The Northern Territory celebrates 47 years of independence with a bang

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Northern Territory has celebrated its 47th year of independence the only way they know how by blowing things up. Cracker Night is one of the most anticipated days of the year attracting tourists from around the country. This year’s event went off with a bang.

Transcript

00:00It's an explosive display of Territorian pride that sets spirits alight.

00:09Happy Territorian Day!

00:12Everyone is coming and they celebrate. I think it's amazing.

00:16Do you have a favourite kind of fireworks?

00:19Yeah. The ones with the red ones and the purple ones.

00:25The festivities started at 6pm on the dot, some too impatient to even wait until it got dark.

00:32And as the night went on, the action only ramped up.

00:36Tourists claiming the night was a major drawcard for the NT.

00:41We're from San Francisco. Both of us. We travel here just for Territory Day.

00:46Fresh day in Australia. And what do you think of all of this?

00:49That's amazing. So far so good.

00:53But of course, it's not without risk, with rogue fireworks hard to predict.

00:58Oh shit!

01:00They fall over and they come shooting at us.

01:03That's why we're killed!

01:04Some decided to leave it to the professionals instead,

01:07with a display at Darwin's Mindal Beach attracting tens of thousands of people.

01:12And have you bought any to set off yourself?

01:14No, no.

01:15We cannot be trusted with these.

01:16We cannot be trusted with the fireworks.

01:18Territory Day certainly isn't for the faint of heart.

01:21But for the tens of thousands of people who've spent millions of dollars on fireworks,

01:25it certainly won't be a night they'll forget.

01:27How much money have you spent on fireworks?

01:29Um, 290.

01:32How much money have you spent on fireworks today?

01:35Ah, 600.

01:36The action might have ended at 11pm, but evidence of the night before, clear in the daylight.

01:43Oh mate, look at the rubbish everywhere.

01:45I mean, everybody definitely had a good time, but, wow.

01:49I wish people were a bit more responsible about it.

01:51I like sitting in this park for my lunch break,

01:53so I want to make sure it's clean when I get here at lunch.

01:56Many in the community playing their part to clean up,

01:59so we can do it all again next year.

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