All the colonial capitals except Adelaide declared 26 January 1888, Anniversary Day, a public holiday and celebrations took place throughout the colonies. Ceremonies, parades, exhibitions, fireworks, banquets, church services and regattas were planned all over the country. In Sydney:

The weather being so beautiful yesterday it was to be expected that there would be an exodus of holiday folk from the city to the charming pleasure resorts which are to be found within the unrivalled haven of Port Jackson. From a comparatively early hour in the morning until long after the sun had crossed the meridian, the Circular Quay was the scene of great bustle and activity, as large crowds of people wended their way to this place – the point of departure for the various picnicing grounds-from all parts of the city and the outlying suburbs. A glance round that portion of the harbour lying between Goat Island and Bradley's Head revealed a scene of surpassing loveliness. The shipping in Sydney Cove-the place where, 100 years ago, the ‘First Fleet’ dropped anchor-made a splendid display, every vessel of note being dressed with Flags, which stretched from stern to stern, and from the truck to the waterline [1].

Highlights of the day included the unveiling of a statue in honour of Queen Victoria before a crowd of 50,000 people, and the official opening of Centennial Park. Speaking at the official opening, the premier Sir Henry Parkes promised:

In the course of the next few years (this park) will be converted into a place of beauty and joy forever. It will be yours and so long as the land shall last it will be for you, and it is a great obligation that rests upon you as free people to see that no power, no combination, invades your right in the enjoyment of this great boon. It is emphatically the people's park and you must always take as much interest in it as if by your own hands you had planted the flowers; and if you take this interest in it, and if you thus rise to the full appreciation of its great beauty, and your great privileges, the park will be one of the grandest adornments of this beautiful country [2].

On the day also, the NSW government distributed over 11,000 'centennial parcels' of rations to Sydney's poor.

The first issue of the Illustrated Sydney News was published in October 1853. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday 10 October commented on this first issue:

"The first number of this journal was published on Saturday last, and we have to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of it. It would be unfair and ungenerous to cavil too critically on a first number of a journal intended to open out what has been an untried field in the periodical literature of this colony. There is no doubt that of late years the pictorial art has done much to add, not only attraction but instruction to the literature of European countries; and it is desirable in an almost unknown region, such as Australia presents, that the more accurate delineations of the pencil should correct the less exact descriptions of the pen. Our new contemporary has therefore started in a field of useful and interesting enterprise, and we wish him success. The illustrations in the first number are not happy. The Botanic Society's Exhibition for the Spring of 1853 is represented under unfavorable auspices, the position from which the view is taken being unfavourable, and the perspective very confused and incorrect. It will afford but little illustration of the brilliant scene in the gardens on the 27th of September last. The portrait of Mr. Darvall is by no means flattering to that gentleman's personal appearance, though the concluding remarks on his political career are so decidedly".