Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, and the most populous city in both
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
Oceania
Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
.
Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds
Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
and extends about towards the
Blue Mountains to the west,
Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to:
People
*Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman
Places
;Geography
*Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada
* Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...
to the north, the
Royal National Park
The Royal National Park is a protected national park that is located in Sutherland Shire in the Australian state of New South Wales, just south of Sydney.
The national park is about south of the Sydney central business district near the local ...
to the south and
Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, spread across 33 local government areas. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". The 2021 census recorded the population of Greater Sydney as 5,231,150, meaning the city is home to approximately 66% of the state's population.
[ Estimated resident population, 30 June 2017.] Nicknames of the city include the 'Emerald City' and the 'Harbour City'.
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
have inhabited the Greater Sydney region for at least 30,000 years, and
Aboriginal engravings
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
and cultural sites are common throughout Greater Sydney. The
traditional custodians of the land on which modern Sydney stands are the clans of the
Darug
The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...
,
Dharawal
The Dharawal people, also spelt Tharawal and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Dharawal language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, s ...
and
Eora
The Eora (''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as the Sy ...
peoples.
During his
first Pacific voyage in 1770,
James Cook
James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
charted the eastern coast of Australia, making landfall at
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
. In 1788, the
First Fleet
The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...
of
convicts
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...
, led by
Arthur Phillip
Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales.
Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 unti ...
, founded Sydney as a British
penal colony
A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...
, the first European settlement in Australia.
After World War II, Sydney experienced mass migration and by 2021 over 40 per cent of the population was born overseas. Foreign countries of birth with the greatest representation are Mainland China, India,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Despite being one of the most expensive cities in the world, Sydney frequently ranks in the top ten
most liveable cities in the world.
It is classified as an
Alpha
Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...
global city by the
Globalization and World Cities Research Network
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershi ...
, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has an advanced market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing and
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
.
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/tough-week-for-a-sydney-success-story-20120217-1te9q.html?skin=text-only ] Established in 1850, the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
was Australia's first university and is regarded as one of the world's leading universities.
[http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-septerankings/2016#sorting=rank+region=+country=319+faculty=+stars=false+search= ]
Sydney has hosted major international sporting events such as the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
. The city is among the top fifteen most-visited cities in the world, with millions of tourists coming each year to see the city's landmarks.
The city has over of
nature reserves and parks, and its notable natural features include
Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
and Royal National Park. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the World Heritage-listed
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
are major tourist attractions.
Central Station
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
is the hub of Sydney's rail network, and the main passenger airport serving the city is
Kingsford Smith Airport
Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (colloquially Mascot Airport, Kingsford Smith Airport, or Sydney Airport; ; ) is an international airport in Sydney, Australia, located 8 km (5 mi) south of the Sydney central business district, in the ...
, one of the world's oldest continually operating airports.
Toponymy
In 1788, Captain
Arthur Phillip
Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales.
Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 unti ...
, the first governor of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, named the cove where the first British settlement was established
Sydney Cove
Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...
after Home Secretary
Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney
Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (24 February 1733 – 30 June 1800) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1754 to 1783 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Sydney. He held several important Cabinet posts in t ...
.
The cove was called ''Warrane'' by the Aboriginal inhabitants. Phillip considered naming the settlement
Albion
Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...
, but this name was never officially used.
By 1790 Phillip and other officials were regularly calling the township Sydney. The town of Sydney was declared a city in 1842.
The
Gadigal
The Cadigal, also spelled as Gadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Indigenous people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The Gadigal originally inhabited the area that ...
(Cadigal) clan, whose territory stretches along the southern shore of Port Jackson from
South Head to
Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district.
Origin ...
, are the traditional owners of the land on which the British settlement was initially established, and call their territory ''Gadi'' (''Cadi''). Aboriginal clan names within the Sydney region were often formed by adding the suffix "-gal" to a word denoting the name for their territory, a specific place in their territory, a food source, or totem. The modern Greater Sydney area covers the traditional lands of 28 known Aboriginal clans.
History
First inhabitants of the region
![AboriginalSite0008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/AboriginalSite0008.jpg)
The first people to inhabit the area now known as Sydney were
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
who had migrated from northern Australia and before that from southeast Asia. Flaked pebbles found in Western Sydney's gravel sediments might indicate human occupation from 45,000 to 50,000 years BP,
while
radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was dev ...
has shown evidence of human activity in the Sydney region from around 30,000 years ago.
Prior to the arrival of the British, there were 4,000 to 8,000 Aboriginal people in the greater Sydney region.
The inhabitants subsisted on fishing, hunting, and gathering plant foods and shellfish. The diet of the coastal clans was more reliant on
seafoods
Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus and ...
whereas the food of hinterland clans was more focused on forest animals and plants. The clans had distinctive sets of equipment and weapons mostly made of stone, wood, plant materials, bone and shell. They also differed in their body decorations, hairstyles, songs and dances. Aboriginal clans had a rich ceremonial life which was part of a belief system centering on ancestral, totemic and supernatural beings. People from different clans and language groups came together to participate in initiation and other ceremonies. These occasions fostered trade, marriages and clan alliances.
[Attenbrow (2010). pp. 28,158]
The earliest
British settlers
The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820.
Origins
After the ...
recorded the word '
Eora
The Eora (''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as the Sy ...
' as an Aboriginal term meaning either 'people' or 'from this place'.
The clans of the Sydney area occupied land with traditional boundaries. There is debate, however, about which group or nation these clans belonged to, and the extent of differences in language, dialect and initiation rites. The major groups were the coastal Eora people, the Dharug (Darug) occupying the inland area from
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
to the Blue Mountains, and the Dharawal people south of Botany Bay.
Darginung and Gundungurra languages were spoken on the fringes of the Sydney area.
[Attenbrow (2010). pp. 22-29]
The first meeting between Aboriginals and British explorers occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
(Kamay) and encountered the
Gweagal
The Gweagal (also spelt Gwiyagal) are a clan of the Dharawal people of Aboriginal Australians. Their descendants are traditional custodians of the southern geographic areas of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Country
The Gweagal lived on t ...
clan. Two Gweagal men opposed the landing party and in the confrontation one of them was shot and wounded. Cook and his crew stayed at Botany Bay for a week, collecting water, timber, fodder and botanical specimens and exploring the surrounding area. Cook sought to establish relations with the Aboriginal population without success.
Convict town (1788–1840)
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
had been sending convicts to its American colonies for most of the eighteenth century, and the loss of these colonies in 1783 was the impetus for the decision to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay. Proponents of colonisation also pointed to the strategic importance of a new base in the Asia-Pacific region and its potential to provide much-needed timber and flax for the navy.
The
First Fleet
The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...
of 11 ships under the command of Captain
Arthur Phillip
Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales.
Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 unti ...
arrived in Botany Bay in January 1788. It consisted of more than a thousand settlers, including 736 convicts. The fleet soon moved to the more suitable
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
where a settlement was established at
Sydney Cove
Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...
on 26 January 1788. The colony of New South Wales was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788. Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Philip described as being, 'with out exception the finest Harbour in the World
..Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security'.
The settlement was planned to be a self-sufficient penal colony based on subsistence agriculture. Trade and ship building were banned in order to keep the convicts isolated. However, the soil around the settlement proved poor and the first crops failed, leading to several years hunger and strict food rationing. The food crisis was relieved with the arrival of the
Second Fleet
The United States Second Fleet is a numbered fleet in the United States Navy responsible for the East Coast and North Atlantic Ocean. The Fleet was established following World War II. In September 2011, Second Fleet was deactivated in view of ...
in mid-1790 and the
Third Fleet
The United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering ...
in 1791. Former convicts received small grants of land, and government and private farms spread to the more fertile lands around
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
,
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
and
Camden on the
Cumberland Plain
The Cumberland Plain, an IBRA biogeographic region, is a relatively flat region lying to the west of Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. Cumberland Basin is the preferred physiographic and geological term for the low-lying plain of the ...
. By 1804, the colony was self-sufficient in food.
A smallpox epidemic in April 1789 killed about half the Indigenous population of the Sydney region.
In November 1790
Bennelong
Woollarawarre Bennelong ( 1764 – 3 January 1813), also spelt Baneelon, was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal Australian people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. Bennelong serv ...
led a group of survivors of the Sydney clans into the settlement, establishing a continuous presence of Aboriginal Australians in settled Sydney.
Phillip had been given no instructions for urban development, but in July 1788 submitted a plan for the new town at
Sydney Cove
Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...
. It included a wide central avenue, a permanent Government House, law courts, hospital and other public buildings, but no provision for warehouses, shops, or other commercial buildings. Phillip promptly ignored his own plan, and unplanned development became a feature of Sydney's topography.
![View of Sydney Cove - Thomas Watling](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/View_of_Sydney_Cove_-_Thomas_Watling.jpg)
After the departure of Phillip in December 1792, the colony's military officers began acquiring land and importing consumer goods obtained from visiting ships. Former convicts also engaged in trade and opened small businesses. Soldiers and former convicts built houses on Crown land, with or without official permission, in what was now commonly called Sydney town. Governor
William Bligh
Vice-Admiral William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS ''Bounty'' occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command; after being set adrift i ...
(180608) imposed restrictions on trade and commerce in the town and ordered the demolition of buildings erected on Crown land, including some owned by past and serving military officers. The resulting conflict culminated in the
Rum Rebellion
The Rum Rebellion of 1808 was a ''coup d'état'' in the then-British penal colony of New South Wales, staged by the New South Wales Corps in order to depose Governor William Bligh. Australia's first and only military coup, the name derives from ...
of 1808, in which Bligh was deposed by the
New South Wales Corps
The New South Wales Corps (sometimes called The Rum Corps) was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment of the British Army to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia, in fortifying the ...
.
Governor
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Lachlan Macquarie, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (; gd, Lachann MacGuaire; 31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie se ...
(18101821), played a leading role in the development of Sydney and New South Wales, establishing a bank, a currency and a hospital. He employed a planner to design the street layout of Sydney and commissioned the construction of roads, wharves, churches, and public buildings.
Parramatta Road
Parramatta Road is the major historical east-west artery of metropolitan Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, connecting the Sydney CBD with Parramatta. It is the easternmost part of the Great Western Highway. Since the 1990s its role has been a ...
, linking Sydney and Parramatta, was opened in 1811
and a road across the
Blue Mountains was completed in 1815, opening the way for large scale farming and grazing in the lightly-wooded pastures west of the
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
.
Following the departure of Macquarie, official policy encouraged the emigration of free British settlers to New South Wales. Immigration to the colony increased from 900 free settlers in 1826-30 to 29,000 in 1836-40, many of whom settled in Sydney.
By the 1840s Sydney exhibited a geographic divide between poor and working class residents living west of the
Tank Stream
The Tank Stream is a heritage-listed former fresh water tributary of Sydney Cove and now tunnel and watercourse located in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The Ta ...
in areas such as
The Rocks, and the more affluent residents living to its east.
Free settlers, free-born residents and former convicts now represented the vast majority of the population of Sydney, leading to increasing public agitation for responsible government and an end to transportation. Transportation to New South Wales ceased in 1840.
Conflict on the Cumberland Plain
In 1804, Irish convicts led around 300 rebels in the
Castle Hill Rebellion
The Castle Hill convict rebellion was an 1804 Convicts in Australia, convict rebellion in the Castle Hill, New South Wales, Castle Hill area of Sydney, against the colonial authorities of the British Empire, British colony of Colony of New South ...
, an attempt to march on Sydney, commandeer a ship, and sail to freedom. Poorly armed, and with their leader Philip Cunningham captured, the main body of insurgents were routed by about 100 troops and volunteers at
Rouse Hill
Rouse Hill is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Rouse Hill is located in the Hills District, 43 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and 19 kilometres north-west of the Parramatta central ...
. At least 39 convicts were killed in the uprising and subsequent executions.
As the colony spread to the more fertile lands around the
Hawkesbury river
The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...
, north-west of Sydney, conflict between the settlers and the
Darug
The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...
people intensified, reaching a peak from 1794 to 1810. Bands of Darug people, led by
Pemulwuy
Pemulwuy (also rendered as Pimbloy, Pemulvoy, Pemulwoy, Pemulwy or Pemulwye, or sometimes by contemporary Europeans as Bimblewove, Bumbleway or Bembulwoyan) (c. 1750 – 2 June 1802) was a Bidjigal man of the Eora nation, born around 1750 in th ...
and later by his son
Tedbury
Tedbury (c. 1780, Botany Bay – 1810, Parramatta), also known as ''Tidbury'' and ''Tjedboro'', was a Darug Aboriginal Australian involved in frequent acts of resistance to British colonists in the early years of New South Wales. He was the s ...
, burned crops, killed livestock and raided settler huts and stores in a pattern of resistance that was to be repeated as the
colonial frontier expanded. A military garrison was established on the Hawkesbury in 1795. The death toll from 1794 to 1800 was 26 settlers and up to 200 Darug.
Conflict again erupted from 1814 to 1816 with the expansion of the colony into Dharawal country in the Nepean region south-west of Sydney. Following the deaths of several settlers, Governor Macquarie despatched three military detachments into Dharawal lands, culminating in the
Appin massacre
Appin is a town in the Macarthur, New South Wales, Macarthur Region on Tharawal country near its boundary with Gandangara country, New South Wales, Australia in Wollondilly Shire. It is situated about south of Campbelltown, New South Wales, Cam ...
