Sydney, Australia: History and Heritage

Sydney is a relatively young city, having been founded as a British settlement in 1788. For many years it was a penal settlement where the majority of its inhabitants were convicts transported from the other side of the earth.

During this early colonial period some beautiful buildings such as St James' Church (1819-24) and the Hyde Park Barracks (1819) were designed by the transported architect Francis Greenway under the sponsorship of Governor Lachlan Macquarie.

In the 1850s gold was discovered near Bathurst just over the Blue Mountains from Sydney and a gold rush inevitably followed. Tens of thousands arrived in just a few months, all intent on making their fortunes. Most failed and stayed on to work in the factories, shops and offices of the city of Sydney or on farms in the state of New South Wales.

The gold rushes also left behind substantial edifices -- large banks, government offices and hotels which are still standing and which were all constructed using profits from gold and other minerals.

Times were tough for ordinary people as reflected in the poems and short stories of Henry Lawson, long a Sydney resident and author of such masterpieces as "Faces in the Street".

You can still see many of the terrace houses which housed the working classes of the second half of the nineteenth century.

Wars of the British Empire always seemed to require contributions from the colonies and Sydney sent many soldiers to the various conflicts. The worst of these was to be the First World War (also referred to as the Great War). A whole generation of Sydney's young men sailed overseas for the battlefields of Europe and many never returned.

After the war the Sydney public was determined to throw off the gloom of the war years and the new decade with its jaunty music, dance halls, use of the motor car, and movies became known as the Roaring 20s. Sports such as cricket, rugby union and horse racing were an important part of Sydney's culture.

The public also had a love affair with the sand, sun and sea of Sydney's thirty beaches (such those at as Manly and Bondi) which were conveniently at hand for weekend visits. As early as 1902-03 they had already thrown off restrictions on daylight sea bathing. Surfing became ever more popular.

The Great Depression which began with the Wall Street crash in 1929 brought great unemployment, and poverty to Sydneysiders. The New South Wales Government introduced a number of measures, including public works such the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to alleviate some of the suffering.

Museum of Sydney
Colonial and contemporary Sydney explored through objects, pictures and new digital media techniques.

Sydney, NSW
Introduction to the attractions and history of Sydney. Some interesting anecdotes and quotations.

Sydney, Australia
Sydney as it was in the 1880s.