Melbourne puts its stamp on 18th Games
Wednesday Mar 15 22:56 AEDT
Frolicking koalas, a flying tram and a duck have starred in a Commonwealth Games opening ceremony that celebrated the city of Melbourne.
From the football code born in Melbourne to the creation of one of the city's most recognisable cartoonists, the Victorian capital shared the ceremony with 4100 athletes and 75,000 onlookers.
Australia's premier sporting arena, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, was turned into a stage for a ceremony that officially starts the 18th Commonwealth Games.
From cricketers Max Walker and Simon O'Donnell to Australian football legend Ron Barassi, the ceremony was filled with elements of Melbourne.
Melburnians themselves became part of the event, yelling out a countdown of previous Game host cities before the ceremony got underway.
It started with a Melbourne icon, a W-class tram which winged its way down from the top of the MCG's Great Southern Stand.
John Brack's famous painting "Collins St, 5pm" proved the inspiration for the crowd leaving the tram, throwing off their overcoats to reveal colours in every shade of the rainbow.
A creation of cartoonist Michael Leunig, a duck, shared the stage with 12-year-old Melbourne schoolboy Sean Whitford in one of the ceremony's key components.
Leunig's short poem about the duck, and of keeping one's innocence, were central elements to the story played out in the centre of an arena more used to cricketing and football champions than singing and dancing children.
But it wasn't just the MCG. The nearby Yarra River was instrumental in the ceremony.
Huge fish images, which have floated on the Yarra for the past fortnight, came to life, brightly lit before they sprayed water.
The Games baton was passed down the centre of the river by captains from the AFL's 16 teams, cheered on by tens of thousands of members of the public.
Surfboats were rowed up the Yarra, each bearing the flag of the past 17 countries to host the Commonwealth Games.
After appearing to walk on water, Barassi went up a set of stairs that appeared from out of the river to carry the baton up to the Swan St bridge where he handed it to running great Herb Elliott.
Even Melbourne's central business district was not left out of the ceremony - pyrotechnics leapt from a range of buildings, chasing their way towards the MCG.
Melbourne's Arts Centre spire materialised at one stage: another icon to make its way into the event.
There were elements of past Australian opening ceremonies. Instead of Brisbane's giant kangaroo Matilda, a giant inflatable koala battled above the MCG with other marsupials including ones on a giant thong - similar to the one that featured in the Sydney Olympics.
While there was plenty of focus on Melbourne's recent past, ceremony organisers ensured the nation's first inhabitants were also recognised.
Actor Ursula Yovich played a woman in bark canoe, rowing herself to the centre of the MCG as Aboriginal culture, its stories and history were celebrated.
Two hours of new music was created for the ceremony, but it was a popular hit of the past - The Church with "Under the Milky Way" - that was used as a backdrop to one of the ceremony's highlights.
As motorcyclists did tricks, members of the Australian Ballet Company were elevated into the air, dancing in mid-air.
There were large rounds of applause as the 71 nations and territories entered the MCG, with Scotland, South Africa, India, Canada, Fiji and New Zealand all enjoying strong support.
But the biggest cheer of the night was saved for the Australian team, headed by walker Jane Saville who carried the Australian flag into the MCG.
The ground almost physically shook as the crowd took to its feet, widely applauding the Australians as they marched, skipped and rolled their way into the arena.
The adulation for the Australian team was almost matched by the support Dame Kiri Te Kanawa received as she sang Happy Birthday to Queen Elizabeth which seamlessly segued itself into an upmarket version of God Save the Queen.
Former Olympic greats Cathy Freeman, Ron Clarke and Marjorie Jackson-Nelson were last but one to carry the baton.
Queen Elizabeth, who received the baton from Victorian Governor and running legend John Landy, said the Games were a chance for all members of the Commonwealth to come together, no matter their differences.
"Tonight we celebrate the value of sport as a means of bringing together people from 71 nations and territories, and from a wide range of cultures, traditions and beliefs," she said.
The Queen also paid tribute to Australia, highlighting how other cities had held previous Empire and Commonwealth games.
"I would like to remind you of the very successful games at Sydney in 1938, in Perth in 1962, and in Brisbane in 1982.
"Together they underline the impressive contribution that Australia has made to the successful development of the Commonwealth, and to the encouragement of good sportsmanship and friendliness throughout the Commonwealth."
And with that, the Queen declared the Games open.
?AAP 2005