(April 1816) in which at least 14 Aboriginal people were killed.
Colonial city (1841–1900)
The New South Wales Legislative Council was transformed into a semi-elected body in 1842. The town of Sydney was declared a city the same year, and a governing council established, elected on a restrictive property franchise.
![Sydney 1888](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Sydney_1888.jpg)
The discovery of gold in New South Wales and Victoria in 1851 initially caused some economic disruption as male workers moved to the goldfields. Melbourne soon overtook Sydney as Australia's largest city, leading to an enduring rivalry between the two cities. However, increased immigration from overseas and wealth from gold exports increased demand for housing, consumer goods, services and urban amenities.
[Goodman, David (2013). "The gold rushes of the 1850s". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp. 180–81.] The New South Wales government also stimulated growth by investing heavily in railways, trams, roads, ports, telegraph, schools and urban services. The population of Sydney and its suburbs grew from 95,600 in 1861 to 386,900 in 1891. The city developed many of its characteristic features. The growing population packed into rows of terrace houses in narrow streets. New public buildings of sandstone abounded, including at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
(1854–61), the
Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
(1858–66), the Town Hall (1868–88), and the
General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
(1866–92). Elaborate
coffee palace
A coffee palace was an often large and elaborate residential hotel that did not serve alcohol, most of which were built in Australia in the late 19th century.
A modest temperance hotel was opened in 1826 by activist Gerrit Smith in his home ...
s and hotels were erected.
Exotic plants such as jacarandas and frangipani were introduced in parks and gardens. Daylight bathing at Sydney's beaches was banned, but segregated bathing at designated ocean baths was popular.
Drought, the winding down of public works and a financial crisis led to economic depression in Sydney throughout most of the 1890s. Meanwhile, the Sydney-based premier of New South Wales,
George Reid
Sir George Houston Reid, (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales f ...
, became a key figure in the process of federation.
State capital (1901–present)
When the six colonies federated on 1 January 1901, Sydney became the capital of the State of New South Wales. The spread of
bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...
in 1900 prompted the new state government to modernise the wharves and demolish inner-city slums. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 saw more Sydney males volunteer for the armed forces than the Commonwealth authorities could process, and helped reduce unemployment in the city. Those returning from the war in 1918 were promised "homes fit for heroes" in new suburbs such as Daceyville and Matraville. "Garden suburbs" and mixed industrial and residential developments also grew along the rail and tram corridors.
The population reached one million in 1926, after Sydney had regained its position as the most populous city in Australia. The government created jobs with massive public projects such as the electrification of the
Sydney rail network
Sydney, the largest city in Australia, has an extensive network of passenger and freight railways. The passenger system includes an extensive suburban railway network, operated by Sydney Trains, a metro network and a light rail network. A d ...
and building the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
![Sydney 1932](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Sydney_1932.jpg)
Sydney was more severely affected by the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
of the 1930s than regional NSW or Melbourne. New building almost came to a standstill, and by 1933 the unemployment rate for male workers was 28 per cent, but over 40 per cent in working class areas such as Alexandria and Redfern. Many families were evicted from their homes and shanty towns grew along coastal Sydney and Botany Bay, the largest being "Happy Valley" at
La Perouse. The Depression also exacerbated political divisions. In March 1932, when populist Labor premier
Jack Lang attempted to open the Sydney Harbour Bridge he was upstaged by
Francis de Groot
Francis Edward de Groot (24 October 18881 April 1969) was a member of the fascist, paramilitary organisation, the New Guard of Australia, who was most famous for intervening on horseback during the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge ...
of the far-right
New Guard
The New Guard was an Australian fascist paramilitary organisation during the Great Depression. It was the largest and most successful fascist organisation in Australian history.
The New Guard, known for its violent agitation against Premier o ...
, who slashed the ribbon with a sabre.
In January 1938, Sydney celebrated the
Empire Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
and the sesquicentenary of European settlement in Australia. One journalist wrote, "Golden beaches. Sun tanned men and maidens...Red-roofed villas terraced above the blue waters of the harbour...Even
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
seems like some grey and stately city of Northern Europe compared with Sydney's sub-tropical splendours." Meanwhile, a congress of the "Aborigines of Australia", declared 26 January "A
Day of Mourning
A national day of mourning is a day or days marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by the national government. Such days include those marking the death or funeral of ...
" for "the whiteman's seizure of our country."
With the outbreak of war in 1939, Sydney experienced a surge in industrial development to meet the needs of a wartime economy. Unemployment virtually disappeared and women moved into jobs previously male preserves. Sydney was attacked by
Japanese submarines in May and June 1942 with 21 lives lost. Households throughout the city built air raid shelters and performed drills.
A post-war immigration and baby boom saw a rapid increase in Sydney's population and the spread of low-density housing in suburbs throughout the Cumberland Plain. Immigrantsmostly from Britain and continental Europeand their children accounted for over three-quarters of Sydney's population growth between 1947 and 1971. The newly created Cumberland County Council oversighted low-density residential developments, the largest at
Green Valley and
Mount Druitt
Mount Druitt is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown, and is part of the Greater Western Sydney reg ...
. Older residential centres such as Parramatta,
Bankstown
Bankstown is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is located in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, hav ...
and
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
became suburbs of the metropolis. Manufacturing, protected by high tariffs, employed over a third of the workforce from 1945 to the 1960s. However, as the long post-war economic boom progressed, retail and other service industries became the main source of new jobs.
An estimated one million onlookers, most of the city's population, watched as
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
landed in 1954 at Farm Cove where Captain Phillip had raised the Union Jack 165 years earlier, commencing her
Australian Royal Tour. It was the first time a reigning monarch stepped onto Australian soil.
Increasing high rise development in Sydney and the expansion of suburbs beyond the "green belt" envisaged by the planners of the 1950s resulted in community protests. In the early 1970s, trade unions and resident action groups imposed
green ban
A green ban is a form of strike action, usually taken by a trade union or other organised labour group, which is conducted for environmentalist or conservationist purposes. They were mainly done in Australia in the 1970s, led by the Builders Labo ...
s on development projects in historic areas such as The Rocks. Federal, State and local governments subsequently introduced a range of heritage and environmental legislation.
The Sydney Opera House was also controversial for its cost and disputes between architect
Jørn Utzon
Jørn Oberg Utzon, , Hon. FAIA (; 9 April 191829 November 2008) was a Danish architect. He was most notable for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia, completed in 1973. When it was declared a World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007, Utzo ...
and government officials. However, soon after it opened in 1973 it became a major tourist attraction and symbol of the city. The progressive reduction in tariff protection from 1974 began the transformation of Sydney from a manufacturing centre focused on the domestic market to a "world city" providing financial, commercial, cultural and educational services to local residents and Australian and overseas markets. From the 1980s, overseas
immigration to Sydney grew rapidly, with
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
becoming major sources of immigrants. By 2021, the population of Sydney was over 5.2 million, with 40% of the population born overseas. China and India overtook England as the largest source countries for overseas-born residents.
Geography
Topography
![Sydney ASTER 2001 oct 12](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Sydney_ASTER_2001_oct_12.jpg)
Sydney is a coastal basin with the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...
to the east, the
Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north, and the
Woronora Plateau
The Woronora Plateau is a plateau located in New South Wales, Australia. The area is adjacent to the Sydney Plains and is slightly higher in altitude. It is capped with Hawkesbury Sandstone. It is often hotter in summer and colder in winter than ...
to the south. The inner City Of Sydney measures , the Greater Sydney region (which includes the non-metropolitan areas of Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollondilly, Wollongong and Shellharbour) covers , and the city's urban area is in size. Metropolitan Sydney's boundaries stretch 88 kilometres (55 mi) from
Palm Beach in the north to
Waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...
in the south, and 70 kilometres (43 mi) from
Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Easter ...
in the east to
Emu Plains
Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney re ...
in the west.
Sydney spans two geographic regions. The
Cumberland Plain
The Cumberland Plain, an IBRA biogeographic region, is a relatively flat region lying to the west of Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. Cumberland Basin is the preferred physiographic and geological term for the low-lying plain of the ...
lies to the south and west of the Harbour and is relatively flat. The
Hornsby Plateau
The Hornsby Plateau is a dissected sandstone plateau lying to the north of Sydney Harbour that rises 200 metres. The plateau is a part of the larger Sydney Basin structure.
Geography
The North Shore and the Berowra Valley National Park are locat ...
is located to the north and is dissected by steep valleys. The flat areas of the south were the first to be developed as the city grew. It was not until the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that the northern reaches of the coast became more heavily populated.
Seventy surf beaches can be found along its coastline with Bondi Beach being one of the most famous.
The
Nepean River
Nepean River (Darug: Yandhai), is a major perennial river, located in the south-west and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Nepean River and its associated mouth, the Hawkesbury River, almost encircles the metropolitan region of ...
wraps around the western edge of the city and becomes the Hawkesbury River before reaching
Broken Bay
Broken Bay, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a large inlet of the Tasman Sea located about north of Sydney central business district on the coast of New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies of water that separa ...
. Most of Sydney's water storages can be found on tributaries of the Nepean River. The
Parramatta River
The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Seco ...
is mostly industrial and drains a large area of Sydney's western suburbs into Port Jackson. The southern parts of the city are drained by the
Georges River
The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River, is an intermediate tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, located to the south and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The river travels for approximately in a north and then easterly ...
and the
Cooks River
The Cooks River, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a tributary of Botany Bay, located in south-eastern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The course of the long urban waterway has been altered to accommodate various deve ...
into Botany Bay.
According to calculations by the
Senseable City Lab The MIT Senseable City Laboratory is a digital laboratory within MIT's City Design and Development group, within the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, which works in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab. The lab aims to investigate and anti ...
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT), 25.9% of Sydney is
covered by trees, making it the third largest city in the world with the most trees after
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
and
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, respectively, tying with
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
.
Geology
![South Head, Sydney Harbour](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/South_Head%2C_Sydney_Harbour.jpg)
Sydney is made up of mostly
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...
rock with some recent
igneous
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
dykes and
volcanic
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
necks (typically found in the
Prospect dolerite intrusion
The Prospect dolerite intrusion, or Prospect intrusion, is a Jurassic picrite or dolerite laccolith that is situated in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Lying in the heart of Cumberland Plain, in the suburb of Pemulwuy (previously Greystanes ...
, west of Sydney). The
Sydney Basin
The Sydney Basin is an interim Australian bioregion and is both a structural entity and a depositional area, now preserved on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia and with some of its eastern side now subsided beneath the Tasman Sea. ...
was formed when the Earth's crust expanded, subsided, and filled with sediment in the early Triassic period.
The sand that was to become the sandstone of today was washed there by rivers from the south and northwest and laid down between 360 and 200 million years ago. The sandstone has
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
lenses and fossil riverbeds.
The
Sydney Basin
The Sydney Basin is an interim Australian bioregion and is both a structural entity and a depositional area, now preserved on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia and with some of its eastern side now subsided beneath the Tasman Sea. ...
bioregion includes coastal features of cliffs, beaches, and estuaries. Deep river valleys known as
ria
A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea.
Definitions
Typically rias have a Drainage system (geomorphology)#Dendritic dr ...
s were carved during the Triassic period in the
Hawkesbury sandstone
Sydney sandstone is the common name for Sydney Basin Hawkesbury Sandstone, one variety of which is historically known as Yellowblock, and also as "yellow gold" a sedimentary rock named after the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, where this ...
of the coastal region where Sydney now lies. The rising sea level between 18,000 and 6,000 years ago flooded the rias to form estuaries and deep harbours.
Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is one such
ria
A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea.
Definitions
Typically rias have a Drainage system (geomorphology)#Dendritic dr ...
. Sydney features two major soil types;
sandy soil
Sandy may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Sandy (surname), a list of people
*Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983)
* (Sandy) ...
s (which originate from the Hawkesbury sandstone) and
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
(which are from shales and
volcanic rock
Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic r ...
s), though some soils may be a mixture of the two.
Directly overlying the older Hawkesbury sandstone is the
Wianamatta shale
The Wianamatta Group is a geological feature of the Sydney Basin, New South Wales, Australia that directly overlies the older (but still Triassic in age) Hawkesbury sandstone and generally comprise fine grained sedimentary rocks such as shales an ...
, a geological feature found in western Sydney that was deposited in connection with a large
river delta
A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition (geology), deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, res ...
during the
Middle Triassic
In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided in chronostratigraphy. The Middle Triassic spans the time between Ma and ...
period which shifted over time from west to east. The Wianamatta shale generally comprises fine grained
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s such as shales,
mudstone
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...
s,
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
s,
siltstone
Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...
s and
laminite
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s, with less common sandstone units.
The Wianamatta Group is made up of the following units (listed in stratigraphic order):
Bringelly Shale
Bringelly Shale is a component of the Wianamatta group of sedimentary rocks in the Sydney Basin of eastern Australia. Formed in the Triassic Period, it has an extensive outcrop in the western parts of Sydney. The shale has its greatest geograp ...
,
Minchinbury Sandstone and
Ashfield Shale
Ashfield Shale is part of the Wianamatta group of sedimentary rocks in the Sydney Basin. It lies directly on contemporaneously eroded Hawkesbury sandstone or the Mittagong formation. These rock types were formed in the Triassic Period. It is nam ...
.
