Sydney

Sydney(in English, Sydney;[slaughter] (?·i)) is the largest and most populated city in Australia and Oceania. In June 2020, the estimated metropolitan population of Sydney was 5,361,466 inhabitants. It is the capital of the state of New South Wales and was the settlement of the first British colony in Australia. It was founded in 1788 in Sydney's cove by Arthur Phillip, Admiral of Britain's First Fleet, and is the oldest city in the country.

It is located in the southeast of Australia, on the shores of the wide Sydney Harbor (Port Jackson). In the city, the Opera House, the Sydney Bay Bridge, or Harbor Bridge, and its beaches stand out. The metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks that contain bays and rivers. The city has hosted international sporting events such as the 1938 Commonwealth Games, the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, among others. Sydney is listed as one of the 15 most visited cities in the world, with millions of tourists coming every year to see attractions such as the Botanical Gardens, the city's harbour, the Royal National Park, the Opera House, etc.

Description

Sydney is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, the main destination for immigrants from Australia. According to a Mercer study on the cost of living, in 2017 the city was listed as the second most expensive city in the world in housing prices after Hong Kong and as the third most expensive city in the world to buy the monthly ticket for public transport, only below London and Dublin. Despite this, the city is listed as one of the cities with best quality of life standards in the world. Sydney leads the list of the 10 cities with the best quality of life in the world, in another study carried out by the same company together with The Economist magazine. 2016 according to a study as the city with the best reputation in the world to live, study and invest, followed by Vienna in Austria.

Toponymy

The city was founded in 1788, and takes its name from Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, then British Home Secretary.

The name in Spanish

The academies of the Spanish language, in their Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas (which has a normative nature), consider it an adapted place name and therefore in Spanish it should be written Sydney, according to the spelling rules. Residents of Sydney are called Sydneysiders in English. However, there is no adjective in Spanish so they are simply referred to as inhabitants or natives of Sydney as appropriate, although the Fundéu BBVA recommends "sidneyés".

History

In 1788, when the first fleet of convicts brought from Britain arrived, it is estimated that fewer than 8,000 Aborigines inhabited the areas surrounding the present city. Arthur Phillip founded a penal colony in Sydney Cove, an inlet on the south shore of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). In April 1789, an apparent outbreak of smallpox killed most of the Aboriginal people. In addition to smallpox, a series of violent confrontations between the settlers and the original population wiped out more Aborigines, leaving only a few hundred by 1820. The then Governor of Australia, Lachlan Macquarie, decided to "civilize, Christianize and educate them", and the separated from their clans. The Macquarie era was one of great development, with convicts building roads, bridges and public buildings. The arrival of immigrants from the British Isles between 1830 and 1850 led to the appearance of houses on the outskirts, and the city expanded rapidly.

On July 20, 1842, Sydney was declared a city, the first in Australia, with Charles Haddon Chambers being the first mayor. The gold rush of 1851 brought many more immigrants to Australia, with Sydney being their first point of arrival for most.

The arrival of the Industrial Revolution meant the industrialization of the city, which by the beginning of the 20th century exceeded one million inhabitants. Although the Great Depression affected Sydney, this did not prevent the completion of the Harbor Bridge in 1932.

In recent decades, Sydney has gradually become a cosmopolitan city due to the arrival of immigrants from various parts of the world, especially Asians and Arabs.

Geography

Topography

Sydney's urban area lies in a coastal basin, which is washed and bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north, and the Royal National Park to the south. It sits on a sub-emergent coastline, where the ocean level has risen to inundate deep river valleys (forming an estuary) and carving into the Hawkesbury sandstone. Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is one of those estuaries and is the largest natural harbor in the world.

Satellite image of Sydney and its metropolitan area

The Sydney area is rarely affected by major earthquakes. The urban area has around 70 ports and beaches, including the famous Bondi Beach. Sydney's urban area covered 1,687 km² in 2001. The Sydney Statistical Division, used for census data, is the unofficial metropolitan area and covers 12,145 km². This area includes the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, and national parks, as well as other undeveloped land. This makes Sydney the third largest urban agglomeration in the world (although only with a population of about 3 million), behind Brasília (14,400 km²) and Tokyo (13,500 km²).

