Sydney - History and Icons

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House

Coming from Europe, with its many centuries of history, one of the things that I have to remind myself when travelling to places like Australia, is just how new these settlements are. I know, of course, that the indigenous people of these countries have been here much longer, but it is strange to think how recent are the European settlements that dominate now.

Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney

Sydney got its name from the man who recommended that be used as a penal colony, the Secretary of State, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney.

The first fleet of transport ships left Portsmouth in May 1787, and the sailors and guards, with their charge of 759 convicts, various livestock, plants, and two years worth of provisions, arrived at Port Jackson on 26 January 1788, and was established under the authority of Captain Arthur Phillip.

Discipline here was severe, with the first hanging, for the crime of the theft of food, taking place only a month after their arrival. Harsh as that may sound, I suspect that food was likely to be one of the greatest concerns for the new colony.

It was soon to become evident that many of the seeds and crops that they had brought with them from the UK were not suitable for the soil and climate here, and so anything that depleted their foodstock was harshly dealt with.

Museum of Sydney

Two further fleets of convicts arrived in 1790 and 1791. If they worked hard and behaved themselves, they could earn their freedom, though of course many did reoffend. In 1793, the first free settlers arrived in Sydney.

One of the many building projects that the prisoners had to work on was the construction of Hyde Park Barracks, which opened in 1819. It was designed to house 600 convicts, though at times there would have been up to 1,400 held here. The transportation of prisoners ceased in 1840, so eight years after that, in 1848, the remaining convicts were moved to cockatoo Island. Some 50,000 convicts came through these Barracks during those 29 years.

Sydney Cove

After 1848, the Barracks became an Immigration Depot, and over the next 38 years it also provided temporary housing for around 40,000 single women and children who arrived here. In 1887, the Barracks was turned into government offices and Courts Buildings, which it remained until late in the last century. After lengthy archaeological excavations and restorations, it opened as a Museum in 2010.

The Rocks, Sydney

We had visited the Museum under the expectation that it was largely about the convict transportations and their life and progress once here, so we were a little disappointed when that actually turned out to only be a very small part of what was here. However, the rest of the exhibition was interesting, so I would still recommend it as a place to come.

The Rocks, Sydney

We also visited the Museum of Sydney, which is on the site of the first Governor's House. The museum tells us about the history of the city through the stories of some of its most important residents. Although this makes the picture a little disjointed at times, it is quite an interesting, and generally effective way of doing it. They do also include stories of some of the aboriginal people, and give some reasonably honest accounts of the interaction between them and the new settlers.

Two museums is about our limit these days, so the rest of our historical interest came from a wander around The Rocks. This is the oldest part of Sydney, where the convicts settled, so it was generally quite a notorious slum area.

The Rocks, Sydney

Much of it was demolished, and the remainder would have been in the last century had it not been for the efforts of local residents and the builders' union, which put a ban on its members doing the work.

Cadmans' Cottage, built in 1816, is one of the only buildings that remains from the early settlement, and the area is also home to some of Sydney's oldest pubs, like the Lord Nelson, which provided a welcome watering hole after we'd walked up the hill in the very hot sunshine.

The Rocks, Sydney

The Rocks also has a great food market on a Friday, and a more artsy crafty one at the weekends.

There are a few art installations dotted around too, although personally I didn't really get the meaning in most of them.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

So that is a bit about the history, what about the icons. After all, if Sydney is known for anything, it is the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The 3770 feet long bridge was started on 28 July 1923, and finally opened on 19 March 1932. It certainly provides an interesting focal point in the harbour.

Sydney Opera House

The Opera House, which these days it seems hard to imagine Sydney without, is only 43 years old. It was designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, who won a competition for the design in 1957. After a new government questioned his design and stopped paying him, Jorn resigned from the project in 1966, and had left Australia before it finally opened on 20 October 1973.

Sydney Opera House

Although he won various accolades and prizes for the design, and was persuaded to return for further works decades later, he never actually went back to Australia to see the completed building.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

  

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Opera House

Luna Park, Sydney