Ecology
![Western Sydney parklands 18](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Western_Sydney_parklands_18.jpg)
The most prevalent
plant communities
A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant co ...
in the Sydney region are grassy woodlands (i.e.
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
s) and some pockets of dry
sclerophyll
Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaf, leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is paral ...
forests, which consist of
eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...
trees,
casuarina
''Casuarina'' is a genus of 17 tree species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and eastern Africa. It was once treated as the sole genus in the fami ...
s,
melaleuca
''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They range in size ...
s,
corymbia
''Corymbia'', commonly known as bloodwoods, is a genus of about one hundred species of tree that, along with ''Eucalyptus'', '' Angophora'' and several smaller groups, are referred to as eucalypts. Until 1990, corymbias were included in the gen ...
s and
angophora
''Angophora'' is a genus of nine species of trees and shrubs in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Endemic to eastern Australia, they differ from other eucalypts in having juvenile and adult leaves arranged in opposite pairs, sepals reduced to projec ...
s, with shrubs (typically
wattles,
callistemon
''Callistemon'' is a genus of shrubs in the family Myrtaceae, first described as a genus in 1814. The entire genus is endemic to Australia but widely cultivated in many other regions and naturalised in scattered locations. Their status as a se ...
s,
grevillea
''Grevillea'', commonly known as spider flowers, is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Grevillea'' are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the b ...
s and
banksia
''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range i ...
s), and a semi-continuous grass in the
understory
In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...
. The plants in this community tend to have rough and spiky leaves, as they're grown in areas with low
soil fertility
Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality. . Sydney also features a few areas of wet sclerophyll forests which are found in the wetter, elevated areas in the
north
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and the
northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
. These forests are defined by straight, tall tree
canopies with a moist understory of soft-leaved shrubs,
tree ferns
The tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ...
and herbs.
The predominant vegetation community in Sydney is the
, which is found in
Western Sydney
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
(
Cumberland Plain
The Cumberland Plain, an IBRA biogeographic region, is a relatively flat region lying to the west of Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. Cumberland Basin is the preferred physiographic and geological term for the low-lying plain of the ...
), followed by the
Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest
The Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest (STIF) is dry sclerophyll forest community of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that is typically found in the Inner West and Northern region of Sydney. It is also among the three of these plant communitie ...
which is scattered in the Inner West and
Northern Sydney
Northern Sydney is a large metropolitan area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the north shore of Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River. The region embraces suburbs in Sydney’s north-east, north and inner north west. Northern Sydney is ...
,
[Recovering bushland on the Cumberland Plain]
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW). (2005). Recovering Bushland on the Cumberland Plain: Best practice guidelines for the management and restoration of bushland. Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW), Sydney. Retrieved 12 September 2022. the
Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub
The Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub is a remnant sclerophyll scrubland that is found in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Listed under the ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' as and endangere ...
in the coastline and the
Blue Gum High Forest
The Blue Gum High Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion is a wet sclerophyll forest found in the northern parts of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It has been classified as critically endangered, under the New South Wales government's ''Threate ...
which is scantily present in the North Shore – All of which are critically endangered.
The city also includes the
Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland
The Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland, also known as Coastal Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland and Hornsby Enriched Sandstone Exposed Woodland, is a shrubby woodland and mallee community situated in northern parts of Sydney, Australia, where it is f ...
found in
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a national park on the northern side of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The park is north of the Sydney central business district and generally comprises the land east of the M1 Pacific Motorway, sout ...
on the
Hornsby Plateau
The Hornsby Plateau is a dissected sandstone plateau lying to the north of Sydney Harbour that rises 200 metres. The plateau is a part of the larger Sydney Basin structure.
Geography
The North Shore and the Berowra Valley National Park are locat ...
to the north.
Sydney is home to dozens of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
species, which commonly include the
Australian raven
The Australian raven (''Corvus coronoides'') is a passerine bird in the genus ''Corvus'' native to much of southern and northeastern Australia. Measuring in length, it has all-black plumage, beak and mouth, as well as strong grey-black legs and ...
,
Australian magpie
The Australian magpie (''Gymnorhina tibicen'') is a black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. Although once considered to be three separate species, it is now considered to be one, with nine recognised subs ...
,
crested pigeon
The crested pigeon (''Ocyphaps lophotes'') is a bird found widely throughout mainland Australia except for the far northern tropical areas. Only two Australian pigeon species possess an erect crest, the crested pigeon and the spinifex pigeon. The ...
,
noisy miner
The noisy miner (''Manorina melanocephala'') is a bird in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae, and is endemic to eastern and southeastern Australia. This miner is a grey bird, with a black head, orange-yellow beak and feet, a distinctive yellow ...
and the
pied currawong
The pied currawong (''Strepera graculina'') is a black passerine bird native to eastern Australia and Lord Howe Island. One of three currawong species in the genus ''Strepera'', it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian magpie of ...
, among others.
Introduced bird species ubiquitously found in Sydney are the
common myna,
common starling
The common starling or European starling (''Sturnus vulgaris''), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about long and has glossy black plumage ...
,
house sparrow
The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, a ...
and the
spotted dove
The spotted dove (''Spilopelia chinensis'') is a small and somewhat long-tailed pigeon that is a common resident breeding bird across its native range on the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia. The species has been introduced to many parts ...
.
Reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...
species are also numerous and predominantly include
skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...
s. Sydney has a few
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
and
spider
Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
species, such as the
grey-headed flying fox
The grey-headed flying fox (''Pteropus poliocephalus'') is a megabat native to Australia. The species shares mainland Australia with three other members of the genus ''Pteropus'': the little red ''Pteropus scapulatus, P. scapulatus'', spectacle ...
and the
Sydney funnel-web
The Sydney funnel-web spider (''Atrax robustus'') is a species of venomous mygalomorph spider native to eastern Australia, usually found within a radius of Sydney. It is a member of a group of spiders known as Australian funnel-web spiders. I ...
, respectively,
and has a huge diversity of
marine species inhabiting its harbour and many beaches.
Climate
![Sydney Storm - panoramio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Sydney_Storm_-_panoramio.jpg)
Under the
Köppen–Geiger classification, Sydney has a
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(''Cfa'') with "warm
ndsometimes hot" summers and "cool" winters, as described by the
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments ...
. The
El Niño–Southern Oscillation
El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an irregular periodic variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, affecting the climate of much of the tropics and subtropics. The warming phase of the sea te ...
, the
Indian Ocean Dipole
The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), also known as the Indian Niño, is an irregular oscillation of sea surface temperatures in which the western Indian Ocean becomes alternately warmer (positive phase) and then colder (negative phase) than the eastern ...
and the
Southern Annular Mode
The Antarctic oscillation (AAO, to distinguish it from the Arctic oscillation or AO), also known as the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), is a low-frequency mode of atmospheric variability of the southern hemisphere that is defined as a belt of stron ...
play an important role in determining Sydney's weather patterns:
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
and
bushfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...
on the one hand, and storms and flooding on the other, associated with the opposite
phases of the oscillation in Australia. The weather is
moderated
Moderation is the process of eliminating or lessening extremes. It is used to ensure normality throughout the medium on which it is being conducted. Common uses of moderation include:
*Ensuring consistency and accuracy in the marking of stud ...
by proximity to the ocean, and more extreme temperatures are recorded in the inland western suburbs.
At Sydney's primary weather station at
Observatory Hill, extreme temperatures have ranged from on 18
January 2013 to on 22 June 1932. An average of 14.9 days a year have temperatures at or above in the central business district (CBD).
In contrast, the metropolitan area averages between 35 and 65 days, depending on the suburb. The hottest day in the Sydney metropolitan area occurred in
Penrith on 4 January 2020, where a high of was recorded. The average annual temperature of the sea ranges from in September to in February. Sydney has an average of 7.2 hours of sunshine per day and 109.5 clear days annually.
Due to the inland location,
frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...
is recorded early in the morning in
Western Sydney
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
a few times in winter. Autumn and spring are the transitional seasons, with spring showing a larger temperature variation than autumn.
Sydney experiences an
urban heat island
An urban heat island (UHI) is an urban or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparen ...
effect.
This makes certain parts of the city more vulnerable to extreme heat, including coastal suburbs.
In late spring and summer, temperatures over are not uncommon, though hot, dry conditions are usually ended by a
southerly buster, a powerful southerly that brings
gale
A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).[Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...]
, it occasionally experiences dry, westerly
foehn winds
A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range.
It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of ...
typically in winter and early spring (which are the reason for its warm maximum temperatures). Westerly winds are intense when the
Roaring forties
The Roaring Forties are strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40°S and 50°S. The strong west-to-east air currents are caused by the combination of air being displaced from the Equator ...
(or the
Southern Annular Mode
The Antarctic oscillation (AAO, to distinguish it from the Arctic oscillation or AO), also known as the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), is a low-frequency mode of atmospheric variability of the southern hemisphere that is defined as a belt of stron ...
) shift towards southeastern Australia, where they may damage homes and
affect flights, in addition to
making the temperature seem
colder than it actually is.
Rainfall has a moderate to low variability and has historically been fairly uniform throughout the year, although in recent years it has been more summer-dominant and erratic. Precipitation is usually higher in late summer through to early winter and lower in late winter to early spring.
In late autumn and winter,
east coast lows may bring large amounts of rainfall, especially in the CBD.
In the warm season
black nor'easter
A Black nor'easter is a persistent and potentially violent north-easterly storm that occurs on the east coast of Australia usually between late spring and early autumn, about two days a year (or more, depending on the intensity), although not a con ...
s are usually the cause of heavy rain events, though other forms of
low-pressure area
In meteorology, a low-pressure area, low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclement weather (such as cloudy, windy, with possible ...
s, including remnants of
ex-cyclones, may also bring heavy deluge and afternoon thunderstorms, particularly in the western suburbs. Snowfall was last reported in the Sydney City area in 1836, while a fall of
graupel
Graupel (; ), also called soft hail, hominy snow, or snow pellets, is precipitation that forms when supercooled water droplets in air are collected and freeze on falling snowflakes, forming balls of crisp, opaque rime.
Graupel is distinct from ...
, or soft hail, in
Lindfield,
Roseville and
Killara
Killara is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia north-west of the Sydney Central Business District in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council. East Killara is a separate suburb and ...
was mistaken by many for snow, in July 2008. In 2009, dry conditions brought a severe
dust storm towards the city.
Regions
![Satellite photo of the Greater Sydney Area at night](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Satellite_photo_of_the_Greater_Sydney_Area_at_night.jpg)
The regions of Sydney include the CBD or
City of Sydney
The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...
(colloquially referred to as 'the City') and
Inner West
The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...
, the
Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to:
Places
*Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India
*Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia
**Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia
Sports clubs
;Association football
*Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand
* Eastern ...
,
Southern Sydney
Southern Sydney is the southern metropolitan area of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
Southern Sydney includes the suburbs in the local government areas of Georges River Council and part of Bayside Council (collectively known ...
(including
St George
Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...
and
Sutherland Shire
Sutherland Shire is a local government area in the southern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sutherland Shire comprises an area of and as at the had an estimated population of . Sutherland Shire is colloquially ...
),
Greater Western Sydney
Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, and far western sub-regions within Sydney's metropoli ...
(including
South Western Sydney
South Western Sydney is a region of the metropolitan area in southwest Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the predominantly working class area of Greater Western Sydney. The region lies in the Cumberland Plain.
Local government ...
,
Hills District and the
Macarthur Region
Macarthur is a region in the south-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region includes the local government areas of the City of Campbelltown, Camden Council, and Wollondilly Shire. It covers an area of 3,067 s ...
), and
Northern Sydney
Northern Sydney is a large metropolitan area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the north shore of Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River. The region embraces suburbs in Sydney’s north-east, north and inner north west. Northern Sydney is ...
(including the
North Shore and
Northern Beaches
The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entra ...
). The
Greater Sydney Commission
The Greater Sydney Commission is an independent New South Wales Government agency responsible for land use planning across the metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia. The Commission was led by Lucy Turnbull
Lucinda Mary Turnbull Officer of t ...
divides Sydney into five districts based on the 33 LGAs in the metropolitan area; the Western City, the Central City, the Eastern City, the North District, and the South District. The Australian Bureau of Statistics includes City of Central Coast (the former Gosford City and Wyong Shire) as part of Greater Sydney for population counts. This adds another 330,000 people to the metropolitan area covered by Greater Sydney Commission.
Inner suburbs
The CBD extends about south from Sydney Cove. It is bordered by Farm Cove within the Royal Botanic Garden to the east and
Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district.
Origin ...
to the west. Suburbs surrounding the CBD include
Woolloomooloo
Woolloomooloo ( ) is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Woolloomooloo is 1.5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low ...
and
Potts Point
Potts Point is a small and densely populated suburb in inner-city Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Potts Point is located east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney.
Potts Po ...
to the east,
Surry Hills
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surroun ...
and
Darlinghurst
Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. I ...
to the south,
Pyrmont and
Ultimo to the west, and
Millers Point
Millers Point is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the north-western edge of the Sydney central business district, adjacent to The Rocks and is part of the local government area of the C ...
and
The Rocks to the north. Most of these suburbs measure less than in area. The Sydney CBD is characterised by considerably narrow streets and thoroughfares, created in its convict beginnings in the 18th century.
Several localities, distinct from suburbs, exist throughout Sydney's inner reaches.