Air view from the city, with the Sydney Bay Bridge and the Sydney Opera on the left

Geographically, Sydney lies between two regions: the Cumberland Plain, a vast region lying south and west of the harbour, and the Hornsby Plateau, a sandstone plateau lying mainly north of the harbour. The parts of the city with the old European development are located in the plane of the southern areas of the port. The "North Shore" - the north of the Sydney metropolitan area - experienced slower development due to its topography characterized by the presence of hills and its lack of access to the other side of the port. The Sydney Harbor Bridge was inaugurated in 1932 and since then has connected the "North Shore" with the rest of the city.

Climate

Sydney has a humid subtropical climate with mild summers and somewhat cool winters, with little rainfall. The climate is moderated by proximity to the sea, with the most extreme temperatures occurring in the inner western suburbs. The hottest month is January, with an average temperature of 23 °C, according to data from 1981-2010. There is an average of up to 65 days a year with temperatures above 30º, in some parts of the metropolitan area; while in others, an average of 14.6 days a year with temperatures of more than 30 °C. The maximum temperature recorded was 45.8 °C on 18 January 2013, during an intense heatwave that shook the whole of Australia. Winter is mild to cold, with temperatures rarely falling below 0 °C. C in coastal areas. The coldest month is July, with an average of 13 °C. The lowest minimum recorded at the Observatory was -3.1 °C. Rainfall is fairly divided between summer and winter, but is slightly higher during the first half of the year, when easterly winds dominate. The average annual rainfall, of moderate to low variability, is 1,577 mm, on an average of 258 days per year. The last snowfall in the Sydney city area occurred in 1836. However, in July 2008 a fall of rolling, light snow or hail, mistaken by many for snow, raised the possibility that the fall in 1836 was not really snow.

Bondi Beach, east of Sydney. The pleasant climate of Sydney in summer makes its beaches very popular.

The city has not been affected by cyclones. The El Niño Southern Oscillation plays an important role in determining Sydney's weather patterns: drought and bush burning on the one hand, and storms and floods on the other, associated with the opposite phases of the swing. Many bushland areas bordering the city have experienced fires, especially between 1994 and 2001-2002. These tend to occur during the spring and summer. The city is also prone to severe hailstorms and windstorms. One of these was the 1999 hailstorm, which was very damaging to Sydney and its eastern suburbs. The mass-produced hailstorm at least 9 cm in diameter caused losses of A$1.7 billion in less than five hours. The city is also prone to flash flooding from huge amounts of rainfall. The most notable case occurred with the great floods in Sydney that occurred on August 6, 1986, which left 357.6 mm of water in the city in 24 hours. This caused significant traffic problems and damage to many parts of the metropolitan area.

The Met Office reported that 2002 to 2005 experienced the hottest summers in Sydney since records began in 1859. 2005 had an average daily high of 18.35°C; 2004 of 18.39 °C; 2003 of 17.65 °C; and 2002 of 17.91 °C. The maximum daily average between 1859 and 2004 was 16.6 °C. For the first nine months of 2006 the average temperature was 13.41 °C. Since November 2003, there have been only two months in which the daily maximum average is below average: March 2005 —about 1°C below average— and June 2006 —0.7 °C below average. For its part, the summer of 2007-2008 proved to be one of the best ever. The Bureau of Meteorology reported that it was the coldest summer in 11 years, the wettest summer in the last six years, and one of three summers in history where the maximum did not exceed 26 °C.

Average Sydney climate parameters
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	46.4	42.6	41.2	35.7	30.0	26.8	26.7	31.1	35.6	39.1	43.4	43.2	46.4
Average temperature (°C)	26.5	26.5	25.3	22.9	19.4	16.9	16.3	17.8	20.0	22.1	23.6	25.7	21.9
Average temperature (°C)	22.3	22.3	21.2	18.6	15.6	13.2	12.2	13.4	15.6	17.9	19.6	21.4	17.8
Temp. medium (°C)	18.7	18.8	17.5	14.3	11.0	8.7	7.2	8.2	10.5	13.3	15.5	17.5	13.4
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	9.7	11.2	7.4	6.1	3.0	1.0	-0.1	1.2	2.3	4.8	5.9	8.2	-0.1
Rains (mm)	101.5	118.1	129.3	126.3	121.2	130.5	98.6	80.6	68.9	77.4	83.8	77.9	1214.1
Days of rain (≥ 1 mm)	12.3	12.9	13.3	11.1	12.2	10.5	10.2	8.4	8.8	11.1	12.7	11.2	134.7
Hours of sun	235.6	202.4	213.9	207.0	195.3	177.0	204.6	244.9	237.0	244.9	228.0	244.9	2635.5
Relative humidity (%)	60	63	61	59	58	57	52	49	51	54	56	58	56.5
Source: Bureau of Meteorology
Source No. 2: Weatherbase; MSN.com

