Comprehensive Report: Australia Day Event in Whittlesea, 2018

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Australia Day event held in Whittlesea in 2018. It begins with an executive summary outlining the event's goals, impacts, and management. The report delves into cultural sustainability, examining the event through the lens of the triple bottom line approach, assessing its social, economic, and environmental impacts. Positive aspects include community engagement, economic benefits, and environmental considerations, while negative impacts such as community clashes and environmental concerns are also discussed. The report evaluates the operational management, including the attainment of goals, community engagement strategies, risk and safety management, and stakeholder satisfaction. The conclusion summarizes the event's successes in fostering national pride and cultural awareness while acknowledging minor setbacks. References to relevant literature are included to support the analysis.

Running head: EVENTS AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT
EVENTS AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
Australia day is often considered as the national day of Australia. The day brings together all
the Australians and celebrates a common history. The day aims at improving and establishing
inter-community relationships and at strengthening the bond and sense of nationality among
the people of Australia. This paper evaluates the events of the Australia Day of 2018 held at
the city of Whittlesea. The paper examines the social, economic and environmental impacts
of the event along with management of the event. It also determines the extent to which the
event was successful in satistfying its stakeholders and in attaining its goals and objectives. In
conclusion, the Australia Day celebrations establishes among people a sense of national
identity and pride.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Cultural Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line Approach..............................................3
Positive and Negative Impacts of the Australia Day.............................................................4
Positive Impacts.................................................................................................................4
Negative Impacts................................................................................................................5
Operational Management.......................................................................................................6
Attainment of Goals...........................................................................................................6
Community Engagement....................................................................................................7
Risk and Safety Management.............................................................................................7
Satisfaction of Stakeholders...............................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Held on 26th of January every year, Australia Day is the known to be the national day
of Australia (Macnamara and Crawford 2013). It is the day that brings out the essence of
being an Australian and celebrates the history of Australia as well as acknowledges its
contemporary state (Australiaday.org.au 2018). This paper evaluates the events of the
Australia Day of 2018 that took place on the 25 Ferras Road, South Morang and was under
the governance of the Council of the City of Whittlesea. The paper discusses its positive and
negative impacts along with the efficiency of its operational management. The discussions
are based on the principles of sustainability and the triple bottom line approach. The first
section provides a general idea of cultural sustainability and of the triple bottom line
approach. The second section of the paper discusses and analyzes the positive and negative
impacts of the event. The third section of the paper evaluates the operational management of
the event including the extent to which it was successful in attaining its goals and in
satisfying its stakeholders.
Discussion
Cultural Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line Approach
Cultural sustainability is related to sustainable development, especially in maintaining
cultural beliefs, cultural heritage, cultural practices, and in conserving the cultural entity and
identity (Axelsson et al. 2013). The three main and important principles in the regard of
sustainability in tourism and culture are environmental, social and economic. Tourism,
festivals and other cultural events affects culture directly (Robertson 2017). Hence,
sociologists strive hard to maintain a local cultural environment that is stable physically,
socio-culturally and economically.

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The triple bottom line is a method first introduced by John Elkington for assessing the
values of corporations not only in the economic sphere, but also in the social and
environmental spheres (Glac 2015). The economic impact of an event is determined by the
demonstration of the returns gained by the private or public sectors from their funding and
investments in an event (Dixon et al. 2013). The social impact is realized by the identification
of an event’s efforts to contribute to the society and its quality of life. The environmental
impact is assessed by the extent to which an event contributes to the purpose of attaining a
sustainable environment (Sridhar and Jones 2013). The triple bottom line approach is an area
of interest for evaluation of the impacts of an event on the society, the economy and the
environment and is often undertaken by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research
Centre based in Australia.
Positive and Negative Impacts of the Australia Day
The Australia Day had many positive and negative impacts as assessed by the triple
bottom line approach and based on the principles of sustainability.
Positive Impacts
Socio-cultural Impacts
 Acceptance of a multicultural diversity as people from all over the world including
Australians of the Aborigines and Torres Straits were gathered together for a
common cause.
 Provided with opportunities for people of different communities to interact and
socialize through various fun activities organized.
 Development of inter-community relationships.
 Development of cultural awareness among people.
 Generation of a sense of pride within and among the communities.

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Economic Impacts
 Promotion of the city of Whittlesea as tourist destination.
 High revenue returns from various monetary funds, and entertainment and food
sections.
 Emergence of new business networks providing better and more business
opportunities.
 Provided the event and the city of Whittlesea an international status through various
business networks and through media coverage.
 Increased number of participants.
 Increased amount of sponsorships and investments in the event.
Environmental Impacts
 Presence of volunteers to ensure proper waste disposal and management as well as to
prevent littering.
 Presence of event organizers and volunteers to prevent waste or hot oil spillage on the
grass.
 Presence of signs that prohibited smoking and also prohibited people from swimming
in the pond.
Negative Impacts
Socio-cultural Impacts
 Community clashes and conflicts had demonstrated a negative image of the
communities (Bond, 2015).
 Alcohol and drug abuse leading to an unhealthy and disturbing environment.

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Economic Impacts
 The incidents involving community clashes and riots called for extra security
management that required and had cost additional charges than the previous years.
 The presence of the radio station could broadcast any mishap that would have affected
the reputation of the event, the people, and the destination causing a reduction in the
tourist attraction.
Environmental Impacts
 The fireworks had caused air pollution.
 Littering on the grounds.
 Overcrowding.
Operational Management
The Australia Day at Whittlesea was under the governance of the Council of the City
of Whittlesea.
Attainment of Goals
The Australia Day of 2018 of the city of Whittlesea have successfully met its goals.
The event witnessed the participation of people in large numbers from various and diverse
communities. A large number of diverse communities interacted and socialized strengthening
the inter-community as well as intra-community relationships. Moreover, the day brought
together the Australians from various cultural backgrounds as a common fraternity and that
developed a sense of pride and a sense of respect for the national culture and its traditions.
The communities and the people participated in the acknowledgement of a common history
together as a whole. The event saw the recognition of 122 new Australian citizens and
accepted them within a common nationality. Moreover, the awards presented to the
Australian of the year, the young citizen of the year, the citizen of the year, the community

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group of the year paid due respect and acknowledged not only the people who had
significantly contributed to the nation and its states, but also paid tribute to the people of the
Aboriginal and Torres Straits.
Community Engagement
Community engagement at events is one of the most important aspects to make an
event successful. Community engagements can be both active and passive. Active
community engagement requires an active involvement of people and communities in the
event so as to develop a greater sense of community as well as to improve community skills
(Waterton and Watson 2013). Passive community engagement on the other hand does not
require participation on the part of the people or communities and is done via association
with councils and businesses. The Australia Day ensured an active community engagement as
it required the people and communities to participate actively towards a common cause of
developing a sense of togetherness and national pride (Fozdar, Spittles and Hartley 2015).
This was done through the various fun filled activities that engaged communities into
socializing and through the awards ceremony that ensured a sense of encouragement and
pride among the communities.
Risk and Safety Management
Security and safety are the two very important measures to be taken to ensure a
successful event (Getz and Page 2016). The event organizers of the Australia Day at
Whittlesea had taken good measures for ensuring the safety of the event participants. There
were increased number of security check-points, security barriers and security guards to
ensure the safety of the people in case of any community conflicts, clashes, riots and in case
of any accidents. There were fire brigades already at the spot in case of a fire emergency
during the fireworks. Ambulances and medical assistance were also kept ready. There were
volunteers and event organizers on the ground ensuring that all the vendors of the various

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stalls hold proper licenses and insurance. An information booth was arranged for the public in
case of any assistance or if anyone got lost. Additionally, there were safety signs that
prevented people from smoking, crossing security barriers and from swimming in the pond.
Satisfaction of Stakeholders
The stakeholders were satisfied to a large extent. The people and communities who
participated were happy and had developed a sense of belongingness. The investors and
sponsors had also gained from the huge number of participants in the event. The media
coverage, both traditional and social, of the event had resulted in the promotion of the event
increasing its economic aspects in the fields of business and tourism of Whittlesea. The
people and the communities had developed a common sense of nationality sharing a common
history. However, a few minute details could have caused dissatisfaction among the
stakeholders. First, many people belonging to the Aborigines and Torres Straits feel Australia
Day as a day or mourning since they feel it to be the day they had lost their rights on their
lands and freedom (Kleist 2017). Second, the event started later than it was planned. Third, it
had rained in the middle of the event and it had raised a doubt on the occurrence of the
fireworks. Fourth and finally, a constant check had to be kept on the weather conditions to
ensure the display of the fireworks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be stated that the Australia Day event of Whittlesea had been
successful in satisfying its stakeholders. It had increased cultural awareness among the people
of Australia while bringing them under a closed and shared fraternity. It had also had
beneficial economic impacts in promoting the event and the destination for tourist attraction.
The event also had operated for attaining a sustainable environment and for maintaining a
proper environment quality. However, there were some minor setbacks. Nevertheless, the
event was successful in achieving its goals and purpose.

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References
Australiaday.org.au. (2018). Australia Day. [online] Available at:
https://www.australiaday.org.au/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].
Axelsson, R., Angelstam, P., Degerman, E., Teitelbaum, S., Andersson, K., Elbakidze, M.
and Drotz, M.K., 2013. Social and cultural sustainability: Criteria, indicators, verifier
variables for measurement and maps for visualization to support planning. Ambio, 42(2),
pp.215-228.
Bond, C., 2015. The day I don't feel Australian? That would be Australia Day. The
Conversation.
Dixon, J., Scura, L., Carpenter, R. and Sherman, P., 2013. Economic analysis of
environmental impacts. Routledge.
Fozdar, F., Spittles, B. and Hartley, L.K., 2015. Australia Day, flags on cars and Australian
nationalism. Journal of Sociology, 51(2), pp.317-336.
Getz, D. and Page, S.J., 2016. Event studies: Theory, research and policy for planned events.
Routledge.
Glac, K., 2015. Triple Bottom Line. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management.
Kleist, J.O., 2017. Australia Day from Colony to Citizenship: 1788–1948. In Political
Memories and Migration (pp. 41-101). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Macnamara, J. and Crawford, R., 2013. The construction of Australia Day: A study of public
relations as ‘new cultural intermediaries’. Continuum, 27(2), pp.294-310.
Robertson, M., 2017. Sustainability principles and practice. Taylor & Francis.

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Sridhar, K. and Jones, G., 2013. The three fundamental criticisms of the Triple Bottom Line
approach: An empirical study to link sustainability reports in companies based in the Asia-
Pacific region and TBL shortcomings. Asian Journal of Business Ethics, 2(1), pp.91-111.
Waterton, E. and Watson, S. eds., 2013. Heritage and community engagement: collaboration
or contestation?. Routledge.