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The Sydney, Australia New Year’s Eve fireworks are known worldwide as one of the biggest and brightest ways to ring in the new year. They take place at Sydney’s famed Harbour Bridge, Opera House, and boats in the harbor at midnight, but if you can’t be in Sydney to take in the beautiful display yourself, a live stream of the pyrotechnics will be embedded here as soon as it’s live.
The live stream actually begins at 8:30 p.m. Sydney time (AEDT), which is 4:30 a.m. ET/1:30 a.m. PT in the United States. The stream will feature all the festivities leading up to the famed fireworks display, including the family fireworks that go off at 9 p.m. for the little ones who can’t make it until midnight.
The full schedule of events is as follows, all times AEDT:
7:30 p.m.: Welcome Ceremony
8:00 p.m.: An aerial display by flying ace Matt Hall
8:30 p.m.: Pylon projections and lighting effects on the Harbour Bridge
9:00 p.m.: Family fireworks
9:15 p.m.: The Harbour of Light Parade of boats
Midnight: The New Year’s fireworks
If you are lucky enough to be in Sydney for New Year’s Eve, there are plenty of parties to choose from. There are fireworks cruises, prix fixe menu dinners, Cruise Bar’s Carnivale celebration, Sydney’s only LGBT+ New Year’s party, and more. Details can be found here.
New Year’s Eve marks the end of a calendar year on the Gregorian calendar, the calendar first introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it is named. Most countries celebrate the final day the year with parties, social gatherings, festivals, and/or fireworks. It goes by many names the world over, including Hogmanay in Scotland, Calennig in Wales, Baharu in Indonesia and Malaysia, Silvester in many European countries, Reveillon in France, Portugal, and Brazil, Kanun Novodgo Goda in Russia, and Omisoka in Japan.
Kiritimati, Tonga, and New Zealand are some of the first places to celebrate New Year’s Eve because they are located just west of the International Date Line, while the U.S.’ Baker Island is one of the last places to celebrate because it is just east of the International Date Line. Interestingly, because of the way the International Date Line jogs around a bit, Kiritimati is actually east of Baker Island.
In the United States, New Year’s is traditionally celebrated with parties and “drops,” the most famous of which is the ball drop held in New York City’s Times Square. But there are dozens of other “drops” held across the country, including a conch drop in Key West, Florida; a peach drop in Atlanta; an Indy car drop in Indianapolis; an acorn drop in Raleigh, North Carolina; a moon pie drop in Mobile, Alabama; a fleur-de-lis drop in New Orleans, a “Glowtato” drop in Boise, Idaho; and a tortilla chip drop in Tempe, Arizona, which is tied in to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game of college football.
New York also rings in the new year with a “Midnight Run” around Central Park that includes a fireworks show. Other fireworks displays around the country include shows at the Disney theme parks, the Las Vegas strip, and the Chicago “Chi-Town Rising” event.
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