Earthquake risk

Unlike other cities around the world, Sydney is not positioned along a tectonic fault line. The country's seismic activity is the result of pressure from tectonic plates far from the mainland, which means that literally any part of Australia is under potential threat and tremors in this country are extremely difficult to predict.

Fortunately, most of Australia's earthquakes, including ten in 2008 with magnitudes greater than 4.0, have struck in the desolate center of the country, causing minimal damage. But the unpredictability of seismic shocks has led to a false sense of security - building materials in major cities like Sydney are old and corroded and vulnerable, as evidenced by a relatively minor 1989 magnitude 5.5 earthquake in Newcastle. that caused damages of more than 1400 million dollars (about 1000 million euros). A quake near Sydney, which has a population 15 times the size of Newcastle, would prove far more deadly.

Urbanism

Sydney's Central Business District (CBD) stretches south three kilometers from Sydney Creek to the Central Station area. Sydney's CBD is surrounded to the east by a chain of parkland and to the west by Darling Harbour, a tourist and nightlife area.

Sydney from the air

Although the CBD dominates the cultural and financial life of the city today, other districts have undergone extensive development radially since World War II. Along with the commercial district of North Sydney, linked to the CBD by Harbor Bridge, the most significant outer district is Parramatta in the centre-west, as well as Penrith in the west, Bondi Junction in the east, Liverpool in the south-west, Chatswood to the north and Hurtsville to the south. Sydney's skyline has been included among the best in Australia and ranks 25th worldwide — ahead of cities like Los Angeles (California) or São Paulo.

The vast area covered by the city of Sydney is divided into 642 suburbs—for address and postal reasons—and administered by 40 local government areas. There is no single city government, but the New Wales Government The South and its agencies have extensive responsibilities for the provision of metropolitan services. The City of Sydney covers a small area comprising the CBD and its neighboring central suburbs. Furthermore, regional descriptions are used informally to conveniently describe large sections of the urban area. These include the Eastern Suburbs, Hills District, Inner West, Canterbury-Bankstown, Northern Beaches, Northern Suburbs, North Shore, St. George, Southern Sydney, South-eastern Sydney, South-western Sydney, Sutherland Shire and Western Sydney. However, many suburbs are not conveniently covered by any of these categories.

Demographics

Sydney residents are called sydneysiders. 2006 established that the city of Sydney had 4,119,190 inhabitants in the Sydney statistical division, of whom 3,641,422 lived in the urban area of the city. The city center is the most densely populated area of Sydney. Australia with 4,023 people per square kilometer. The "statistical divide" is greater in area than urban area.

Arc de la Libertad in Cabramatta, a neighborhood with a large Vietnamese population

The census also recorded that 2% of Sydney's population identified as being of indigenous origin and 31.7% were foreign-born. The top three sources of immigrants are the United Kingdom, China and New Zealand, followed by Vietnam, Lebanon, India, Italy, and the Philippines. Most Sydneysiders are native speakers of English, and many of them of a second language, the most common being Arabic—mainly Lebanese—Chinese—mainly Mandarin, Cantonese or Shanghainese—, and Italian. Sydney has the seventh highest percentage of the foreign-born population in the world, ahead of highly multicultural cities such as London and Paris, but lower than Toronto or Miami. The median age of a Sydney resident is 34, with 12% of the population aged 65+. 15.2% of Sydney residents have an educational level equivalent to at least a bachelor's degree, which is below the national average of 19%.

The census also reported that 64% of Sydney residents identified themselves as Christian, 14.1% did not identify with any religion, 10.4% left the question blank, 3.9% were Muslim, 3.7% Buddhist, 1.7% Hindu, and 0.9% Jewish.

Government

Sydney City Council

Apart from the limited role played by Cumberland County Council between 1945 and 1964, there has never been any governing body for the greater Sydney area. This is divided into 38 different local government areas, which have elected councilors who are responsible for functions delegated to them by the State Government of New South Wales, such as planning or garbage collection.

