48 Fun Facts About Sydney

Sydney is the capital of which Australian state?

New South Wales began in 1788 covering most of eastern Australia, and was later cut down as Queensland and other colonies split away.

Sydney Cove honours Thomas Townshend, whose department planned the 1788 convict colony; which British office did he hold?

Home Secretary Thomas Townshend had been made Baron Sydney in 1783, which is why the cove, and the city, took the name Sydney rather than Townshend.

Which Aboriginal clan traditionally owned the land where the British settlement was first established?

The Gadigal were set to name a new city metro station until a minister pushed for Reginald Saunders in 2022, but a new government confirmed Gadigal in 2023.

Where did James Cook first land on Australia's east coast on 29 April 1770?

Botany Bay was named for the great quantity of plants Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander found there; Cook had first called it Stingray Harbour.

Before Sydney's 1788 founding, where did Britain transport most of its convicts?

America was Britain's main convict destination until the American Revolution ended transportation there, so Britain needed a new penal colony.

What is 26 January, the day of the 1788 British landing at Sydney Cove, now officially called?

Australia Day marks the First Fleet's 1788 landing at Sydney Cove, but some Indigenous Australians and others observe it as Invasion Day or Survival Day.

Which harbourside Sydney district, settled soon after 1788, is the city's oldest neighbourhood?

The Rocks survived because the Builders Labourers Federation imposed green bans in the 1970s, refusing to demolish its old buildings for office towers.

What killed about half of the Sydney region's Indigenous population in April 1789?

A smallpox epidemic is the usual diagnosis, but experts have long debated how the disease arrived and whether it was really chickenpox.

The Rum Rebellion of 1808 deposed which governor?

William Bligh, once set adrift by the Bounty mutineers, faced another uprising in 1808, when 400 soldiers of the colony's military corps marched on Government House to arrest him.

Which convict architect earned a pardon from Governor Macquarie for designing Macquarie Lighthouse?

Francis Greenway had been transported for forging a document, yet his portrait later appeared on Australia's first decimal ten-dollar note.

Hyde Park in Sydney, dedicated by Macquarie in 1810, holds what distinction?

Oldest public parkland in Australia, Hyde Park was set aside by Macquarie for the townspeople's recreation and as an exercise field for his troops.

Which Sydney shopping landmark, opened in 1898 as a marketplace, fills a whole city block on George Street?

The Queen Victoria Building was nearly demolished in the 1950s and 1960s, before a Malaysian company restored it and reopened it in 1986.

Who upstaged Premier Jack Lang at the 1932 Harbour Bridge opening by cutting the ribbon with a sabre?

Francis de Groot, a member of the far-right New Guard, rode up on horseback to slash the ribbon before Premier Jack Lang could open the bridge.

Why is the Sydney Harbour Bridge nicknamed 'the Coathanger'?

British firm Dorman Long built it under John Bradfield's direction, borrowing from its own Tyne Bridge in Newcastle.

How many rivets hold the Sydney Harbour Bridge together?

Six million rivets hold the bridge together, because riveting was then the proven, accepted way to join a steel structure of that scale.

The Harbour Bridge's arch rises 134 m above the water; on hot days it can grow taller by how much?

18 cm of extra height comes from the steel expanding, and the arch rests on hinged main bearings built to rotate slightly as it expands and contracts.

What structural role do the four granite-faced pylons of the Harbour Bridge play?

None; they are decorative: the granite pylons were added partly to give the bridge better visual balance.

Which Danish architect won the 1957 competition to design the Sydney Opera House?

Jorn Utzon resigned in 1966 amid rows over costs and design and never returned to Australia, dying without seeing the finished building.

Roughly how many tiles cover the Opera House shells?

They come in glossy white and matte cream in a chevron pattern, made by Swedish firm Hoganas.

Who formally opened the Sydney Opera House on 20 October 1973?

Queen Elizabeth II opened a building made possible by treating every roof shell as a section of one sphere, so its ribs could be cast in a common mould.

The Opera House stands on which headland of Sydney Harbour?

Bennelong Point won out because conductor Eugene Goossens insisted on it, although Premier Cahill had wanted the Opera House near Wynyard station.

What is the official name of Sydney Harbour?

Port Jackson was named by Cook, who saw it from offshore in 1770 and sailed on without entering; the First Fleet settled there eighteen years later.

Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club, founded in 1907, claims to be what?

The world's first of its kind is the club's claim, though Bronte's surf club, which dates itself to 1903, says the same of itself.

Which Sydney beach doubles as Summer Bay in the long-running soap Home and Away?

