Australia Day in Sutherland Shire: Triple the Fun for Everyone

AUSTRALIA Day in the shire just keeps getting bigger and this year residents have a choice of three locations to gather and celebrate the national day on Sunday, January 26.

Sutherland Shire Council's popular program of free entertainment at Cronulla Park and Parc Menai has been expanded to include a new satellite site in Cooper Street Reserve, Engadine.

"It gives everyone plenty of choice to celebrate our national day with family and friends," Sutherland Shire mayor Steve Simpson said.

The council is distributing the full Australia Day program in the Our Shire newsletter, delivered to homes throughout January, but here are the highlights of the entertainment on offer on the day:

Cronulla Park, 1pm to 9pm.

Kate Ceberano, Mark Vincent and Mental as Anything will perform on the big stage in Cronulla Park.

Brendan Jones — "Jonesy" from 101.7 WSFM — is MC for Cronulla's event with the entertainment kicking off at 1pm including The Voice contest Alex Gibson, Robbie Miller, The Villains, shire favourite Mark Vincent and Greedy Smith, with it all culminating in a performance by Kate Ceberano before the fireworks finale at 9pm.

There will also be a barbecue from Cronulla Rotary and Aussie-themed merchandise will be on sale to support the event charity, Dandelion Support Network.

Parc Menai, 4pm to 9pm.

The live entertainment will start in the park at 4pm with the program including the Smurfs stage show, Australiana Bill and the Bronzed Aussies, Robbie Miller, The Villains and finishing with The Voice contestant and shire local, Tim Moxley, before the fireworks spectacular at 9pm.

To sustain the crowds there will be food stalls and a traditional Aussie barbecue by Sutherland Rotary. There will also be amusement rides.

Cooper Street Reserve, Engadine, 1pm to 9pm.

For the first time, Engadine gets its own Australia Day gathering in the family-friendly location of Cooper Street Reserve. There will be amusement rides, a barbecue by Engadine Rotary and a big screen streaming all the live stage entertainment from Cronulla.

The True Meaning of Australia Day

Yet, from the desert the prophets come. Not the desert run by BHP/Billington and Essington ''I am work'' Lewis. Not the desert run by The Big Three financed by The Big Four. It's the desert that is suburbia. We are all, almost without exception, from THAT desert. And our prophets are born underneath the dull steel of a Hills Hoist. We are not just a mining pit with a pretty coastline. There's a bit more to us than that.

Our nation barely knows the words to its own national anthem. That fact makes my heart swell with pride. I love to see the horrified, furtive glances and inept, bad mime and mumbling that occurs if we ever get to that dreaded second verse. My magnificent and future Nobel Prize winning prime ministerial five-year-old daughter, Lotte May Muldoon, knows Advance Australia Fair better than 90 something per cent of the Australian population. I love that and her.

I love that if the weather is fine, our beaches will be filled. I love that a cricket ground will be packed. ON A WORK DAY.

I like that we happily shoot and eat our national symbol, the kangaroo (Sorry vegans, but I do). It speaks to our rural and indigenous past. I like that huge swathes of the city hate that.

I like that the tension between the city and the country is not that tense.

We're still finding out who the hell we are. We are a teenage nation. Which, of course brings me to the JJJ Hottest 100. Somehow, that strange and often wonderful station, has become part of our ''national identity''. No-one knows how or why. Anyone over the age of 12 gripes about JJJ, and will happily tell you when ''the glory days of JJJ'' were (I'm one of them. For mine it was when they went from JJ to JJJ. That first bit. THAT was good, weird times. But hey, you've got yours too) and you will hear JJJ across this nation on that day. It will be ubiquitous. And yes I think BBQ too. I think cricket with arguments about LBW and classic catches. It's hard not to. It'll be happening (almost) everywhere.

Do we CARE about Australia Day? Of course not. It's a bit of artificial holiday to make us think we're a nation. We have fun, we're good at that. But do we reflect on our strengths and weaknesses? About where we're headed and where we'd like to go? Do we ponder? Do we furrow our brows? Do our poets battle with the tyranny of the blank page? Do our souls expand towards a new unseen horizon sparkling with the tincture of hope?

Nup. We get on the piss. And sometimes kiss. And sometimes biff. We can, quite effortlessly become the Disney version of Australia. The worst part of us is a drunken nationalism that is like a pack of wolves seeking prey. The best part is planting trees and welcoming newcomers to this miracle of a nation that we are almost embarrassed to share, because it's THAT good. In this nation, we tend to be allowed to ''go about our business'', whatever that may be.

I've lived in this nation my entire life and I still have no idea what it is. I also hugely struggle with even typing the word ''we''. Do I love it? This place that I plant my feet? This place I potter around and bump into other lost souls seeking comfort and joy, unfussed about the concepts of ''identity'' and ''belonging'' ? This place of incomparable beauty hidden from the world, yet profoundly connected? This land of the brutal, weary, yet strangely innocent smile?

Why yes I do. Thanks for asking.

Happy Australia Day.

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Perth Skyshow 2014 - Skyworks: Perth Ready for Biggest Australia Day fireworks

THE country's biggest fireworks display will light up the sky over the Swan River on Australia Day.

More than 300,000 people are expected to gather along the Swan River foreshore for the 30th City of Perth Australia Day Skyworks, where freestyle motocross stunts and a paintball competition will thrill, along with the traditional family entertainment of bouncy castles, minigolf, face painting, water slides, rock climbing and animals.

"The event is the largest Australia Day occasion in the country," Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said.

The Circus Joseph Ashton will provide free shows of trapeze, high wires and clowns.

Vintage aircraft, jets, planes in formation and helicopters will also take to the sky, as well as fire-bombers demonstrating a water drop.

Skywriters and skydivers will entertain crowds while the RAAF will fly in close formation with daring high-speed aerobatics.

The best viewing spots for the 30-minute pyrotechnic display will be at Langley Park, Kings Park, Supreme Court Gardens and South Perth foreshore.

Some designated alcohol zones will be set up and police warn there will be a zero-tolerance approach to alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour.

"Police will be highly visible and will be moving through the crowds to identify and respond to any issues that arise," a spokeswoman said.

Revellers have also been warned that a fire ban will be in place so all sparklers and barbecues will not be permitted.

Fremantle and Cockburn will celebrate their third annual Indian Ocean Fireworks at Bathers Beach with a free sausage sizzle, a "children's corner" and performances from artists before the 20-minute pyrotechnics display.

There is a zero-tolerance approach to public drinking and antisocial behaviour at that event.

About 40,000 spectators are expected to view the show from the Bathers Beach foreshore, the Roundhouse, Esplanade Reserve, North Mole, Monument Hill, South Beach and Fishing Boat Harbour.

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