The City of Sydney proper includes the central business area and some adjoining central suburbs, as well as having expanded in recent years through the amalgamation of adjacent local government areas such as South Sydney. The City of Sydney is led by an elected mayor (Lord Mayor) and a councilor. The mayor acts, on rare occasions, as a representative of the entire city, such as during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Most city government activities are under the control of the state government. These activities include public transportation, traffic control, police service, education above pre-school levels, and infrastructure planning projects. Since a large part of the population of New South Wales lives in Sydney, the state government has traditionally been reluctant to allow the development of government bodies in the city, which could lead to a clash with the state government. For this reason, Sydney has been a focus for the politics of the Federal and State Parliaments. For example, the boundaries of the City of Sydney LGAs have been altered significantly on at least four occasions since 1945 with expected advantageous effects for the party ruling the NSW Parliament at the time.

The 38 local government areas that make up Sydney are:

Different organizations have varied the definitions of the LGAs that make up Sydney. The Local Government Association of New South Wales considers all local administrative authorities situated wholly within Cumberland County to be part of its "metropolitan group& #34;, excluding Camden (classified in its "national group"). A Sydney Statistical Division is defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to include all of these councils, as well as Wollondilly, Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Gosford and Wyong..

Economy

Sydney Central Business District

Sydney's largest economic sectors, based on the number of people employed, are business and private services, retail trade, manufacturing, healthcare and community services. Since the 1980s jobs have shifted from manufacturing to the services and information sectors. Sydney provides approximately 25 percent of the country's total GDP. The Australian Securities Exchange and the Reserve Bank of Australia are located in Sydney, as well as the headquarters of 90 banks, more than half of Australia's largest companies and the regional headquarters of around 500 multinational companies. Fox Studios Australia has large film studios in the city. The Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) is one of the largest financial futures and options exchange in Asia and the Pacific, with 64.3 million contracts traded in 2005. It is the 12th largest futures exchange in the world and 19th largest including options.

The city has the highest median household income of any major city in Australia (US$42,559 PPP). As of 2004, the unemployment rate in Sydney was 4.9%. According to a cost-of-living survey by The Economist, Sydney is the 16th most expensive city in the world, while that a UBS study ranks Sydney as the 15th city in the world in terms of net income. As of 20 September 2007, Sydney had the highest median house prices of any capital city in Australia, with 559 $000. Sydney also has the highest average rental price of any city in Australia, at $450 per week. A report published by the OECD in November 2005 showed that Australia had the highest price level in the western world for housing compared to rental yields.

Sydney received 7.8 million domestic visitors and 2.5 million international visitors in 2004.

Sydney at night

Culture

Sydney is home to a variety of festivals and some of Australia's biggest social and cultural events, including:

• the Sydney Festival, the largest cultural event in the country, held annually in January;
• the Biennale of Sydney, created in 1973;
• Big Day Out, a rap music festival originating in Sydney;
• the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, along Oxford Street;
• the Sydney Film Festival
• other smaller film festivals such as the Tropfest and Flickerfest short film.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales organizes the Archibald Prize, recognized as Australia's largest prize for portraiture. The Sydney Royal Easter Show is held each year at the Sydney Olympic Park. The Australian Idol finale took place at the Sydney Opera House, and Australian Fashion Week takes place in April/May. Sydney's New Year's Eve and Australia Day celebrations are the biggest in the country.

Entertainment and Performing Arts

Sydney has a wide variety of cultural institutions. The iconic Sydney Opera House has five halls capable of accommodating a wide range of performance styles, and is home to both the Australian Opera and the Sydney Symphony. Other places of interest include Sydney Town Hall, City Recital Hall, State Theatre, Theater Royal, Sydney Theater and the Wharf Theatre.

Sydney Opera, day view

The Sydney Dance Company, under the leadership of Graeme Murphy during the late XX century, has also won acclaim. The Sydney Theater Company produces local plays, especially by the author David Williamson, classics and international authors.

In 2007, the New Theater celebrated 75 years of continuous production in Sydney. Other major theater companies in Sydney include B Company and the Griffin Theater Company. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the Sydney Push, a group of authors and political activists whose members include Germaine Greer, influenced the city's cultural life.

