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PARTY OF THE DECADE: CHRISTMAS 2016

ALL HAD ONE AIM: TO PARTY AS HARD AS THEY COULD
Young people came from around the world to Coogee Beach and nearby parklands on Christmas Day, 25th December 2016. They spoke many languages, with many different styles of clothing. Some wore just string bikinis and board shorts - many added red and white Santa hats. In theory, they were having a traditional Australian Christmas lunch (in high summer, not winter) to celebrate one the most important days in the Christian calendar. In reality, united in their youth, they had one aim: to party as hard as they could.

"Traditional" Hot Summer Xmas
As the afternoon wore on and the hot Coogee summer sun bore down, guitars rang out, bar-b-ques sizzled, picnic hampers emptied, champagne corks popped, and countless cans of beer and thousands of bottles of wine were consumed. Santas, fully kitted out in fur-trimmed red suits, affected by the heat, staggered about clutching bottles of libations with slurred chants of "Ho, ho, ho! Merrrrrrrrry Christmassss".

As day turned to night, more people arrived. Some, giving a nod to the northern hemisphere origin of the celebration, donned faux dinner jackets and gowns and "dinned" on the leftovers liberated from their more sedate their family Christimas lunches. The hardiest of the revellers drank, ate and sang their way to dawn and beyond.

ONE THING FOR SURE: IT WAS THE PARTY OF THE DECADE
By early morning, with the beach now seemingly deserted in comparison to the previous day, those who had succumbed to sleep, awoke and pushed aside beach towels, they raised bleary heads to a sight that many Coogee locals described as devastation. Rubbish bins were overflowing and the parklands and beach were blanketed in the detrious of the celebrations. One local, much quoted in the media, said that the beach had been "trashed".

Municipal workers set about clearing 20 tons of trash. Fossikers were overjoyed as they scoured the area with their metal-detectors, scoring countless lost coins and pieces of jewellery. Randwick City Council described the gathering as "disgraceful" events. The Mayor of the time, Councillor Noel D'Souza, said that: "The public outrage to the devastation of the parks and beach itself on Christmas Day has been quite phenomenal". The result was that the Council announced a snap ban on alcohol at Coogee Beach and surrounding parks. Many people debated whether it was worthwhile to attract so many people to Coogee, and whether they wanted it to be a "backpacker" party town. Clearly authorities were working to discourage this, and aimed never to allow it to happen again.

The party was over, and Coogee at Christmas has not been quite the same since. There was a lot of public criticism, but as far as we can tell, there were no arrests and no serious injuries. But one thing for sure, it was the party of the decade!

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