Remember…… when was it again?
Yesterday, I had occasion to check the date on my calendar so that I could fill it in on a form. First I checked what month it was……… November, then I checked the year….. 2009 (I thought so!) and finally the day….. it was the fifth.
Hmmmmm. That rings a bell. Have I forgotten somebody’s birthday? Oh no! It’s not my wedding anniversary is it?
Of course!
Wasn’t there a gunpowder plot? Blow up the Houses of Parliament and all that? And all of a sudden I could remember. November 5th is Guy Fawkes Night. How come I haven’t heard anything about it? Why haven’t I been invited to a bonfire?
Answer: Because Australia doesn’t celebrate Bonfire Night.
Australia does have fireworks, it probably holds one of the biggest firework display in the world each year, over at Sydney, every New Year’s Eve. They’ve made it a bit of a thing, probably because Sydney is the first major city in the world to see in the New Year.
Brisbane also has a major firework display on New Year’s Eve and I saw my first one from the rooftop of a city building on the 31st of December 2007, just six weeks after moving to Australia.
From a Brisbane roof.
It was just like home from home, it poured with rain and there were thick clouds making it almost impossible to see the fireworks. But like I said in an earlier post, we brought the rain with us when we first arrived in Australia.
But that night on the Brisbane roof reminded me very much of Lake Meadows in Billericay, that’s where I used to go on bonfire night when I lived back in England. You could almost guarantee rain there on November 5.
But of course I knew I wasn’t in Lake Meadows, it was far too hot on that Brisbane evening.
Brisbane also hosts another firework display each year called Riverfire which I went to both last year and this. You can read all about that in a previous post and if you haven’t yet seen it, you can watch a video of the F-111′s dump and burn.
Riverfire 2008 - from Southbank Parklands
Riverfire 09 - from Mt Coot-tha
But it hasn’t always been this way in Australia. Back in the olden days, well the 1970s, Australia did celebrate bonfire night. But towards the end of that decade the public sale of fireworks was banned throughout most of Australia to prevent misuse, personal injury and bushfires. Makes perfect sense.
My wife says she kind of misses the traditional Guy Fawkes Night celebration, me not so much. But I’ll tell you what neither of us has missed; that’s the sound of fireworks exploding into the air from, pretty much, the beginning of October right the way through to the very end of November.
Why teenagers find it so amusing to let these bangers off from around seven o’clock in the evening until past midnight in the UK, I will never know. Perhaps it is an inner need to be irritating. Maybe the teenagers here are exactly the same?
Except, of course, they can’t buy the bangers!
Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…
Related posts:
- November 5th, Fireworks and Bonfire Night in Australia.
- A Night Out On The Town
- It Is The Night Before Christmas…
- The Price of a Night Out With the Boys
- A Night Out At The Comedy Club, Brisbane
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
G-day, Would you please be able to tell me when the last official bonfire or cracker night was in Australia. I know that it was canned and fireworks made illegal because of the number of one eyed and eight fingered kids. I thought that it may have been in the mid 70′s, the end of the Whitlam era. It is disturbing that fireworks are readily available over the internet. New Years Eve and the preceding week is open slather for crackers with zero policing.
Hi Peter
I didn’t know the banning was anything to do with one eyed and eight fingered kids, I thought it was more likely due to the serious fire risks here, obviously bonfires are definitely out.
As for when Bonfire Night was last celebrated in Australia, all sources I have checked say it was the “mid-to-late 1970s”, so I wonder if it may have been different in each state. Just guessing on that one.
I haven’t heard a single rogue firework since I moved here, but I have heard quite a few 10 minute blasts which may or may not have been legal, who knows? But I’m surprised you can buy fireworks online here, surely that is illegal?
Cheers
Bob
We never celebrated Bonfire Night on Novembet 5th, we celebrated Empire Day with Cracker Night May 24th.
Geoff, it seems I have some research to do, I have no idea what Empire Day is. Well I do now, I have done some quick (Google) research. It seems this is a bit of a forgotten celebration here in Australia, is that right? Now replaced by Australia Day on January 26?
I was born in the early ’80′s and distinctly remember bonfire nights at times during my childhood. I just as distinctly remember they all of a sudden stopped. We lived in a rural village on the outskirts of Sydney’s South West and the event was great fun for us as kids. A huge bonfire would be built at the local sporting oval and would be lit up at around 8pm. We’d run around with sparklers and there was a small fireworks display. I guess changes in local Gov law put an end to this? Sad really.
Well I remember bonfire night when I was a kid too, it was great fun. We use to love it, building a guy for the bonfire, collecting money, did you used to do penny for the guy?
So yes, it was enormous fun. But in the last few years living in England, it seems to have gotten out of hand. Crackers going off every evening, late too, sometimes midnight or 1 AM from almost the beginning of October. So when I got here and fireworks night no longer happened, I have to say I was pleased.
But perhaps that’s part of turning into a grumpy old man? So maybe it won’t be long for me now.
There were any number of reasons for the demise of Crackernight. The chance of a bushfire in the middle of wet and cold May was remote but in some areas it was a threat. I am inclined to think it had more to do with the ratbag element than anything else. Notably those who tied fireworks to the tails of cats and dogs, or blew up letter boxes and then moved on to phone booths. Or perhaps the idiots that built fires on roads setting fire to the bitumen. There were undoubtedly grass fires set off by the bonfire, but usually these were put out by the people attending the fire or the grass was burnt off in a fire break beforehand. Then of course there were those at the lower end of the gene pool who thought they could hold onto the explosive until the end, their valor proved with missing fingers, plus others who had serious burns or lost eye sight.
So in retrospect, it was a natural progression that we lost cracker night along with the fingers and eyes, but the most effective loss, was the collective loss of innocence, that went with it.
I miss it but for my grandkid’s sake, I’m glad it’s gone.
It makes you wonder how many fingers, eyes, letterboxes, phone booths, cats, dogs, even lives and who knows what else have been saved by the abolishing of fireworks. I think we can all look back and remember how much fun it was as kids, but as adults and parents I don’t think any of us cares two hoots that fireworks are no longer readily available to the general public and, more importantly, to kids.
This is one instance where “health and safety” has got it right. Good riddance to bonfire night. Riverfire, Sydney Harbour on New Year’s Eve and all the other major displays are a much better and safer option.