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Australia Day: celebrate what's great at the Fremantle Arts Centre

AUSTRALIA Day is more than just a public holiday - it's a day of celebration, as Aussies old and new celebrate what's great about the land Down Under and reflect on what it means to be Australian.

About 40 new Australian citizens will be welcomed in the City of Fremantle as they pledge their allegiance to the nation at the Fremantle Arts Centre from 10am, Saturday, January 26, in a citizenship ceremony celebrating Australia Day.

The 2008 Premier’s Australia Day Active Citizenship Awards will also be announced by Fremantle Mayor Peter Tagliaferri in the under-25, over-25 and community group or event categories.

Add music from The Windjammers, Djiva and Common Ground from 10.30am, face-painting and balloon-making and it’s an Australia Day celebration embracing all the great aspects of being Australian.

The all-important sausage sizzle is back again, prepared by the Abruzzo & Molise Sporting Club, and the public can come along and enjoy a barbecue and entertainment for a simple gold coin donation.

Mayor Tagliaferri said Australia Day showed how people from many countries, backgrounds and walks of life live together to form a nation of difference and unity.

“Australia Day is a day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in this wide brown land and it’s also a time for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the future,” he said.

“Through our diverse beliefs and experiences we learn from each other and grow and the City of Fremantle is a wonderful example of how this multiculturalism has been embraced to benefit the community as a whole.

“Australians are a great people who are proud of their country and its traditions, believing in a fair go for all, mateship and pulling together in hard times – and always giving things a go.

“Australia Day celebrates these values and ideas and demonstrates our national pride with events right across the country, whether they are massive festivals, citizenship ceremonies, fireworks nights or just the great Aussie barbecue.”

Mayor Tagliaferri said everyone was welcome at the Fremantle Arts Centre on Australia Day to help celebrate what it means to be true blue and dinky-di.

“Bring along a picnic rug, enjoy the festivities and grab a sausage or two – and don’t forget to add the tomato sauce,” he said. 

* For more information on Australia Day in the City of Fremantle, call 9432 9830.

PLEASE NOTE: For details on Cicerello's Fremantle Cracker Night, being held in the evening on Australia Day, click this link: http://www.freofocus.com.au/news/html/cracker_night08.cfm