Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a

natural harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

on the east coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, around which

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour,

Middle Harbour Middle Harbour (or ''Warrin ga''), a semi-mature tide dominated drowned valley estuary, is the northern arm of Port Jackson, an inlet of the Tasman Sea located north of Sydney central business district on the coast of New South Wales, Australi ...

, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

Rivers. The harbour is an inlet of the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea 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 Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

(part of the

South Pacific Ocean South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

). It is the location of significant landmarks such as the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

and

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North ...

. The location of the first European settlement and colony on the Australian mainland, Port Jackson has continued to play a key role in the history and development of Sydney. Port Jackson, in the early days of the colony, was also used as a

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to Cursive, longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Gr ...

for Sydney and its environs. Thus, many botanists, see, e.g.,

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

's ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a book by the botanist Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and ...

'', described their specimens as having been collected at Port Jackson. Many recreational events are based on or around the harbour itself, particularly

Sydney New Year's Eve Sydney New Year's Eve is an annual New Year's Eve fireworks event in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The event currently consists of two fireworks shows, with an evening display known as the Calling Country Fireworks (formerly, the Family ...

celebrations. The harbour is also the starting point of the

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an annual oceanic yacht racing event hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, New South Wales, on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. The race distance is approximately ...

. The waterways of Port Jackson are managed by

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is a Government of New South Wales, New South Wales Government transport services and roads List of New South Wales government agencies, agency established on 1 November 2011. The agency is a different entity to the NSW ...

Sydney Harbour National Park The Sydney Harbour National Park is an List of national parks of Australia, Australian national park comprising parts of Port Jackson, Sydney and its foreshores and various islands. The national park lies in New South Wales and was created progr ...

protects a number of islands and foreshore areas, swimming spots, bushwalking tracks and picnic areas. The harbour is a global hotspot for marine and estuarine diversity.

History

At the time of the European arrival and colonisation, the land around Port Jackson was inhabited by the Eora clans, including the

Gadigal The Gadigal, also spelled as Cadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. However, since the colonisation of Australia ...

Cammeraygal The Cammeraygal, variously spelled as Cam-mer-ray-gal, Gamaraigal, Kameraigal, Cameragal and several other variations, are one clan of the 29 Darug tribes who are united by a Australian Aboriginal languages, common language, strong ties of kins ...

, and

Wangal The Wangal people (; Wanngal or Won-gal) are a clan of the Dharug Aboriginal people whose heirs are custodians of the lands and waters of what is now the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, centred around the Municipality of Strathfield, ...

. The Gadigal inhabited the land stretching along the south side of Port Jackson from what is now South Head, in an arc west to the present

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour and neighborhood 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 busines ...

. The Cammeraygal lived on the northern side of the harbour. The area along the southern banks of the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, Ria, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average Altitude, height, and depth, depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour ...

Rose Hill Rose Hill may refer to: People * Rose Hill (actress) (1914–2003), British actress * Rose Hill (athlete) (born 1956), British wheelchair athlete Film * ''Rose Hill'' (film), a 1997 movie Places Australia * Rose Hill, New South Wales * Rose ...

belonged to the Wangal. The Eora inhabited Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), south to the Georges River and west to Parramatta.

Cook's naming of Port Jackson

The first recorded European discovery of Sydney Harbour was by Lieutenant

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

in 1770. Cook named the inlet after Sir George Jackson, one of the Lords Commissioners of the British Admiralty, and Judge Advocate of the Fleet. As the ''Endeavour'' sailed past the entrance at

Sydney Heads The Sydney Heads (also simply known as the Heads) are a series of headlands that form the wide entrance to Sydney Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north; South Head and Dunbar Head are to ...

, Cook wrote in his journal "at noon we were...about 2 or 3 miles from the land and abrest of a bay or harbour within there appeared to be a safe anchorage which I called Port Jackson."

First Fleet

Eighteen years later, Port Jackson saw the arrival of the

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

. On 21 January 1788, after arriving at

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, 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 a ...

, Governor

Arthur Phillip Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...

took a

longboat A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest bo ...

and two cutters up the coast to sound the entrance and examine Cook's Port Jackson. Phillip first stayed overnight at Camp Cove, just inside the South Head, then moved up the harbour, landing at Sydney Cove and then Manly Cove, before returning to Botany Bay on the afternoon of 24 January. Phillip returned to Sydney Cove in HM Armed Tender ''

Supply Supply or supplies may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as ...

