Sydney

The next stop of our journey in Australia was the city of Sydney. Sydney is one of the largest cities of Australia, the capital of New South Wales. The city occupies the area of approximately 12.145 sq. km.; and it has the population of 4.5 million people. The city of Sydney was founded in 1788, when it became the site of the first European colonial settlement on the Australian continent. Sydney was founded by an admiral of the British Royal Navy Arthur Phillip (11.10.1738―31.08.1814). The city received its name in honour of the British Colonial Minister Lord Sydney.

Sydney is situated on the south-east coast of Australia at a scenic cove of the Tasman Sea. Quite often Sydney is called the “Harbour City.” Sydney is located between two regions: the Cumberland Plain – relatively flat area south and west of the harbour, and Hornsby Plateau north of the city.

Modern researches show that the indigenous inhabitants of the Australian continent firstly arrived at the present territory of Sydney around 30,000 years ago. The aborigines, who inhabited this area, belonged to the Cadigal family. Before the arrival of Europeans, territory south of Port Jackson Bay belonged to them; now it is the location of the city’s central districts. Although it is difficult to establish the exact number of the aborigines, who lived in this area before the Europeans’ arrival, it is estimated that there were between 4,000 and 8,000 of them.

In 1770, British pioneer and discoverer James Cook during his first round-the-globe expedition, as he sailed from New Zealand westward, discovered a new land, which he named New South Wales. Sailing along the coast north, he landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula, which he named in honor of the botanists of his expedition Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander. The party stayed here for eight days, surveying the flora, fauna and mapping these places, after which they moved along the coast to the north.

When the War for Independence broke out in 1776, Americans refused to receive convicts sent to them from Great Britain and British prisons were gradually overcrowded. The Parliament and Home Minister Lord Sydney, who was befriended by botanist Banks, made a decision to send sentenced convicts to settle at Botany Bay to found there a new British colony.

The First Fleet, organized by the British Navy consisted of 11 ships (2 battleships – a flagship HMS «Sirius» and a little fast dispatch ship HMS «Supply», 6 transports with convicts and 3 cargo ships) under the command of Commodore Arthur Phillip arrived at Botany Bay in January of 1788. As the place was thoroughly examined, it proved to be inappropriate for founding a new colony; first of all, due to the lack of drinking water, salt and exposure to strong winds. Arthur Phillip in person on HMS «Supply» surveyed Port Jackson Harbour 12 kilometers north of that place, which James Cooke marked on his map but did not explore thoroughly. As HMS «Supply» got to Port Jackson, he discovered that it was a big three-branch harbour. Having explored small North Branch (now it is North Harbour), the ship then sailed into the wide curved south branch of the gulf protected from the ocean’s winds and waves (now it is Sydney Cove), where she discovered a very comfortable round harbour.

On January 26 of 1788, the entire First Fleet moved from Botany Bay to Port Jackson and dropped anchors in a little round harbour, which was later named Sydney Cove. Captain Arthur Phillip announced the uniting of New South Wales with the Great Britain and creation of a new settlement and stated that from now on he would be the first governor of New South Wales. Now this day is an official Australian national holiday. Originally, there was a plan to name the new settlement Albion, but at the last moment Arthur Phillip decided to name it in honour of Lord Sydney, who was at the time the British Minister of Colonies (Foreign Plantations).

The First Fleet was soon followed by the Second one, and then the Third one. Basically, they did not differ from the First Fleet, since the chief objective of these expeditions, just as it was with the first one, was to transport convicts from British prisons to the newly formed colony (the Second Fleet, though, stood out because many people died on the way of scurvy and other diseases).

For a long time Sydney remained the chief penal colony for the Great Britain’s convicts. Despite the fact that starting from 1815, after the Napoleonic wars, free immigration was gathering up speed, in 1820, approximately 40 % of the population was still made up by prisoners.

Soon after 1789, among the aborigines, who inhabited the area directly adjoining Sydney, the fiercest epidemic of chickenpox broke out, which led to thousands of deaths of the indigenous people.

In 1808, there was a so-called “Rum Rebellion” in Sydney. It was caused by the attempt of the Governor of New South Wales William Bligh, who became famous as one of the main participants of events related to the mutiny on the Bounty ship, to interfere with the monopoly of the New South Wales Corps’ officers on alcohol. Exercising unlimited control in the colony, the officers virtually turned citizens into slaves, using alcohol instead of money to pay for goods and services. After long discussions and arguments, the conflict turned into an open confrontation leading to the arrest and deposing of William Bligh from his governor’s office. This uprising became the only example of a successful military seize of power in Australia. After the arrival in Sydney of new armed regiments, the New South Wales Corps was disbanded, and the officers who participated in the uprising were punished. But Governor William Bligh was also removed from his office and replaced with more liberal Lachlan Macquarie

And these are just little flashes on the Australian history. Modern Sydney is famous for its Opera House building, Harbour Bridge and its beaches. Residential quarters of Great Sydney are surrounded by National Parks. The coastline of the city is quite indented. It abounds with many bays, harbours, islands and beaches.