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and
Circular Quay
Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...
are transport hubs with ferry, rail, and bus interchanges.
Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
, Darling Harbour, and
Kings Cross are important locations for culture, tourism, and recreation.
The Strand Arcade
The Strand Arcade is a heritage-listed Victorian-style retail arcade located at 195-197 Pitt Street in the heart of the Sydney central business district, between Pitt Street Mall and George Street in the City of Sydney local government area o ...
, which is located between
Pitt Street Mall
Pitt Street Mall is the pedestrianised section of Pitt Street in the Sydney central business district, in the Australian state of New South Wales. Running for approximately 200 metres between Market Street and King Street, it is one block long ...
and
George Street, is a historical
Victorian-style shopping
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
. Opened on 1 April 1892, its shop fronts are an exact replica of the original internal shopping facades. Westfield Sydney, located beneath the Sydney Tower, is the largest shopping centre by area in Sydney.
![Fiveways, Paddington, New South Wales 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Fiveways%2C_Paddington%2C_New_South_Wales_02.jpg)
There is a long trend of gentrification amongst Sydney's inner suburbs. Pyrmont located on the harbour was redeveloped from a centre of shipping and international trade to an area of high density housing, tourist accommodation, and gambling. Originally located well outside of the city, Darlinghurst is the location of the historic, former Darlinghurst Gaol, manufacturing, and mixed housing. It had a period when it was known as an area of prostitution. The terrace style housing has largely been retained and Darlinghurst has undergone significant gentrification since the 1980s.
Green Square, New South Wales, Green Square is a former industrial area of Waterloo, New South Wales, Waterloo which is undergoing urban renewal worth $8 billion. On the city harbour edge, the historic suburb and wharves of Millers Point are being built up as the new area of Barangaroo, New South Wales, Barangaroo. The enforced rehousing of local residents due to the Millers Point/Barangaroo development has caused significant controversy despite the $6 billion worth of economic activity it is expected to generate. The suburb of Paddington, New South Wales, Paddington is a well known suburb for its streets of restored terraced house, terrace houses, Victoria Barracks, Sydney, Victoria Barracks, and shopping including the weekly Oxford Street markets.
Inner West
The Inner West generally includes the Inner West Council, Municipality of Burwood, Municipality of Strathfield, and City of Canada Bay. These span up to about 11 km west of the CBD. Suburbs in the Inner West have historically housed working class industrial workers, but have undergone gentrification over the 20th century. The region now mainly features medium- and high-density housing. Major features in the area include the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
and the Parramatta River, as well as a large cosmopolitan community and the nightlife hub on King Street in Newtown, New South Wales, Newtown. The Anzac Bridge spans Johnstons Bay and connects Rozelle to
Pyrmont and the city, forming part of the Western Distributor (Sydney), Western Distributor.
The area is serviced by the North Shore & Western Line, T1, Inner West & Leppington Line, T2, and Bankstown Line, T3 railway lines, including the Main Suburban railway line, Main Suburban Line; which is the first to be constructed in New South Wales. Strathfield railway station is a secondary railway hub within Sydney, and major station on the Suburban and Main North railway line, New South Wales, Northern lines. It was constructed in 1876, and will be a future terminus of Parramatta Light Rail. The area is also serviced by numerous bus routes and cycleways. Other shopping centres in the area include Westfield Burwood and DFO Homebush.
Eastern suburbs
![Tamarama and Bronte from Tamarama Beach](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Tamarama_and_Bronte_from_Tamarama_Beach.jpg)
The Eastern Suburbs encompass the Municipality of Woollahra, the City of Randwick, the Waverley Municipal Council, and parts of the Bayside Council. The Greater Sydney Commission envisions a resident population of 1,338,250 people by 2036 in its Eastern City District (including the City and Inner West).
They include some of the most affluent and advantaged areas in the country, with some streets being amongst the most expensive in the world. As at 2014, Wolseley Road, Point Piper, had a top price of $20,900 per square metre, making it the ninth-most expensive street in the world. More than 75% of neighbourhoods in the Division of Wentworth, Electoral District of Wentworth fall under the top decile of SEIFA advantage, making it the least disadvantaged area in the country.
Major landmarks include
Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Easter ...
, a major tourist site; which was added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2008; and Bondi Junction, featuring a Westfield Bondi Junction, Westfield shopping centre and an estimated office work force of 6,400 by 2035, as well as a Bondi Junction railway station, railway station on the Eastern Suburbs railway line, T4 Eastern Suburbs Line. The suburb of Randwick, New South Wales, Randwick contains Randwick Racecourse, the Royal Hospital for Women, the Prince of Wales Hospital (Sydney), Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney Children's Hospital, and University of New South Wales, University of New South Wales Kensington Campus. Randwick's 'Collaboration Area' has a baseline estimate of 32,000 jobs by 2036, according to the Greater Sydney Commission.
Construction of the CBD and South East Light Rail was completed in April 2020. Main construction was due to be completed in 2018 but was delayed until 2020. The project aims to provide reliable and high-capacity tram services to residents in the City and South-East.
Major shopping centres in the area include Westfield Bondi Junction and Westfield Eastgardens.
Southern Sydney
Southern Sydney includes the suburbs in the Local government in Australia, local government areas of former City of Rockdale, Rockdale, Georges River Council (collectively known as the St George, New South Wales, St George area), and broadly it also includes the suburbs in the Local government in Australia, local government area of Sutherland Shire, Sutherland, south of the
Georges River
The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River, is an intermediate tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, located to the south and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The river travels for approximately in a north and then easterly ...
(colloquially known as 'The Shire').
The Cronulla dunes, Kurnell peninsula, near Botany Bay, is the site of the first landfall on the eastern coastline made by Lt. (later Captain) James Cook in 1770.
La Perouse, a historic suburb named after the French navigator Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (1741–88), is notable for its old military outpost at Bare Island (New South Wales), Bare Island and the Botany Bay National Park.
The suburb of Cronulla, New South Wales, Cronulla in southern Sydney is close to Royal National Park, Australia's oldest national park. Hurstville, a large suburb with a multitude of commercial buildings and high-rise residential buildings dominating the skyline, has become a CBD for the southern suburbs.
Northern Sydney
![Aerial View Chatswood to Sydney CBD](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Aerial_View_Chatswood_to_Sydney_CBD.jpg)
'
Northern Sydney
Northern Sydney is a large metropolitan area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the north shore of Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River. The region embraces suburbs in Sydney’s north-east, north and inner north west. Northern Sydney is ...
' may also include the suburbs in the Upper North Shore, Lower North Shore (Sydney), Lower North Shore and the
Northern Beaches
The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entra ...
.
The Northern Suburbs include several landmarks – Macquarie University, Gladesville Bridge, Ryde Bridge, Macquarie Centre and Curzon Hall in Marsfield, New South Wales, Marsfield. This area includes suburbs in the Local government in Australia, local government areas of Hornsby Shire, City of Ryde, the Municipality of Hunter's Hill and parts of the City of Parramatta.
The
North Shore, an informal geographic term referring to the northern metropolitan area of Sydney, consists of , , , , Killara, , , and many others.
The Lower North Shore usually refers to the suburbs adjacent to the harbour such as , , Mosman, New South Wales, Mosman, , Cremorne Point, , Milsons Point, New South Wales, Milsons Point, , Northbridge, New South Wales, Northbridge, and North Sydney. and are often also considered as being part of the Lower North Shore (Sydney), Lower North Shore. The Lower North Shore's eastern boundary is Middle Harbour, or at the Roseville Bridge at and . The Upper North Shore usually refers to the suburbs between and . It is made up of suburbs located within Ku-ring-gai Council, Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby Shire councils.
The North Shore includes the commercial centres of North Sydney, New South Wales, North Sydney and Chatswood. North Sydney itself consists of a large commercial centre, with its own business centre, which contains the second largest concentration of high-rise buildings in Sydney, after the CBD. North Sydney is dominated by advertising, marketing businesses and associated trades, with many large corporations holding office in the region.
The Northern Beaches area includes Manly, New South Wales, Manly, one of Sydney's most popular holiday destinations for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The region also features Sydney Heads, a series of headlands which form the wide entrance to Sydney Harbour. The Northern Beaches area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entrance of
Broken Bay
Broken Bay, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a large inlet of the Tasman Sea located about north of Sydney central business district on the coast of New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies of water that separa ...
. The 2011 Australian census found the Northern Beaches to be the most White people, white and mono-ethnic district in Australia, contrasting with its more-diverse neighbours, the North Shore and the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast.
Hills district
The Hills District, New South Wales, Hills district generally refers to the suburbs in north-western Sydney including the local government areas of The Hills Shire, parts of the City of Parramatta Council and Hornsby Shire. Actual suburbs and localities that are considered to be in the Hills District can be somewhat amorphous and variable. For example, the Hills District Historical Society restricts its definition to the Hills Shire local government area, yet its study area extends from Parramatta to the Hawkesbury. The region is so named for its characteristically comparatively hilly topography as the Cumberland Plain lifts up, joining the Hornsby Plateau.
Several of its suburbs also have "Hill" or "Hills" in their names, such as Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, New South Wales, Castle Hill, Seven Hills, New South Wales, Seven Hills, Beaumont Hills, New South Wales, Beaumont Hills, and Winston Hills, New South Wales, Winston Hills, among others. Windsor Road, Windsor and Old Windsor Roads are historic roads in Australia, as they are the second and third roads, respectively, laid in the colony.
Western suburbs
![Parramatta River aerial Rosehill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Parramatta_River_aerial_Rosehill.jpg)
The greater western suburbs encompasses the areas of Parramatta, the sixth largest business district in Australia, settled the same year as the harbour-side colony,
Bankstown
Bankstown is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is located in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, hav ...
, Liverpool,
Penrith, and Fairfield, New South Wales, Fairfield. Covering and having an estimated resident population as at 2017 of 2,288,554, western Sydney has the most minority majority, multicultural suburbs in the country. The population is predominantly of a working class background, with major employment in the heavy industries and vocational trade. Toongabbie is noted for being the third mainland settlement (after Sydney and Parramatta) set up after the British colonisation of Australia began in 1788, although the site of the settlement is actually in the separate suburb of Old Toongabbie.
The western suburb of Prospect, New South Wales, Prospect, in the City of Blacktown, is home to Raging Waters Sydney, Raging Waters, a water park operated by Parques Reunidos.
Auburn Botanic Gardens, a botanical garden situated in Auburn, New South Wales, Auburn, attracts thousands of visitors each year, including a significant number from outside Australia.
Another prominent park in the west is the Western Sydney Regional Park in Abbotsbury, New South Wales, Abbotsbury. The greater west also includes Sydney Olympic Park, a suburb created to host the 2000 Summer Olympics, and Sydney Motorsport Park, a motorsport Race track, circuit located in Eastern Creek. The Boothtown Aqueduct in Greystanes, New South Wales, Greystanes is a 19th-century water bridge that is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register as a site of State significance. Prospect Hill (New South Wales), Prospect Hill, a historically significant ridge in the west and the only area in Sydney with ancient volcanic activity, is also listed on the NSW State Heritage Register.
To the northwest, Featherdale Wildlife Park, an Australian zoo in Doonside, near Blacktown, is a major tourist attraction, not just for Western Sydney, but for NSW and Australia. Sydney Zoo, opened in 2019, is another prominent zoo situated in Bungaribee. Westfield Parramatta in Parramatta is Australia's busiest Westfield shopping centre, having 28.7 million customer visits per annum. Established in 1799, the Old Government House, Parramatta, Old Government House, a historic house museum and tourist spot in Parramatta, was included in the Australian National Heritage List on 1 August 2007 and World Heritage List in 2010 (as part of the 11 penal sites constituting the Australian Convict Sites), making it the only site in greater western Sydney to be featured in such lists.
Moreover, the house is Australia's oldest surviving public building.
Further to the southwest is the region of Macarthur and the city of Campbelltown, New South Wales, Campbelltown, a significant population centre until the 1990s considered a region separate to Sydney proper. Macarthur Square, a shopping complex in Campbelltown, has become one of the largest shopping complexes in Sydney. The southwest also features Bankstown Reservoir, the oldest elevated reservoir constructed in reinforced concrete that is still in use and is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register. The southwest is home to one of Sydney's oldest trees, the Bland Oak, which was planted in the 1840s by William Bland in the suburb of Carramar, New South Wales, Carramar.
Urban structure
Architecture
The earliest structures in the colony were built to the bare minimum of standards. Upon his appointment, Governor Lachlan Macquarie set ambitious targets for the architectural design of new construction projects. The city now has a world heritage listed building, several national heritage listed buildings, and dozens of Commonwealth heritage listed buildings as evidence of the survival of Macquarie's ideals.
![St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/St._Andrew%27s_Anglican_Cathedral_-_Sydney%2C_NSW_%287849633878%29.jpg)
In 1814 the Governor called on a convict named Francis Greenway to design Macquarie Lighthouse.
The lighthouse and its Classical architecture, Classical design earned Greenway a pardon from Macquarie in 1818 and introduced a culture of refined architecture that remains to this day.
Greenway went on to design the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, Hyde Park Barracks in 1819 and the Georgian architecture, Georgian style St James' Church, Sydney, St James's Church in 1824. Gothic architecture, Gothic-inspired architecture became more popular from the 1830s. John Verge's Elizabeth Bay House and St Philip's Church, Sydney, St Philip's Church of 1856 were built in Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival style along with Edward Blore's Government House, Sydney, Government House of 1845.
