The opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games began at dusk on September 15, 2000, with a fanfare of charging Aussie stockmen, dignitaries, flags, and anthems. Then the floor of the huge stadium was cleared.

The sound of gulls signaled sea's edge. A golden-haired girl in pink beach dress skipped into the stadium, placed a beach towel down on the sand, and laid back. The Australian television commentator explained: "The opening ceremony tonight is designed to encapsulate the evolution of Australia from its ancient Indigenous origins to a modern twenty-first century society. A wide brown land linked inextricably to the sea. It is now, and always has been, a land of dreams."

Giant marine creatures floated into the stadium. Suddenly and dramatically the "dream girl" rose, swimming her way to the surface many meters above the stadium floor. Stadium Australia was transformed into an ocean in which a...