50 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.

In 1818 Governor Macquarie gave government workers a holiday and an extra ration of what?

Fresh meat, one pound per worker, came with a 30-gun salute at Dawes Point, one gun for each year of the colony, beginning a tradition later governors kept.

What sheltered the Aboriginal Tent Embassy when it was first set up outside Parliament House in 1972?

A beach umbrella was the original shelter, planted against the McMahon government's land-rights stance; the embassy is now the world's longest continuous Indigenous land-rights protest.

In which year did Triple J first count down the Hottest 100 on 27 January rather than Australia Day?

2018 was the first countdown off the date: after 64,990 listeners were surveyed and 60% backed a move, the 2017 poll was announced on the fourth Saturday of January.

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

John Farnham, born in England, was named 1987 Australian of the Year in the Bicentennial year before he had been naturalised, so a swearing-in was organised first.

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; Australian of the Year Ian Kiernan and NSW Premier John Fahey wrestled Kang to the stage floor at Darling Harbour.

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 Australia's biggest corporate collapse and served four years in prison.

In which year did the 1948 Act creating a distinct Australian nationality take effect, on 26 January?

1949 is the year: until then Australians were legally British subjects, and the Act was timed to start on the national day.

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 made Botany Bay useless for anchoring close to shore, while Port Jackson 12 km north had sheltered deep water.

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.

In which year was the holiday first fixed on 26 January in every state, whatever the weekday?

1994 was the first year the date was fixed everywhere, ending the practice in some states of taking a Friday in late January for a long weekend.

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

Portsmouth was the departure point for a voyage of more than 24,000 kilometres and 250 days, with stops in the Canaries, South America and southern Africa.

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?

HMS Supply led a 'flying squadron' of the fastest ships meant to prepare the site, but it arrived only hours ahead of the rest, so no groundwork was possible.

On which date in 1788 was the Colony of New South Wales formally proclaimed, not the landing date?

7 February is when the proclamation of the colony and of Arthur Phillip's governorship were read out, so 26 January actually marks the flag-raising, not the legal founding.

How many deaths did First Fleet surgeon John White record during the eight-month voyage from England?

48 deaths against 28 births was White's tally; 36 of the dead were male convicts, a low toll for a 250-day passage carrying more than 1,400 people.

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

Rio de Janeiro hosted the fleet from 5 August; the women convicts' lice-infested clothing was dealt with there and Phillip ordered 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.

Which group led by Jack Patten and William Ferguson organised the 1938 Day of Mourning in Sydney?

The Aborigines Progressive Association marched from Sydney Town Hall to the Australian Hall 150 years after the landing, then met Prime Minister Joseph Lyons to press its demands.

In which year was the first Survival Day concert staged in Sydney as a counter-event to 26 January?

1992 saw the first Survival Day concert, celebrating that Indigenous people and culture had survived despite colonisation and discrimination, and the name has since spread nationally.

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

Yabun is Australia's largest annual one-day festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, a continuation of the Survival Day events of the 1990s.

Which band's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' topped the first two Hottest 100 polls, in 1989 and 1990?

Joy Division won when the poll was an all-time list voted by post; it only became an annual best-of-the-year countdown in 1993.

Which Victorian society of native-born white men first promoted 26 January as a national day outside NSW?

The Australian Natives' Association 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 sat out the 1888 centenary celebrations of the First Fleet's landing?

Adelaide was the exception; contested views of the day have been recorded since at least that 1888 centenary, when every other capital celebrated.

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

Anniversary Day remained the NSW name until the 1946 agreement unified celebrations under one title; competition with Anzac Day had slowed the idea of a single national 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 every state fixed the holiday on the date itself.

Why did the Hawke government refuse to fund the First Fleet re-enactment for the 1988 Bicentenary?

It might offend Indigenous Australians, the government believed, so Sydney radio 2GB raised the money while Canberra funded a rival parade of tall ships into the harbour.

Which Sydney Swans dual Brownlow medallist was named 2014 Australian of the Year?

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 request was widely defied, with crowds arriving in flag apparel and Jet playing before a giant black-and-white flag cut-out of their name.

Australia Day is now the single largest occasion each year for which civic milestone?

Citizenship ceremonies peak on the day; from 2019 councils were required to hold one on 26 January, a rule relaxed in 2022 to allow three days either side.

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

The City of Yarra planned a 'culturally sensitive' event marking the loss of Indigenous culture instead, and the City of Darebin soon followed suit.

Whose Australia Day 2015 knighthood for Prince Philip was met with ridicule and 72% poll disapproval?

Tony Abbott had reinstated knights and dames only the year before, and a ReachTEL poll found just 12% of Australians in favour of the award.

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

The King's Birthday holiday in June carries the second list; since the Order began in 1975, just over 30 per cent of its recipients have been women.

What is the highest level of the Order of Australia now appointed in the Australia Day honours?

Companion (AC) is Australia's highest civilian honour, above Officer, Member and the Medal; the Governor-General serves as the Order's Chancellor and Principal Companion.

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

Lowitja O'Donoghue went on to be 1984 Australian of the Year and the first Aboriginal Australian to address the United Nations General Assembly.

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 labelled vegetarians un-Australian and drew complaints, which only cemented the campaign as an annual ritual.

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

Fred Hollows had only become an Australian citizen the year before, and the foundation bearing his name still restores eyesight in many countries.

Which city's Skyworks, begun in 1985, was long the country's largest Australia Day fireworks show?

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 event, first run in 1977, races four Sydney ferries to the Opera House every 26 January?

Ferrython pits four Emerald Class ferries bow-to-bow across the harbour, with thousands lining the foreshore to cheer their chosen boat.

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

Macfarlane Burnet won his Nobel Prize that same year for predicting acquired immune tolerance, and was made a Knight of the Order of Australia in 1978.

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

Lionel Rose quipped that 182 years earlier one of his mob would have been 'a dead cert' for it; he held the undisputed bantamweight title from 1968 to 1969.

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

Kay Cottee sailed through Sydney Heads on 5 June 1988 aboard the 37-foot Blackmores First Lady, also then the fastest sailing trip around the world by a woman.

Which astronaut, the first qualified under the Australian flag, was named 2026 Australian of the Year?

Katherine Bennell-Pegg became in 2024 the first astronaut qualified under the Australian flag; earlier Australian-born fliers went to space as US citizens for NASA.

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 FightMND's Big Freeze, with its blue-and-grey beanies, has become an AFL fixture.

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 is the only man to complete the Golden Slam in quad singles, and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the same year as his award.

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; Challen made medical checks in the dry chambers as each boy was dived out at 45-minute intervals.