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Harmony Week 17-23 March 2025


​Harmony Day Friday March 21

​Harmony Day falls on this Friday March 21 during the official Harmony Week​ celebrations. Wear Orange to show your support that "Everyone Belongs" in our richly diverse Australian society and everyone deserves respect, to be included and counted.

Did you know that Australia is unique in celebrating this day? The official Harmony Week website tells us that Harmony Day is known throughout the rest of the world as The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD) and it's important to remember the importance and urgency of combatting racism wherever and whenever it arises. In the spirit of the 2024 Multicultural Framework Review’s findings and recommendations, they encourage everyone to observe and acknowledge IDERD.

Wear Orange!

Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week’ as it ‘signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect.

The following information about Harmony Day has been sourced from Hello Harmony Day, 2025! - Modern Teaching Blog

The History of Harmony Day 

Harmony Day was first celebrated in Australia in 1999. People celebrate it by reflecting on the ways they can live in harmony with their neighbours. In 1998, the government commissioned a study into the nature of racism that highlighted a greater need for people to 'live in harmony'. As a result, Harmony Day was created to encourage everyone to respect each other and appreciate the country's vibrant multicultural background. 

Interesting Facts

Some interesting statistics about Australia's diversity today from latest Census Data: 

  • 29.1% of Australia's population were born overseas.  
  • 51.5 % of Australian residents were born overseas (first generation) or have a parent born overseas (second generation)    
  • We identify with over 300 ancestries in Australia 
  • 812,728 people identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. This is an increase of 25.2% since 2016, representing 3.2% of the population. 
  • 167 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages were used at home by 76,978 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The most widely reported language groups used were Arnhem Land and Daly River Region Languages (14.5%) and Torres Strait Island Languages (12.0%). 
  • Since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia 
  • The top five most reported ancestries included English 33.0%, Australian 29.9%, Irish 9.5%, Scottish 8.6% and Chinese 5.5%. 
  • Mandarin is the most common language other than English spoken in Australia with 685,274 people using Mandarin at home. 
  • This is followed by Arabic (367,159 people), Vietnamese (320,758 people), and Cantonese (295,281 people). 
  • Punjabi had the largest increase, showing 239,033 people using Punjabi at home. 
  • Nepali featured in the top five languages used at home in both ACT (1.3%) and Tasmania (1.3%). 
  • 85% of Australians agree multiculturalism has been good for Australia 


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