Introduction
Located on Australia's southeastern coast, Sydney is the country's largest city. Because of its magnificent harbor, it is also one of the most important ports in the South Pacific.
Cityscape
Downtown Sydney follows a wedge of parkland from Farm Cove, where Australia's first crops were grown, to Hyde Park. The area is dotted with sports fields and harborside promenades. Also located there are the Library of New South Wales, the Art Gallery, and the Australian Museum, which has a large collection of aboriginal artifacts. Sydney's most famous landmark is the Opera House. Its white shell-shaped roofs seem to echo the sails of the many yachts in the harbor.
Also along the water are many sailing and swimming clubs, marinas, boat houses, a naval training base, and more than 40 beaches—many protected by sharkproof nets. On summer weekends thousands of surfers flock to such beaches as Bondi, Curl Curl, Deewhy, Narrabeen, Maroubra, Coogee, and Cronulla. Taronga Park Zoo offers some of the finest harbor vistas.
People and culture
More than a quarter of Sydney's population was born abroad. The largest immigrant groups are from Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, the republics that once made up Yugoslavia, Greece, Lebanon, Germany, and Malta. Sydney also contains the largest Australian communities of Americans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders.
Sports are part of everyday life in Sydney. Every district in the city supports its own football (soccer) and cricket teams with lush clubhouses. Some have 50,000 members. Famous arenas include the Sydney Cricket Ground, Randwick Racecourse, and the Royal Agricultural Society's Show Ground. Since 1945 Sydney has been the site of a yacht race held every December.
Economy
Sydney is an active commercial port. Power stations, railroad yards, oil storage tanks, slaughterhouses, fish markets, brickworks, cargo sheds, and naval dockyards line the waterfront. The city also features more than 7,000 manufacturing firms. They produce goods such as transport equipment, foods, paper, and chemicals. In addition, Sydney is Australia's financial capital. About half of the head offices of Australia's top 200 financial institutions are located there.
History
Australia was originally the home of about 500 groups of natives, known as aborigines. Europeans began arriving on the continent in 1770, when English explorer James Cook sailed along Australia's coast. England's rulers soon decided to use Australia as a prison colony, where they could send convicts to serve their sentences.
In 1787, 729 convicts and 160 marines arrived in Australia. They were led by Governor Arthur Phillip, who decided to build a settlement along a natural harbor Cook had named Port Jackson (now Sydney Harbor). The city that grew up around the harbor was named after Lord Thomas Townshend Sydney, the British home secretary to whom Governor Phillip reported. January 26, 1788, the day Phillip's men unloaded their cargo at Sydney Cove, is now celebrated as Australia Day.
Sydney continued to be a home for British convicts until 1840. Incorporated as a city in 1842, it became the state capital of New South Wales 14 years later. By 1930 metropolitan Sydney's population was more than 1 million. One fifth of all Australians and more than 60 percent of all New South Welshmen now live in Sydney. Population (1996 census), city, 24,883; (1998 estimate), metropolitan area, 3,986,700.
