The first Australians were the Aborigine people, settling the land at least 30,000 years ago. They had over 300 nations with different languages. But on April 18, 1770, James Cook landed on the Eastern Australian coast, which began settlement in Australia by the Europeans. (The Dutch had “discovered” western Australia nearly 100 years earlier but didn’t settle it.) After losing the American Revolutionary War, the English looked to Australia to expand and to sent incarcerated people, so 18 years later, in 1788, they sent 11 ships packed with supplies and 751 convicts. Under the command of Captain Phillips, the colony of Sydney was established on January 26, 1788, which is now celebrated as Australia’s founding day by some and is called Invasion Day by the native people. Another penal colony was founded on the island of Tasmania.

Anxious to develop Australia, Britain began granting land around Sydney to soldiers and settlers. These settlers grew rich by bullying the governors in the area and overtaking trade, notably rum. These “rum corps” gave the area a “wild west” type of culture that only ended in 1810 when Lachlan Macquarie, a tough new governor, came into power. It was his rule that saw Sydney transition from a penal colony and rough frontier to a town with banks, a currency and a hospital. He allowed emancipists, or criminals who had served their time, to be social equals and even appointed them to government positions. It was also around this time that the aboriginal people suffered bloody conflicts and ravaging diseases, cutting their populations dramatically, even to the point of extinction for some tribal groups.

The thirty years between 1861 and 1891 saw a huge surge in population of Sydney from 95,000 people to 386,000 people. During this time the University of Sydney was founded and the Museum of Sydney was built. Many other grand public buildings were built in the late 1800’s, including the Queen Victoria Building, today a beautiful shopping mall in Sydney’s Central Business District. In 1901, Australia was deemed a sovereign country and a huge celebration was held in Centennial Park.

Sydney developed a large ferry system, that was at one point, the largest in the world. In 1932 the Sydney Harbor Bridge opened and ferry ridership fell from an annual ridership of 40 million to 15 million immediately. Although the Depression hit Sydney hard, building the bridge did offer some work, albeit very dangerous. 16 workers died in the building of the bridge.

After the Depression, Sydney became very popular for her magnificent beaches and a seaside resort culture developed. Then, with the outbreak of War in 1939, Sydney’s economy boomed, especially in shipbuilding, centered on Cockatoo Island in the bay. Sydney became the Rest and Recreation point for thousands of American soldiers during the war, and at the end of the war when they went home, many took Australian brides with them.

After the war, Sydney grew again, mostly due to immigration. By 2021, Sydney’s population was over 5.2 million, with 40% of the population born outside the country, mostly from China and India. On October 20, 1973, Queen Elizabeth opened the famed Sydney Opera House. Today, Sydney is a top financial center, focusing on professional, scientific and technical services.