Australia Day: "Sorry" Becomes the Defining Word

"We should be deeply proud of our country. Proud of Aboriginal culture, which represents the oldest continuing culture in human history."

Reconciliation was a dominant theme as millions of people celebrated Australia Day, which included a mystery skywriter scrawling "sorry" above Sydney Harbour.

Some 14,000 people made the pledge to become Australians during officials citizenship ceremonies in 321 towns and cities.

Many others enjoyed barbecues, beers and even cockroach racing on the day which marked 220 years since the First Fleet's arrival at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788.

The "sorry" skywriting in Sydney was not an official Australia Day event, but NSW Australia Day Council chairman Michael Egan said it was a welcome addition.
He said it showed the rising status of reconciliation with the nation's indigenous people.

"You could go to 200 places in NSW today and you'd see a happy scene like you're seeing here in Hyde Park," NSW Australia Day Council chairman Michael Egan said in central Sydney.
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A citizenship ceremony was also held in which 17 people from 14 nations were declared to be new Australian citizens.
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Mr Egan said the day had an increasing focus on reconciliation with the nation's indigenous people.

"I'm also glad to see the large number of people of indigenous backgrounds out celebrating Australia Day," he said.

"A number of people with Aboriginal decent that have the Aboriginal flag and the Australian flag flying is great to see."

Aborigines are Australia's most disadvantaged group with many living in third-world conditions in remote outback settlements.

Aborigines and indigenous Torres Strait Islanders number only 460,000, 2 percent of the country's 20 million population, and have a life expectancy 17 years less than white Australians.

THE crowds were down on past years, but the hordes who swarmed around the Swan River still had a blast from the mix of pyrotechnics and patriotism.

As darkness crept in and crowds swelled, the traditional flying of a huge floodlit Australian flag across the river brought the first cheers of the night.

The excitable crowd sang the national anthem - though some slurred and others strangled it.