The Retro Way McDonald's Australia Is Celebrating Its 50th Anniversary

Fifty years ago, McDonald's opened up their first Australian location in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona, according to the company's website. The opening of the restaurant was a cause for massive celebration and was heralded with a big event. According to Australian Food Timeline, a chartered double-decker bus brought patrons to the restaurant and a man in a clown suit, who may or may not have been the Ronald McDonald, handed yo-yos out to children. The original menu's prices could also make anyone's jaw drop. Back then, burgers went for 20 cents, while the original Australian menu featured items like fish 'n' chips and coleslaw. While the original store shuttered in 1994, per the article, the patrons never forgot the flagship restaurant — and they plan to commemorate it again.

The Daily Mail reports that the original Yagoona location is now reopened in celebration of the restaurant's 50-year anniversary and it takes diners back to the early '70s in all its glory. The interior of the restaurant looks just like how it did back in 1971 and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on opening day (Friday, December 17), all menu items had 1971 prices. The fun doesn't stop there, though — the restaurant also plans to sell $1 cheeseburgers and $2 coffees until January 7 as part of the promotion.

McDonald's has a history of celebrating its anniversaries in big ways. According to a press release from the company, the brand honored 50 years of the Big Mac by unveiling the MacCoin, a new form of currency — for a limited time back in 2018, customers received MacCoins and could trade them in for free Big Macs. And, when Canada's McDonald's branch celebrated its 50th anniversary, the chain decided to sell burgers for 67 cents to commemorate the opening date back in 1967, per McDonald's. With a deal like that, it could make anyone excited to see what the company plans to do once they turn 100 years old in the year 2040.

If you find yourself in Yagoona around the relaunch of the 1971 retro McDonald's, maybe the newly revamped interior and old-school prices can sweep you up in a wave of nostalgia. With any luck, you might just start remembering the good old days, even if you weren't around at the time to live through them.