Guide to Sydney The Harbour City. Home Places to go Sydney and surrounds Guide to Sydney. Things to do and top attractions in Sydney. More experiences around Sydney. Make your trip happen. Show Filters Hide Filters. Accommodation Property Type Hotels. Caravan, Camping and Holiday Parks. See all Hide all Clear. All Attraction Type All. Bring Your Own wine. Yet at the same time, the economy is still growing just above its speed limit and the jobless rate is at 5 per cent, the lowest in more than six years.
Lowe said he suspects unemployment could fall to 4. With inflation low, the economy is in a relatively healthy position. The RBA would ideally like to see household incomes start to enjoy a strong, sustainable increase to help the property market find a bottom quicker, and for that to flow through to faster inflation. Such a smooth transition would set the scene for the first rate increase since , but it's also pretty unlikely. The worst case would be a multi-year property downturn in Sydney and Melbourne -- the second-largest city -- and stagnant wages.
That, together with a slowdown in global growth, could force the RBA to deploy its remaining ammunition and push rates toward zero. When Britain declared war on Germany in , Australia too entered. During the war Sydney experienced a surge in industrial development to meet the needs of a wartime economy. Far from mass unemployment, there were now labour shortages and women becoming active in male roles. Sydney's harbour was attacked by the Japanese in May and June with a direct attack from Japanese submarines with some loss of life. Sydney saw a surge in industrial development to meet the needs of a war economy, and also the elimination of unemployment.
Labour shortages forced the government to accept women in more active roles in war work. Consequently, Sydney experienced population growth and increased cultural diversification throughout the post-war period. The people of Sydney warmly welcomed Queen Elizabeth II in when the reigning monarch stepped onto Australian soil for the first time to commence her Australian Royal Tour. The Australian government launched a large scale multicultural immigration program.
New industries such as information technology, education, financial services and the arts have risen. Sydney's iconic Opera House was opened in by Her Majesty. A new skyline of concrete and steel skyscrapers swept away much of the old lowrise and often sandstone skyline of the city in the s and s, with Australia Square being the tallest building in Sydney from its completion in until and is also notable for being the first skyscraper in Australia. Since the s Sydney has undergone a rapid economic and social transformation.
As a result, the city has become a cosmopolitan melting pot. Sydney is a coastal basin with the Tasman Sea to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north, and the Woronora Plateau to the south. The inner city measures 25 square kilometres 10 square miles , the Greater Sydney region covers 12, square kilometres 4, square miles , and the city's urban area is 1, square kilometres square miles in size.
Sydney spans two geographic regions. The Cumberland Plain lies to the south and west of the Harbour and is relatively flat. The Hornsby Plateau is located to the north and is dissected by steep valleys. The flat areas of the south were the first to be developed as the city grew. It was not until the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that the northern reaches of the coast became more heavily populated.
Seventy beaches can be found along its coastline with Bondi Beach being one of the most famous. The Nepean River wraps around the western edge of the city and becomes the Hawkesbury River before reaching Broken Bay. Most of Sydney's water storages can be found on tributaries of the Nepean River.
The Parramatta River is mostly industrial and drains a large area of Sydney's western suburbs into Port Jackson. Sydney is made up of mostly Triassic rock with some recent igneous dykes and volcanic necks. The Sydney Basin was formed when the Earth's crust expanded, subsided, and filled with sediment in the early Triassic period. The sandstone has shale lenses and fossil riverbeds. The Sydney Basin bioregion includes coastal features of cliffs, beaches, and estuaries. Deep river valleys known as rias were carved during the Triassic period in the Hawkesbury sandstone of the coastal region where Sydney now lies.
The rising sea level between 18, and 6, years ago flooded the rias to form estuaries and deep harbours. The most prevalent plant communities in the Sydney region are Dry Sclerophyll Forests which consist of eucalyptus trees, casuarinas , melaleucas , sclerophyll shrubs typically wattles and banksias and a semi-continuous grass in the understory , mainly in an open woodland setting. These plants tend to have rough and spiky leaves, as they're grown in areas with low soil fertility.
They are defined by straight, tall tree canopies with an elaborate, moist understorey of soft-leaved shrubs, tree ferns and herbs. Sydney is home to dozens of bird species, [76] which commonly include the Australian raven , Australian magpie , crested pigeon , noisy miner and the pied currawong , among others.
Introduced bird species ubiquitously found in Sydney are the common myna , common starling , house sparrow and the spotted dove. The weather is moderated by proximity to the ocean, and more extreme temperatures are recorded in the inland western suburbs. Autumn and spring are the transitional seasons, with spring showing a larger temperature variation than autumn.
