Barbecues, citizenship ceremonies, free outdoor concerts and thousands of people dressed up in the flag - all the regular bits of Australia Day were on hand with some added extras: a return to the republic debate and an English prince.
On the busiest day for barbecues around the nation, Prime Minister Tony Abbott's surprising announcement of a knighthood for the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, provided a novel barbecue-stopper.
"We thought it was a hoax," federal opposition leader Bill Shorten said, echoing the thoughts of many.
Mr Shorten said the knighthood should not be a distraction from the debate over whether Australia should become a republic - a debate he said was appropriate for Australia Day.
Mr Abbott didn't buy into the republic debate and defended his honour for Prince Philip, dismissing ridicule of the move on social media as "electronic graffiti".
The PM said Prince Philip was "eminently suitable" for the honour because of his "very long life of duty and service".
The Australian Republican Movement criticised Mr Abbott's resurrection of the titles Knight and Dame as "anachronistic and demeaning".
ARM chairman Geoff Gallop said Australia's honours system "should be honouring great Australians on merit, not birthright".
In a less controversial choice, former head of Australia's armed forces, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, was also named as a Knight in the Order of Australia.
Anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty was named Australian of the Year in a ceremony in Canberra on Sunday evening, where she pledged to continue her work in honour of her murdered 11-year-old son, Luke.
Mr Abbott presided over a citizenship ceremony for 25 people from 15 countries in Canberra on Monday as around the nation almost 16,000 people from 152 countries became Australian citizens at 333 such events.
"All of you have voted quite literally with your feet for Australia," he said.
"Your lives will be the better for your decision and our lives and our country will be the better for your decision."
In his Australia Day message, Mr Abbott said modern Australia had "an Aboriginal heritage, a British foundation and a multicultural character".
"To be an Australian is to have won the lottery of life but we can't rest on our laurels," he said.
Australians marked the national day in time-honoured ways, such as a ferry race on Sydney Harbour and a parade in central Melbourne.
Melbourne's parade was disrupted by hundreds of people marching in support of Aboriginal rights and criticising Australia Day as "Invasion Day".
In some new additions to the festivities, Sydney Harbour also played host to the Royal Australian Navy's new helicopter landing dock, HMAS Canberra, as revellers joined a mass singalong of the national anthem, while Hobart staged a Blundstone boot throwing contest.
Amid an umbrella-toting crowd on a rainy Sydney Harbour foreshore, Croatian-born Marie Pringle, dressed in blue complete with matching sparkly make-up, said Australia Day was more important to her than Christmas.
"I came here 44 years ago and it's given me more opportunities than I could have ever had," she told AAP.
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