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A review by Trevor Connell
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One hundred years ago, on 1 January 1901, the main event prior to the Inauguration of the Commonwealth was the Great Inaugural Procession that took place through the streets of Sydney. It had over 10,000 people participating with a crowd of over 500,000 lining the streets.
On 1 January 2001 the Journey of a Nation – The Federation Parade involved 6,500 participants and was also watched by a crowd of around 500,000 while about another million are estimated to have watched the live TV broadcast (and if they had started with the channel 7 coverage most should have changed over to the ABC by the time the second commercial break finished).
The original Procession included floats from each of the six states which came together to form the Commonwealth, while other floats focussed on industry and commerce. The remainder of the Procession was made up primarily of military units.
The 2001 Parade also featured floats from each state which were joined by the territories and NSW regional entries. The armed services were acknowledged through Australian involvement in conflicts from the Boer war to Vietnam. Industry and commerce was joined by our engineering and inventive achievements and a tribute to volunteer and service organisations.
Missing from the 1901 parade was any reference to our indigenous citizens or women. This was more than rectified by having an aboriginal float lead the Parade and apart from an even-handed participation; a special tribute to the women’s movement was included.
Other segments looked at our culture and entertainment (music, radio, literature, theatre, film and television), fashion through the century and, in the wake of the Olympics, sport.
Overall this parade worked a treat despite large gaps forming as the various groups moved at their own particular pace. And the standard of the entries varied, however this is to be expected as some floats and performing groups were put together by professionals with a decent budget while others were done by community groups.
Comparisons will obviously be made to Mardi Gras, but I would suggest that this is an entirely different event, more akin to Moomba. With Mardi Gras the quality of entries varies considerably and gaps do occur, however they are covered up by the rather feral independent entries who whiz around all through the parade. In this instance the parade was divided into very distinct segments all with their own story to tell and as an event of this style cannot be rehearsed the organisers just have to plan as best they can and then rely on the parade marshals to act as sheep dogs to keep the parade moving.
Nations Within a Nation
The leading segment was a tribute to indigenous culture. Bronwyn Bancroft designed the Rainbow Serpent float and costumes.
Well-known country singer Jimmy Little walked in front of the float for the length of the parade and sang while a bunch of young performers popped in and out of the stylised rainbow serpent.
Commonwealth of Australia
The first banner showed a map of Australia with the states being sewn together to form a “Commonwealth”, although not quite historically accurate (at the time of Federation the NT was in fact the Northern Territory of South Australia), the symbolism of the disparate states being stitched together was not lost. This theme was also picked up in a later section which had the states running around the Federation Pavilion trying to get together with a recalcitrant Western Australia.
The Commonwealth section was made up of floats from each state and territory. This reflected the inclusion of state floats in the 1901 Procession. The 2001 floats were designed and made under a grants scheme to each state and all were very well turned out.
War and Peace
From the Boer war to Vietnam a very popular segment with the crowd led by riders on horseback in Boer war uniform. Although the uniforms may have been authentic, having women in them was stretching the equality point a bit. Women have never gone into battle in an Australian uniform.
The WW2 section was led by a rather uncoordinated group paying tribute to the Tivoli shows of the period. This group of performers definitely needed Mardi Gras training.
The Vietnam section featured Armoured Personnel Carriers (still in service) and the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club (very loud).
The “Peace” sector featured a wonderful dove puppet and a huge “peace baby” and a gorgeous bunch of “peace girls”, very much a period piece in fact.
Helping Hands
This section paid tribute to the community organisations which are the backbone of our community. SES volunteers carrying a tarp, St John’s Ambulance officers administering first aid to “suffering” patients, (particularly the one being carried on a stretcher), Australian Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, etc, etc. 362 organisations were represented.
A hit in this section was the NSW Fire Brigades band. Whenever the parade came to a stop they went into a marching routine, looping in and out and around much to the delight of the crowd.
There were many bands involved in the parade and apart from services bands they did not march in uniform but were dressed to suit the particular section in which they were placed. A nice touch.
Nation on the Move
The centrepiece float of this section was the Snowy Mountain Scheme, a very well designed float on which eight men who worked on the Snowy scheme re-enacted their roles. This section also featured the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, coal mining in Newcastle with a tribute to the coal arch of 1901 (which collapsed because people pinched the coal) and a wonderful representation of wind turbines on the backs of stilt walkers.
Good Sports
The great Aussie sports fan “Norm” headed up this section (or rather put his feet up). It had as its centrepiece a beautiful silver and gold float adorned with athletes while Olympians showed off their medals as they sat in the back of open Mustangs.
Who Are We?
The centrepiece float was the good ship Australia carrying living legends such as Gough and Margaret Whitlam, Al Grassby, Lowita O’Donoghue, Faith Bandler, Jennie George and Gustav Nossal.
The ethnic makeup of our multicultural society was represented by a Chinese Dragon team and an Estonian contingent. While this was the only overt acknowledgement of our multicultural society the performing and marching groups showed a very integrated society.
Did We Do That?
A Hills Hoist bedecked with Granny Smith apples, a row of deep space radio telescopes atop stilt-walkers, Slim Dusty having a beer with Duncan, Victa lawn mowers and Victor Chang. This was before a very eclectic look at Australian achievements. My favourite - the tribute to Charles Kingsford-Smith and aeronautical achievement.
Artistically Speaking?
The Wiggles and Mr Squiggle, Gary McDonald and Norman Gunston, a giant gramaphone, a hundred “Mo MacCackie’s”, a huge, spinning roll of movie film and a tribute to Australian icons in music, radio, theatre, film and television.
All The Rage
The cars, the clothes and the trends from each decade of the past century brought to life by massed dancers.
Tomorrow
And to end the parade – a look to our future. Once again blocks of dancers and a very stylised float.
Photo Gallery
Check out the Sydney Morning Herald’s coverage
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