Splash of events for Australia Day

Newcastle will be teeming with green and gold and ringing with the Haka this Australia Day as City of Newcastle hosts and supports a range of fun events and activities around the harbour, beaches and inner city.

Local triathletes and elite international visitors will race alongside Paralympian Lauren Parker from 7am as she defends her 2019 Oceania Paratriathlon title*, an Olympic trial event, before a field of hardy swimmers takes on Stockton Surf Lifesaving Club’s cross-harbour challenge mid-morning.

A Trans-Tasman Youth Touch Football Test series will see Kiwi sides take on our country’s best in a City-backed tournament at No.2 Sportsground while parkour, skateboarding, inflatables and a temporary waterpark make a big splash with the kids on the Foreshore.

“City of Newcastle has teamed up with several partners to put on a raft of events and activities on Australia Day,” Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.

“Starting with the paratriathlon and featuring the cross-harbour swim and touch football Tests between Australia and New Zealand, plus a range of fun family-friendly events on the Foreshore, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

“The City has supported the touch football Tests with $20,000 as they will attract thousands of extra visitors and boost the local hospitality industry to the tune of $1.7million over three days. The event will also generate some good-hearted parochial excitement on our national day, so no pressure whatsoever on the Aussie teams.”

Event details

• Citizenship Ceremony – 270 new Australians will take their pledge of allegiance in a citizenship ceremony at Civic Theatre from 9am Sunday 26 January.

• Fun in the City - Live Entertainment, food trucks, parkour & skateboard workshops, inflatables and more at Queens Wharf and Foreshore Park from 10am – 2pm Sunday 26 January.

• Newcastle Harbour Swim - Roll the arms over for the 24th edition of Stockton Surf Life Saving Club’s Australia Day Harbour Swim in either the 700m single crossing from Stockton to Queens Wharf (10am) or 1,400m double crossing from Queens Wharf (11am) Sunday 26 January.

• Oceania Championships for Paratriathlon - an Olympic selection event for elite paratriathletes and also a long, mid and short-format triathlon for the general public and corporate teams. 750m swim in Newcastle Harbour, 20km cycle leg around Nobbys, Newcastle Beach and Foreshore and 5km run around Horseshoe Beach and Pit Lane from 7am to 9.30am Sunday 26 January. 

• Youth Trans-Tasman Test Series – Best of Three Touch Football Test Match series for six youth divisions - 18 matches of elite international standard touch football at No.2 Sportsground from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 January.  

• Newcastle Waterworld Central –small format water park hosted by Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation on corner of Scott and Watt Streets until 27 January.

• Fort Scratchley Canons Firing - 11am, 1pm & 3pm (seven guns at 1pm). Catch re-enactments, vehicle displays and the first discharge in almost 100 years of an historic 80-pound gun following a two-year restoration project by the Fort Scratchley Historical Society.

*Wharf Rd East of Watt St, Nobbys Rd north of Stevenson Place, and Shortland Esp to Zaara St will all be closed from 5.30am to 9.30 am for the Para-triathlon.

For more information visit www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au