The Kensington-based National Institute of Dramatic Art is internationally renowned with alumni Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Baz Luhrmann and Cate Blanchett. Sydney's role in the film industry has increased since the opening of Fox Studios Australia in 1998. Prominent films have been filmed in the city, including Moulin Rouge!, Mission: Impossible II , Star Wars episodes II and III, Superman Returns, Dark City, Son of the Mask, Stealth: The Invisible Threat, Dil Chahta Hai, Happy Feet, Australia and The Matrix, while other films have used the city as a setting, including Finding Nemo, Strictly Ballroom, Muriel's Wedding, Our Lips Are Sealed, Independence Day and Dirty Deeds. Many Bollywood movies have also filmed in Sydney including Singh is Kinng, Bachna Ae Haseeno, Chak De India and Heyy Babyy .

Sydney's most popular nightspots are found in Kings Cross, Oxford Street, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay and The Rocks, where different bars, nightclubs and restaurants are located. The Star City Casino is the only casino in the city and is situated around Darling Harbour. There are also several traditional bars, cafes and restaurants in urban areas such as Newtown, Balmain and Leichhardt. The main centers for live music are located in areas such as Newtown and Annandale, home to groups such as 5 seconds of summer, AC/DC, Men at Work, INXS and Midnight Oil. Other areas of the city such as Bondi, Manly, Cronulla and Parramatta, are known for their nightlife.

Sports

ANZ Stadium

Sports in Sydney is an important part of the culture. The area is well endowed with parks and access to watercourses, in addition to having many natural areas even within the city center. In the center of Sydney are the Chinese Garden of Friendship, Hyde Park, The Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens. The metropolitan area contains several national parks, including the Royal National Park, the second oldest national park in the world.

The most popular sport in Sydney is rugby league. The city is home to nine of the sixteen National Rugby League teams. Said teams are Canterbury Bulldogs, Cronulla Sharks, Manly Sea Eagles, Penrith Panthers, Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs, St George Illawarra Dragons, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers. Despite the fact that the 2008 Rugby League World Cup final was held in Brisbane, Sydney hosted eight championship games, including one semi-final.

Sydney is home to the Sydney Swans of the Australian Football League and Sydney FC of the A-League. The city is also represented by other professional teams: the Sydney Spirit in the National Basketball League, the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League for cricket, and the New South Wales Swifts for netball. It is also home to the New South Wales teams in the Super Rugby (New South Wales Waratahs) and Sheffield Shield (New South Wales Blues) competitions.

Major sporting events, such as the National Rugby League final, are regularly held at ANZ Stadium, the main venue for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The World Polo Championship was held at the Sydney Polo Club facilities of 2017.

Other events in the city include the start of the Sydney-Hobart Regatta, the Golden Slipper Stakes horse race, and the City to Surf race. Sydney is also home to one of Australia's premier motorsport circuits, Eastern Creek.

Predecessor: Atlanta	Olympic City 2000	Successor: Athens
Predecessor: London	City of the Commonwealth 1938	Successor: Auckland

Media

Sydney has two major daily newspapers. The Sydney Morning Herald is a broadsheet newspaper, and is the city's newspaper with extensive coverage of national and international news, culture and business. It is also the oldest existing newspaper in Australia, having been published regularly since 1831. The Herald's competitor, The Daily Telegraph, is owned by News Corporation. There is also the Sun-Herald and the Sunday Telegraph.

SBS Studies in Artamon

All four commercial television networks (Seven, Nine, Ten) and TVS, as well as the national government broadcasting services (ABC and SBS) have a presence in Sydney. Historically, the networks have been based in the northern neighborhoods, but in the last decade several of them have moved to the center of the city. Nine has maintained its headquarters north of the port, in Willoughby. Ten has his studios in a redeveloped section in the downtown Pyrmont neighborhood, just like Seven. ABC has a large headquarters in the Último neighborhood, and SBS has its studios in Artarmon. Foxtel and Optus supply pay-TV over their cable services to most of the urban area. The five free-to-air networks have provided digital television broadcasts in Sydney since January 2000. Additional services recently introduced include ABC's second channel (Channel 22), SBS world news service SBS2 (Channel 33), a news, sports and weather channel (Channel 41), ChannelNSW: public and government information (Channel 45), Australian Christian Channel (Channel 46), MacquarieBank TV (Channel 47), SportsTAB (Channel 48), and Expo Home Shopping (Channel 49), among others.

