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Australian Icons

Icons of Australian culture are almost as well known by Australians and visitors as our official symbols. Four well known icons are highlighted below.

• The Sydney Opera House
• Uluru
• The Akubra Hat
• Vegemite

The Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognisable buildings of the modern world. Open since 1973, it has come to represent ' Australia'. The Opera House, with a roof evocative of a ship at full sail, was designed by renowned Danish architect Jørn Utzon.

In the late 1950s the New South Wales Government established an appeal fund to finance the construction of the Sydney Opera House and conducted a competition for its design. Utzon's design was chosen although it was beyond the capabilities of engineering of the time. Utzon then spent a couple of years reworking the design and it was 1961 before he had solved the problem of how to build the distinguishing feature - the 'sails' of the roof.

It is these ‘sails’ that have made the Opera House so recognisable. Over the more than thirty years since the Opera House was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973, thousands of theatre and opera productions have been staged in the building and on the steps outside, often in front of enormous crowds. Australians and international visitors alike have walked up the steps of the building for views of Sydney harbour and the equally famous Sydney Harbour Bridge.

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Uluru

Uluru is one of Australia’s most recognisable natural icons. Located in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory, Uluru is a unique and beautiful place that is of spiritual and cultural significance to the traditional indigenous landowners, the Anangu.

Rising to a height of over 340 metres above the plains of central Australia, Uluru is made of arkosic sandstone and is thought to be the tip of a mountain which extends kilometres below the surface. Uluru’s red appearance is caused by iron oxide. This rust, combined with the minerals of the arkosic sandstone, changes the colours of Uluru as the day unfolds, from soft blue-grey hues to vivid orange reds.

The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List for natural values in 1987 and subsequently inscribed for cultural values in 1994. The Park is one of sixteen World Heritage sites in Australia.

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The Akubra Hat

The Akubra captures Australia like no other item of clothing. Ubiquitous in the outback, the Akubra is worn by people from all walks of life, from the diggers with their slouch hats in two world wars to the official uniform of Australian athletes at international sporting events. Whether suave and respectable or worn and battered, Akubra hats are can be seen all over Australia.

Made of treated rabbit fur, Akubras today are manufactured in much the same way as they were when production began at Akubra Hats more than 100 years ago. Established in 1905, Akubra Hats still employs descendants of one of the company’s original hat makers.

The trademark name ‘Akubra’, which is an Aboriginal word for head covering, only came into use in 1912 but the hat’s precursor was first made in Tasmania in the 1870s. This was only a few years after 24 English rabbits were released in Geelong, Victoria, in 1859. The national hat industry that produces the Akubra depends on the descendants of those rabbits.

For over a century the Akubra has protected millions of Australians against the harsh sun, wind and driving rain and will continue to hold an emblematic place in Australian history and culture.

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Vegemite

Many Australians love Vegemite - it is a unique and well-loved icon. This strange looking black spread, made by blending brewer's yeasts, is one of the richest known sources of B complex vitamins. Australians traditionally eat Vegemite spread thinly on buttered toast, sandwiches and biscuits.

Vegemite was invented by food technologists at the Fred Walker Company in 1923. Fred Walker later sold his business to Kraft and passed on the secret recipe.

This secret recipe is used to this day and Vegemite tastes as it did when it was first invented and continues to be loved by many Australians of all ages. The love is not universal however, as some Australians, and nearly all overseas visitors, strongly dislike the very strong and salty taste. Despite this, Vegemite is arguably the ‘taste of Australia’ and it is no surprise that Australians travelling overseas are known to pack a jar or two of Vegemite to sustain them while out of Australia.