Sydney Opera House is a symbol of Sydney and one of the main attractions of the Australian continent. Sale-shaped shells that constitute the roof make the theater stand out among any other buildings in the world. The Opera House was designed by an architect Jѳrn Utzon of Denmark, who received the Pulitzer Prize for his project in 2003. Sydney Opera Theater is recognized as one of the most outstanding edifices of modern architecture in the world; and since 1973, along with Harbour Bridge, it has been the landmark of Sydney. Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney Harbour, on Bennelong Point. This place received its name after an Australian aborigine, who was a friend of the first governor of the colony. Until 1958, at the site of the present theater there was a tram depot, and before that – a fort. Sydney Opera House was opened on October 20 of 1973 by the Queen of Great Britain Elizabeth II.

The next attraction of Sydney is Harbour Bridge. The Bridge is famous for being the largest bridge of Sydney and one of the biggest steel arch bridges in the world. The bridge was opened in 1932 and, because of its peculiar form, was dubbed by Sydney dwellers “The Coathanger.” Spanning Port Jackson, the bridge connects the central part of the city with the North bank. There is automobile, railway and pedestrian traffic on the bridge. The bridge’s arch span is 503 meters long. The steel arch of the Coathanger weighs 39 thousand tons. It rises 139 meters above the bay and has the span of 49 meters above water level, which allows any kind of sea vessels to go under the bridge. Interestingly enough, the height of the arch can increase by approximately 18 centimeters on hot days because of the expansion of heated metal. The total length of the entire bridge is 1,149 meters. The width of the bridge is 49 meters. The overall weight of the bridge is 52,800 tons. Steel elements of the bridge’s framework are fixed by rivets, the total number of which is over six million pieces.

Wherever you go, from all ends of the city you can see another landmark of Sydney – Sydney TV tower. Actually, Sydney Tower has nothing to do with television, but it is a big attraction for tourists and recreation place with restaurants, gift shops, viewing deck at the height of 250 meters and an open extended viewing platform at the point of 268 meters. Sydney Tower is the tallest construction in Sydney, second tallest in Australia and second tallest in the Southern Hemisphere. The height of the Tower is 305 meters. The building was designed in 1970, and it was built between 1975 and 1981. Sydney Tower is a member of the World Federation of High-Rise Towers.

The Cathedral of Saint Mary is one of the five Australian cathedrals that have the title and dignity of Minor Basilica. This status was conferred to the cathedral by Pope Pius XI in 1930. The cathedral is acknowledged as national sanctity. It is the most spacious, though not the tallest church in Australia. In 2008, the cathedral was used as the central venue of forums of the World Day of Catholic Youth, and it was visited by Pope Benedict XVI. I will use a special occasion to tell about the cathedral itself and its history.

Finally, maybe the most interesting, in my opinion, attraction of Sydney is the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens is located in the very center of the city and it is the main one among three large Botanic Gardens of the city. The Park is open to visitors for free all year round during daylight hours. The Botanic gardens lies on the shore of the Farm Cove – a shallow bay in Sydney Harbour – right across the Opera House, ferry boat station Circular Quay and Macquarie Street. The total area of the park is 30 ha. The first farm on the Australian continent near the Farm Cove was founded by Governor Arthur Phillip in 1788. Despite the fact that the attempt failed, this land has always been cultivated, since they found a way how to make these meager lands more productive. The Botanic gardens was founded on these lands by governor Macquarie in 1816 as part of the governor’s estate. After Charles Frazer’s appointment in 1817 as the first botanist of the colony, a long history of collecting and studying plants in Australia began.

So, the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney is the oldest scientific institution of Australia, which from its early days has played a major role in the acclimatization of plants from other regions. After a succession of botanists and superintendents, John Carne Bidwill was appointed as the first Director in 1847. He was succeeded the following year by Charles Moore, a Scotsman who had trained in the Botanic Gardens of Trinity College, Dublin. Moore, Director for 48 years (1848–96), did much to develop the Botanic Gardens in their modern form. He boldly tackled the problems of poor soil, inadequate water and shortage of funds to develop much of the Gardens in the form we see today. The first Sydney’s zoo was opened in the Gardens in 1862. In 1883, it was transferred to Moore Park. During these years much of the remnant natural vegetation of the surrounding Domain was removed and planted as parkland. The Moreton Bay Figs, one of the major elements of this planting, continue to dominate the landscape. Moore was succeeded by Joseph Henry Maiden who, during his 28-year term, added much to Moore’s landscape. He organised the construction of a new herbarium building, opened in 1901. The Botanic Gardens suffered from loss of staff positions during the World War I, and in the Great Depression of the 1930s, even the position of Director was lost. Both the Herbarium and the living collections languished. From 1945, the new director Robert Anderson worked to restore and reunify the two. In 1959 the title ‘Royal’ was granted and the Herbarium and Royal Botanic Gardens were administratively reunified under the title Royal Botanic Gardens.