Calendar note for 2020: Planning for Harmony Day

Harmony Day is a celebration of Australia’s cultural diversity, and gives early childhood education and care (ECEC) services an opportunity to celebrate inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for all Australians, from the traditional owners of the land to those who have come from many countries around the world.

Harmony Day occurs on 21 March each year and coincides with the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The ongoing theme of Harmony Day is ‘everyone belongs’. Harmony Day is a day of cultural respect for all, and by participating in Harmony Day activities, ECEC services “can learn and understand how all Australians equally belong to this nation and enrich it”.

There are a number of ways in which ECEC services can become involved in Harmony Day, including: 

• Display the Welcome  poster 
• Visit the Australian Government Harmony Day site for a collection of lesson ideas, lesson plans and activities 
• See how other individuals, schools, organisations and councils celebrate Harmony Day
•  Share your story on the Harmony Day site.

Resources can be downloaded here for Harmony Day, including templates for posters, invitations and certificates as well as frames, filters, graphics and banners for websites and social media.

Those services who are hosting Harmony Day events are invited to register the event here. There are also a range of resources which have been developed to build awareness of multiculturalism and combat racism in education settings from Racism. No Way!

For children attending outside school hours care (OSHC), poetry and spoken word poems reflecting Australia’s cultural diversity can be submitted to SBS Face up to Racism. Children may also like to design a poster, or write a song to contribute to Moving Forward Together, for which the 2020 competition theme is ‘Picture a World in Harmony’. Entry is free and financial prizes are awarded at a ceremony at NSW Parliament House.

The main way in which many ECEC services contribute to Harmony Day is by asking children to wear orange. More information about the symbolism behind Harmony Day being marked with the wearing of orange can be found here.