Many AM and FM radio services broadcast in Sydney. The local ABC radio station is 702 ABC Sydney (formerly 2BL). The talk radio genre is dominated by 2GB and 2UE, while popular music stations are Triple M, 2Day FM and Nova 96.9, targeting people under 40. Vega and MIX 106.5 focus on the 25-54 age group, while WS-FM focuses on the 40-54 age group with its music from the 1970s and 1980s. Triple J (national), 2SER and FBi Radio provide a more alternative, local and independent sound.

Education

The University of Sydney, founded in 1850, is Australia's oldest university.

Sydney is home to some of Australia's leading universities, including the University of Sydney, founded in 1850, it is Australia's oldest university. There are five other public universities operating primarily in Sydney: the University of New South Wales, Macquarie University, Sydney University of Technology, Australian Catholic University, and the University of Western Sydney. Other universities are the University of Notre Dame Australia and the University of Wollongong. Universities in Sydney are world famous for their quality; The University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are similarly ranked within the top 50 universities in the world, with the University of Technology Sydney ranked 193rd and Macquarie ranked 237th according to QS.

There are four TAFE (Further and Technical Education) institutes throughout the city, offering vocational training at a higher level: the Sydney Institute of Technology, the TAFE North Sydney Institute, the Western TAFE Sydney and TAFE Institute of South Western Sydney.

Sydney has state, parochial and public schools. Public schools, including preschools, primary and secondary schools, and special schools, are run by the New South Wales Ministry of Education and Training. There are four state-run educational areas in the city, which together coordinate with the 919 schools. Of the state's 30 selective schools, 25 are in Sydney.

Tourist sites

• Casa del Almirantazgo: is the official residence in Sydney, of the Governor General of Australia.
• Sydney Opera House (Sydney Opera): The Sydney Opera was built in 1973. The building has a very famous organic structure in the form of ‘velas’ with white tiles. The opera has a large concert hall, an opera room and other smaller rooms.
• Sydney Harbour Bridge (Port of Sydney): the bridge was built in 1932 and is the first bridge of the port. It was the longest single arch bridge in the world. You can go up with a guide.
• The Rocks: the oldest neighborhood in Sydney. There are renovated historical buildings, art galleries, pubs, restaurants, cafes and tourist shops. The Museum of Contemporary Art (Museum of Contemporary Art) is in this neighborhood and has a collection of contemporary Australian and international art. It's the most European neighborhood in the city.
• Sydney Beaches They're very famous. The most famous and most popular are Bondi and Manly. Sydney has more than 50 beaches and influence the culture of the city. Some beaches are very visited, with parks, walks, surf, barbecues, markets, restaurants and shops; however, others are isolated and quiet.
• Chinatown (Chinese bar) is in the south of the city center and is the cultural center for the Chinese community in Sydney. This community has lived in this part of the city since the 18th century. Today, it is not a residential center but a cultural and commercial center. There are also many companies from other parts of Asia. Many people of Chinese origin live in other parts of Sydney, such as Chatswood, Strathfield and Hurstville (these neighborhoods also have Chinese shopping centers). In the Chinese Quarter, the big market called Paddy’s Market is an activity center on weekends.
• Paddington is a beautiful neighborhood located three kilometres east of downtown Sydney. In it you can find many Victorian houses and an interesting market on Saturdays. On the street Oxford Street there are many fashion shops and independent art galleries.
• Darling Harbour ("Darling Bridge") is a city port. Today is a popular tourist site, with restaurants, bars, shops and parks. There are also concerts and other public events. Interesting sites include the Chinese garden, the National Maritime Museum (National Maritime Museum) and Sydney Aquarium (Sydney Aquarium).
• La University of Sydney was founded in 1850 and is the oldest university in Australia. It has more than 43 000 students and several old Gothic stone buildings.
• Art Gallery of New South Wales (New South Wales Art Gallery) is the oldest art gallery in Sydney and has an important collection of Australian art from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. There are also collections of Asian, European, International and Aboriginal art.
• Olympic Park It's 20 miles west of town. This is where the 2000 Olympics were held. The stadiums and sports buildings are located here. After the Olympic Games the activity in the area has declined.
• Newtown is a neighborhood three kilometres south of the city center. It is a very interesting and alternative mixed neighborhood. Its main street called King Street has shops and many ethnic restaurants. It is estimated that King Street has more than 30 Thai restaurants.
• Kings Cross in a neighborhood a mile east of the city center. It's the red (red area) of the city, but there are also bars and cafes. There are popular hostels designed for young tourists.
• Royal Botanic Gardens (Real Botanic Gardens) has many examples of Australian and other trees and plants. The location of the gardens, in a port bay, is of great beauty, and from it there are excellent views of the city, the Opera Palace and the Bridge.
• Hyde Park It is a medium-sized park and is in the center of the city. It is very popular among the city workers.
• Centennial Park It's a big park in East Sydney, very close to Paddington. This has many aspects like the field. You can see there some natural animals, and you can do many activities.
• Taronga Zoo is the main zoo in the city. Located in Mosman, 15 minutes by ferry from Circular Quay, it has a complete collection of animals from Asia, Africa and Australia.
• Cathedral of Santa Maria is the Catholic cathedral of the city. An impressive neo-gothic building located on the eastern margin of Hide Park, seat of the Archdiocese of Sydney and which was not completed until 2000 after three cathedrals destroyed in the centuryXIX.
• Australian Museum (Australian Museum) is the oldest museum in Australia, with an international reputation in the fields of natural history and anthropology. In addition to exhibitions, the museum is also involved in researching studies and programmes of indigenous communities.