Kirribilli House, completed in 1858, and St Andrew's Cathedral, Australia's oldest cathedral, are rare examples of Gothic Revival architecture, Victorian Gothic construction.
![General Post Office, Sydney](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/General_Post_Office%2C_Sydney.jpg)
From the late 1850s there was a shift towards Classical architecture. Mortimer Lewis designed the
Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
in 1857. The
General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
, completed in 1891 in Victorian architecture, Victorian Free Classical style, was designed by James Barnet. Barnet also oversaw the 1883 reconstruction of Greenway's Macquarie Lighthouse.
Customs House, Sydney, Customs House was built in 1844 to the specifications of Lewis, with additions from Barnet in 1887 and W L Vernon in 1899. The neo-Classical and Second Empire architecture, French Second Empire style Sydney Town Hall, Town Hall was completed in 1889. Romanesque architecture, Romanesque designs gained favour amongst Sydney's architects from the early 1890s. Sydney Technical College was completed in 1893 using both Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne style architecture, Queen Anne approaches.
The Queen Victoria Building was designed in Romanesque Revival fashion by George McRae and completed in 1898. It was built on the site of the Sydney Central Markets and accommodates 200 shops across its three storeys.
As the wealth of the settlement increased, and as Sydney developed into a metropolis after Federation in 1901, its buildings became taller. Sydney's first tower was Culwulla Chambers on the corner of King Street and Castlereagh Street which topped out at making 12 floors. The Commercial Traveller's Club, located in Martin Place and built in 1908, was of similar height at 10 floors. It was built in a brick stone veneer and demolished in 1972 to make way for Harry Seidler's MLC Centre. This heralded a change in Sydney's cityscape and with the lifting of height restrictions in the 1960s there came a surge of high-rise construction.
Acclaimed architects such as Jean Nouvel, Harry Seidler, Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, and Frank Gehry have each made their own contribution to the city's skyline.
The Great Depression had a tangible influence on Sydney's architecture. New structures became more restrained with far less ornamentation than was common before the 1930s. The most notable architectural feat of this period is the Harbour Bridge. Its steel arch was designed by John Bradfield (engineer), John Bradfield and completed in 1932. A total of 39,000 tonnes of structural steel span the between Milsons Point and Dawes Point, New South Wales, Dawes Point.
![Dr Chau Chak Wing Building](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Dr_Chau_Chak_Wing_Building.jpg)
Modern architecture, Modern and International architecture came to Sydney from the 1940s. Since its completion in 1973 the city's Opera House has become a World Heritage Site and one of the world's most renowned pieces of Modern design. It was conceived by
Jørn Utzon
Jørn Oberg Utzon, , Hon. FAIA (; 9 April 191829 November 2008) was a Danish architect. He was most notable for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia, completed in 1973. When it was declared a World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007, Utzo ...
with contributions from Peter Hall, Lionel Todd, and David Littlemore. Utzon was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Pritzker Prize in 2003 for his work on the Opera House.
Sydney is home to Australia's first building by renowned Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building (2015), based on the design of a tree house. An entrance from The Goods Line–a pedestrian pathway and former railway line–is located on the eastern border of the site.
Contemporary buildings in the CBD include Citigroup Centre, Sydney, Citigroup Centre, Aurora Place, Chifley Tower, the Reserve Bank of Australia, Reserve Bank building, Deutsche Bank Place, MLC Centre, and Capita Centre. The tallest structure is Sydney Tower, designed by Donald Crone and completed in 1981. Regulations limited new buildings to a height of due to the proximity of Sydney Airport, although strict restrictions employed in the early 2000s have slowly been relaxed in the past ten years, with a maximum height restriction now sitting at 330 metres (1083 feet). Green bans and heritage overlays have been in place since at least 1977 to protect Sydney's heritage after controversial demolitions in the 1970s led to an outcry from Sydneysiders to preserve the old and keep history intact, sufficiently balancing old and new architecture.
Housing
![Kirribilli housing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Kirribilli_housing.jpg)
Sydney surpasses both New York City and Paris real estate prices, having some of the most expensive in the world. The city remains Australia's most expensive housing market, with the mean house price at $1,142,212 as of December 2019 (over 25% higher the national mean house price).
There were 1.76 million dwellings in Sydney in 2016 including 925,000 (57%) detached houses, 227,000 (14%) semi-detached terrace houses and 456,000 (28%) units and apartments.
Whilst terrace houses are common in the inner city areas, it is detached houses that dominate the landscape in the outer suburbs.
Due to environmental and economic pressures, there has been a noted trend towards denser housing. There was a 30% increase in the number of apartments in Sydney between 1996 and 2006.
Public housing in Sydney is managed by the Government of New South Wales. Suburbs with large concentrations of public housing include Claymore, New South Wales, Claymore, Macquarie Fields, New South Wales, Macquarie Fields, Waterloo, New South Wales, Waterloo, and Mount Druitt, New South Wales, Mount Druitt. The Government has announced plans to sell nearly 300 historic public housing properties in the harbourside neighbourhoods of Millers Point, Gloucester Street, and The Rocks.
Sydney is one of the most expensive real estate markets globally. It is only second to Hong Kong with the average property costing 14 times the annual Sydney salary as of December 2016. A range of heritage housing styles can be found throughout Sydney. Terrace houses are found in the inner suburbs such as Paddington, The Rocks, Potts Point and Balmain–many of which have been the subject of gentrification. These terraces, particularly those in suburbs such as The Rocks, were historically home to Sydney's miners and labourers. In the present day, terrace houses now make up some of the most valuable real estate in the city.
Federation architecture, Federation homes, constructed around the time of Federation in 1901, are located in suburbs such as Penshurst, New South Wales, Penshurst, Turramurra, and in Haberfield, New South Wales, Haberfield. Haberfield is known as "The Federation Suburb" due to the extensive number of Federation homes. Workers cottages are found in Surry Hills, Redfern, New South Wales, Redfern, and Balmain. California bungalows are common in Ashfield, New South Wales, Ashfield, Concord, New South Wales, Concord, and Beecroft, New South Wales, Beecroft. Larger modern homes are predominantly found in the outer suburbs, such as Stanhope Gardens, Kellyville Ridge, Bella Vista, New South Wales, Bella Vista to the northwest, Bossley Park, Abbotsbury, New South Wales, Abbotsbury, and Cecil Hills to the west, and Hoxton Park, Harrington Park, New South Wales, Harrington Park, and Oran Park, New South Wales, Oran Park to the southwest.
Parks and open spaces
The Anzac War Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney, Hyde Park is a public memorial dedicated to the achievement of the First Australian Imperial Force, Australian Imperial Force of World War I.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Royal Botanic Garden is the most iconic green space in the Sydney region, hosting both scientific and leisure activities. There are 15 separate parks under the administration of the City of Sydney. Parks within the city centre include Hyde Park, Sydney, Hyde Park, The Domain, Sydney, The Domain and Prince Alfred Park.
![Centennial_Park_NSW_2021,_Australia_-_panoramio_(7)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Centennial_Park_NSW_2021%2C_Australia_-_panoramio_%287%29.jpg)
The Centennial Parklands is the largest park in the City of Sydney, comprising .
The inner suburbs include Centennial Park, New South Wales, Centennial Park and Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park in the east (both within the City of Sydney local government area), while the outer suburbs contain Sydney Park and Royal National Park in the south,
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a national park on the northern side of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The park is north of the Sydney central business district and generally comprises the land east of the M1 Pacific Motorway, sout ...
in the north, and Western Sydney Parklands in the west, which is List of urban parks by size, one of the largest urban parks in the world. The Royal National Park was proclaimed on 26 April 1879 and with is the second oldest national park in the world.
![Sídney_08](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/S%C3%ADdney_08.jpg)
Hyde Park is the oldest parkland in the country.
The largest park in the Sydney metropolitan area is Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, established in 1894 with an area of . It is regarded for its well-preserved records of indigenous habitation and more than 800 rock engravings, cave drawings and middens have been located in the park.
The area now known as The Domain was set aside by Governor Arthur Phillip in 1788 as his private reserve.
Under the orders of Macquarie the land to the immediate north of The Domain became the Royal Botanic Garden in 1816. This makes them the oldest botanic garden in Australia.
The Gardens are not just a place for exploration and relaxation, but also for scientific research with herbarium collections, a library and laboratories. The two parks have a total area of with 8,900 individual plant species and receive over 3.5 million annual visits.
To the south of The Domain is Hyde Park, the oldest public parkland in Australia which measures in area. Its location was used for both relaxation and the grazing of animals from the earliest days of the colony. Macquarie dedicated it in 1810 for the "recreation and amusement of the inhabitants of the town" and named it in honour of the original Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park in London.
Economy
![Sydney CBD on a sunny day](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Sydney_CBD_on_a_sunny_day.jpg)
Researchers from Loughborough University have ranked Sydney amongst the top ten world cities that are highly integrated into the global economy. The Global Economic Power Index ranks Sydney number eleven in the world. The Global Cities Index recognises it as number fourteen in the world based on global engagement.
There is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as Australia's financial capital and one of Asia Pacific's leading financial hubs.
The prevailing economic theory in effect during early colonial days was mercantilism, as it was throughout most of Western Europe.
The economy struggled at first due to difficulties in cultivating the land and the lack of a stable monetary system. Governor Lachlan Macquarie solved the second problem by creating holey dollar, two coins from every Spanish dollar, Spanish silver dollar in circulation.
The economy was clearly capitalism, capitalist in nature by the 1840s as the proportion of free settlers increased, the maritime and wool industries flourished, and the powers of the East India Company were curtailed.
Wheat, gold, and other minerals became additional export industries towards the end of the 1800s.
Significant capital began to flow into the city from the 1870s to finance roads, railways, bridges, docks, courthouses, schools and hospitals. Protectionism, Protectionist policies after federation of Australia, federation allowed for the creation of a manufacturing industry which became the city's largest employer by the 1920s.
These same policies helped to relieve the effects of the Great Depression during which the unemployment rate in New South Wales reached as high as 32%.
From the 1960s onwards Parramatta gained recognition as the city's second CBD and finance and tourism became major industries and sources of employment.
Sydney's nominal gross domestic product was AU$400.9 billion and AU$80,000 per capita in 2015.
Its gross domestic product was AU$337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia.
The Financial and Insurance Services industry accounts for 18.1% of gross product and is ahead of Professional Services with 9% and Manufacturing with 7.2%. In addition to Financial Services and Tourism, the Creative and Technology sectors are focus industries for the City of Sydney and represented 9% and 11% of its economic output in 2012.
Corporate citizens
There were 451,000 businesses based in Sydney in 2011, including 48% of the top 500 companies in Australia and two-thirds of the regional headquarters of multinational corporations. Global companies are attracted to the city in part because its time zone spans the closing of business in North America and the opening of business in Europe. Most foreign companies in Sydney maintain significant sales and service functions but comparably less production, research, and development capabilities. There are 283 multinational companies with regional offices in Sydney.
Domestic economics
![Pitt Street Mall, 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Pitt_Street_Mall%2C_2014.jpg)
Sydney has been ranked between the fifteenth and the fifth most expensive city in the world and is the most expensive city in Australia.
Of the 15 categories only measured by UBS in 2012, workers receive the seventh highest wage levels of 77 cities in the world.
Working residents of Sydney work an average of 1,846 hours per annum with 15 days of leave.
The labour force of Greater Sydney Region in 2016 was 2,272,722 with a participation rate of 61.6%. It was made up of 61.2% full-time workers, 30.9% part-time workers, and 6.0% unemployed individuals.
The largest reported occupations are professionals, clerical and administrative workers, managers, technicians and trades workers, and community and personal service workers.
The largest industries by employment across Greater Sydney are Health Care and Social Assistance with 11.6%, Professional Services with 9.8%, Retail Trade with 9.3%, Construction with 8.2%, Education and Training with 8.0%, Accommodation and Food Services 6.7%, and Financial and Insurance Services with 6.6%.
[ The Professional Services and Financial and Insurance Services industries account for 25.4% of employment within the City of Sydney.
In 2016, 57.6% of working age residents had a total weekly income of less than $1,000 and 14.4% had a total weekly income of $1,750 or more. The median weekly income for the same period was $719 for individuals, $1,988 for families, and $1,750 for household.
Unemployment in the City of Sydney averaged 4.6% for the decade to 2013, much lower than the current rate of unemployment in Western Sydney of 7.3%.] Western Sydney continues to struggle to create jobs to meet its population growth despite the development of commercial centres like Parramatta. Each day about 200,000 commuters travel from Western Sydney to the CBD and suburbs in the east and north of the city.
Home ownership in Sydney was less common than renting prior to the Second World War but this trend has since reversed. Median house prices have increased by an average of 8.6% per annum since 1970. The median house price in Sydney in March 2014 was $630,000. The primary cause for rising prices is the increasing cost of land and scarcity which made up 32% of house prices in 1977 compared to 60% in 2002. 31.6% of dwellings in Sydney are rented, 30.4% are owned outright and 34.8% are owned with a mortgage. 11.8% of mortgagees in 2011 had monthly loan repayments of less than $1,000 and 82.9% had monthly repayments of $1,000 or more.[ 44.9% of renters for the same period had weekly rent of less than $350 whilst 51.7% had weekly rent of $350 or more. The median weekly rent in Sydney is $450.][
]
Financial services
Macquarie gave a charter in 1817 to form the first bank in Australia, the Bank of New South Wales. New private banks opened throughout the 1800s but the financial system was unstable. Bank collapses were a frequent occurrence and a crisis point was reached in 1893 when 12 banks failed.
