Sydney (Australia)

I

Introduction

Sydney (Australia), capital city of New South Wales, on the eastern coast of Australia. The oldest and largest Australian city, Sydney was established as a British penal settlement. Arthur Phillip commanded the First Fleet on its antipodean voyage and was the first governor of the new colony, which was established at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788. Sydney, named after Viscount Sydney (the British Home Secretary of the time), was a pre-emptive British presence to deter further French penetration of the South Pacific. The city is situated on the southern shore of its harbour, Port Jackson, and has a foreshore of 240 km (149 mi), consisting of inlets, tributary rivers, bays, coves, and promontories. Climatically, Sydney has warm summers and mild, though sometimes rather wet, winters, with mean temperatures ranging from 12.6°C (55°F) to 21°C (70°F) and an average annual rainfall, fairly evenly distributed through the year, of 1,194 mm (47 in).

The metropolitan area of modern Sydney extends from the Hawkesbury River in the north to the southern tablelands in the south; and from the Blue Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It is thus effectively hemmed in and prevented from expanding further by geographical obstacles. The city and suburbs cover about 12,400 sq km (4,790 sq mi) and Sydney faces serious pollution problems resulting from the intensity of development, habitation, and traffic. The suburbs themselves, especially the great western expanse, are undistinguished, many of the inhabitants having been forced to the city's periphery by continually rising housing costs in the city and its immediate environs. Long fingers of bushland extend deep into Sydney's metropolitan heart and the consequent vulnerability to bushfires was tragically underlined in January 1994 when fires sweeping through New South Wales engulfed many suburban homes and came close to the city centre.

Like other major Australian cities but even more so, Sydney has been transformed by migration. While it remains true that most “Sydneysiders”, as they are called, are of British and Irish descent, Sydney is one of Australia's major multi-cultural cities: a decade ago, 22.75 per cent of Australia's Italian-born population, 72.66 per cent of its Lebanese (easily the highest concentration in the country), and 39.17 per cent of its Vietnamese (again the largest in the country) were living in Sydney. At the same time, the Aboriginal population of Sydney stood at 18,590 constituting 0.6 per cent of the city's total population. All these percentages have remained consistent or have increased since. Population 3,502,301 (2001 estimate).

II

Economy

Sydney is the industrial, commercial, financial, and tourism capital of Australia and is one of the most significant financial centres in the Asia-Pacific region. Sixty of Australia's largest corporations have established their headquarters in Sydney. Sydney is also the hub of information technology and telecommunications, commanding over 40 per cent of the US$10-billion Australian telecommunications market. Because Sydney is Australia's major commercial centre, public and private sector administration occupies much of the workforce but manufacturing continues to be important: metals, machinery, clothing, processed food, electronic equipment, motor vehicles, ships, and refined petroleum are some of the wide range of Sydney's manufactured products. Sydney also handles most of Australia's foreign trade. Exported wheat, wool, and meat are some of the items that flow through the city's Port Jackson or through the large port complex on neighbouring Botany Bay. Sydney’s Kingsford Smith International Airport is the busiest in the country. Air transport for Sydney has long been a problem: a third runway opened at the airport in 1994 after much controversy and protests from residents over noise levels. The issue of the siting of a second airport for the city remains a contentious political issue.

III

Places of Interest

Sydney is a beautiful city despite the incongruity of modern skyscrapers in the central business district with the colonial public buildings and handsome terraces. Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed in 1932, is one of the longest single-arch bridges in the world. The curve of the arch stands 135 m (443 ft) above sea level and the 49-m (160-ft) wide deck carries dual railway tracks, an eight-lane highway, a bicycle track, and a pedestrian footpath. The bridge, linking north Sydney with the southern and eastern suburbs, became a symbol of the harbourside city but its iconic significance was, if not eclipsed, certainly equalled with the opening of the Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point in 1973, now one of the most recognizable edifices in the world. The Opera House was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

Hyde Park Barracks, in Queens Square, is a fine, classically proportioned building designed by Francis Greenway. Once providing accommodation for 1,000 convicts, it is now a museum of social history. Other fine Greenway buildings are St James Church, opposite the Barracks, and the Government House stables, now the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. Sharing Queens Square with the Barracks is the Mint Museum, the oldest public building in Sydney and originally part of the 1816 “Rum Hospital”, as was Parliament House in Macquarie Street, which is still the home of the New South Wales legislature. The oldest surviving private building in Sydney is the two-storey Georgian Cadman's Cottage (1816) in George Street in the Rocks. The Rocks, once a raucous slum, has been redeveloped as a tourist precinct with cobbled streets, colonial buildings, and converted warehouses. Other vintage sites are the Queen Victoria Building, housing a huge shopping gallery, and the colonial sandstone-built Observatory. More modern contributions include the AMP Tower (1981), which at 305 m (1,000 ft) is the highest building in the Southern hemisphere, and the Monorail connecting the city centre with Darling Harbour to the west. Darling Harbour is itself a redevelopment of gradually decaying dockland in an area that the early colonists called Cockle Cove. It is the location of the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney Aquarium, the Chinese Garden, and the largest cinema (IMAX) screen in the world; to the south-west are Chinatown and Spanish Town.

A

Parks and Beaches

Sydney's many parks and beaches are a favourite destination for tourists, holiday-makers, and thousands of office workers. The city’s most famous beaches are Bondi in the south, and the North Shore’s Manly, the home of surfing in Australia. Many other beaches along the coast are within easy range of the city. Principal parks include Hyde Park—once on the outskirts but now surrounded by the city proper—with its majestic Moreton Bay Figs and dignified Art Deco ANZAC Memorial and the 35 hectares (86 acres) of the Royal Botanic Gardens. The Royal National Park, 36 km (22 miles) south of Sydney, is one of the oldest national parks in the world. Taronga Zoo contains fine collections of both native and exotic animals within its spectacular harbourside site.