Fireworks light up the NT's skies on annual cracker night

NT celebrates 2026 cracker night with a bang as fireworks light up the skies Thu 2 Jul 2026 at 7:55am In short: Territorians spent Wednesday night setting off fireworks for the Northern Territory's annual cracker night celebrations, the one night of the year it is legal for members of the public to set off their own fireworks. Thousands gathered on Mindil Beach for Darwin's official fireworks display, while fire brigades were kept busy working to extinguish hundreds of fires NT-wide. What's next? Clean up efforts are underway across the territory this morning. There are five precious hours in Australia when it is legal to set off fireworks without a permit, and last night thousands of people across the Northern Territory did just that. Part of annual Territory Day celebrations which commemorate the day the NT gained independence, fireworks can be purchased by the public and are allowed to be set off between 6pm and 11pm. As the sun set last night, thousands of people gathered at Darwin's Mindil Beach for the official display. But it is the the DIY explosives people get most excited about. Territorian Aiden Helset said he spent "easily over a grand" on fireworks for the big night. "It's something that happens once a year at one place in Australia. You can't come here half-arsed,"he said. His mate Oscar Mirata travelled to Darwin for the special night. "It's an experience. You don't get this in Peth that's 100 per cent for sure," he said. Ninety minutes into the festivities and Mr Mirata estimated "about twenty or thirty" fireworks had already gone off course and shot at him. "It's not for the faint-hearted," he said. However it wasn't all danger, as nine-year-old Ali also celebrated the night. "It's cool and colourful, but the loud noises must be scary for the kids," she said. "It's kind of cool that everybody is celebrating Territory Day and being together." Busy week for firies For some people in the community Territory Day brings about more stress than celebration. For the NT's firefighters, some of the busiest weeks of their year come after the night of explosives. "The next two weeks after cracker night will keep us very busy," said Elizabeth Valley's volunteer fire brigade captain Jake Porkony. "Hopefully kids won't play with the fireworks while mum and dad are at work and we should be OK." Bushfires NT director of capability Jeff Ryan said this year's celebrations resulted in fewer large fires than usual due to favourable weather conditions. "We've been quite lucky. We've obviously had some rain … in the last several days, the humidity's been higher," he said. But he said flare ups and leftover fireworks being illegally detonated in the coming days could mean the worst of the fires are still to come. "The weather is going to change as we move into the weekend where we'll see a cooler, dryer front coming in," Mr Ryan said. "That will increase the risk profile of bushfire." Tonnes of fireworks sold Yesterday morning, hundreds queued to buy their fireworks, explosives lining shelves with names like Trumped 2026, Kakadu Kaos, El Chapo, and Chernobyl. Territory Day Fireworks director Mark Killip said there was a lot of effort behind the scenes. "Thousands and thousands of hours, trips to China, testing, design and a lot of packing of pre-orders," he said. "It's fun, it's exciting and it's really hard work. "[Across] all the shops in the territory there's several hundreds of tonnes of fireworks." Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said she too was out celebrating the Territory's independence. "I just want to wish every Territorian a safe and happy Territory Day," she said. "Today is about celebrating our freedoms, and personal fireworks is one way to show how proud we are to have delivered 48 years of self-governance."