The Bank of New South Wales exists to this day as Westpac. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia was formed in Sydney in 1911 and began to issue notes backed by the resources of the nation. It was replaced in this role in 1959 by the Reserve Bank of Australia which is also based in Sydney. The Australian Securities Exchange began operating in 1987 and with a market capitalisation of $1.6 trillion is now one of the ten largest exchanges in the world.
The Financial and Insurance Services industry now constitutes 43% of the economic product of the City of Sydney. Sydney makes up half of Australia's finance sector and has been promoted by consecutive Commonwealth Governments as Asia Pacific's leading financial centre. In the 2017 Global Financial Centres Index, Sydney was ranked as having the eighth most competitive financial centre in the world.
In 1985 the Federal Government granted 16 banking licences to foreign banks and now 40 of the 43 foreign banks operating in Australia are based in Sydney, including the People's Bank of China, Bank of America, Citigroup, UBS, Mizuho Bank, Bank of China, Banco Santander, Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered, State Street Corporation, State Street, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Royal Bank of Canada, Société Générale, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui, ING Group, BNP Paribas, and Investec.
Manufacturing
Sydney has been a manufacturing city since the protectionist policies of the 1920s. By 1961 the industry accounted for 39% of all employment and by 1970 over 30% of all Australian manufacturing jobs were in Sydney. Its status has declined in more recent decades, making up 12.6% of employment in 2001 and 8.5% in 2011. Between 1970 and 1985 there was a loss of 180,000 manufacturing jobs. Despite this, Sydney still overtook Melbourne as the largest manufacturing centre in Australia in the 2010s. Its manufacturing output of $21.7 billion in 2013 was greater than that of Melbourne with $18.9 billion. Observers have noted Sydney's focus on the domestic market and high-tech manufacturing as reasons for its resilience against the high Australian dollar of the early 2010s. The ''Smithfield-Wetherill Park Industrial Estate'' in Greater Western Sydney, Western Sydney is the largest industrial estate in the Southern Hemisphere and is the centre of manufacturing and distribution in the region.
Tourism and international education
Sydney is a gateway to Australia for many international visitors. It has hosted over 2.8 million international visitors in 2013, or nearly half of all international visits to Australia. These visitors spent 59 million nights in the city and a total of $5.9 billion. The countries of origin in descending order were China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong, and India.
The city also received 8.3 million domestic overnight visitors in 2013 who spent a total of $6 billion. 26,700 workers in the City of Sydney were directly employed by tourism in 2011. There were 480,000 visitors and 27,500 people staying overnight each day in 2012. On average, the tourism industry contributes $36 million to the city's economy per day.
Popular destinations include the Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Watsons Bay, New South Wales, Watsons Bay, The Rocks, Sydney Tower, Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district.
Origin ...
, the State Library of New South Wales, the Royal Botanic Garden, the Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Queen Victoria Building, Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, Taronga Zoo, Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Easter ...
, Luna Park Sydney, Luna Park and Sydney Olympic Park.
Major developmental projects designed to increase Sydney's tourism sector include a Crown Sydney, casino and hotel at Barangaroo and the redevelopment of Darling Harbour#Redevelopment, East Darling Harbour, which involves a new International Convention Centre Sydney, exhibition and convention centre, now Australia's largest.
Sydney is the highest-ranking city in the world for international students. More than 50,000 international students study at the city's universities and a further 50,000 study at its TAFE NSW, vocational and English language schools. International education contributes $1.6 billion to the local economy and creates demand for 4,000 local jobs each year.
Demographics
The population of Sydney in 1788 was less than 1,000. With convict transportation it almost tripled in ten years to 2,953. For each decade since 1961 the population has increased by more than 250,000. The 2021 census recorded the population of Greater Sydney as 5,231,150. The Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments ...
(ABS) projects the population will grow to between 8 and 8.9 million by 2061, but that Melbourne will replace Sydney as Australia's most populous city by 2026. The four most densely populated suburbs in Australia are located in Sydney with each having more than 13,000 residents per square kilometre (33,700 residents per square mile). Between 1971 and 2018, Sydney experienced a net loss of 716,832 people to the rest of Australia, but its population grew due to overseas arrivals and a healthy birth rate.
The median age of Sydney residents is 36 and 12.9% of people are 65 or older. The married population accounts for 49.7% of Sydney whilst 34.7% of people have never been married. 48.9% of families are couples with children, 33.5% are couples without children, and 15.7% are single-parent families.
Ancestry and immigration
Most immigrants to Sydney between 1840 and 1930 were British Australian, British, Irish Australian, Irish or Chinese Australian, Chinese. At the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:
At the 2021 census, 40.5% of Sydney's population was born overseas. Foreign countries of birth with the greatest representation are Mainland China, India, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, Vietnam, Philippines and New Zealand.
At the 2021 census, 1.7% of Sydney's population identified as being Indigenous Australians, Indigenous — Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
and Torres Strait Islanders.
Language
A language other than English is used in 42% of households in Sydney. The most widely used non-English languages at home are Standard Chinese, Mandarin (5%), Arabic (4.2%), Cantonese (2.8%), Vietnamese language, Vietnamese (2.2%) and Hindi (1.5%).
Religion
In 2021, 30.3% of Sydney residents identified themselves as having no religion. Christianity was the largest religious affiliation at 46%, the largest denominations of which were Catholic Church in Australia, Catholicism at 23.1% and Anglicanism in Australia, Anglicanism at 9.2%. The most common non-Christian religious affiliations were Islam (6.3%), Hinduism (4.8%), Buddhism (3.8%), Sikhism (0.7%), and Judaism (0.7%). About 500 people identified with traditional Aboriginal religions.
The Church of England was the only recognised church before Governor Macquarie appointed official Catholic chaplains in 1820.[O'Brien, Anne (2013). "Religion". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp. 419–20] Macquarie also ordered the construction of churches such as St Matthew's, St Luke's, St James's, and St Andrew's. Religious groups, alongside secular institutions, have played a significant role in education, health and charitable services throughout Sydney's history.
Crime
Crime in Sydney is low, with ''The Independent'' ranking Sydney as the fifth safest city in the world in 2019. However, drug use is a significant problem. Methamphetamine is heavily consumed compared to other countries, while heroin is less common. One of the biggest crime related issues to face the city in recent times was the introduction of Sydney lockout laws, lock-out laws in February 2014, in an attempt to curb alcohol fuelled violence. Patrons could not enter clubs or bars in the inner-city after 1:30am, and last drinks were called at 3am. The lock-out laws were removed in January 2020.
Culture
Science, art, and history
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a national park on the northern side of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The park is north of the Sydney central business district and generally comprises the land east of the M1 Pacific Motorway, sout ...
is rich in Indigenous Australian heritage, containing around 1,500 pieces of Aboriginal rock art – the largest cluster of Indigenous sites in Australia, surpassing Kakadu National Park, Kakadu, which has around 5,000 sites but over a much greater landmass. The park's indigenous sites include petroglyphs, art sites, burial sites, caves, marriage areas, birthing areas, midden sites, and tool manufacturing locations, among others, which are dated to be around 5,000 years old. The inhabitants of the area were the Kuringgai, Garigal people. Other Sydney Rock Art, rock art sites exist in the Sydney region, such as in Terrey Hills and Bondi, New South Wales, Bondi, although the locations of most are not publicised to prevent damage by vandalism, and to retain their quality, as they are still regarded as sacred sites by Indigenous Australians.
The Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
opened in Sydney in 1827 with the purpose of collecting and displaying the natural wealth of the colony. It remains Australia's oldest natural history museum. In 1995 the Museum of Sydney opened on the site of the first Government House, Sydney, Government House. It recounts the story of the city's development. Other museums based in Sydney include the Powerhouse Museum and the Australian National Maritime Museum.
The State Library of New South Wales holds the oldest library collections in Australia, being first established as the Australian Subscription Library in 1826. In 1866 then Queen Victoria gave her assent to the formation of the Royal Society of New South Wales. The Society exists "for the encouragement of studies and investigations in science, art, literature, and philosophy". It is based in a terrace house in Darlington, New South Wales, Darlington owned by the University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
. The Sydney Observatory building was constructed in 1859 and used for astronomy and meteorology research until 1982 before being converted into a museum.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art was opened in 1991 and occupies an Art Deco building in Circular Quay
Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...
. Its collection was founded in the 1940s by artist and art collector John Power and has been maintained by the University of Sydney. Sydney's other significant art institution is the Art Gallery of New South Wales which coordinates the coveted Archibald Prize for portraiture. Contemporary art galleries are found in Waterloo, New South Wales, Waterloo, Surry Hills
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surroun ...
, Darlinghurst, Paddington, New South Wales, Paddington, Chippendale, New South Wales, Chippendale, Newtown, New South Wales, Newtown, and Woollahra, New South Wales, Woollahra.
Entertainment
Sydney's first commercial theatre opened in 1832 and nine more had commenced performances by the late 1920s. The live medium lost much of its popularity to the cinema during the Great Depression before experiencing a revival after World War II. Prominent theatres in the city today include State Theatre (Sydney), State Theatre, Theatre Royal, Sydney, Theatre Royal, Sydney Theatre, The Wharf Theatre, and Capitol Theatre, Sydney, Capitol Theatre. Sydney Theatre Company maintains a roster of local, classical, and international plays. It occasionally features Australian theatre icons such as David Williamson, Hugo Weaving, and Geoffrey Rush. The city's other prominent theatre companies are New Theatre (Newtown), New Theatre, Belvoir (theatre company), Belvoir, and Griffin Theatre Company. Sydney is also home to Event Cinemas' first theatre, which opened on George St, Sydney, George St in 1913, under its former Greater Union brand; the theatre currently operates, and is regarded as one of Australia's busiest cinema locations.
The Sydney Opera House is the home of Opera Australia and Sydney Symphony. It has staged over 100,000 performances and received 100 million visitors since opening in 1973. Two other important performance venues in Sydney are Sydney Town Hall, Town Hall and the City Recital Hall. The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is located adjacent to the Royal Botanic Garden and serves the Australian music community through education and its biannual Australian Music Examinations Board exams.
Many writers have originated in and set their work in Sydney. Others have visited the city and commented on it. Some of them are commemorated in the Sydney Writers Walk at Circular Quay. The city was the headquarters for Australia's first published newspaper, the ''Sydney Gazette''. Watkin Tench's ''A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay'' (1789) and ''A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson in New South Wales'' (1793) have remained the best-known accounts of life in early Sydney. Since the infancy of the establishment, much of the literature set in Sydney were concerned with life in the city's slums and working-class communities, notably William Lane's ''The Working Man's Paradise'' (1892), Christina Stead's ''Seven Poor Men of Sydney'' (1934) and Ruth Park's ''The Harp in the South'' (1948). The first Australian-born female novelist, Louisa Atkinson, set various of her novels in Sydney. Contemporary writers, such as Elizabeth Harrower (writer), Elizabeth Harrower, were born in the city and thus set most of the work there–Harrower's debut novel ''Down in the City'' (1957) was mostly set in a King's Cross, New South Wales, King's Cross apartment. Well known contemporary novels set in the city include Melina Marchetta's ''Looking for Alibrandi (novel), Looking for Alibrandi'' (1992), Peter Carey (novelist), Peter Carey's ''30 Days in Sydney: A Wildly Distorted Account'' (1999), J. M. Coetzee's ''Diary of a Bad Year'' (2007) and Kate Grenville's ''The Secret River'' (2010). The Sydney Writers' Festival is held every year between April and May.
Filmmaking in Sydney was quite prolific until the 1920s when spoken films were introduced and American productions gained dominance in Australian cinema. The Australian New Wave of filmmaking saw a resurgence in film production in the city–with many notable features shot in the city between the 1970s and 80s, helmed by directors such as Bruce Beresford, Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong. Fox Studios Australia commenced production in Sydney in 1998. Successful films shot in Sydney since then include ''The Matrix'', ''Lantana (film), Lantana'', ''Mission: Impossible 2'', ''Moulin Rouge!'', ''Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'', ''Australia (2008 film), Australia'', and ''The Great Gatsby (2013 film), The Great Gatsby''. The National Institute of Dramatic Art is based in Sydney and has several famous alumni such as Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Baz Luhrmann, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Jacqueline McKenzie, Jacqueline Mckenzie.
Sydney is the host of several festivals throughout the year. The city's Sydney New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve celebrations are the largest in Australia. The Sydney Royal Easter Show, Royal Easter Show is held every year at Sydney Olympic Park. Sydney Festival is Australia's largest arts festival. The travelling rock music festival Big Day Out originated in Sydney. The city's two largest film festivals are Sydney Film Festival and Tropfest. Vivid Sydney is an annual outdoor exhibition of art installations, light projections, and music. In 2015, Sydney was ranked 13th for being the top fashion capitals in the world. It hosts the Australian Fashion Week in autumn. The Sydney Mardi Gras has commenced each February since 1979.
Sydney's Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
has had numerous locations since the 1850s. It moved from George Street to Campbell Street to its current setting in Dixon Street in 1980. Little Italy is located in Stanley Street.
