won her leave from Tasmania's Supreme Court to tell her story in 2019 and changed state law in 2020 so adult survivors could speak publicly.

Which family violence campaigner, whose son Luke was murdered, was 2015 Australian of the Year?

Rosie Batty began campaigning within days of Luke's killing by his father at cricket practice in Tyabb, and later gave evidence to Victoria's Royal Commission into Family Violence.

Richard Harris and Craig Challen shared 2019 Australian of the Year for a cave rescue in which country?

Thailand's Tham Luang cave trapped twelve junior footballers and their assistant coach, and Harris, an anaesthetist, sedated each boy so that divers could carry him out through the flooded passages.