Panoramic Sydney

Other information of interest

The city has approximately four million inhabitants. Most are of British or Irish origin. Many Asians also live in this city, particularly in Chinatown. Sydney is not the capital of Australia, but it is the capital of New South Wales and the financial and corporate center of the country.

Botany Bay (in Sydney), was the place where the first European ships arrived in 1788. The city was once a British penal colony.

Sydney has the Sydney Opera House which is one of the most famous works of contemporary architecture. The Bay Bridge, with a single arch 500 meters long, is the other symbol of the city.

Infrastructure

Health system

Health services in Sydney are delivered through a mix of public and private systems, funded by the government (from tax revenue) and private health insurance. The New South Wales government, in particular the Ministry of Health, operates several large public hospitals in the greater Sydney region. The management of these hospitals and other specialized health centers is coordinated by the eight local metropolitan health districts (LHDs).

Public transport

Sydney has an extensive public transport network that includes trains, trams, buses, metro and ferries.

Train CityRail (Sydney Trains) from the main station

Sydney Metro at Chatswood Station

Tram

Ferry sailing by Sydney Cove

Railway

Central Station is the main station for travel to and from Sydney.

Ferries

The Circular Quay pier connects Sydney with various destinations by sea:

• Wharf 2: Taronga Zoo
• Wharf 3: Manly
• Wharf 4: Neutral Bay, Watsons Bay
• Wharf 5: Woolwich and Balmain, Parramatta, Darling Harbour...

Monorail

The Metro Monorail was inaugurated in 1988. It ran a closed circuit that passed through Darling Harbor and the city center. It stopped working in June 2013 and was dismantled shortly thereafter.

Public transport statistics

The average time people spend on public transport in Sydney, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 82 min, while 31% of people spend more than 2 hours every day. The average time people wait at a stop or station is 13 minutes, while 18% of people wait more than 20 minutes each day. The average distance people typically travel in a single trip is 9km, while 21% travel more than 12km in one direction.

International relations

Diplomatic offices

There are no embassies in Sydney because it is not the capital of Australia. However, 69 countries have consular representations in the city. The Spanish-speaking countries with diplomatic offices in Sydney are: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Spain, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Uruguay.

Twin cities

Sydney is twinned with the following cities, sorted by twinning date:

Cities with a Sidney Twinning Agreement
Atlanta, Estados Unidos	Mendoza, Argentina	Nagoya, Japan (1980)
Chicago, United States	Caracas, Venezuela	Auckland, New Zealand
San Francisco, United States (1968)	Bogotá, Colombia	Wellington, New Zealand (1982)
Montreal, Canada	Corrientes, Argentina	London, United Kingdom
Portsmouth, United Kingdom (1984)	Canton, China (1985)	Florence, Italy (1986)
Mexico City, Mexico	Tepic, Mexico

In addition, it has signed collaboration agreements with the following cities:

Partnership agreements with Sydney
Paris, France
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tokyo, Japan
Guadalajara, Mexico

Predecessor: Paris

Headquarters of the Sessions of the World Heritage Committee 1981

Successor: Paris