Restaurants, bars and nightclubs can be found in the entertainment hubs in the Sydney CBD (Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district.
Origin ...
, Barangaroo, New South Wales, Barangaroo, The Rocks and George Street), Oxford Street, Sydney, Oxford Street, Surry Hills
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surroun ...
, Newtown, New South Wales, Newtown and Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
. Kings Cross was previously considered the red-light district though the 2014-2020 Sydney lockout laws, lockout laws affected this area most. The Star, Sydney, The Star is the city's casino and is situated next to Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district.
Origin ...
while the new Crown Sydney resort is in nearby Barangaroo, New South Wales, Barangaroo.
Media
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' is Australia's oldest newspaper still in print. Now a compact (newspaper), compact form paper owned by Nine Entertainment, it has been published continuously since 1831. Its competitor is the News Corporation tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid ''Daily Telegraph (Sydney), The Daily Telegraph'' which has been in print since 1879. Both papers have Sunday tabloid editions called ''The Sun-Herald'' and ''Daily Telegraph (Sydney), The Sunday Telegraph'' respectively. ''The Bulletin (Australian periodical), The Bulletin'' was founded in Sydney in 1880 and became Australia's longest running magazine. It closed after 128 years of continuous publication. Sydney heralded Australia's first newspaper, the ''Sydney Gazette'', published until 1842.
Each of Australia's three commercial television networks and two public broadcasters is headquartered in Sydney. Nine Network, Nine's offices and news studios are in North Sydney, New South Wales, North Sydney, Network 10, Ten and Seven Network, Seven are based in Pyrmont, Seven has a news studio in the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD in Martin Place the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is located in Ultimo, and the Special Broadcasting Service is based in Artarmon. Multiple digital channels have been provided by all five networks since 2000. Foxtel is based in North Ryde and sells subscription cable television to most parts of the urban area. Sydney's first List of Sydney radio stations, radio stations commenced broadcasting in the 1920s. Radio became a popular tool for politics, news, religion, and sport and has managed to survive despite the introduction of television and the Internet. 2UE was founded in 1925 and under the ownership of Nine Entertainment is the oldest station still broadcasting. Competing stations include the more popular 2GB, ABC Radio Sydney, KIIS 106.5, Triple M Sydney, Triple M, Nova 96.9 and 2Day FM.
Sport and outdoor activities
Sydney's earliest migrants brought with them a passion for sport but were restricted by the lack of facilities and equipment. The first organised sports were boxing, wrestling, and horse racing from 1810 in Hyde Park, Sydney, Hyde Park. Horse racing remains popular to this day and events such as the Golden Slipper Stakes attract widespread attention. The first cricket club was formed in 1826 and matches were played within Hyde Park throughout the 1830s and 1840s. Cricket is a favoured sport in summer and big matches have been held at the Sydney Cricket Ground since 1878. The New South Wales cricket team, New South Wales Blues compete in the Sheffield Shield league and the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder contest the national Big Bash League, Big Bash Twenty20 competition.
First played in Sydney in 1865, rugby grew to be the city's most popular football code by the 1880s. One-tenth of the state's population attended a New South Wales versus New Zealand rugby match in 1907. Rugby league separated from rugby union in 1908. The New South Wales Waratahs contest the Super Rugby competition, while the Sydney Rays represent the city in the National Rugby Championship. The national Wallabies (rugby union), Wallabies rugby union team competes in Sydney in international matches such as the Bledisloe Cup, The Rugby Championship, Rugby Championship, and Rugby World Cup, World Cup. Sydney is home to nine of the sixteen teams in the National Rugby League competition: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Penrith Panthers, Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs, St George Illawarra Dragons, Sydney Roosters, and Wests Tigers. New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales contests the annual State of Origin series against Queensland rugby league team, Queensland.
Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers compete in the A-League (men's) and W-League (Australia), W-League (women's) soccer competitions and Sydney frequently hosts matches for the Australian national men's team, the Socceroos. The Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney Giants are local Australian rules football clubs that play in the Australian Football League and the AFL Women's. The Sydney Kings compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League. The Sydney Uni Flames play in the Women's National Basketball League. The Sydney Blue Sox contest the Australian Baseball League. The NSW Pride are a member of the Hockey One, Hockey One League. The Sydney Bears and Sydney Ice Dogs play in the Australian Ice Hockey League. The New South Wales Swifts, Swifts are competitors in the national women's netball league.
Major sporting venues
File:State of Origin Game II 2018 (cropped).jpg, Stadium Australia
File:Sydney Cricket Ground (24509044622).jpg, Sydney Cricket Ground
File:View Inside Western Sydney Stadium on Opening Day (cropped).jpg, Western Sydney Stadium
File:SydneyFootballStadium Aug2022 Pre-open.jpg, Sydney Football Stadium (2022), Sydney Football Stadium
Women were first allowed to participate in recreational swimming when separate baths were opened at Woolloomooloo, Woolloomooloo Bay in the 1830s. From being illegal at the beginning of the century, sea bathing gained immense popularity during the early 1900s and the first surf lifesaving club was established at Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Easter ...
. 1907 Sydney bathing costume protests, Disputes about appropriate clothing for surf bathing surfaced from time to time and concerned men as well as women. The City2Surf (Sydney), City2Surf is an annual running race from the CBD to Bondi Beach and has been held since 1971. In 2010, 80,000 runners participated which made it the largest run of its kind in the world.
Sailing races have been held on Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
since 1827. Yachting has been popular amongst wealthier residents since the 1840s and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron was founded in 1862. The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is a event that starts from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day. Since its inception in 1945 it has been recognised as one of the most difficult yacht races in the world. Six sailors died and 71 vessels of the fleet of 115 failed to finish in the 1998 edition.
The Royal Sydney Golf Club is based in Rose Bay, New South Wales, Rose Bay and since its opening in 1893 has hosted the Australian Open (golf), Australian Open on 13 occasions. Royal Randwick Racecourse opened in 1833 and holds several major cups throughout the year.
Sydney benefitted from the construction of significant sporting infrastructure in preparation for its hosting of the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Sydney Olympic Park accommodates athletics, aquatics, tennis, hockey, archery, baseball, cycling, equestrian, and rowing facilities. It also includes the high capacity Stadium Australia used for rugby, soccer, and Australian rules football. The Sydney Football Stadium (1988), Sydney Football Stadium was completed in 1988 and was used for rugby and soccer matches. Sydney Cricket Ground was opened in 1878 and is used for both cricket and Australian rules football fixtures.
The Sydney International tennis tournament is held here at the beginning of each year as the warm-up for Australian Open, the Grand Slam in Melbourne. Two of the most successful tennis players in history: Ken Rosewall and Todd Woodbridge were born in and live in the city.
Sydney co-hosted the FIBA Oceania Championship in 1979, 1985, 1989, 1995, 2007, 2009 and 2011.
Government
Historical governance
During early colonial times, the presiding Governor of New South Wales, Governor and his military shared absolute control over the population. This lack of democracy eventually became unacceptable for the colony's growing number of free settlers. The first indications of a proper legal system emerged with the passing of a Charter of Justice in 1814. It established three new courts, including the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Supreme Court, and dictated that English law was to be followed. In 1823 the Parliament of the United Kingdom, British Parliament passed an act to create the New South Wales Legislative Council, Legislative Council in New South Wales and give the Supreme Court the right of review over new legislation. From 1828 all of the common laws in force in England were to be applied in New South Wales wherever it was appropriate. Another act from the British Parliament in 1842 provided for members of the council to be elected for the first time.
The Constitution Act of 1855 gave New South Wales a bicameralism, bicameral government. The existing Legislative Council became the upper house and a new body called the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly was formed to be the lower house. An Executive Council of New South Wales, Executive Council was introduced and constituted five members of the Legislative Assembly and the Governor. It became responsible for advising the ruling Governor on matters related to the administration of the state. The colonial settlements elsewhere on the continent eventually seceded from New South Wales and formed their own governments. Tasmania separated in 1825, Victoria (Australia), Victoria did so in 1850, and Queensland followed in 1859. With the proclamation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 the status of local governments across Sydney was formalised and they became separate institutions from the state of New South Wales.
Government in the present
Sydney is divided into local government in Australia, local government areas (variously known as cities, councils, municipalities or shires). These local government areas have elected councils which are responsible for functions delegated to them by the New South Wales Government. The 31 local government areas making up Sydney according to the New South Wales Division of Local Government are:
* Bayside Council, Bayside
* City of Canterbury-Bankstown, Canterbury-Bankstown
* City of Blacktown, Blacktown
* Municipality of Burwood, Burwood
* Camden Council (New South Wales), Camden
* City of Campbelltown (New South Wales), Campbelltown
* City of Canada Bay, Canada Bay
* Cumberland Council (New South Wales), Cumberland
* City of Fairfield, Fairfield
* Georges River Council, Georges River
* Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to:
People
*Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman
Places
;Geography
*Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada
* Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...
* The Hills Shire, The Hills
* Hornsby Shire, Hornsby
* Municipality of Hunter's Hill, Hunter's Hill
* Inner West Council, Inner West
* Ku-ring-gai Council, Ku-ring-gai
* Municipality of Lane Cove, Lane Cove
* City of Liverpool (New South Wales), Liverpool
* Municipality of Mosman, Mosman
* North Sydney Council, North Sydney
* Northern Beaches Council, Northern Beaches
* City of Parramatta Council, Parramatta
* City of Penrith, Penrith
* City of Randwick, Randwick
* City of Ryde, Ryde
* Municipality of Strathfield, Strathfield
* Sutherland Shire, Sutherland
* City of Sydney, Sydney
* Waverley Council, Waverley
* City of Willoughby, Willoughby
* Municipality of Woollahra, Woollahra
Sydney is the location of the secondary official residences of the Governor-General of Australia and the Prime Minister of Australia, Admiralty House, Sydney, Admiralty House and Kirribilli House respectively. The Parliament of New South Wales sits in Parliament House, Sydney, Parliament House on Macquarie Street, Sydney, Macquarie Street. This building was completed in 1816 and first served as a hospital. The Legislative Council moved into its northern wing in 1829 and by 1852 had entirely supplanted the surgeons from their quarters. Several additions have been made to the building as the Parliament has expanded, but it retains its original Georgian architecture, Georgian façade. Government House, Sydney, Government House was completed in 1845 and has served as the home of 25 Governors and 5 Governor-General of Australia, Governors-General. The Cabinet of Australia also Commonwealth Parliament Offices, Sydney, meets in Sydney when needed.
The highest court in the state is the Supreme Court of New South Wales which is located in Queen's Square in Sydney. The city is also the home of numerous branches of the intermediate District Court of New South Wales and the lower Local Court of New South Wales.
In common with other Australian capital cities, Sydney has no single local government covering its whole area. Local government areas have responsibilities such as local roads, libraries, child care, community services and waste collection, whereas the state government retains responsibility for main roads, traffic control, public transport, policing, education, and major infrastructure project.
In the past, the state has tended to resist amalgamating Sydney's more populated local government areas as merged councils could pose a threat to its governmental power. Established in 1842, the City of Sydney is one such local government area and includes the CBD and some adjoining inner suburbs. It is responsible for fostering development in the local area, providing local services (waste collection and recycling, libraries, parks, sporting facilities), representing and promoting the interests of residents, supporting organisations that target the local community, and attracting and providing infrastructure for commerce, tourism, and industry. The City of Sydney is led by an elected Council and Lord Mayor of Sydney, Lord Mayor who has in the past been treated as a representative of the entire city.
In federal politics, Sydney was initially considered as a History of the Australian Capital Territory#Search for a capital city location, possibility for Australia's capital city; the newly created city of Canberra ultimately filled this role. Seven Australian List of Australian Prime Ministers by state#Birth places, Prime Ministers have been born in Sydney, more than any other city, including first Prime Minister Edmund Barton and current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Essential public emergency services are provided and managed by the State Government. Greater Sydney is served by:
* New South Wales Police Force
* New South Wales Ambulance
* Fire and Rescue NSW
Infrastructure
Education
Education became a proper focus for the colony from the 1870s when public schools began to form and schooling became compulsory. The population of Sydney is now highly educated. 90% of working age residents have completed some schooling and 57% have completed the highest level of school. 1,390,703 people were enrolled in an educational institution in 2011 with 45.1% of these attending school and 16.5% studying at a university. Undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications are held by 22.5% of working age Sydney residents and 40.2% of working age residents of the City of Sydney. The most common fields of tertiary qualification are commerce (22.8%), engineering (13.4%), society and culture (10.8%), health (7.8%), and education (6.6%).
There are six public universities based in Sydney: The University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, University of New South Wales, University of Technology, Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, Macquarie University, Western Sydney University, and Australian Catholic University. Five public universities maintain secondary campuses in the city for both domestic and international students: the University of Notre Dame Australia, Central Queensland University, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria University, University of Wollongong, and University of Newcastle (Australia), University of Newcastle. Charles Sturt University and Southern Cross University, both public universities, operate secondary campuses only designated for international students. In addition, four public universities offer programmes in Sydney through third-party education providers: University of the Sunshine Coast, La Trobe University, Federation University Australia and Charles Darwin University. 5.2% of residents of Sydney are attending a university. The University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney are ranked top 50 in the world, the University of Technology Sydney is ranked 133, while Macquarie University is ranked 237, and Western Sydney University is ranked 474.
