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"In Sydney Harbour the yachts will be racing on the crushed diamond
water under a sky the texture of powdered sapphires.
It would be churlish not to concede that the same abundance of natural blessings which
gave us the energy to leave has every right to call us back."
Australia's premier city is the oldest settlement in Australia, the economic powerhouse
of the nation and the country's capital in everything but name. Built on the shores of
the stunning Port Jackson, you would have to die and go to heaven before you see a more
spectacular setting for a city. It's a vital, self-regarding metropolis,
exuding both a devil-may-care urbanity and a slavish obsession with global fads.
The Sydney area was the ancestral home of the Daruk tribe, whose territory extended from
Botany Bay to Pittwater. There are some 2000 Aboriginal rock engraving sites in the Sydney
area, and many of Sydney's suburbs have Aboriginal names. The city of Sydney began life as
a penal colony in 1788, and for the next 60 years received the unwanted, persecuted and
criminal elements of British society. Despite its brutal beginnings, the city's mixture of
pragmatic egalitarianism and plain indifference has transformed it into a thriving multicultural
society. Sydney now attracts the majority of Australia's immigrants and the city's predominantly
Anglo-Irish heritage has been revitalised by large influxes of Italians, Lebanese, Turks, Greeks,
Chinese and Vietnamese.
Because Australia is one of the oldest land masses on the globe, the pre-homosapien history
is a bit vague and woolley. What appears certain is that the first humans came from across
the sea, some 50,000 years ago, from South-East Asia. These nomadic tribes spread across
the continent, following fairly prescribed tribal paths. Around what is now Sydney there
were three main tribes - the Ku-ring-gai, the Dharawal and the Dharug - who, although sharing
some dialects and traditions, all possessed their own unique language, rituals and stories, and
occupied different nomadic paths that only occasionally overlapped. Indigenous Australians
were the first to make polished, edge-ground, stone tools, to cremate their dead and to engrave
and paint representations of themselves and animals. They have a sophisticated culture that
integrates religion, history, law, art and codes of behaviour into complex ceremonies.
The arrival of the British First Fleet in the 18th century put an end to all that. The Aboriginal
people's egalitarian social structure hampered their attempts at resistance to the new settlers,
and the British refused to recognise their legal rights to the land. Sydney's Aboriginal
residents were either driven away by force, murdered by the settlers or killed by unfamiliar
diseases. The fleet, which landed at Botany Bay in January 1788 on the recommendation of
Captain Cook, who had visited in 1770, carried 759 convicts from Britain's overcrowded jails
as well as an assortment of military personnel under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip.
The settlers eventually established themselves at Sydney Cove, north of the bay, and this is
where the city of Sydney grew up.
Over the next few years the second and third fleets showed up, despite the fact that the new
settlement was on the brink of starvation for most of its first 15 years. In the last decade
of the 18th century there was a huge influx of military settlers, the 'Rum Corps', into the
settlement - rum became Sydney's main currency and the military, rather than the governors,
ran the joint. In 1813 the Blue Mountains, which had previously hemmed in the town, were
broached by explorers, and Sydney was linked with the western plains of NSW. When gold was
discovered in Victoria and to Sydney's west in the 1850s, settlers poured out of the town
in search of wealth and Sydney's importance diminished dramatically.
Australia's states federated on 1 January 1901 - New South Wales became a state of Australia,
and Sydney became NSW's capital. Australia went to war in support of Britain in 1914, and
the economy boomed until the late 20s, when the Great Depression hit - in 1931 around a
third of Sydney's workforce was unemployed. But in 1932 wool prices rose, the city's
building industry took off and Sydney once more became the most special city in Australia.
The Harbour Bridge was also opened in 1932. There was quite a kerfuffle at the opening of
the bridge, when a sword-wielding chappie by the name of de Groot stole the limelight from
NSW premier Jack Lang by slashing the opening ribbon before the premier could give it the
official chop.
