Orange Mayor Tony Mileto invites all members of the community to come along to Cook Park on Sunday 26 January for the city's Australia Day celebrations.
Cr Mileto says Australia Day is a day to reflect, respect and celebrate.
COMMUNITY CELEBRATION: Helen McAnulty and Rachael Brooking were the joint winners of the Citizen of the Year award at last year's celebrations.
"As Australians, there is much that we can be proud of; our democracy, our shared values, the strength, diversity and generosity of our people," Cr Mileto said.
"Let's gather together and celebrate everything we love about our wonderful country and our Orange community."
Orange's 2025 Australia Day Ambassador is John Stanley, a broadcaster and journalist with the Macquarie Radio network. Mr Stanley has hosted prime time talk shows on radio 2UE for 30 years and prior to that he was the 2GB Macquarie chief political correspondent in Canberra.
The celebrations will begin at 8am with the traditional community breakfast barbecue, free for the first 500 people, courtesy of the Orange Canobolas Lions Club and Rotary Club of Orange.
There will be market stalls, children's jumping castles, games area and merry-go-round, as well as a vintage car display by the Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club.
The official ceremony will begin at 9:20am.
Forty-two people will become Australian citizens at the Citizenship Ceremony, which will be held at about 9.45am, followed by the presentation of the Orange Australia Day Awards at about 11.10am.
The categories for this year's awards are:
- Citizen of the Year
- Young Citizen of the Year
- Environmental Citizen of the Year
- Community Group of the Year
- Community Event of the Year
- Local Legend
Australia Day Ambassador John Stanley.
The day will feature performances by the City of Orange Brass Band, Canobolas Highland Pipe Band, Kinross Wolaroi Indigenous Dancers and East Orange Physical Culture Club.
After the official ceremony, a highlight of the event will be live entertainment by world musician Ganathipan from 12pm, accompanied by a diverse group of musicians and dancers.
Growing up in Orange, Ganathipan now lives in Sydney, networking with other musicians to compose and perform music inspired by different traditions and cultures.
Visit the website https://www.orange.nsw.gov.au/australia-day/ to view the program for the day.
