You must have heard about the “Schoolies Week,” but you may not know what exactly it is. If that’s the case, the information provided below must be interesting for you.

Schoolies Week is a graduation festival of three weeks celebrated by Year 12 school graduates from every nook and corner of Australia. The festival starts right after the graduation and ends three weeks later, for instance, for 2012, the starting date is Saturday 17 November while the finishing date is Sunday 11 December.

The history of the Schoolies Week goes back to the 1970s when it first began at Broadbeach. Over the past 40 years, high school graduates in Australia have celebrated their accomplishment with a weeklong partying at the famous tourist destinations. It will not be exaggeration to call this festival the most important youth event in the national social calendar.

Schoolies Week has somewhat become a cultural rite of passage in Australia, an event that signifies the transition in terms of social status. Upon graduating the high school, children blossom into adults, beyond the schools and into the adult world, to build a life of their own. The reason of its popularity is mostly associated with this significance attached to it.

The most enduring tradition associated with the Schoolies Week is the first dive into the ocean, which in a way represents the plunge of freedom and the idea that the school is finished forever.

Initially, Schoolies destination had been restricted to Queensland’s Gold Coast at Surfers Paradise, but since the early 1990s, it has expanded to other areas as well include the Sunshine Coast, Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, Mooloolaba, Magnetic Island and Rockampton.

Besides Queensland, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbor and Byron Bay are some popular destinations in New South Wales as well. In Victoria, Schoolies Week is usually celebrated in Lorne and Torquay.

Victor Harbour is the only destination in South Australia, it is, however, the second largest destination all over the country. As far as Western Australia is concerned, Schoolies Week is celebrated a bit differently. For starters, it is known as the “Leaver’s Week” and is celebrated in Busselton, Rottnest Island and Dunsborough.

As you can see, there are designated places in each state but its still considered more “festival like” when celebrated in Queensland. Traditionally, each of the three weeks attract a different state of year 12’s in Queensland so they party with their own fellow students. In that case, Queensland graduates are the first to go.