The Sydney Opera House will be illuminated with a projection of indigenous art every evening for a year, as part of a range of cultural displays to mark a historic anniversary for Aborigines in Australia.

The light show, which will run for seven minutes from sunset each day, is called "Badu Gili", or "water light", in the language of the Gadigal Aboriginal people, who are the traditional owners of Bennelong Point, where the Sydney Opera House sits, according to The Independent.

The launch of the artwork illumination coincided with the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, in which Australians voted overwhelmingly in favour of including Aboriginal Australians in the census, and was broadcast live by the Opera House, the British online newspaper reported.

The illumination project will feature the works of five First Nation artists: Jenuarrie (Judith Warrie), Frances Belle Parker, Alick Tipoti and the late Lin Onus and Minnie Pwerle. The artists come from across Australia and the Torres Strait Islands.