There was no shortage of patriotism on that Australia Day in Sydney. National flags were waved by children and teenagers, and by adults young and old. Flags were proudly on display on T-shirts and caps; some were draped over people's shoulders. Among the vintage cars lining Macquarie Street, not one car bonnet was without a small flag attached that fluttered in the summer breeze.

The air was filled with the tune of patriotism. Periodically, the strains of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ could be heard among the murmuring crowd. At the northern end of Macquarie Street, near the Botanic Gardens, a bagpiper dutifully played away. Walk south into the grounds of Hyde Park and you could hear it being sung by bands on the public stages, and being played on accordions and harmonicas along the walkway that cuts through the length of the park. Strangers crossing paths under the canopy of Hyde Park's majestic fig trees wished each other ‘Happy Australia Day’.

As I walked around, I overheard, on more than one occasion, confessions of patriotic feeling from one friend to another. ‘I feel very patriotic today’, one smiling middle-aged woman said to another, as she brought back a handful of small flags from a stall. Later in the day, while walking behind a pair of teenagers, I heard one confiding, ‘I guess I just get very emotional whenever I sing the national anthem these days’.