Sydney has public, denominational, and independent schools. 7.8% of Sydney residents are attending primary school and 6.4% are enrolled in secondary school. There are 935 public preschool, primary, and secondary schools in Sydney that are administered by the Department of Education and Communities (New South Wales), New South Wales Department of Education. 14 of the 17 selective secondary schools in New South Wales are based in Sydney.
Public vocational education and training in Sydney are run by TAFE NSW, TAFE New South Wales and began with the opening of the Sydney Technical College in 1878. It offered courses in areas such as mechanical drawing, applied mathematics, steam engines, simple surgery, and English grammar. The college became the Sydney Institute of TAFE, Sydney Institute in 1992 and now operates alongside its sister TAFE facilities across the Sydney metropolitan area, namely the Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE, Northern Sydney Institute, the Western Sydney Institute of TAFE, Western Sydney Institute, and the South Western Sydney Institute of TAFE, South Western Sydney Institute. At the 2011 census, 2.4% of Sydney residents are enrolled in a TAFE course.
Health
The first hospital in the new colony was a collection of tents at The Rocks. Many of the convicts that survived the trip from England continued to suffer from dysentery, smallpox, scurvy, and typhoid. Healthcare facilities remained hopelessly inadequate despite the arrival of a prefabricated hospital with the Second Fleet
The United States Second Fleet is a numbered fleet in the United States Navy responsible for the East Coast and North Atlantic Ocean. The Fleet was established following World War II. In September 2011, Second Fleet was deactivated in view of ...
and the construction of brand new hospitals at Parramatta, Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
, and Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
in the 1790s.
Governor Lachlan Macquarie arranged for the construction of Sydney Hospital and saw it completed in 1816. Parts of the facility have been repurposed for use as Parliament House, Sydney, Parliament House but the hospital itself still operates to this day. The city's first emergency department was established at Sydney Hospital in 1870. Demand for emergency medical care increased from 1895 with the introduction of an ambulance service. The Sydney Hospital also housed Australia's first teaching facility for nurses, the Nightingale Wing, established with the input of Florence Nightingale in 1868.[Judith Godden, ''Lucy Osburn, A Lady Displaced'', Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2006]
Healthcare gained recognition as a citizen's right in the early 1900s and Sydney's public hospitals came under the oversight of the Government of New South Wales. The administration of healthcare across Sydney is handled by eight local health districts: Central Coast, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Sydney, Nepean Blue Mountains, Northern Sydney, South Eastern Sydney, South Western Sydney, and Western Sydney. The Prince of Wales Hospital (Sydney), Prince of Wales Hospital was established in 1852 and became the first of several major hospitals to be opened in the coming decades. St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, St Vincent's Hospital was founded in 1857, followed by Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in 1880, the Prince of Wales Hospital (Sydney), Prince Henry Hospital in 1881, the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1882, the Royal North Shore Hospital in 1885, the St George Hospital (Sydney), St George Hospital in 1894, and the Nepean Hospital in 1895. Westmead Hospital in 1978 was the last major facility to open.
Transport
Roads
The motor vehicle, more than any other factor, has determined the pattern of Sydney's urban development since World War II. The growth of low density housing in the city's outer suburbs has made car ownership necessary for hundreds of thousands of households. The percentage of trips taken by car has increased from 13% in 1947 to 50% in 1960 and to 70% in 1971. The most important roads in Sydney were the nine Metroads, including the Sydney Orbital Network. Widespread criticism over Sydney's reliance on sprawling road networks, as well as the motor vehicle, have stemmed largely from proponents of mass public transport and high density housing. The Light Horse Interchange in western Sydney is the largest in the southern hemisphere.
There can be up to 350,000 cars using Sydney's roads simultaneously during peak hour, leading to significant traffic congestion. 84.9% of Sydney households own a motor vehicle and 46.5% own two or more. Car dependency is an ongoing issue in Sydney–of people who travel to work, 58.4% use a car, 9.1% catch a train, 5.2% take a bus, and 4.1% walk. In contrast, only 25.2% of working residents in the City of Sydney use a car, whilst 15.8% take a train, 13.3% use a bus, and 25.3% walk. With a rate of 26.3%, Sydney has the highest utilisation of public transport for travel to work of any Australian capital city. The CBD features a Lanes and alleyways of Sydney, series of alleyways and lanes that provide alley, off-street vehicular access to city buildings and as well as pedestrian routes through city buildings.
Buses
Bus services today are conducted by private operators under contract to Transport for NSW. Integrated tickets called Opal cards operate on bus routes. In total, nearly 225 million boardings were recorded across the bus network NightRide (bus service), NightRide is a nightly bus service that operate between midnight and 5am, also replacing trains for most of this period.
Trams and light rail
Sydney once had one of the Trams in Sydney, largest tram networks in the British Empire after London. It served routes covering . The internal combustion engine made buses more flexible than trams and consequently more popular, leading to the progressive closure of the tram network with the final tram operating in 1961. From 1930 there were 612 buses across Sydney carrying 90 million passengers per annum.
In 1997, the Dulwich Hill Line, Inner West Light Rail (also known as the Dulwich Hill Line) opened between Central station and Wentworth Park. It was extended to Lilyfield, New South Wales, Lilyfield in 2000 and then Dulwich Hill, New South Wales, Dulwich Hill in 2014. It links the Inner West
The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...
and Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district.
Origin ...
with Central railway station, Sydney, Central station and facilitated 9.1 million journeys in the 2016–17 financial year. A second, the CBD and South East Light Rail line serving the CBD and south-eastern suburbs opened partially in December 2019 and the remainder in April 2020. A Parramatta Light Rail, light rail line serving Western Sydney has also been announced, due to open in 2023.
Trains
Established in 1906, Central railway station, Sydney, Central station is the largest and busiest railway station in the state and is the main hub of the city's Railways in Sydney, rail network. Sydney Trains is the suburban rail service. Its tracks form part of the New South Wales railway network. It serves 175 stations across the city and had an annual ridership of 359 million passenger journeys in 2017–18. Sydney's railway was first constructed in 1854 with progressive extension to the network to serve both freight and passengers across the city, suburbs, and beyond to rural New South Wales. The main station is the Central railway station, Sydney, Central railway station in the southern part of the CBD. In the 1850s and 1860s, the railway reached areas that are now outer suburbs of Sydney.
Sydney Metro, a driverless rapid transit system separate from the suburban commuter network, commenced operation in May 2019 and will be extended into the city and down southwest by 2024 and through the inner west to Parramatta by 2030. It currently serves 13 stations. A line to serve the greater west is planned for 2026 and will include a station for the Western Sydney Airport, second international airport.
Ferries
At the time the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932, the city's Sydney Ferries Limited, ferry service was the largest in the world. Patronage declined from 37 million passengers in 1945 to 11 million in 1963 but has recovered somewhat in recent years. From its hub at Circular Quay ferry wharf, Circular Quay, the Sydney Ferries, ferry network extends from Manly ferry wharf, Manly to Parramatta ferry wharf, Parramatta.
Airports
Sydney Airport, officially "Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport", is located in the inner southern suburb of Mascot, New South Wales, Mascot with two of the runways going into Botany Bay. It services 46 international and 23 domestic destinations. As the busiest airport in Australia it handled 37.9 million passengers in 2013 and 530,000 tonnes of freight in 2011.
It has been announced that a new facility named Western Sydney Airport will be constructed at Badgerys Creek, New South Wales, Badgerys Creek from 2016 at a cost of $2.5 billion. Bankstown Airport is Sydney's second busiest airport, and serves general aviation, charter and some scheduled cargo flights. Bankstown is also the fourth busiest airport in Australia by the number of aircraft movements. Port Botany (seaport), Port Botany has surpassed Port Jackson as the city's major shipping port. Cruise ship terminals are located at Overseas Passenger Terminal, Sydney Cove and White Bay Cruise Terminal, White Bay.
Environmental issues and pollution reduction
As climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and pollution have become a major issue for Australia, Sydney has in the past been criticised for its lack of focus on reducing pollution, cutting back on emissions and maintaining water quality. Since 1995, there have been significant developments in the analysis of air pollution in the Sydney metropolitan region. The development led to the release of the Metropolitan Air Quality Scheme (MAQS), which led to a broader understanding of the causation of pollution in Sydney, allowing the government to form appropriate responses to the pollution. The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season significantly impacted outer Sydney, and consequently dramatically reduced the air quality of the Sydney metropolitan area leading to a smoky haze that lingered for many days throughout December. The air quality was 11 times the hazardous level in some days, even making it worse than New Delhi's, where it was also compared to "smoking 32 cigarettes" by Associate Professor Brian Oliver, a respiratory diseases scientist at the University of Technology Sydney.
Australian cities are some of the most car dependency, car-dependent cities in the world, especially by world city standards, although Sydney's is the lowest of Australia's major cities at 66%.[Charting Transport](_blank)
retrieved 27 October 2017 Furthermore, the city also has the Modal share, highest usage of public transport in an Australian city, at 27%–making it comparable with New York City, Shanghai and Berlin. Despite its high ranking for an Australian city, Sydney has a low level of mass-transit services, with a historically low-density layout and significant urban sprawl, thus increasing the likelihood of car dependency. Strategies have been implemented to reduce private car pollution, vehicle pollution by encouraging mass transit, mass and public transport, public transit, initiating the development of high density housing and introducing a fleet of 10 new Nissan LEAF electric cars, the largest order of the pollution-free vehicle in Australia. Electric cars do not produce carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide, gases which contribute to climate change. Cycling, Cycling trips have increased by 113% across Sydney's inner-city since March 2010, with about 2,000 bikes passing through top peak-hour intersections on an average weekday. Transport developments in the Sydney Metro Northwest, north-west and east of the city have been designed to encourage the use of Sydney's expanding public transportation system.
The City of Sydney became the first council in Australia to achieve formal certification as carbon-neutral in 2008. The city has reduced its 2007 carbon emissions by 6% and since 2006 has reduced carbon emissions from city buildings by up to 20%. The City of Sydney introduced a ''Sustainable Sydney 2030'' program, with various targets planned and a comprehensive guide on how to reduce energy in homes and offices within Sydney by 30%. Reductions in energy consumption have slashed energy bills by $30 million a year. Solar panels have been established on many CBD buildings in an effort to minimise carbon pollution by around 3,000 tonnes a year.
The city also has an "urban forest growth strategy", in which it aims to regular increase the shade tree, tree coverage in the city by frequently planting trees with strong leaf density and vegetation to provide cleaner air and create moisture during hot weather, thus lowering city temperatures. Sydney has also become a leader in the development of green building, green office buildings and enforcing the requirement of all building proposals to be energy-efficient. The Central Park, Sydney, One Central Park development, completed in 2013, is an example of this implementation and design.
Utilities
Obtaining sufficient fresh water was difficult during early colonial times. A catchment called the Tank Stream
The Tank Stream is a heritage-listed former fresh water tributary of Sydney Cove and now tunnel and watercourse located in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The Ta ...
sourced water from what is now the CBD but was little more than an open sewer by the end of the 1700s. The Botany Swamps Scheme was one of several ventures during the mid-1800s that saw the construction of wells, tunnels, steam pumping stations, and small dams to service Sydney's growing population.
The first genuine solution to Sydney's water demands was the Upper Nepean Scheme which came into operation in 1886 and cost over £2 million. It transports water from the Nepean River, Nepean, Cataract River (Wollondilly), Cataract, and Cordeaux River, Cordeaux rivers and continues to service about 15% of Sydney's total water needs. Dams were built on these three rivers between 1907 and 1935. In 1977 the Shoalhaven Scheme brought several more dams into service.
The state-owned corporation WaterNSW now manages eleven major dams: Warragamba Dam, Warragamba one of the largest domestic water supply dams in the world, Woronora Dam, Woronora, Cataract Dam, Cataract, Upper Nepean Scheme, Cordeaux, Upper Nepean Scheme, Nepean, Upper Nepean Scheme, Avon, Shoalhaven Scheme, Wingecarribee Reservoir, Shoalhaven Scheme, Fitzroy Falls Reservoir, Shoalhaven Scheme, Tallowa, the Blue Mountains Dams, and Prospect Reservoir. Water is collected from five catchment areas covering and total storage amounts to . The Sydney Desalination Plant came into operation in 2010. WaterNSW supplies bulk water to Sydney Water, a state-owned corporation that operates water distribution, sewerage and storm water management services across greater Sydney.
The two distributors which maintain Sydney's electricity infrastructure are Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy. Their combined networks include over 815,000 power poles and of electricity cables.
See also
* List of museums in Sydney
* List of people from Sydney
* List of public art in the City of Sydney
* List of songs about Sydney
* Outline of Sydney
Notes
References
External links
Official Sydney, NSW government site
Official Sydney tourism site
Historical film clips of Sydney
on the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia'
''australianscreen online''
* – includes a low-level joyflight around Sydney showing various aspects of the city on 13 July 2020 (starts at 05:20)
*
Dictionary of Sydney – the history of Sydney
()
Sydney Official History Archives
State Records New South Wales
National Archives of Australia
Understanding Society Through its Records – John Curtin Library
Directory of Archives in Australia
{{Authority control
Sydney,
1788 establishments in Australia
Australian capital cities
Former colonial capitals
Port cities in New South Wales
Metropolitan areas of Australia, Sydney
Populated places established in 1788