69 Facts About Sydney

1.

Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, spread across 33 local government areas.

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2.

The traditional custodians of the land on which modern Sydney stands are the clans of the Darug, Dharawal and Eora peoples.

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3.

Sydney has hosted major international sporting events such as the 2000 Summer Olympics.

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4.

Aboriginal clan names within the Sydney region were often formed by adding the suffix "-gal" to a word denoting the name for their territory, a specific place in their territory, a food source, or totem.

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5.

The modern Greater Sydney area covers the traditional lands of 28 known Aboriginal clans.

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6.

Sydney employed a planner to design the street layout of Sydney and commissioned the construction of roads, wharves, churches, and public buildings.

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7.

Free settlers, free-born residents and former convicts now represented the vast majority of the population of Sydney, leading to increasing public agitation for responsible government and an end to transportation.

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8.

The town of Sydney was declared a city the same year, and a governing council established, elected on a restrictive property franchise.

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9.

Daylight bathing at Sydney's beaches was banned, but segregated bathing at designated ocean baths was popular.

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10.

Meanwhile, the Sydney-based premier of New South Wales, George Reid, became a key figure in the process of federation.

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11.

The population reached one million in 1926, after Sydney had regained its position as the most populous city in Australia.

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12.

Sydney was more severely affected by the Great Depression of the 1930s than regional NSW or Melbourne.

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13.

In January 1938, Sydney celebrated the Empire Games and the sesquicentenary of European settlement in Australia.

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14.

Sydney was attacked by Japanese submarines in May and June 1942 with 21 lives lost.

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15.

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.

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16.

Sydney is made up of mostly Triassic rock with some recent igneous dykes and volcanic necks.

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17.

The Sydney Basin was formed when the Earth's crust expanded, subsided, and filled with sediment in the early Triassic period.

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18.

Directly overlying the older Hawkesbury sandstone is the Wianamatta shale, a geological feature found in western Sydney that was deposited in connection with a large river delta during the Middle Triassic period which shifted over time from west to east.

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19.

Sydney is home to dozens of bird species, which commonly include the Australian raven, Australian magpie, crested pigeon, noisy miner and the pied currawong, among others.

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20.

Sydney has a few mammal and spider species, such as the grey-headed flying fox and the Sydney funnel-web, respectively, and has a huge diversity of marine species inhabiting its harbour and many beaches.

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21.

Under the Koppen–Geiger classification, Sydney has a humid subtropical climate with "warm [and] sometimes hot" summers and "cool" winters, as described by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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22.

Since Sydney is downwind of the Great Dividing Range, it frequently experiences dry, westerly foehn winds usually in winter and spring.

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23.

The Sydney CBD is characterised by considerably narrow streets and thoroughfares, created in its convict beginnings in the 18th century.

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24.

The Greater Sydney Commission envisions a resident population of 1, 338, 250 people by 2036 in its Eastern City District.

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25.

Southern Sydney includes the suburbs in the local government areas of former Rockdale, Georges River Council, and broadly it includes the suburbs in the local government area of Sutherland, south of the Georges River (colloquially known as 'The Shire').

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26.

Suburb of Cronulla in southern Sydney is close to Royal National Park, Australia's oldest national park.

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27.

North Sydney is dominated by advertising, marketing businesses and associated trades, with many large corporations holding office in the region.

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28.

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.

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29.

Sydney Zoo, opened in 2019, is another prominent zoo situated in Bungaribee.

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30.

Sydney is home to Australia's first building by renowned Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, based on the design of a tree house.

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31.

The tallest structure is Sydney Tower, designed by Donald Crone and completed in 1981.

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32.

Sydney surpasses both New York City and Paris real estate prices, having some of the most expensive in the world.

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33.

Sydney is one of the most expensive real estate markets globally.

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34.

Royal Botanic Garden is the most iconic green space in the Sydney region, hosting both scientific and leisure activities.

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35.

Sydney has been ranked between the fifteenth and the fifth most expensive city in the world and is the most expensive city in Australia.

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36.

Western Sydney continues to struggle to create jobs to meet its population growth despite the development of commercial centres like Parramatta.

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37.

Home ownership in Sydney was less common than renting prior to the Second World War but this trend has since reversed.

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38.

