Everything you need to know about Sydney New Year’s Eve

The Lord Mayor of Sydney has revealed what is planned for the highly anticipated New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Australia is one of the first countries to ring in the new year, and while many will stay home with a bottle of champagne and a gaggle of friends, thousands will flock to designated firework zones with their friends.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has released the plans for this year’s celebrations, which are expected to be bigger than ever before.

“Sydney New Year’s Eve is a wonderful celebration of our multicultural, harmonious, safe and inclusive community, and it helps us promote Sydney and our stunning harbour setting to the world,” she said on Thursday.

“As one of the first cities in the world to ring in the new year, we set the benchmark with a spectacle that reflects what our beautiful city is all about.”

As part of the festivities, the City of Sydney will launch nine tonnes of fireworks from eight floating platforms and 80 new positions along the western side of the Harbour Bridge to give people the chance to view the pyrotechnics from both sides.

“We’ll be lighting up 7km of Sydney Harbour, from Cockatoo Island to Point Piper and beyond,” Ms Moore said.

More than 26,500 lights will be used to illuminate the city throughout the evening, with dozens of sky beams along the bridge, spotlights on barges and thousands of LED lights on boats travelling across the water.

The plans for New Year’s Eve have been in development for 15 months, “with many thousands of hours going into every aspect from programming and creative to safety, transport and logistics”.

“More than 1000 accredited personnel work together to ensure Sydney shines in all its splendour on New Year’s Eve,” Ms Moore added.

The Lord Mayor also acknowledged a significant increase in women assisting with the production of the event than ever before, with technicians, producers, directors, singers and other creatives spending “more than a year preparing for Sydney’s night of nights that will encompass an incomparable showcase of fireworks, pyrotechnics, lights and music”.

“From ages six to 79, women have been the force behind Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations this year,” Ms Moore said.

In conjunction with the increase of female involvement in this year’s event, the Lord Mayor explained the “powerful female figures in Australian history” would be acknowledged.

The big event will kick off at 7.30pm with a smoking ceremony, where three Tribal Warrior vessels will set sail west of the Barangaroo headland, making their way around Circular Quay and finishing at the Sydney Opera House.

There, a traditional smoking ceremony will take place, with a ritual of purification by smouldering the native plants on-board of each of the vessels.

The fireworks at 9pm and midnight will pay honour to the spirit of Barangaroo, “the Cammeraygal woman who led her people and who embodies the deep connection of Eora women to the waterways of Sydney Harbour”.

Fireworks will light up the sky for eight minutes from 9pm for families, with projections on the bridge pylons illustrating Barangaroo and her female warriors’ connection to water and fishing in the harbour.

Accompanying the display will be an exclusive soundtrack by rapper and producer Nooky, who will feature voices of his daughters, Olivia, 7, and Calula, 6.

As part of the midnight display, a combined human and AI-generated reflection of Barangaroo as a woman will reflect om the water with the help of pylon projections, portraying the Barangaroo woman as a “shapeshifting being, morphing from coral to kelp, fish to octopus and finally to water, all the while moving to the rhythms of the ocean and performing a choreographed dance to the soundtrack”.

Where can I see the fireworks?

There will be 50 vantage points where people can watch the fireworks; though many are ticketed and sold out, the following unticketed events are open to the public:

• Barangaroo Reserve

• Birchgrove Park

• Blues Point

• Bradfield Park and Mary Booth Reserve

• Campbells Grove

• Darling Harbour

• Dawnes Point (Ta-Ra) Park

• Duff Reserve

• Dumaresq Reserve

• East Circular Quay

• Elkington Park

• Embarkation Park

• Giba Park

• Hickson Rd Reserve

• Illoura Reserve

• Lavender Bay Parklands

• Manly Cove

• McKell Park

• Mort Bay Park

• Murray Rose Pool and Blackburn Gardens

• North Head

• Observatory Hill Park

• Pirrama Park

• Pyrmont Bay Park

• Royal Botanic Garden Sydney: Bennelong Lawn

• Royal Botanic Garden Sydney: Fleet Steps

• Royal Botanic Garden Sydney: Mrs Macquarie Point

• Royal Botanic Garden Sydney: Tarpein Lawn

• Simmons Point

• Sydney Opera House

• The Rocks

• Thornton Park

• West Circular Quay

• Yarranabbe Park

• Yurulbin Park