Introducation of Sydney

Sydney (pronounced /’s?d.ni?/) is the state capital of New South Wales, located on the east coast of Australia. The city was established in 1788 when Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove and claimed Australia for the British. With a metropolitan population of over 4 million people, it is the most populous city in the country (with about 20% of the total population).

Built around Sydney Harbour, which is sometimes considered one of the most beautiful harbours in the world[1], Sydney is known in Australia as the “Harbour City” and the harbour itself as well as structures on its shores such as the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are globally recognised icons of the city. Sydney is a major domestic and international tourist destination, notable for its climate, famous beaches, culture, renowned landmarks and modern architecture. It is Australia’s main financial centre, and the skyscrapers of its financial district cluster around Circular Quay, making the city’s skyline one of the most distinctive in the world.

Sydney significantly raised its global profile in recent years as the host city of the 2000 Olympics. It is a “Beta” global city exerting significant regional, national, and international influence. From its sordid beginnings as a British penal colony in 1788, Sydney rapidly flourished, establishing booming trade links and witnessing large-scale development throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The Sydney Opera House (a feat of avant-garde architectural vision) epitomizes the city’s desire to lead the New World in the 21st century. Sydney’s architecture is a stunning melange, with little Victorian structures nestling below towering concrete, steel and glass skyscrapers.

All the exuberance and plate-glass sophistication nonetheless fail to compensate for a certain competitive edginess in the city’s psyche. After the Australian Federation was created in 1901, the traditional bickering between Sydney and its arch rival, Melbourne, was settled in 1908, by making Canberra the new national capital. However, until 1927, when the city of Canberra was completed, Melbourne remained the seat of national government. Nevertheless, Sydneysiders insist that their city remains the ‘true’ capital of Australia and indeed, with a triumphant hosting of the 2000 Olympic Games, the world might even agree with this. But the rivalry with Melbourne persists - a rivalry based more on style than on stature for, while Sydney is decidedly Anglo in its ethnic orientation, Melbourne is more continental, with a much more tangibly imported culture. To Melbourne, Sydney will always be hedonistic and shallow, just as to Sydney, Melbourne will always be grey and intellectual.

Australia’s white history has eclipsed its indigenous inheritance and, although Sydney has the highest Aboriginal population of any Australian city, a stroll around the city’s streets offers little evidence that it has anything other than a white (and latterly, an Asian) heritage. While museums, galleries, theater and dance troupes pay tribute to the archaeological and cultural legacy of indigenous culture, Aborigines in the city remain very much an invisible minority.

With the Olympics, Sydney came of age as one of the world’s great cities. The games’ smooth running has been attributed to the thousands of local volunteers, whose helpful, welcoming attitude revealed (much to Sydney’s own surprise) that beneath its somewhat vain and self-seeking surface there still exists a bedrock of traditional Australian virtues.

But the Games did more than affect the city’s mindset: they transformed its physical appearance. Streets and public areas were remodeled, long-neglected eyesores were removed and new street furniture erected, resulting in a city center that is more pleasant and easier to navigate than ever before. Combine that with semitropical summers and mild winters and the result is an excellent city to visit at any time of the year.