SYDNEY CARNIVAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22941, 20 January 1938, Page 8

SYDNEY CARNIVAL

| HISTORY IN COLOUR i ■ . {'ANNIVERSARY celebrations PAGEANTS AND SPORT GROWTH OF A NATION I [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, Jan. 14 -j The gayest and happiest Sydney in : Its 150 years of history will , greet the ] opening of the three months of intenj, sive sesquicentenary festivities, be- :! ginning officially on January 26. A I few commemorative events during the I. previous few days will whet the public appetite for the splendor of pageant 1 and procession which will uslier in the , : main celebrations. The earlier events will commemorate the arrival of Governor Arthur II Phillip at Botany on January 18,1788, and his discovery on January 21 of the magnificent Port Jackson (which Captain Cook had missed on his voy- | age 18. years before). J A reproduction of the landing will take centre-stage of the celebrations' opening phase. With prominent actors f Frank Harvey and James Raglan takjl ing the roles of Phillip and Judge- \ Advocate Collins, a huge audience will . ; line the verdure-clothed foreshores of Farm Covo and see Phillip land from ■ his brig Supply on an improvised beacb. ; the original having long been replaced ■i by an ornate stone wall.

Salute of Guns

As Phillip, with his officers, appears on the deck cannons Trill roar a salute of 21 guns. Ships will sound their sirens and the city's bells will ring. Aeroplanes will drone and dip overhead. Phillip and his party will emhark in rowboats and will be met on the beach by aborigines in full warpaint, dancing and chanting. The landing having been re-enacted,

Phillip will proceed to the Domain, i and there the pageant will assemble for & the second feature—a procession ! i through the city of floats mounted on i I truck chassis and telling the story of |1 Australia's "March to Nationhood" in i picturesque and vivid tableaux. ! Each section of the procession will I depict a definite phase of history, ] without break in the continuity of ;j the whole pageant. The city will be in | her gayest robes for this historic drama } of a century and a-half. Long banners from more than 2000 40ft. standards will convert the drab, everyday dress of the city's streets to carnival colour and life. Descendants of Pioneers

Descendants of many pioneers will wear the costumes of famous ancestors. Through amplifiers along the route of the procession an official will interpret the significance of each of the pageant's episodes. , So 1938 will see the drama of the Australian nation, from its inauspicious st,art as a penal settlement, through: troublous years of riot and famine to glorious years of peace and prosperity, through the wild, free-spending of the gold rushes, through the contentious political era preceding the federation of the Bix States into the Commonwealth of Australia, through the wartragic days ■of Gallipoli, Flanders, France and Palestine —through all the vicissitudes and triumphs to the Australia of to-day. The procession over, the throngs will disperse to watch the great Anniversary Regatta. Sailing boats, reinforced by some from New Zealand, stately yachts, speedboats, rowing crews and scullers will contest dozens of races. . Visiting Warships ' Gaily decorated, non-competitivo< craft will throng the waterways. Ships of the Royal Australian Navy, four warships from the United States, and. others from European countries and a squadron of Royal Air Force flyingboats from England will form a stately and stirring background for the racing craft.

There will also be a multitude of sporting events to interest those satiated with pageantry and colour. At night, flood and strip lighting on every building and monument in the city area will convert Sydney into a fairyland. The Harbour Bridge will be bril-, liantly illuminated, dominating the scene on the waterfront.

This first intensive period of Celebris lion will last until February 4.