About: Harmony Day

Harmony Day, an event officially expanded and renamed as Harmony Week for its 20th anniversary in 2019, is a government-declared observance celebrated annually on or around 21 March in Australia. It was introduced by the Howard government 1999, and coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The colour orange is associated with the day. It has been criticised for being purely a celebration of multiculturalism in Australia, with no public acknowledgement of its roots, being a commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 in South Africa, nor acknowledgement of the existence of racism in Australia.