The rainfall has a moderate to low variability and it is spread through the months, but is slightly higher during the first half of the year. In summer, most rain falls from thunderstorms and in winter from cold fronts. The city is rarely affected by cyclones , although remnants of ex-cyclones do affect the city. Many areas of the city bordering bushland have experienced bushfires, these tend to occur during the spring and summer. The city is also prone to severe storms. The Bureau of Meteorology has reported that to were the warmest summers in Sydney since records began in The average annual temperature of the sea ranges from The CBD extends about 3 kilometres 1.
Most of these suburbs measure less than 1 square kilometre 0. The Sydney CBD is characterised by considerably narrow streets and thoroughfares, created in its convict beginnings in the 18th century. Several localities, distinct from suburbs, exist throughout Sydney's inner reaches. Central and Circular Quay are transport hubs with ferry, rail, and bus interchanges. Chinatown , Darling Harbour, and Kings Cross are important locations for culture, tourism, and recreation. Opened on 1 April , its shop fronts are an exact replica of the original internal shopping facades.
There is a long trend of gentrification amongst Sydney's inner suburbs. Pyrmont located on the harbour was redeveloped from a centre of shipping and international trade to an area of high density housing , tourist accommodation, and gambling. It had a period when it was known as an area of prostitution. The terrace style housing has largely been retained and Darlinghurst has undergone significant gentrification since the s. On the city harbour edge the historic suburb and wharves of Millers Point are being built up as the new area of Barangaroo.
Suburbs in the Inner West have historically housed working class industrial workers, but have undergone gentrification over the 20th century. The region now mainly features medium- and high-density housing. Major features in the area include the University of Sydney and the Parramatta River, as well as a large cosmopolitan community. Strathfield Railway Station is a secondary railway hub within Sydney, and major station on the Suburban and Northern lines.
It was constructed in , [] and will be a future terminus of Parramatta Light Rail. They include some of the most affluent and advantaged areas in the country, with some streets being amongst the most expensive in the world. Major landmarks include Bondi Beach , a major tourist site; which was added to the Australian National Heritage List in ; [] and Bondi Junction , featuring a Westfield shopping centre and an estimated office work force of 6, by , [] as well as a train station on the T4 Eastern Suburbs Line.
Randwick's 'Collaboration Area' has a baseline estimate of 32, jobs by , according to the Greater Sydney Commission. Although main construction was due to complete in , completion has potentially been delayed to March Major shopping centres in the area include Westfield Bondi Junction and Westfield Eastgardens , although many residents shop in the City.
Southern Sydney includes the suburbs in the local government areas of former Rockdale , Georges River Council collectively known as the St George area , and broadly it also includes the suburbs in the local government area of Sutherland , south of the Georges River colloquially known as 'The Shire'. The Kurnell peninsula , near Botany Bay , is the site of the first landfall on the eastern coastline made by Lt. Hurstville, a large suburb with a multitude of commercial buildings and high-rise residential buildings dominating the skyline, has become a CBD for the southern suburbs.
The North Shore , an informal geographic term referring to the northern metropolitan area of Sydney, consists of Artarmon , Chatswood , Roseville , Lindfield , Killara , Gordon , Pymble , Hornsby and many others. The North Shore, an upper middle class area, has one of the highest property prices in Sydney with the recent property price inflation sending the average property prices in suburbs such as Roseville , [] Lindfield , Killara [] and Gordon over 2 million dollars. It is made up of suburbs located within Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby Shire councils. North Sydney itself consists of a large commercial centre, with its own business centre, which contains the second largest concentration of high-rise buildings in Sydney, after the CBD.
North Sydney is dominated by advertising, marketing businesses and associated trades, with many large corporations holding office in the region. The Northern Beaches area includes Manly , one of Sydney's most popular holiday destinations for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Australian census found the Northern Beaches to be the most white and mono-ethnic district in Australia, contrasting with its more-diverse neighbours, the North Shore and the Central Coast. The Hills district generally refers to the suburbs in north-western Sydney including the local government areas of The Hills Shire , parts of the City of Parramatta Council and Hornsby Shire.
Actual suburbs and localities that are considered to be in the Hills District can be somewhat amorphous and variable. For example, the Hills District Historical Society restricts its definition to the Hills Shire local government area, yet its study area extends from Parramatta to the Hawkesbury. The region is so named for its characteristically comparatively hilly topography as the Cumberland Plain lifts up, joining the Hornsby Plateau.
Windsor and Old Windsor Roads are historic roads in Australia, as they are the second and third roads, respectively, laid in the colony. The greater western suburbs encompasses the areas of Parramatta , the sixth largest business district in Australia, settled the same year as the harbour-side colony, [] Bankstown , Liverpool, Penrith , and Fairfield.
The population is predominantly of a working class background, with major employment in the heavy industries and vocational trade. Further to the southwest is the region of Macarthur and the city of Campbelltown , a significant population centre until the s considered a region separate to Sydney proper. Macarthur Square , a shopping complex in Campbelltown, become one of the largest shopping complexes in Sydney. The earliest structures in the colony were built to the bare minimum of standards. Upon his appointment, Governor Lachlan Macquarie set ambitious targets for the architectural design of new construction projects.
