Harmony Day is celebrated on the same day as the annual United Nations Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
To mark the day, Year Three students at Al Amanah College in Sydney's west learned about how people live all over the world.
Children from Bangladesh, Lebanon, Pakistan and Syria celebrated their cultural backgrounds, by bringing in costumes and instruments to school.
“We celebrate the same things as in Australia but we celebrate them in different ways,” one child said.
The college’s coordinator, Samaya Sahyouni, said Harmony Day is an important event on the school calendar, and one that students look forward to.
"Their cultural identity is very important to them and they like to celebrate that, so today is a day about diversity,” she said.
Almost one-third of Australians were born overseas; many more have parents of a migrant background.
The nation’s 23 million citizens have been born in 250 different countries, and speak 240 different languages.
They also belong to 120 different faiths.
Karima Al Shelh was born in Australia to Lebanese parents.
Her granddaughter is in kindergarten at Al Amanah, where she spent Harmony Day teaching the kindergarten students about her background and her family’s journey to Australia.
"It's important that the new generation need to learn that no matter what colour, what race you’re from, we're all human beings and we need to live together,” she said.
Harmony Day also marked with cultural diversity leadership event:
