Australian Bicentenary claimed the Bicentenary was attempting to re-write the British out of the history of Australia. On 26 January 1988, more than 40,000 people, including aborigines from across the country, staged the largest march in Sydney since the early 1970s Vietnam Moratorium demonstrations. The protesters marched through Sydney chanting for land rights. The march ended at Hyde Park where several prominent aboriginal leaders and activists spoke, among them Gary Foley. Demonstrations were also held in other cities and towns including Canberra. This was part of a wider Bicentennial Boycott movement which started in the leadup to the Bicentennial. When it was
Giuseppe Verdi "Dell'invito trascorsa e gia l'ora" from the start of "La traviata". The bicentenary of Verdi's birth in 2013 was celebrated in numerous events around the world, both in performances and broadcasts. In recent years historians have vigorously debated how political Verdi's operas were. In particular, the "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" (known as "Va, pensiero") from the third act of the opera "Nabucco" was intended to be an anthem for Italian patriots, who were seeking to unify their country and free it from foreign control in the years up to 1861 (the chorus's theme of exiles singing about their homeland,