'' on 26 January 1788, where he established the first colony in Australia, later to become the city of Sydney. In his first dispatch from the colony back to England, Governor Phillip noted that: Port Jackson was described as a "capacious harbour, equal, if not superior to any yet known in the world", that "sheltered

anchorage Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolita ...

for the ships" and provided "a suitable landing place on rocks on the western side of the cove, relatively level land at the head of the

cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

, and a run of fresh water", in addition to it being "capable of affording security to a much larger fleet than would probably ever seek for shelter or security in it." Royal Navy officer David Blackburn also described it as a "fine Harbour as Any in the World, with water for any Number of the Largest ships."

Later events

The

Great White Fleet The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the group of United States Navy battleships that completed a journey around the globe from 16 December 1907, to 22 February 1909, by order of President Foreign policy of the Theodore Roosevelt ...

, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

battle fleet, arrived in Port Jackson in August 1908 by order of U.S. President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

. From 1938, seaplanes landed in Sydney Harbour on Rose Bay, making this Sydney's first international airport.

Attack on Sydney Harbour

In 1942, to protect Sydney Harbour from a submarine attack, the Sydney Harbour anti-submarine boom net was constructed. It spanned the harbour from Green (Laings) Point,

Watsons Bay Watsons Bay is a harbourside, Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Watsons Bay is located 11 km north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, ...

to the battery at Georges Head, on the other side of the harbour. On the night of 31 May 1942, three Japanese midget submarines entered the harbour, one of which became entangled in the western end of the boom net's central section. Unable to free their submarine, the crew detonated charges, killing themselves in the process. A second midget submarine came to grief in Taylor's Bay, the two crew committing suicide. The third submarine fired two torpedoes at USS ''Chicago'' (both missed) before leaving the harbour. In November 2006, this submarine was found off Sydney's Northern Beaches. The

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapon ...

boom net was demolished soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and all that remains are the foundations of the old boom net winch house, which can be viewed on Green (Laings) Point, Watsons Bay. Today, the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is a national war memorial, war museum, museum and archive dedicated to all Australians who died as a result of war, including peacekeeping duties. The AWM is located in Campbell, Australian Capital Territory, C ...

has on display a composite of the two midget submarines salvaged from Sydney Harbour. The conning tower of one of the midget submarines is on display at the RAN Heritage Centre,

Garden Island A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

, Sydney.

Fortifications

Fort Denison is a former penal site and defensive facility occupying a small island located north-east of the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney Harbour. There are fortifications at

and elsewhere, some of which are now heritage listed. The earliest date from the 1830s, and were designed to defend Sydney from seaborn attack or convict uprisings. There are four historical fortifications located between

Taronga Zoo Taronga Zoo Sydney is a government-run public zoo located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in the Lower North Shore suburb of Mosman, New South Wales, Mosman, on the shores of Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour. It offers great views of Sydney ...

and Middle Head,

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

, they are: the Middle Head Fortifications, the

Georges Head Battery The Georges Head Battery, also called the Georges Head Military Fortifications, is a heritage-listed former military fortification located on the Georges Head on Chowder Bay Road, Georges Heights, New South Wales, Australia. The site consis ...

, the Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position and a small fort located on

Bradleys Head Bradleys Head is a headland protruding from the north shore of Sydney Harbour, within the metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is named after the First Fleet naval officer William Bradley. The original Aboriginal inhabi ...

, known as the

Bradleys Head Fortification Complex The Bradleys Head Fortification Complex is a Heritage register, heritage-listed former mast (sailing), mast and defensive battery and military fortification and now war memorial and recreational area located at Bradleys Head Road within the Sydn ...

. The forts were built from

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

quarried on site and consist of various tunnels, underground rooms, open batteries and casemated batteries, shell rooms,

gunpowder magazine A gunpowder magazine is a magazine (building) designed to store the explosive gunpowder in wooden barrels for safety. Gunpowder, until superseded, was a universal explosive used in the military and for civil engineering: both applications re ...

s, barracks and trenches.

Geography

Geologically, Port Jackson is a drowned river valley, or ria. It is 19 km long with an area of 55 km². The estuary's volume at high tide is 562 million cubic metres. The perimeter of the estuary is 317 kilometres. According to the

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales, a statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or stat ...

, Port Jackson is "a harbour which comprises all the waters within an imaginary line joining North Head and South Head. Within this harbour lies North Harbour, Middle Harbour and Sydney Harbour." Port Jackson extends westward from the single entrance known as

(North and South Heads) and encompasses all tidal waters within North Harbour,

, Sydney Harbour,

and

Lane Cove River The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river winds through a bushland valley and joins Parramatt ...

. The harbour is heavily embayed. The bays on the south side tend to be wide and rounded, whereas those on the north side are generally narrow inlets. Many of these bays include

beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

. The

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

extends from

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping terminal, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on the northern edge of the ...

Headlands and peninsulas

East to west, north side: * North Head * Dobroyd Head * Middle Head * Georges Head *

* Cremorne Point *

Kurraba Point Kurraba Point is a harbourside suburb on the lower North Shore (Sydney), North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Kurraba Point is located 4 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australi ...

Kirribilli Kirribilli is a Suburb (Australia), suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. One of the city's most established and affluent neighbourhoods, it is located three kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the Local governm ...

McMahons Point McMahons Point is a harbourside suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. McMahons Point is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council. ...

* Balls Head * Berry Island East to west, south side * South Head *

Point Piper Point Piper is a small, harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, east of the Sydney CBD, in the local government area known as the Municipality of Woollahra. Location The suburb of Point Piper sits ...

Darling Point Darling Point is a harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, Australia. It is 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of Woollahra Council. Darling Point is bounded by Sydney Harbour to ...

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 in Australia, local government area o ...

Bennelong Point Bennelong Point, a former island in Sydney Harbour, is a headland that, since the 1970s, is the location of the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History Bennelong Point is known to the local Gadigal people of the Eora ...

Dawes Point Dawes Point is a suburb of the City of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dawes Point is located on the north-western edge of the Sydney central business district, at the southern end of Sydney Harbour Bridge, adjacent to The R ...

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 City o ...

* Pyrmont * Balmain PortJackson2022OSM

Islands

There are several islands within the harbour, including Shark Island, Clark Island, Fort Denison, Goat Island, Cockatoo Island, Spectacle Island, Snapper Island and Rodd Island. Some other former islands, including

, Glebe Island and Berry Island, have been linked to the shore by land reclamation, though their names often still contain the word "island". Two other former islands, Bennelong Island and Darling Island, are similarly now linked to the mainland, but rarely mentioned as islands. The former Dawes Island was joined to another small island to create Spectacle Island. Exposed at low tide is Sow and Pigs Reef, a well-known navigation obstacle near the main shipping lane.

Tributaries and waterways

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 ...

was a freshwater course emptying into

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora language, 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 ...

. Today it is little more than a stormwater drain but originally it was the fresh water supply for the fledgling colony of New South Wales. It originated from a swamp to the west of present-day Hyde Park and at high tide entered Sydney Cove at the intersection of

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

and

Pitt Street Pitt Street is a major street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sect ...

s. *

is the northern arm of Port Jackson. It begins as a small creek (Middle Harbour Creek) at St Ives. It joins the main waterway between two headlands, Middle Head and Grotto Point Reserve, west of Sydney Heads. *

is the western arm of Port Jackson. The river begins at the confluence of Toongabbie Creek and Darling Mills Creek west of

and joins the main waterway between Greenwich Point,

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, and Robinsons Point, Birchgrove. *

rises near Thornleigh and flows generally south for about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi). Its catchment area is approximately 95.4 square kilometres (36.8 sq mi). *

Tarban Creek Tarban Creek, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a creek west of Sydney Harbour, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ecology Tarban Creek starts near Earnshaw street in Gladesville and runs along a concrete base through Tarban ...

, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, enters Port Jackson at Hunters Hill. * Johnstons Creek rises in Stanmore and flows in a generally northward direction, passing through the inner-western suburbs of Forest Lodge, Annandale and Glebe. The creek passes beneath the stands of the now demolished Harold Park Paceway prior to emptying into

Rozelle Bay Rozelle Bay is a bay located to the south of Glebe Island and the west of Blackwattle Bay, on Sydney Harbour. The naming of the bay is derived from either the Rosella, Rosella bird or the Roselle (plant), Rosella plant, with the latter being m ...

at Bicentennial Park, Glebe.

Orphan School Creek Orphan School Creek is a storm drain located in inner Sydney, New South Wales. It is a tributary of Johnstons Creek (New South Wales), Johnstons Creek which flows into Rozelle Bay. The creek moves through the University of Sydney and in parti ...

is a tributary. * Duck River is a perennial stream and southern tributary of the Parramatta River.

Climate

Port Jackson has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfa'') with warm, somewhat humid summers and mild to cool winters, with moderate rainfall spread throughout the year. Due to its exposed proximity to the Tasman Sea, it is slightly cooler, wetter and windier than Observatory Hill to the west. In addition to featuring the lowest maximum summer temperatures in the Sydney region (averaging just 24.4 °C (75.9 °F)), Port Jackson is also least affected by extreme heat due to frequent

sea breeze A sea breeze or onshore breeze is a wind that blows in the afternoon from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass. By contrast, a land breeze or offshore breeze is a wind that blows in the night from a landmass toward or onto a large ...

s. Conversely, winter nights are among the warmest in Sydney, and rarely dip below , although

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus and is heavily influenc ...

often occurs and may be disruptive. Port Jackson's weather station is located within a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

just south of Georges Head at Georges Heights in

and is adjacent to the suburbs of

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.

and

, which are on Port Jackson's east side towards the Pacific Ocean.

, a bay in Port Jackson's west side that includes

, is more proximate to the Observatory Hill weather station, and therefore the climate data below does not apply to that vicinity.

Infrastructure

Bridges

Port Jackson is bridged from north to south by the

, the

Gladesville Bridge Gladesville Bridge is a heritage-listed concrete arch road bridge that carries Victoria Road over the Parramatta River, linking the Sydney suburbs of Huntleys Point and Drummoyne, in the local government areas of Canada Bay and Hunter's Hi ...

, the Ryde Bridge, and the Silverwater Bridge. Other bridges spanning Port Jackson waterways are

Pyrmont Bridge The Pyrmont Bridge, a heritage-listed swing bridge across Cockle Bay, is located in Darling Harbour, part of Port Jackson, west of the central business district in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Opened ...

spanning Darling Harbour; the

Anzac Bridge The Anzac Bridge is an eight-lane cable-stayed bridge that carries the Western Distributor (A4) across Johnstons Bay between Pyrmont and Glebe Island (part of the suburb of Rozelle), on the western fringe of the Sydney central business dis ...

(formerly known as the Glebe Island Bridge), spanning Blackwattle Bay; the Iron Cove Bridge spanning

Iron Cove Iron Cove is a bay on the Parramatta River, in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately due west of Sydney's central business district. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Birchgrove, Balmain ...

; the

Spit Bridge The Spit Bridge, a steel and concrete girder bridge with a bascule bridge, bascule lift Span (architecture), span across the Middle Harbour, is located north-east of the Sydney central business district, central business district in Sydney, Au ...

spanning Middle Harbour; the

Roseville Bridge The Roseville Bridge, is a pre-stressed concrete box girder road bridge that carries Warringah Road, part of the A38 across Middle Harbour, located adjacent to the suburb of , in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The bridge is one of two c ...

spanning Middle Harbour; the Tarban Creek Bridge spanning Tarban Creek. The original Meadowbank Railway Bridge carried the

Main Northern railway line The Main North Line (also known as the Great Northern Railway) is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia, running from Strathfield railway station, Strathfield in Sydney to Armidale railway station, Armidale. The 1980s saw the line clo ...

, now reduced to pedestrian traffic only. The replacement John Whitton Bridge carries two railway tracks with piers suitable for four tracks. There is a double track light rail bridge on the

Parramatta Light Rail The Parramatta Light Rail is a Standard-gauge railway, standard gauge Light rail in Sydney, light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The first stage of the line runs from Westmead, New South Wales, Westmead to Carlingford, New S ...

crossing the Parramatta River near

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

. Bennelong Bridge over

Homebush Bay Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, in the west of Sydney, Australia. The name is also sometimes used to refer to an area to the west and south of the bay itself, which was formerly an official suburb of Sydney, a ...

connects Wentworth Point and

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

Punts

* Mortlake Ferry

Weir

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

between Queens Avenue and Charles Street, Parramatta, called Charles Street Weir, separates the saltwater and tidal waters to the east from the freshwater and non-tidal waters to the west. The weir is marked right near the western (left) edge of the detailed map above.

Tunnels

A road tunnel, the Sydney Harbour Tunnel passing underneath the Harbour to the east of the bridge was opened in August 1992. In 2005, 2010 and in 2014, the NSW Government proposed a rail tunnel be constructed to the west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Construction of a pair of rail tunnels to the west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, as part of the

Sydney Metro Sydney Metro is a fully automated rapid transit rail system in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It currently consists of the Metro North West & Bankstown Line, running between Tallawong and Sydenham and consisting of 21 stations on of t ...

project, was approved in January 2017 while the Harbour tunnelling was completed in March 2020. The line opened on 19 August 2024. The Western Harbour Tunnel is planned to offer another motor vehicle tunnel in 2026.

Cruise ship terminals

Permanent cruise ship terminals are located at the

Overseas Passenger Terminal The Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT), officially the Sydney Cove Passenger Terminal, is a passenger terminal located on the western side of Sydney Cove in New South Wales, Australia, which berths cruise ships and ocean liners. The terminal form ...

at Circular Quay,

and at the White Bay Cruise Terminal at White Bay. White Bay's evolution to a cruise terminal came with the closure of Darling Harbour terminal to make way for the

Barangaroo Barangaroo ( – ) was an Aboriginal Australian woman best known for her interactions with the British colony of New South Wales during the first years of the European colonisation of Australia. A member of the Cammeraygal clan, she was the wi ...

development.

Other port facilities

White Bay and adjacent Glebe Island have been working ports since the mid-1800s, handling just about everything from timber and paper, coal, sugar and cement to cars and containers. The NSW Government identified both as vital to the City's economy and in March 2013 announced its commitment to maintaining both as working ports as it frees up neighbouring bays for public access. Glebe Island is Sydney's last remaining deepwater port able to supply the City's ongoing demand for dry bulk goods such as sugar, gypsum and cement. Most of Sydney's port infrastructure has moved south to Botany Bay since the construction of the first

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

terminals there in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Military installations

Former: *

Dawes Point Battery The Dawes Point Battery remains is a heritage-listed former artillery fortification and now visitor attraction located adjacent to the southern pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at Hickson Road in inner city Sydney, on the boundary between Daw ...

(1791) * Fort Macquarie (1798) * Middle Head Fortifications (1801) * Fort Phillip (1804) * Goat Island (1826) *

(1840) * Admiralty House (1856) * Fort Denison (1857) *

(1871) * Steel Point Battery (1874) * North Fort (1936) * Sydney Harbour anti-submarine boom net (1942) * HMAS Platypus (1967) Current: * HMAS Kuttabul * HMAS Penguin * HMAS Waterhen * HMAS Watson

Maritime transport

Sydney Ferries Sydney Ferries is the public transport ferry network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales. Services operate on Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour and the connecting Parramatta River. The network is controlled by the New South Wales Government ...

operate services from

to Cockatoo Island,

Double Bay Double Bay is a harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality o ...

, Manly,

Neutral Bay Neutral Bay is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Neutral Bay is around 1.5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council. Neutral Bay takes ...

, Pyrmont Bay,

and

. Water taxi and water limousine operators offer transport not restricted by timetables or specific routes, and can also provide a service to or from private wharfs and houses on the waterfront. Sightseeing harbour cruises are operated daily from Circular Quay. Whale watching excursions are also operated from Port Jackson. The Mortlake Ferry, also known as the Putney Punt, crosses the Parramatta River, connecting Mortlake and Putney.

Maritime heritage

Sydney Heritage Fleet Heritage dock Rozelle

Australian National Maritime Museum The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a Australian government, federally operated maritime museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After considering the idea of establishing a maritime museum, the federal government announced that a nation ...

, at

, has themed exhibitions ranging from Indigenous lore and European seafaring to aquatic sport and maritime defence. Sydney Heritage Fleet is a largely volunteer organisation dedicated to the restoration and operation of heritage vessels. The barque '' James Craig'' of the SHF sails regularly from Port Jackson. RAN Heritage Centre at

has many exhibits, artefacts and documents relating to the history of the Royal Australian Navy. Port Jackson is associated with the voyages of

Richard Siddins Richard Siddins (1770–1846) was an Australian master mariner, Master Mariner, Maritime pilot, Harbour Pilot and lighthouse keeper, Lighthouse Keeper. Biography Richard Siddins was born in 1770 in County Louth, Ireland and died on 2 July ...

Ecology

The Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) has done a great deal of work focused on habitat restoration and restoring the biodiversity of the harbour, including a major program called the Sydney Harbour Research Program around 2012, led by

Emma Johnston Emma Letitia Johnston is an Australian marine ecologist and academic. In February 2025, she became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. She was also the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) at the University of Sydney, as well as ...

