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Demographics
The population of Sydney in 1788 was less than 1,000.[258] With convict transportation it almost tripled in ten years to 2,953.[259] For each decade since 1961 the population has increased by more than 250,000.[260] Sydney's population at the time of the 2011 census was 4,391,674.[198] It has been forecast that the population will grow to between 8 and 8.9 million by 2061.[261] Despite this increase, the Australian Bureau of Statistics predicts that Melbourne will replace Sydney as Australia's most populous city by 2053.[262] The four most densely populated suburbs in Australia are located in Sydney with each having more than 13,000 residents per square kilometre (33, residents per square mile).[263]
The median age of Sydney residents is 36 and 12.9% of people are 65 or older.[198] The married population accounts for 49.7% of Sydney whilst 34.7% of people have never been married.[198] 48.9% of families are couples with children, 33.5% are couples without children, and 15.7% are single-parent families.[198]
Ancestry and immigration
Country of Birth (2016)[264][265]
Birthplace[N 1] Population
Australia 2,752,119
Mainland China 224,685
England 151,614
India 130,573
New Zealand 86,526
Vietnam 81,045
Philippines 75,480
Lebanon 55,979
South Korea 49,508
Hong Kong 40,577
Italy 40,492
Iraq 39,237
South Africa 35,313
Fiji 31,510
Nepal 30,424
Indonesia 29,989
Malaysia 21,211
Most immigrants to Sydney between 1840 and 1930 were British, Irish or Chinese. At the 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:[N 2][264][265]
English (27%)
Australian (25%)[N 3]
Chinese (10.8%)
Irish (9.2%)
Scottish (6.8%)
Italian (4.5%)
Indian (4.3%)
Lebanese (3.5%)
German (2.7%)
Greek (2.6%)
Vietnamese (2.3%)
Filipino (2.3%)
Indigenous (1.5%)[N 4]
Korean (1.4%)
Maltese (1.3%)
At the 2016 census, there were 2,071,872 people living in Sydney that were born overseas, accounting for 42.9% of the population Sydney,[267] above Vancouver (42.5%), Los Angeles (37.7%), New York City (37.5%), Chicago (20.7%%), Paris (14.6%) and Berlin (13%). Only 33.1% of the population had both parents born in Australia.[267] Sydney has the eighth-largest immigrant population among world metropolitan areas. Foreign countries of birth with the greatest representation are Mainland China, England, India, New Zealand, Vietnam and the Philippines.[267]
1.5% of the population, or 70,135 people, identified as Indigenous Australians (Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders) in 2016.[N 5][264][265]
Language
38.2% of people in Sydney speak a language other than English at home with Mandarin (4.7%), Arabic (4.0%), Cantonese (2.9%), Vietnamese (2.1%) and Greek (1.6%) the most widely spoken.[267]
Religion
St Mary's Cathedral, illuminated for Vivid Sydney, is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney.
The indigenous people of Sydney held totemic beliefs known as "dreamings". Governor Lachlan Macquarie made an effort to found a culture of formal religion throughout the early settlement and ordered the construction of churches such as St Matthew's, St Luke's, St James's, and St Andrew's.[268] In 2011, 28.3% of Sydney residents identified themselves as Catholic, whilst 17.6% practiced no religion. Additionally, 16.1% were Anglican, 4.7% were Muslim, 4.2% were Eastern Orthodox, 4.1% were Buddhist, 2.6% were Hindu, and 0.9% were Jewish.[3][198] However, according to the 2016 census, 1,082,448 (25%) residents of Sydney's Urban Centre describe themselves as Catholic, while another 1,053,500 (24.4%) people consider themselves non-religious.[269] A further 10.9% of residents identified themselves as Anglicans and an additional 5.8% as Muslim. These and other religious institutions have significantly contributed to the education and health of Sydney's residents over time, particularly through the building and management of schools and hospitals.
