The Sydney region, referred by the local aborigines as Warrane, itself
has been inhabited for at least 50,000 years. When Captain James Cook made his epic voyage to Australia he claimed the
whole East Coast in the name of King George III and called it New South
Wales. The British did nothing with their new possession for a number of
years and were then urged to establish a colony.
The First Fleet, commissioned by Thomas Townshend, Baron Sydney, set
sail for Botany Bay on May 13, 1787, led by Captain Arthur Phillip. The
fleet assembled at Mother Bank, the Isle of Wright, later arriving at Cape
Town to take aboard plants, fruit trees (including vines) and animals.
They reached their destination in Botany Bay on January 18, 1788, but
pushed further north to Port Jackson where they decided to settle.
There they were to find a lush, pristine forest in a cove fed by a
stream (now called the Tank Stream), where it was decided they would
settle.
Captain Arthur Phillip was later to name the cove they landed at Sydney
Cove, in honor of Thomas Townshend, Baron Sydney (1733-1800), the minister
responsible for the Colony. Later usage of the name dropped 'Cove' and the
area became known as Sydney.
Sydney began its life as a penal colony, with a total of 568 male and
191 female convicts with 13 children, 206 marines with 26 wives and 13
children, and 20 officials having made the voyage.
By the time that Governor Lachlan Macquarie reached Sydney in 1809, as
the 5th Governor of the Colony, a number of new towns had been
established, including Parramatta. But it was inland - to the west that
the colony had developed beyond Parramatta to the foothills of the
mountain range. At the foot of this range beside the Emu plains was the
Nepean River, well beyond the newly formed towns of Liverpool and
Campbelltown. Cowpastures (Camden) was almost beyond the limits of
settlement in the southwest. To the north lay Green Hills (Windsor) on the
rich agricultural soils of the Hawkesbury River, and along its length had
developed a number of settlements. Macquarie proclaimed five towns
Castlereagh, Windsor Richmond, Pitt Town and Wilberforce.
The area was the County of Cumberland, a patch of land barely 40 miles
square.
Today the area referred to as Sydney is covered by some 45 local
government boundaries.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics refer to a statistical division
known as Sydney which consists broadly of the Cumberland Plain. To the
north of the Plain, the Division includes the moderately elevated Hornsby
Plateau and, beyond the Hawkesbury River, the coastal lowland plains
containing Gosford and Wyong. To the northwest, north and southwest of the
Cumberland Plain, the Division comprises the Blue Mountains and other
associated ranges. The southern part of the Division is mainly composed of
the moderately elevated Woronora Plateau.
Sydney is the focal point of the State's rail, road, and air services.
It also provides port facilities for overseas, interstate and intrastate
shipping. It is the seat of public administration for the State, and the
leading commercial, industrial, financial, educational, and cultural
centre.
For the purpose of marketing New South Wales as a tourist destination,
Tourism NSW considers all of the areas in the Sydney Basin as Sydney. The
Sydney Wine Trail and the Hawkesbury Harvest food and wine trail have been
established as important tourist destinations for both Sydneysiders and
visitors to the region.