. Project Restore is an ongoing large-scale project by SIMS and its partner universities that aims to restore different habitat types at the same time, to restore seascapes in Sydney Harbour. It encompasses four projects already under way, including the "Living Seawalls" project, which entails covering parts of the harbour

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation, ...

s with specially designed tiles that mimic natural

microhabitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s – with crevices and other features that more closely resemble natural rocks. Project Restore is partly funded by the NSW Government.

Heritage listings

Port Jackson has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Fort Denison * Goat Island * SS ''South Steyne'' * Bradleys Head: Bradleys Head Light Tower

Derivative unit of measure

A Sydharb is a unit of volume used in Australia for water, especially in dams and harbours. One sydharb (or sydarb), also called a ''Sydney Harbour'', is the amount of water in the Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson): approximately .

Image gallery

File:Admiralty Chart No 1069 Port Jackson, Published 1890.jpg, 1890 nautical chart of Port Jackson File:Clifftop, hilly homes in Vaucluse in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia.png, Sydney Harbour in distance as seen aloft from Tasman Sea, overlooking the clifftop suburb of

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.

File:QE2 Sydney1.jpg, The ''

Queen Elizabeth 2 ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' (''QE2'') is a retired British ocean liner. Built for the Cunard Line, the ship was operated as a transatlantic liner and cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was laid up until converted into a floating hotel, operating sin ...

'' docked at Sydney Harbour, looking towards

and the

Sydney CBD The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

File:Sydney Harbour New Years Eve 2012-2013.jpg, Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve File:Portjackson.jpg, View of Port Jackson and Sydney's CBD File:Sydney Harbour from Circular Quay in 2012.jpg, Sydney Harbour File:Sydney Harbour Bridge from the air.JPG, Sydney Harbour and Port Jackson displaying aerial views of the

and the

. The CBD is located to the far left of the photo. File:Sydney Harbour, from Dumaresq Road, Rose Bay, New South Wales (2011-01-05) 03.jpg, Port Jackson, as seen from Rose Bay File:Sydney Harbour panorama view from Millers Point.jpg, Sydney Harbour from

File:Sow and Pigs Reef Marker.jpg, East Channel Marker in Sydney Harbour, colloquially called the East Wedding Cake File:View of Sydney Harbour.jpg, View of the harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge from Vaucluse File:Amazing sunset view from Macquarie's Chair.jpg, View of the harbour from the

rocks in Mrs Macquarie's Chair File:Observatory Hill Sydney.jpg, View over the Harbour from Observatory Park

References

External links

Official New South Wales Maritime Authority website

– A history of Sydney Harbour
Sydney Harbour Guide from Sydney.com
* Maps maintained by the New South Wales Maritime Authority (legal owner of the harbour bed): *
Port Jackson—east of Harbour Bridge
*
Port Jackson—west of Harbour Bridge
*
Sydney Harbour Federation Trust
– established by the Australian Government to plan for the future of former Defence and other special Commonwealth Lands around Sydney Harbour.
Sydney Ports
* ''

Dictionary of Sydney The Dictionary of Sydney is a digital humanities project to produce an online, expert-written encyclopaedia of all aspects of the history of Sydney. Description The Dictionary is a partnership between the City of Sydney, the University of Sydne ...

'' ** CC-By-SA">Creative_Commons_license.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Creative Commons license">CC-By-SA/nowiki> ** CC-By-SA">Creative_Commons_license.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Creative Commons license">CC-By-SA/nowiki> ** CC-By-SA">Creative_Commons_license.html" ;"title="/nowiki> CC-By-SA/nowiki> * Watkin Tench">Tench, W.,
A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson
' {{authority control Sydney Harbour"> Bays of New South Wales Bays of New South Wales">Sydney Harbour"> Bays of New South Wales Geography of Sydney

Geography of Sydney">Bays of New South Wales">Sydney Harbour"> Bays of New South Wales Geography of Sydney Northern Beaches Ports and harbours of New South Wales">Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

Tourist attractions in Sydney

History

Cook's naming of Port Jackson

First Fleet

Later events

Attack on Sydney Harbour

Fortifications

Geography

Headlands and peninsulas

Islands

Tributaries and waterways

Climate

Infrastructure

Bridges

Punts

Weir

Tunnels

Cruise ship terminals

Other port facilities

Military installations

Maritime transport

Maritime heritage

Ecology

Heritage listings

Derivative unit of measure

Image gallery

See also

References

External links