Sydney suffered little during WWII, although several Japanese midget subs were captured
in the harbour. After the war, European immigrants flooded into the city, and Sydney
spread rapidly westwards, gaining a bunch of pizza places in the process. It also picked
up one of its most famous landmarks - in 1957 architect Jorn Utzon won a competition to
design the Sydney Opera House. In 1966, before the completion of the Opera House, Utzon
resigned in frustration at compromises to his plan. Another architectural team took over,
and the Opera House was opened in 1973.
During the Vietnam war, Sydney became a major R&R stopover for US GIs, and the city started
tasting of Coke and burgers, while King's Cross developed a fine line in sleazy entertainment
for the visiting lads (a speciality it maintains to this day). Throughout the 70s, New South
Wales (NSW) went against the national trend and voted Labor, and longstanding premier Neville
Wran oversaw much of Sydney's building boom. The Bicentennial celebrations in 1988 and the
massive Darling Harbour redevelopment project boosted the city's morale, and today the economy
is doing reasonably well, though unemployment remains high.
After winning the bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games, Sydney poured vast amounts of money into
renovating and prettying itself up. Though the Games were declared the 'best ever' by IOC
head opportunist Juan Antonio Samaranch and the follow-on Paralympics were well patronised,
visitor numbers were well down on early estimates and changes to Sydney's infrastructure haven't
necessarily improved the lot of those impoverished locals who couldn't afford a ticket to the
synchronised swimming. It will be some time before the final ledger decides whether the city
ended in the black or red - history favours the latter - but at least the city gained a few
much-needed roundabouts and overpasses and an excess of darling little bijou wine bars that
aren't really needed at all.
In mid-2000, a rail link between the airport and the city was inaugurated to great fanfare
- reality outlasted the hype when the first commuters discovered a lack of decent luggage
facilities in the carriages, but now that the Olympics are over there's a little bit more
room. A special bus, the Airport Express, runs regularly from the airport to various stops
in the city, Kings Cross and Bondi. Ordinary buses also go by the airport, but they're less
frequent. The airport also runs a more expensive limousine bus service, which will take you
right to your hotel or hostel, and pick you up from the same on your way out. A taxi from
the airport to Circular Quay will cost about US$15; to Central Station it will be about US$10.
Sydney has a good train network, including an underground city centre loop. It's the fastest
way of getting around but not exactly the most scenic. There are some gaps in the train network,
notably the coast on the south shore and all of the north shore east of the Harbour Bridge.
The bus network is extensive, but can be slow. There are plenty of fare deals and several
hop-on, hop-off buses specifically designed for visitors who hate walking or for those who
have no sense of direction. The most pleasant way to get around is by ferry. A trip on the
Manly Ferry is the best way to experience the harbour if you can't charm someone into taking
you sailing. The Monorail is an elevated toy train that shuttles uselessly between the city
and Darling Harbour. Sydneysiders either love its sub-Bladerunner futurism or thinks it's
a godawful eyesore, depending on their aesthetic bent. Taxis are plentiful and car and bike
hire are widely available.
The harbour is the defining characteristic of the city. Its multiple sandstone headlands,
dramatic cliffs, rocky islands and stunning bays and beaches, make it one of the most beautiful
stretches of water in the world. Officially called Port Jackson, the harbour stretches some
20km inland to join the mouth of the Parramatta River. The most scenic area is on the ocean
side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Sydney Harbour National Park protects the scattered
pockets of bushland around the harbour and offers good walking tracks. The best way to
experience the harbour is to go sailing, but if you're lacking nautical skills there are
plenty of ways to enjoy it. Try catching the Manly ferry, swimming at Nielsen Park, walking
from Manly to Spit Bridge, having a drink at Watsons Bay, dining with a view at Rose Bay,
Balmoral or Circular Quay, or cruising to the heads on the Bounty.
Photographs: S.SZ.
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My Sydney
