Australia Day ended with a bang as fireworks lit up the sky on the Perth foreshore to mark the end of a day of celebrations and protests across the country.
Crowds on the banks of the Swan River were smaller than previous years, with WA currently dealing with its most significant COVID-19 outbreak since the pandemic began.
Masks were mandatory at the event, which was cancelled last year due to COVID-19 concerns.
It came after more than 16,000 people were sworn in as citizens across the country, with the nation urged to "walk together as one mob" through a difficult time.
Despite the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and some wet weather being felt along the eastern states, mass gatherings were seen across homes and streets across the country, with Australians enjoying barbecues and backyard cricket games.
But a day that kicked off with a celebration of the world's oldest living culture was also being acknowledged by many as a "sombre" one.
Thousands took part in "Invasion Day" marches and others shunned celebrations to instead acknowledge the legacy and culture of Australia's Indigenous peoples.
For thousands more who were born overseas, today was the day they formally became Australians.
New citizens Ekta Kakkar and her husband Gurmeet Singh met in Australia, but only lived 40 kilometres apart in New Delhi, India.
Ms Kakkar, who now runs a successful cafe in Canberra, said today meant a lot to her and her young family.
"I think it's the start of a new journey, becoming an Australian citizen, and we can definitely give back to the community that has given us so much," she said.
Ephraim Laate and his sisters Emily and Elsie moved to Australia in 2017 to be with their father. They are passionate about the healthcare sector.
"Emily and Elsie are registered nurses who have worked very hard throughout the pandemic and they've helped save lives as well," Mr Laate said.
Mr Laate wants to follow in his siblings' footsteps so is now studying nursing too.
"It's something I've wanted to do since my childhood ... Australia has been good to us and we love Australia," he said.
South African parents Werner and Suzanne Du Plooy said their family would finally feel whole after becoming Australian citizens today, joining their two children who were born here.
"It's been quite emotional," Ms Du Plooy said.
"And a long process … the two become four finally."
The couple were sworn in on the Gold Coast in Queensland today.
At a ceremony in Canberra, Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed the country's new citizens, who hailed from more than 150 different countries.
"Today each of you will be endowed with the same rights, opportunities, privileges and responsibilities as every other Australian … no matter how long they’ve been here," he said.
"You will be given the inheritance of our history and the promise of our shared future.
"But you don’t come to our national story empty handed, either.
"As like so many before you, you add your threads to Australia’s rich tapestry. You now write your own chapters in Australia's story."
He lauded Australia as the world's most "successful" multicultural nation and thanked the new citizens for their "great expressions of love for our country".
In Sydney, the Opera House's sails were illuminated with a projection named Goanna Songline by Central Desert artist David Miller, a senior Pitjantjatjara man.
The Australian and Aboriginal flags were then raised on top of the Harbour Bridge and remained for the day as a symbol of harmony.
The WugulOra Morning Ceremony was held at Gudjyi (Barangaroo Reserve), a place where Eora women once paddled their canoes to catch fish and collect shellfish.
Wiradjuri woman and chair of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, Yvonne Weldon, told a crowd including the NSW Premier, Governor and Indigenous elders, that today was a "sombre" day for many First Nations people.
"We need to show respect for our ancestors ... none of us have ever ceded our rights," she said.
"I pay homage to the people of the Eora nation who suffered the first impact of colonisation on behalf of all Aboriginal nations."
NSW Governor, Margaret Beazley, said the pandemic had highlighted the fact Australians needed to act as "one mob".
She said help wasn't quick enough to arrive in some remote Indigenous communities and cultural communication had been inadequate during lockdowns.
She drew comparisons to the 1789 smallpox epidemic which killed significant numbers of Indigenous people.
"Let us learn from these past difficult years, let's celebrate the good and let's walk together on this path as WugulOra (one mob)," she said.
January 26 is the day Captain Arthur Phillip raised the Union Jack for the first time in Sydney Cove and proclaimed British sovereignty, which resulted in the dispossession of First Nations people.
Celebrations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture were held across the country, including the Yabun Festival in Sydney, as well as multiple protests.
Unlike previous years, Sydney's Invasion Day march was initially walked in silence, with attendees mourning what many describe as a day of genocide.
After a minute's silence in which the crowds of thousands sat in the middle of Elizabeth Street, familiar protest chants returned.
"Always was, always will be," rung out in the city's CBD.
Kyah Patten, who introduced herself to a Sydney crowd as a grandchild of activists, gave an impassioned speech.
Her uncle died in 1981 while in police custody at age 21.
"Why are we still on these streets, still screaming on a microphone to be heard?" she said a loud applause.
"I will fight until I die, until I'm in the ground. I will fight for what we deserve."
Police said the peaceful crowds had grown into the tens of thousands.
Overnight in Melbourne, a statue of Captain Cook in St Kilda was vandalised with red paint in an act of protest which Victorian police have described as "absolutely ridiculous".
"Whilst we understand people have certain views about this day, we always ask people to be respectful and blatant criminal activity like that will not be tolerated," Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir told Channel Nine.
Another Captain Cook statue in Edinburgh Gardens, in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy North, was also covered in red paint overnight.
The Australia Day parade which usually runs through Melbourne's CBD was cancelled for a second consecutive year, while a planned Invasion Day rally has also been scrapped.
Northern Territory senator and Yanyuwa woman Malarndirri McCarthy said Australia Day was now about a "change of attitude more than a change of date".
"I think the issues that we face as a country are so great, we need to focus on those [first],” she said.
"For now, our country needs to be united more than ever, not divided."
Australia Day celebrations in Adelaide included a smoking ceremony in Elder Park, on the banks of the River Torrens and although attendance was restricted, a strong crowd gathered to watch the ceremony.
Rosemary Wanganeen grew up in the Point Pearce Mission and was a member of the Stolen Generations, but said she believed "reconciliation is really here, it's alive, it's not going to go away".
"We have some ways to go. Our history has been very dark," she said.
"But the things that Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people have done [together], to have such a gathering today, is such an indicator — a really powerful indicator that we have come a long way."
In Darwin, Garramilla dancers led by Larrakia woman Lynette Fejo performed at the waterfront and local elders shared their stories.
Some organisations, like not-for-profit Children's Ground — which is led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities — gave staff the option to work on January 26 and take the public holiday later in the year.
"We urge you to know what January 26 means to us, and how this date affects us – the day we were invaded, accosted, murdered, moved off our lands and an ongoing, attempted genocide began," said the organisation's director Stacey Campton.
Despite a growing Omicron COVID-19 outbreak, Western Australia is still celebrating Australia Day with a variety of events.
Maria Garces, who was born in Madeira Island and arrived in Fremantle in 1968, said she was felt indebted to her now home.
"I'm just grateful that my parents chose Australia because we had the choice of either South Africa, America or Venezuela, and Australia is the best country," she said.
"Even though what we're going through at the moment, I'm still grateful every day … we've still got the best country."
"I love that Australia's got a lot of cultures living here. Our culture is not just Australian.
"All the cultures together have made Australia the way it is."
In Townsville, the country's largest garrison city, Australia Day was marked with a Defence Force Royal guard of honour, 21-gun salute and a flypast.
Queensland Governor Jeannette Young and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk attended the flag-raising ceremony, which was live streamed for the first time due to COVID-19 transmission concerns.
A small Survival Day dawn service was held on the water's edge on The Strand, but other cultural events were cancelled amid growing case numbers in the region.
Event organiser Rosalind Sailor said the ceremony was "healing" for a community still deeply impacted by colonisation.