Palm Beach has played Summer Bay since 1988, and fans can take tours of the show's exterior filming sets there.

Sydney was attacked in May and June 1942 by what?

Japanese submarines slipped into the harbour on the night of 31 May 1942, and a torpedo meant for USS Chicago sank the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul instead.

Sydney beat which city in the final round of voting to host the 2000 Olympics?

Beijing lost the final round 45 votes to 43 in Monte Carlo in 1993, then went on to host the Olympics itself in 2008.

Who lit the Olympic cauldron at the Sydney 2000 opening ceremony?

Cathy Freeman lit the flame, and ten days later she won the 400 m and ran her victory lap carrying both the Aboriginal and Australian flags.

Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden grows on the site of the colony's first what?

A farm planted there in 1788 failed but left its name on Farm Cove, and Macquarie founded the garden on the site in 1816.

What was Sydney Tower, the city's tallest structure, originally called?

Centrepoint Tower was its original name, and its golden turret was assembled at the base of the shaft, then raised to the top as the tower grew.

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starts on which day each year?

Boxing Day brings the start each year, and in 1998 a storm sank five boats and killed six sailors, prompting stricter crew rules.

The Sydney Mardi Gras began in 1978 as what?

A protest march for gay and lesbian rights ended in 53 arrests, and a newspaper printed the names of those arrested, costing many of them their jobs.

The Blue Mountains west of Sydney get their blue haze from what?

Terpenoids from eucalyptus trees are released in such quantities that they may scatter light, producing the blue haze seen across the valleys.

Which three explorers made the first recorded European crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813?

Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth succeeded by keeping to the ridges instead of the valleys, and a road over their route followed in 1815.

On which north-shore point, beside the Harbour Bridge, does Luna Park Sydney stand?

Milsons Point land had been taken over for building the Harbour Bridge, and Luna Park opened there in 1935 once that work was done.

Which Sydney rugby league club did actor Russell Crowe help buy in 2006?

South Sydney Rabbitohs had been thrown out of the league in 2000 and fought back in 2002; under Crowe's group they won the 2014 premiership, their first in 43 years.

Which two of the city's clubs play in the Australian Football League?

Swans and GWS Giants are the city's AFL clubs, and the new Giants lured rugby league star Israel Folau into Australian rules with a multimillion-dollar contract.

The City2Surf fun run goes from Sydney's CBD to which beach?

Bondi is the finish, but when COVID-19 cancelled the live City2Surf for the first time in 2020, runners took part virtually on their own local streets.

Which newspaper is Australia's oldest still in print, published since 1831?

The Sydney Morning Herald abandoned its broadsheet format in March 2013, switching to smaller compact, tabloid-sized pages.

Which Sydney suburb is the centre of the city's Vietnamese community?

Cabramatta's Vietnamese community grew from refugees who came after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, many through the migrant hostels beside Cabramatta High School.

The record temperature in the Sydney metropolitan area, 48.9 °C, was set in January 2020 where?

Penrith lies too far inland for the sea breezes that cool Sydney's coast, so on summer days it can be up to 10 °C hotter.

Which Sydney suburb, settled in the colony's first year, is Australia's sixth-largest business district?

It has been called the city's second CBD since the 1960s and got its own light rail in 2024.

What happened to Sydney Ferries' passenger numbers after the Harbour Bridge opened in 1932?

They more than halved after the bridge opened, and by 1951 the unprofitable ferry company had handed its fleet over to the state government.

Sydney's main airport at Mascot is named after which aviator?

Charles Kingsford Smith vanished over the Andaman Sea in November 1935, and the airport was named in his honour the following year.

Which dam holds back Lake Burragorang, Sydney's main water supply?

Warragamba Dam's lake drowned the Burragorang Valley, and the town of Burragorang and others like it now lie underwater.

Which two nicknames does Wikipedia give for Sydney?

Its residents are Sydneysiders, spread across 658 suburbs and 33 local government areas.

Who commanded the First Fleet and became the colony's first governor?

Arthur Phillip was speared at Manly Cove in 1790 but ordered his men not to retaliate, and he sailed home to England in 1792.

Which city overtook Sydney as Australia's largest after the 1851 gold rush, sparking an enduring rivalry?

Melbourne's rivalry with Sydney ran so deep that Canberra was built as a compromise capital, with Melbourne as the stopgap seat of government.

Which 1804 uprising was led by Irish convicts transported after the 1798 Irish rising?

The Castle Hill Rebellion was hailed by loyalists as Australia's Vinegar Hill, after the 1798 Irish battle, and nine rebels, including their ringleaders, were executed under martial law.