The city now has a world heritage listed building, several national heritage listed buildings, and dozens of Commonwealth heritage listed buildings as evidence of the survival of Macquarie's ideals. From the late s there was a shift towards Classical architecture. Mortimer Lewis designed the Australian Museum in As the wealth of the settlement increased, and as Sydney developed into a metropolis after Federation in , its buildings became taller.
Sydney's first tower was Culwulla Chambers on the corner of King Street and Castlereagh Street which topped out at 50 metres feet making 12 floors. The Commercial Traveller's Club, located in Martin Place and built in , was of similar height at 10 floors. The Great Depression had a tangible influence on Sydney's architecture. New structures became more restrained with far less ornamentation than was common before the s. The most notable architectural feat of this period is the Harbour Bridge. Its steel arch was designed by John Bradfield and completed in A total of 39, tonnes of structural steel span the metres 1, feet between Milsons Point and Dawes Point.
Modern and International architecture came to Sydney from the s. Since its completion in the city's Opera House has become a World Heritage Site and one of the world's most renowned pieces of Modern design.
Utzon was awarded the Pritzker Prize in for his work on the Opera House. An entrance from The Goods Line —a pedestrian pathway and former railway line—is located on the eastern border of the site. Green bans and heritage overlays have been in place since at least to protect Sydney's heritage after controversial demolitions in the s led to an outcry from Sydneysiders to preserve the old and keep history intact, sufficiently balancing old and new architecture.
Sydney real estate prices are some of the most expensive in the world, surpassing both New York City and Paris. Due to environmental and economic pressures there has been a noted trend towards denser housing. The Government has announced plans to sell nearly historic public housing properties in the harbourside neighbourhoods of Millers Point, Gloucester Street, and The Rocks. Sydney is one of the most expensive real estate markets globally. It is only second to Hong Kong with the average property costing 14 times the annual Sydney salary as of December Terrace houses are found in the inner suburbs such as Paddington, The Rocks, Potts Point and Balmain—many of which have been the subject of gentrification.
In the present day, terrace houses now make up some of the most valuable real estate in the city. Federation homes, constructed around the time of Federation in , are located in Penshurst , Turramurra , and in Haberfield. Haberfield is known as "The Federation Suburb" due to the extensive number of Federation homes. Workers cottages are found in Surry Hills, Redfern , and Balmain. California bungalows are common in Ashfield , Concord , and Beecroft. The Royal Botanic Garden is the most important green space in the Sydney region, hosting both scientific and leisure activities.
The Royal National Park was proclaimed on 26 April and with 13, hectares 51 square miles is the second oldest national park in the world. The largest park in the Sydney metropolitan area is Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, established in with an area of 15, hectares 59 square miles. The area now known as The Domain was set aside by Governor Arthur Phillip in as his private reserve. This makes them the oldest botanic garden in Australia. Researchers from Loughborough University have ranked Sydney amongst the top ten world cities that are highly integrated into the global economy.
Most Viewed in Business
The prevailing economic theory in effect during early colonial days was mercantilism , as it was throughout most of Western Europe. Governor Lachlan Macquarie solved the second problem by creating two coins from every Spanish silver dollar in circulation. Wheat, gold, and other minerals became additional export industries towards the end of the s. Protectionist policies after federation allowed for the creation of a manufacturing industry which became the city's largest employer by the s. Most foreign companies in Sydney maintain significant sales and service functions but comparably less production, research, and development capabilities.
Sydney has been ranked between the fifteenth and the fifth most expensive city in the world and is the most expensive city in Australia. The labour force of Greater Sydney Region in was 2,, with a participation rate of Unemployment in the City of Sydney averaged 4. Each day about , commuters travel from Western Sydney to the CBD and suburbs in the east and north of the city. Home ownership in Sydney was less common than renting prior to the Second World War but this trend has since reversed.
How to get there
Bank collapses were a frequent occurrence and a crisis point was reached in when 12 banks failed. It was replaced in this role in by the Reserve Bank of Australia which is also based in Sydney. Sydney has been a manufacturing city since the protectionist policies of the s. Sydney is a gateway to Australia for many international visitors. It has hosted over 2. The city also received 8. Major developmental projects designed to increase Sydney's tourism sector include a casino and hotel at Barangaroo and the redevelopment of East Darling Harbour , which involves a new exhibition and convention centre , now Australia's largest.
Sydney is the highest ranking city in the world for international students. More than 50, international students study at the city's universities and a further 50, study at its vocational and English language schools. The population of Sydney in was less than 1, The median age of Sydney residents is 36 and There were 54, people of indigenous heritage living in Sydney in There were significant clusters of people based on nationality or religion throughout the history of Sydney development.
