Winter Solstice

The winter solstice in Australia occurred on Friday 21 June, when  the sun was at its furthermost point north at just after 3 pm.  Thus, the day was the "shortest  day" of the year.    It follows that the nights on either side were the longest nights of the year (perhaps Friday night was actually the longest?)  

The main thing is that each day will now be a little longer than the day before, from now until the summer solstice in December.

When I was young, these events were mentioned but these days they seem to pass without notice [edit - but I've now heard of a "solstice party", and apparently they celebrate it in Hobart by "skinny dipping"!)