Sydney Howard AO
Fireworks Designer - Sydney Howard’s family have been in the pyrotechnics business since 1920 and he was only 11 when he supervised his very first fireworks display.
Sydney Howard’s family have been in the pyrotechnics business since 1920 and he was only 11 when he supervised his very first fireworks display. Sydney started doing the fireworks at the Royal Melbourne Show in 1957 when he was still a teenager and he would go on to manage the fireworks at the Show for the next 40 years.
Initially the fireworks display at the Show was presented just a few times, but eventually it was included as part of the entertainment in the main arena every night, often as the finale to the day’s events. With these noisy and colourful fireworks exhibitions, there was some concern for animals at the showgrounds:
A lot of people didn't want fireworks at the Show because of the livestock, and after a while they realised it didn't really upset the stock that much. A few horses might have not enjoyed it, but we got around it, kept the noise down.
The daily fireworks display would take a couple of men the full day to set up and then in the minutes before it commenced, a team of around eight would go into action to get everything ready. The fireworks went ahead whatever Melbourne’s September weather presented. Rain would not stop them, although there were a couple of occasions when dangerous winds did mean the fireworks simply could not go ahead. Safety was always the number one concern.
Overnight, Sydney would stay on site in a caravan, part of a special community of Show folk that took over the showgrounds once the general public had left for the day. Sydney describes the atmosphere overnight as ‘terrific’. He recalls one night when the famous clowns, the Kelly brothers, rode their ponies right up to the bar where Sydney and others were enjoying a drink after a long day’s work, creating quite a stir.
After a long and exciting career in the pyrotechnics game – including four decades of bringing joy and wonder to audiences at the Royal Melbourne Show – Sydney knew when it was time to call it a day. ‘My father and grandfather lost a hand each in fireworks but I kept mine. I got out after 50 years before anything happened.’