Sydney History

Pre 20th Century

Because Australia is one of the oldest land masses on the globe, its pre-European history is a bit vague and woolly. What appears certain is that the first humans came from across the sea, between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago, from Southeast 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 had, and to a degree still retain, 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 made a significant impact on the Aboriginal communities. 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. Many of Sydney's Aboriginal residents were either driven away, murdered by the settlers or killed by unfamiliar diseases. The fleet, which landed at Botany Bay in January 1788 on the recommendation of explorer James Cook, who had visited in 1770, carried 730 male and female 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 Botany Bay, and this is where the city of Sydney grew.

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'. 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.

Modern

Australia's states achieved federation on 1 January 1901 - New South Wales became a state of the new Commonwealth 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 Jørn 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 Kings Cross developed a fine line in sleazy entertainment for the visiting lads (a speciality it maintains to this day). Throughout the 70s, NSW went against the national trend by voting 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.

Recent

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 it gained a few much-needed roundabouts and overpasses (and an excess of darling little bijou wine bars that weren't really needed at all). Still, Sydney's sense of itself as a city fit to take on the world continues to expand.