| Walk to Work Day | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Observed by | Australia |
| Frequency | annual |
Walk to Work Day is an annual, national event in Australia encouraging people to walk to work. The event is an initiative of the Pedestrian Council of Australia, and supported by the Australian Government. In 2015, it was held on Friday 13 November.
Through Walk to Work Day, the Pedestrian Council of Australia draw attention to the health and wellbeing benefits of walking. [1] Since 2000 Walk to Work Day has been a national event supported by the Australian Government. [2] 2003 was the first time the event was held on the same date across all Australian states and territories. [3] Several non-government organisations also promote the day, including the Australian Medical Association [4] and the Health Services Union. [5]
Herb Elliott led a celebrity walk across Sydney Harbour Bridgt for the event in 1999. [6] In 2001, distance swimmer Grant Hackett backed the event in national media, including in The Sunday Telegraph. [7] In 2003, Prime Minister John Howard featured in national Walk to Work Day television and radio commercials. [8]
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Sydney Harbour from the central business district (CBD) to the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself. Nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design, the bridge carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
Walking is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step. This applies regardless of the usable number of limbs—even arthropods, with six, eight, or more limbs, walk.
Dame Marie Roslyn Bashir is the former and second longest-serving Governor of New South Wales. Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, Bashir graduated from the University of Sydney in 1956 and held various medical positions, with a particular emphasis in psychiatry. In 1993 Bashir was appointed the Clinical Director of Mental Health Services for the Central Sydney Area Health Service, a position she held until appointed governor on 1 March 2001. She has also served as the Chancellor of the University of Sydney (2007–2012).
The Daily Telegraph, also nicknamed The Tele, is an Australian tabloid newspaper published by Nationwide News Pty Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is published Monday through Saturday and is available throughout Sydney, across most of regional and remote New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South East Queensland.
The Georges River is an intermediate tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, located to the south and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Adam Barrington Spencer is an Australian comedian, media personality and former radio presenter. He first came to fame when he won his round of the comedic talent search Raw Comedy in 1996. Soon thereafter, he began working at Triple J, on mid-dawn and drive shifts before hosting the Triple J Breakfast Show with Wil Anderson. He later hosted Breakfast on 702 ABC Sydney.
Morris Iemma is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Technology, Sydney. A member of the Labor Party, he was first elected to the Parliament of New South Wales at the 1991 state election, having previously worked as a trade union official. From 1999, Iemma was a minister in the third and fourth ministries led by Bob Carr. He replaced Carr as premier and Leader of the New South Wales Labor Party in 2005, following Carr's resignation. Iemma led Labor to victory at the 2007 state election, albeit with a slightly reduced majority. He resigned as premier in 2008, after losing the support of caucus, and left parliament shortly after, triggering a by-election. He was replaced as premier by Nathan Rees.
Barry Robert O'Farrell is an Australian former politician who has been Australia's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan since May 2020. O'Farrell was the 43rd Premier of New South Wales and Minister for Western Sydney from 2011 to 2014. He was the Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party from 2007 to 2014, and was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1995 to 2015, representing Northcott until 1999 and representing Ku-ring-gai on the Upper North Shore of Sydney from 1999 to 2015. He is currently President and Independent Board Chair of Diabetes Australia, Chair of the Wests Tigers Rugby League Football Club and CEO of Racing Australia Ltd.
A walking bus is a form of student transport for young schoolchildren who, chaperoned typically by two adults, walk. The crocodile may walk to school along a set route, with some similarities to a school bus route, with designated "bus stops" and "pick up times" at which they pick up and "drop off" children. In Britain a group of schoolchildren walking together in a long line of pairs on an activity without stops or pickups, escorted by teachers, has been referred to as a crocodile since at least 1870.
The Fig Tree Bridge is a road bridge that carries Burns Bay Road across the Lane Cove River, and connects the suburbs of Hunters Hill in the south and Linley Point in the north, located approximately seven kilometres northwest of the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The concrete girder bridge carries motor vehicles, and a grade-separated footpath and cycleway.
Barangaroo is an area of central Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the north-western edge of the Sydney central business district and the southern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. The area was used for fishing and hunting by Indigenous Australians prior to colonial settlement. The area is inclusive of The Hungry Mile, the name harbourside workers gave to the docklands area of Darling Harbour East during The Great Depression, where workers would walk from wharf to wharf in search of a job, often failing to find one.
Walk Safely to School Day is an annual, national event in Australia in which primary school children are encouraged to walk or commute safely to school, an initiative of the Pedestrian Council of Australia. It is held annually in May on a varying date.
Cycling in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia takes place for recreation, commuting and as a sport. Sydney has a hilly topography and so may require a slightly higher level of fitness from cyclists than flatter cities such as Melbourne and Canberra. Sydney depends heavily on motor vehicles where traffic and public transport operate at capacity. This means that cyclist are often competing with motorists for limited space on busier roads, and for limited government resources for expenditure on road infrastructure. In its favour, Sydney has a generally mild climate and there are active cycling groups.
Nathan Rees is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Toongabbie for Labor from 2007 to 2015.
Wentworth Falls is a three-tiered waterfall fed by the Jamison Creek, near the town of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The falls are accessible via the National Pass Walking Trail and the Overcliff/Undercliff Walk. The total height of the waterfall is 187 metres (614 ft).
Michael Alexander Williamson is an Australian former trade union official implicated in the Health Services Union of Australia (HSU) expenses scandal. In October 2013 Williamson pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud totaling nearly A$1 million, one charge of fabricating invoices and another charge of recruiting others to hinder a police investigation. The same day that he pleaded guilty, Williamson declared himself bankrupt. An earlier independent report commissioned by the union detailed that companies associated with Williamson and his family had allegedly fraudulently received more than $5 million from the union in period from 2006 to 2011. In the District Court of New South Wales in March 2014, Williamson was sentenced to seven–and–a–half years of imprisonment; with a non–parole period of five years.
Christopher Rissel is an Australian health promotion expert. The son of German migrants to Australia, he attended St Aloysius' College (Sydney) and graduated in 1979. He received a BSc Psych (Hons) from the University of New South Wales in 1985, a Master of Public Health from the University of Sydney in 1990, and PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1994.
A general election for the 56th Parliament of New South Wales (NSW) was held on Saturday 28 March 2015. Members were elected to all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly using optional preferential voting. Members were also elected to 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council using optional preferential proportional representation voting. The election was conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission.
Barangaroo ferry wharf is a ferry wharf located on the eastern side of Darling Harbour, in Sydney, Australia. The wharf is the major public transport link of the Barangaroo precinct, situated west of the Sydney central business district. The complex consists two wharves, with provision for a third wharf in the future. It is serviced by Sydney Ferries' F3 Paramatta River and F4 Pyrmont Bay services. The wharf opened on 26 June 2017.
The COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first confirmed case in New South Wales was identified on 19 January 2020 in Sydney where three travellers returning from Wuhan, Hubei, China, tested positive for the virus.