Sydney makes up half of Australia's finance sector and has been promoted by consecutive Commonwealth Governments as Asia Pacific's leading financial centre.

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39.

In 1985 the Federal Government granted 16 banking licences to foreign banks and now 40 of the 43 foreign banks operating in Australia are based in Sydney, including the People's Bank of China, Bank of America, Citigroup, UBS, Mizuho Bank, Bank of China, Banco Santander, Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered, State Street, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Royal Bank of Canada, Societe Generale, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sumitomo Mitsui, ING Group, BNP Paribas, and Investec.

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40.

Sydney has been a manufacturing city since the protectionist policies of the 1920s.

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41.

Observers have noted Sydney's focus on the domestic market and high-tech manufacturing as reasons for its resilience against the high Australian dollar of the early 2010s.

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42.

The Smithfield-Wetherill Park Industrial Estate in Western Sydney is the largest industrial estate in the Southern Hemisphere and is the centre of manufacturing and distribution in the region.

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43.

Sydney is a gateway to Australia for many international visitors.

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44.

Sydney is the highest-ranking city in the world for international students.

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45.

Between 1971 and 2018, Sydney experienced a net loss of 716, 832 people to the rest of Australia, but its population grew due to overseas arrivals and a healthy birth rate.

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46.

Crime in Sydney is low, with The Independent ranking Sydney as the fifth safest city in the world in 2019.

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47.

The Sydney Observatory building was constructed in 1859 and used for astronomy and meteorology research until 1982 before being converted into a museum.

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48.

Sydney is home to Event Cinemas' first theatre, which opened on George St in 1913, under its former Greater Union brand; the theatre currently operates, and is regarded as one of Australia's busiest cinema locations.

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49.

Since the infancy of the establishment, much of the literature set in Sydney were concerned with life in the city's slums and working-class communities, notably William Lane's The Working Man's Paradise, Christina Stead's Seven Poor Men of Sydney (1934) and Ruth Park's The Harp in the South (1948).

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50.

Filmmaking in Sydney was quite prolific until the 1920s when spoken films were introduced and American productions gained dominance in Australian cinema.

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51.

The National Institute of Dramatic Art is based in Sydney and has several famous alumni such as Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Baz Luhrmann, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Jacqueline Mckenzie.

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52.

Sydney is the host of several festivals throughout the year.

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53.

Vivid Sydney is an annual outdoor exhibition of art installations, light projections, and music.

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54.

In 2015, Sydney was ranked 13th for being the top fashion capitals in the world.

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55.

Sydney heralded Australia's first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette, published until 1842.

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56.

The New South Wales Waratahs contest the Super Rugby competition, while the Sydney Rays represent the city in the National Rugby Championship.

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57.

Sydney benefitted from the construction of significant sporting infrastructure in preparation for its hosting of the 2000 Summer Olympics.

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58.

Sydney co-hosted the FIBA Oceania Championship in 1979, 1985, 1989, 1995, 2007, 2009 and 2011.

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59.

The 31 local government areas making up Sydney according to the New South Wales Division of Local Government are:.

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60.

Sydney is the location of the secondary official residences of the Governor-General of Australia and the Prime Minister of Australia, Admiralty House and Kirribilli House respectively.

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61.

In common with other Australian capital cities, Sydney has no single local government covering its whole area.

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62.

In federal politics, Sydney was initially considered as a possibility for Australia's capital city; the newly created city of Canberra ultimately filled this role.

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63.

Public vocational education and training in Sydney are run by TAFE New South Wales and began with the opening of the Sydney Technical College in 1878.

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64.

The Sydney Hospital housed Australia's first teaching facility for nurses, the Nightingale Wing, established with the input of Florence Nightingale in 1868.

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65.

Sydney once had one of the largest tram networks in the British Empire after London.

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66.

Sydney's railway was first constructed in 1854 with progressive extension to the network to serve both freight and passengers across the city, suburbs, and beyond to rural New South Wales.

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67.

The development led to the release of the Metropolitan Air Quality Scheme, which led to a broader understanding of the causation of pollution in Sydney, allowing the government to form appropriate responses to the pollution.

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68.

City of Sydney became the first council in Australia to achieve formal certification as carbon-neutral in 2008.

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69.

Sydney has become a leader in the development of green office buildings and enforcing the requirement of all building proposals to be energy-efficient.

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