Sydney New Year's Eve

Sydney New Year's Eve
Opening sequence of the 2006/07 Midnight Fireworks.
Genre	New Year's Eve event
Date(s)	31 December
Begins	8:30 pm (AEDT)
Ends	12:30 am (AEDT)
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	Port Jackson
Inaugurated	1996
Founder	Syd Howard
Most recent	2016/17
Attendance	1.6 million
Budget	$7.2 million (as of 2014–15)
Website
http://www.sydneynewyearseve.com/

Sydney New Year's Eve is an annual multi-tiered event held every New Year's Eve over Sydney Harbour, centring on the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia. Its main features are two pyrotechnic displays, the "9 pm Family Fireworks" and the "Midnight Fireworks", both of which are televised nationally with the latter televised around the world.

Synchronised to a soundtrack, the fireworks explode off the arches, catwalk and roadway of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and also the city buildings. The barge in front of the bridge features occasionally during the show to synchronise with the bridge's fireworks. The closing sequence of the show features the bridge before all firing points explode in an "all-white" finale.

The event was first televised on NYE 1996–97. The 9 pm Family Fireworks was originally the main show and went for about twenty minutes. The Midnight Fireworks lasted about three minutes and only featured Sydney Tower. From NYE 1999, the tradition began of having the main show at midnight. The NYE 1998 Midnight Fireworks had a length of ten minutes. In 1999, they were increased to twenty-five minutes. In 2001, the fireworks went for fifteen minutes. From NYE 2005 and to date, the Midnight Fireworks went for twelve minutes.

The City of Sydney Council is the official presenter of Sydney New Year's Eve. Each year the event takes on a new theme and is regularly viewed by more than one million people at the harbour and one billion worldwide for the televised Midnight Fireworks. For the 2010/11 event, an audience of 1.5 million watched the display from the local harbour foreshores and 1.1 billion are reported to have watched it globally.

Inspiration to use the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a launchpad for fireworks came from the use of fireworks on the Brooklyn Bridge as part of its 100th anniversary celebrations in 1983.