Festival First Light

As the sun peaks over the horizon on the first day of the 2024 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival, Rainbow Elders from Gadigal, Bidjigal, and Birrabirragal Land will conduct five simultaneous Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremonies. Free to join, the Ceremonies will see the first light of our Festival hitting unceded Aboriginal Land.

From the shores of Bondi Beach to the tree-lined Victoria Park, our historic Taylor Square, the infamous Hordern Pavilion and Sydney Town Hall – we're honoured to have Rainbow Elders, part of the longest continuous queer culture in the world, Welcome the world to one of the biggest celebrations of LGBTQIA+ pride on the planet.

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, who are the traditional owners of the land on which our celebrations are held on. Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.