Opera House to turn green for St Pat's

Published: 4:16AM Wednesday March 17, 2010 Source: AAP

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It is the one day of the year Kermit the Frog would be unlikely to mope about the difficulties of being green because he does not like having to spend each day the same colour as leaves.
  
That is because shamrocks, oversized green hats, Irish flags and all things green will be proudly celebrated to mark 200 years of St Patrick's Day celebrations in Australia.
  
Even the Sydney Opera House will be swathed in green light.
  
St Patrick's Day was first celebrated in Sydney on March 17, 1810, when the then NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie provided entertainment for Irish convict workers.
  
Two hundred years later the Opera House will for the first time, have a green hue over it from 7.30pm local time, in recognition of the huge number of Australians with Irish heritage.
  
"So many Australians can trace their lineage to Ireland and these are the people we remember and salute on St Patrick's Day," The Irish Echo newspaper's editor Billy Cantwell said.
  
Family history website Ancestry.com.au claims almost two million Australians have Irish heritage, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

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