If local residents with at least one migrant-born parent is included, then 65 percent of Sydney's population is migrant. Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is rich in Indigenous Australian heritage, containing around 1, pieces of Aboriginal rock art — the largest cluster of Indigenous sites in Australia, surpassing Kakadu , which has around 5, sites but over a much greater land mass. The park's indigenous sites include rock engravings , art sites, burial sites , caves , marriage areas, birthing areas, midden sites, and tool manufacturing locations, among others, which are dated to be around 5, years old.
The Australian Museum opened in Sydney in with the purpose of collecting and displaying the natural wealth of the colony. In the Museum of Sydney opened on the site of the first Government House.
Sydney's property prices are becoming the RBA's biggest worry
It recounts the story of the city's development. The Society exists "for the encouragement of studies and investigations in science, art, literature, and philosophy". It is based in a terrace house in Darlington owned by the University of Sydney. Its collection was founded in the s by artist and art collector John Power and has been maintained by the University of Sydney.
- World of Warcraft Gold Guide.
- The Diamond Symphony (Safe in All Things Book 10).
- Heredity: A Walkthrough Guide to Human Inheritance (A&P Basics Book 25).
- Things to do and top attractions in Sydney.
Sydney's first commercial theatre opened in and nine more had commenced performances by the late s. The live medium lost much of its popularity to cinema during the Great Depression before experiencing a revival after World War II. Sydney Theatre Company maintains a roster of local, classical, and international plays. It has staged over , performances and received million visitors since opening in The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is located adjacent to the Royal Botanic Garden and serves the Australian music community through education and its biannual Australian Music Examinations Board exams.
Many writers have originated in and set their work in Sydney. The city was the headquarters for Australia's first published newspaper, the Sydney Gazette. A Wildly Distorted Account , J. Filmmaking in Sydney was quite prolific until the s when spoken films were introduced and American productions gained dominance in Australian cinema. Impossible 2 , Moulin Rouge! Sydney is the host of several festivals throughout the year.
The city's New Year's Eve celebrations are the largest in Australia.
Sydney Festival is Australia's largest arts festival. The city's two largest film festivals are Sydney Film Festival and Tropfest. Vivid Sydney is an annual outdoor exhibition of art installations, light projections, and music. In , Sydney was ranked 13th for being the top fashion capitals in the world.
Guide to Sydney - Tourism Australia
The Sydney Mardi Gras has commenced each February since Sydney's Chinatown has had numerous locations since the s. The Star is the city's only casino and is situated around Darling Harbour. The indigenous people of Sydney held totemic beliefs known as " dreamings ". Governor Lachlan Macquarie made an effort to found a culture of formal religion throughout the early settlement and ordered the construction of churches such as St Matthew's, St Luke's, St James's, and St Andrew's. The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia's oldest newspaper still in print. Now a compact form paper owned by Fairfax Media , it has been published continuously since The Bulletin was founded in Sydney in and became Australia's longest running magazine.
It closed after years of continuous publication. Each of Australia's three commercial television networks and two public broadcasters is headquartered in Sydney. Foxtel is based in North Ryde and sells subscription cable television to most parts of the urban area. Radio became a popular tool for politics, news, religion, and sport and has managed to survive despite the introduction of television and the Internet.
Sydney's earliest migrants brought with them a passion for sport but were restricted by the lack of facilities and equipment. The first organised sports were boxing, wrestling, and horse racing from in Hyde Park. The first cricket club was formed in and matches were played within Hyde Park throughout the s and s. First played in Sydney in , rugby grew to be the city's most popular football code by the s. One-tenth of the state's population attended a New South Wales versus New Zealand rugby match in Sydney is home to nine of the sixteen teams in the National Rugby League competition: The Waratahs are a member of the Australian Hockey League.
The Swifts are competitors in the national women's netball league. Women were first allowed to participate in recreational swimming when separate baths were opened at Woolloomooloo Bay in the s. From being illegal at the beginning of the century, sea bathing gained immense popularity during the early s and the first surf lifesaving club was established at Bondi Beach. The City2Surf is an annual kilometre 8. In , 80, runners participated which made it the largest run of its kind in the world.
Sailing races have been held on Sydney Harbour since Sydney Olympic Park accommodates athletics, aquatics, tennis, hockey, archery, baseball, cycling, equestrian, and rowing facilities. It also includes the high capacity Stadium Australia used for rugby, soccer, and Australian rules football. Sydney Football Stadium was completed in and is used for rugby and soccer matches. Sydney Cricket Ground was opened in and is used for both cricket and Australian rules football fixtures. A tennis tournament is held here at the beginning of each year as the warm-up for the Grand Slam in Melbourne.
Two of the most successful tennis players in history: