Fun, family, fresh - Cracker Night
Fremantle is hosting its famous Australia Day Cracker Night again this year on January 26 at the fantastic location of Fishing Boat Harbour with a new major sponser in The Esplanade Hotel Fremantle.
Mayor Peter Tagliaferri said Cracker Night is a special event that brings the community together, “It is a wonderful evening for families and the Indian Ocean makes a magnificent backdrop for the fireworks,” he said.
History
It’s a little known fact that the idea for a Fremantle fireworks display was born at a barbeque in 2005. Mayor Peter Tagliaferri was chatting with his mate Henry from Cicerellos, the famous fish monger at Fishing Boat Harbour. Talk turned to an alternative Australia Day fireworks event to the Perth Sky Show without the huge crowds and bad behaviour that marred that event year after year.
They agreed to create a Fremantle fireworks display. Former Perth Lord Mayor Peter Natrass inadvertently named it when he made derogatory comments about it in the press, by referring to it as little more than a cracker night. It was a reference to the now-lost tradition many Australian families had of letting off a few ‘tom thumbs’, ‘penny bangers’ and ‘sky rockets’ in the backyard on Cracker Night.
But at Fremantle we liked the name so much we decided to keep it. It encapsulates how we want our Australia Day to be; a safe, fun, family celebration with a touch of nostalgia.
