Sydney Through the Years: A Timeline

Australia’s most popular city, Sydney, is a mysterious land that is known for its abundant natural and man-made wealth. Agreed! But ever thought of what the place looked like before the English arrived on the land? While today the city is known for its splendorous harbour studded with yachts, the Port Jackson cruises, beaches and the iconic Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, Sydney was merely a British colony of exiled convicts. A sneak-peek into its past reveals an intriguing trail of events that moulded Sydney into the city that we see today.

Most of us look at Sydney from our ivory thrones and it's easy to miss out on facts that contributed to the city’s current status quo. An inclusive historical narrative of Sydney will inevitably feature the early inhabitants or the Australian Aboriginals who’ve been on the land since 60,000 B.C. I’ve been traversing the length and breadth of Australia over the past few years and I’ve had many wonderful experiences—snorkelling on the Whitsundays, whale watching in Perth and befriending the crocodiles of Adelaide. But one of the most intriguing experiences I still cherish is enjoying the day aboard one of the Jackson cruises. Having rummaged enough through the country’s eventful history, the first thing I learned was the prominence of Sydney Harbour, where Captain Cook first set his foot on the continent. And the cruise was a great way to vicariously replay the moment in my head—I could get glimpses of the historical Rocks, which is home to traces of an earlier time. I could see past the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, which are quite new to the scene, and it’s not surprising that they didn’t excite me as much as seeing other historical parts of the harbour while on the cruise.

I managed to collate a timeline of Sydney’s development and here it is!

c.60,000 BC

The ancestors of the present-day Aborigines migrated from South East Asia by sea during the Upper Palaeolithic period.

AD 1606

William Janszoon, a Dutch navigator, makes landfall in Cape York, Queensland–the first-ever recorded European landfall in Australia.

1688

William Damper, an English pirate, visits the west coast of Australia

1770

Captain James Cook acquires New South Wales for the British

1788

The First Fleet of British settlers and convicts arrive at Sydney

1808

The Rum Rebellion takes place and Governor William Bligh is deposed by the New South Wales Corps—the first and only time in the country’s history where military power successfully overthrew a government.

1809

Lachlan Macquarie is appointed as the new Governor

1849

Transporting convicts to New South Wales ends

1851

The Australian Gold Rush happens when gold is discovered near Bathurst; even more gold was found in the state of Victoria. This profoundly impacted the country’s national identity.

1860s

Melbourne becomes Australia’s largest city, beating Sydney

1898

The construction of Queen Victoria Building is completed

1901

Britain permits its Australian colonies to unify and become one nation.

1905

Sydney overtakes Melbourne to become Australia's largest city again

1913

Construction of the Federal City of “Canberra” commences

1915

After a military disaster at Gallipoli, Anzac soldiers storm ashore

1932

Sydney Harbour Bridge opens; the Great Depression brings unemployment

1942

Japanese submarines enter Sydney Harbour

1962

Aboriginals given the right to cast their votes in federal elections

1965

Australia enters Vietnam War

1975

Australia’s elected Prime Minister is sacked by the Governor General

1988

Bicentenary of the Arrival of First Fleet in Sydney

2000

Sydney hosts Olympic and Paralympics Games

2003

Australia sends troops of soldiers to war in Iraq

2008

Federal government apologises to the native Australians for past wrong-doings

I’d like to take leave here…Sydney isn’t merely any other city exuding glitz and glamour. Being one of the most prominent Aussie cities with the greatest number of tourists, Sydney sure deserves to be known for its other intangible attributes such as how it tries to reconcile with the native Australians.