Sydney ushered in 2026 with its largest-ever New Year’s Eve fireworks display, a 12-minute spectacle capped by a shimmering “waterfall” cascading from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The show stretched 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) along the harbor and, according to organizers, featured some 25,000 individual pyrotechnic shots forming cockatoos, koalas, bottlebrush and other native Australian motifs.
Fireworks launched from the Sydney Opera House, six city rooftops and six aerial platforms hovering above the water. To widen the canvas, officials added new launch sites on the western side of the Harbour Bridge and another central-city rooftop. At the stroke of midnight, nine metric tons of fireworks detonated as hundreds of thousands of spectators cheered from the foreshore and boats dotted the harbor to secure coveted sightlines near the Opera House.
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The celebration in the self-described “New Year’s capital of the world” carried a solemn note. Less than two weeks after a father and son allegedly opened fire at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach, killing 15 in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in nearly 30 years, the city paused for a minute of silence at 11 p.m. local time. The Harbour Bridge was bathed in white light to symbolize peace.
“Right now, the joy that we usually feel at the start of a new year is tempered by the sadness of the old,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a video message earlier in the day.
Security was tighter than usual, with squads of heavily armed police patrolling viewing areas. Still, the promise of a landmark display drew early crowds. “The fireworks have always been on my bucket list and I’m so happy to be here,” said Susana Suisuikli, a tourist from England, as families laid out picnics and staked out rail-side spots hours before midnight.
The Pacific led the planet into 2026. New Zealand and Kiribati were among the first to ring in the new year, with Auckland staging its own downtown show. Organizers said Auckland’s Sky Tower launched fireworks from three levels, sending 3,500 shots around the structure and soaring as high as 80 meters (262 feet). The five-minute event used more than 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of pyrotechnics, and the Auckland Harbour Bridge was illuminated.
Elsewhere, more than 2 million people were expected to pack Brazil’s Copacabana Beach for what authorities billed as the world’s largest New Year’s Eve party. In Hong Kong, officials canceled a planned fireworks display over Victoria Harbour to honor the 161 people killed in a November housing estate fire.
For Sydney, the night balanced ritual and resilience: a globally televised burst of color across one of the world’s most recognizable skylines, framed by a city acknowledging grief. As boats sounded their horns and the last embers faded, the celebration closed on a note of both remembrance and renewal—an unmissable marquee moment for Australia’s biggest city and the first major fireworks display to headline the world’s 2026 countdown.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
