Territory Day is usually celebrated on 1st July each year, commemorating the day in 1978 when the Northern Territory gained self government and could finally stand on its own two feet, no longer dictated to by the Commonwealth Government. This year there was a covid outbreak at the end of June and celebrations were postponed until 29 August. That was good for us as we were able to join in.

We weren’t surprised to find out that the Northern Territory has fireworks on Territory Day but we were to discover that people can buy fireworks and set them off on the beach or wherever they want. Granted they are only for sale on Territory Day and have to be set off within a limited time slot, but this is the only State in Australia that allows this without any kind of permit. Tommy and I drove passed the office selling the fireworks; the queue was miles long and they were sold out by lunchtime.

Celebrations in Nhulunbuy started at 5pm with a fireworks display and laser light show at 8pm. We weren’t sure if we would stay for the fireworks as it was a Sunday evening and Tommy had kindy the following morning.

The evening began with games and dancing for the children. In addition, there were bouncy castles and face painting to keep them occupied. Later on, a local band, EAST JOURNEY, played for an hour or more. I hadn’t heard of them before but the sound wasn’t unlike Yothu Yindi who were also from this area (in fact the Yothu Yindi Foundation operates out of Nhulunbuy). Baker Boy is another musician from here. Anyway EAST JOURNEY were great. I looked them up on YouTube to learn more about them and saw that their videos were filmed here in East Arnhem. I recognised many of the places including the local beach. Here is a link – https://youtu.be/fBrf7MDXlsQ

We had a terrific night. The music and the fireworks were spectacular. We saw only one fire on the way home but we went to bed in the caravan to a cacophony of fireworks all around us until late. In fact, I fell asleep to the noise of fireworks in one ear and John’s snoring in the other!