Culture of Sydney

The culture of Sydney is diverse and multicultural. Many of the individual cultures that make up the Sydney mosaic are centred on the ethnic, linguistic and religious communities formed by waves of immigration. In addition, as a major Australian city, Sydney boasts a full roster of musical, theatrical and artistic activity.

Music

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is internationally noted and frequently performs at the Sydney Opera House. The Sydney Dance Company under the leadership of Graeme Murphy during the late 20th century has also gained acclaim. Many well-known Australian rock bands have had their genesis in Sydney, including Midnight Oil, The Easybeats, AC/DC and INXS, as well as a host of independent groups from punk rock Radio Birdman, indie rockers The Clouds and The Crystal Set, to electronic music pioneers Severed Heads, Single Gun Theory and Itch-E and Scratch-E.

To a lesser extent jazz and new music (such as Sydney-based The Necks) has found a home in places like “The Basement” and the Harbourside Brasserie. Australia’s other major arts institution has its headquarters in Sydney: Opera Australia, whilst the Australian Ballet locates its main corporate offices in Melbourne.

Many popular songs are inspired by Sydney, including “Sydney Town” by The Mexican Spitfires, “From St. Kilda to Kings Cross” and many others by Paul Kelly, “Summer Hill Road” by The Executives and John Kennedy’s “Love Gone Wrong”.

Literature and theatre

The Sydney Theatre Company boasts a regular roster of local plays, such as noted playwright David Williamson, classics and international playwrights. From the 1940s through to the 1970s the Sydney Push, an intellectual subculture of authors and activists questioning of authority grew, its members included Germaine Greer.

Art

Sydney has been home to many visual artists, from the lush pastoralism of Lloyd Rees depictions of Sydney Harbour to Jeffrey Smart’s portraits of bleak urban alienation. The Archibald Prize is a noted portraiture prize awarded each year by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales located in Sydney.

Festivals

Sydney is a host to many different festivals including the Sydney Festival, a celebration of free performances throughout January; the Big Day Out, a travelling rock music festival which originated in Sydney; the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (see below) the Sydney Film Festival and many other smaller festivals such as Tropfest.

Sydney communities and subcultures

Ethnic communities

Examples of ethnic communities in Sydney include;
Cabramatta (predominantly Vietnamese, but also Lao and Han Chinese)
Chatswood (Cantonese)
Leichhardt (Italian)
Strathfield (Shanghainese)
Fairfield, New South Wales Sydney’s Assyrian community est,35-50,000
Eastwood (Korean and Cantonese)
Bankstown (Lebanese)
Mount Kuring-gai (Polish)
Earlwood/Brighton-Le-Sands (Greek)
Petersham (Portuguese)
Auburn (Turkish)
St Ives (South African/Jewish)
Bondi (Jewish)
Liverpool (Fijian/Indian)
Northbridge (Japanese)
Hurstville (Chinese)
Willoughby (Armenian)
Blacktown (and surrounds - Filipino)
Kingsford (Indonesian)
Homebush (Sri Lankan/South Indian)

While such ethnic groupings exist, these are only general representations of the relative distribution of ethnic groups in Sydney. So, for example, while there are many Asians in Eastwood, the majority of the population is still of a Western European background. Areas with a large proportion of people born overseas and with non-English speaking backgrounds include Auburn, Fairfield, Liverpool, and Bankstown.

Generally Western European and North American born people have settled around the Lower North Shore and eastern suburbs, Middle Eastern people around the Lakemba-Auburn region, Indo-Chinese in the south-western suburbs, South Asians around Parramatta and the south east, and North East Asians in major nodes such as Hurstville, Burwood, Strathfield, Chatswood, Eastwood, Campsie and the Central Business District.

Apart from English, the 30 most widely spoken languages in Sydney are: (2004)

Arabic
Cantonese
Greek
Italian
Vietnamese
Mandarin
Spanish
Tagalog
Korean
Hindi
Croatian
Macedonian
Serbian
Turkish
Indonesian
Maltese
German
Polish
Assyrian
Russian
French
Persian
Tamil
Portuguese
Samoan
Japanese
Khmer
Hungarian
Armenian
Bengali

All languages above have over 5000 speakers in the city; Arabic and Cantonese both have over 150,000 speakers.

The gay community

Sydney is famous for its gay community, centred on Oxford Street, and the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Arts and entertainment

Sydney boasts a full roster of musical, theatrical and artistic activity through the year, from the formal - including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Theatre Company, the Sydney Dance Company, and the Archibald Prize - to festivals, including the Sydney Festival, a celebration of free performances throughout January. Performances are often held in the iconic Sydney Opera House, which contains 5 theatres capable of hosting a wide range of performance styles. For seven months of the year, it is the home of Opera Australia, the third busiest opera company in the world. Other major arts venues include the Sydney Town Hall, City Recital Hall, the State Theatre and the Wharf Theatre.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is internationally noted and frequently performs at the Sydney Opera House. The Sydney Dance Company under the leadership of Graeme Murphy during the late 20th century has also gained acclaim. Many well-known Australian rock bands have had their genesis in Sydney, from Midnight Oil to INXS, as well as a host of independent groups from punk rock Radio Birdman, indie rockers The Clouds and The Crystal Set, to electronic music pioneers Severed Heads, Single Gun Theory and Itch-E and Scratch-E. To a lesser extent jazz and new music (such as Sydney-based The Necks) has found a home in places like “The Basement” and the Harbourside Brasserie. Australia’s other major arts institution has its headquarters in Sydney: Opera Australia.

The Sydney Theatre Company boasts a regular roster of local plays, such as noted playwright David Williamson, classics and international playwrights. Sydney’s label of the “Emerald City” comes from the David Williamson play of the same name. From the 1940s through to the 1970s the Sydney Push, an intellectual subculture of authors and activists questioning of authority grew, its members included Germaine Greer.