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Nine tonnes of fireworks will be launched from several Sydney CBD locations – including the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, and The Four Seasons hotel – for this year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.
While drones, which are viewed as a more environmentally friendly alternative to fireworks, will be used to launch the pyrotechnics, a drone show is not on the cards for this year’s display.
Fireworks on Sydney Harbour ushering in 2025. This year’s display will involve nine tonnes of fireworks. Credit: Wolter Peeters
“Drones don’t really take over what fireworks can do,” said Fortunato Foti, creative director of Foti Fireworks, which has produced the city’s fireworks for the past 29 years in partnership with the City of Sydney council.
What the show will feature is tens of thousands of pyrotechnic displays, including two waterfalls off the Harbour Bridge. Projections will be used to turn the bridge’s pylons into dynamic plant sculptures, designed using genetic plant data and artificial intelligence by artists at Redfern creative studio VANDAL.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore described the New Year’s plans as the city’s biggest yet.
“I know I say that every year but it’s going to be. It’s always true,” she said. “It’s a reflection of who we are. We’re a creative, diverse and inclusive city.”
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore with Fortunato Foti, whose family company has done the New Year’s Eve fireworks display on Sydney Harbour for 29 years.Credit: Janie Barrett
Foti said the show had changed significantly over the past three decades, moving beyond just colours and effects.
“Look, obviously the scale of it has grown. Which obviously creates a bigger footprint, which [means] people not having to come into the city to watch the fireworks,” he said.
Making the fireworks bigger and better allows people to see them from further away, taking pressure off police resources, according to Foti, whose company is carbon-neutral.
The festivities will kick off with a smoking ceremony at 7.30pm, followed by an 8.45pm Calling Country, an Indigenous call and response ritual, and the first fireworks at 9pm.
“We’re proud to have some of Sydney’s most talented Aboriginal artists bringing their culture to life with eight minutes of animated projection content, fireworks and a bespoke soundtrack,” Moore said.
At midnight, the 12-minute firework show will light up Sydney, paired with a music display designed by Jono Ma.
Between 10pm and 11pm, the Harbour Bridge will be lit in blue to raise awareness for the event’s new charity partner, Beyond Blue.
Beyond Blue chief executive Georgie Harmon said New Year’s can be a time of fresh resolutions and big changes, but also a period when people can feel isolated.
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She said it was important to take a moment to check one’s own wellbeing over the festive season.
“No matter who you are or where you are, Beyond Blue is there for you,” she said.
Previous charity partners have included the National Breast Cancer Foundation, The Smith Family, and the Refugee Council of Australia.
The City of Sydney expects more than 1 million people to watch the fireworks from 50 free viewing points, in addition to the hundreds of thousands watching the ABC broadcast at home.
Observatory Hill, Mrs Macquaries Point and Lavender Bay Parklands will be among the free vantage points. Goat Island, McMahons Point and Taronga Zoo will be ticketed.
North Sydney Council attracted controversy earlier this year when it announced it would charge $50 to revellers wanting to watch the display from Blues Point.
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