Crime
Crime in Sydney is low, with The Independent ranking Sydney as the fifth safest city in the world in 2019.[270] One of the biggest crime related issues to face the city in recent times was the introduction of lockout laws in February 2014,[271] in an attempt to curb alcohol fuelled violence. Patrons cannot enter clubs or bars in the inner-city after 1:30am, and last drinks are called at 3am.
Culture
Science, art, and history
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is rich in Indigenous Australian heritage, containing around 1,500 pieces of Aboriginal rock art - the largest cluster of Indigenous sites in Australia, surpassing Kakadu, which has around 5,000 sites but over a much greater land mass. The park's indigenous sites include petroglyphs, art sites, burial sites, caves, marriage areas, birthing areas, midden sites, and tool manufacturing locations, among others, which are dated to be around 5,000 years old. The inhabitants of the area were the Garigal people.[273][274] Other rock art sites exist in the Sydney region, such as in Terrey Hills and Bondi, although the locations of most are not publicised to prevent damage by vandalism, and to retain their quality, as they are still regarded as sacred sites by Indigenous Australians.[275]
The Australian Museum opened in Sydney in 1827 with the purpose of collecting and displaying the natural wealth of the colony.[276] It remains Australia's oldest natural history museum. In 1995 the Museum of Sydney opened on the site of the first Government House. It recounts the story of the city's development.[277] Other museums based in Sydney include the Powerhouse Museum and the Australian National Maritime Museum.[278][279]
In 1866 then Queen Victoria gave her assent to the formation of the Royal Society of New South Wales. The Society exists "for the encouragement of studies and investigations in science, art, literature, and philosophy". It is based in a terrace house in Darlington owned by the University of Sydney.[280] The Sydney Observatory building was constructed in 1859 and used for astronomy and meteorology research until 1982 before being converted into a museum.[281]
The Museum of Contemporary Art was opened in 1991 and occupies an Art Deco building in Circular Quay. Its collection was founded in the 1940s by artist and art collector John Power and has been maintained by the University of Sydney.[282] Sydney's other significant art institution is the Art Gallery of New South Wales which coordinates the coveted Archibald Prize for portraiture.[283] Contemporary art galleries are found in Waterloo, Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Chippendale, Newtown, and Woollahra.
Entertainment
Sydney's first commercial theatre opened in 1832 and nine more had commenced performances by the late 1920s. The live medium lost much of its popularity to cinema during the Great Depression before experiencing a revival after World War II.[284] Prominent theatres in the city today include State Theatre, Theatre Royal, Sydney Theatre, The Wharf Theatre, and Capitol Theatre. Sydney Theatre Company maintains a roster of local, classical, and international plays. It occasionally features Australian theatre icons such as David Williamson, Hugo Weaving, and Geoffrey Rush. The city's other prominent theatre companies are New Theatre, Belvoir, and Griffin Theatre Company. Sydney is also home to Event Cinemas' first theatre, which opened on George St in 1913, under its former Greater Union brand; the theatre currently operates, and is regarded as one of Australia's busiest cinema locations.
The Sydney Opera House is the home of Opera Australia and Sydney Symphony. It has staged over 100,000 performances and received 100 million visitors since opening in 1973.[185] Two other important performance venues in Sydney are Town Hall and the City Recital Hall. The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is located adjacent to the Royal Botanic Garden and serves the Australian music community through education and its biannual Australian Music Examinations Board exams.[285]
Many writers have originated in and set their work in Sydney. Others have visited the city and commented on it. Some of them are commemorated in the Sydney Writers Walk at Circular Quay. The city was the headquarters for Australia's first published newspaper, the Sydney Gazette.[286] Watkin Tench's A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay (1789) and A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson in New South Wales (1793) have remained the best-known accounts of life in early Sydney.[287] Since the infancy of the establishment, much of the literature set in Sydney were concerned with life in the city's slums and working-class communities, notably William Lane's The Working Man's Paradise (1892), Christina Stead's Seven Poor Men of Sydney (1934) and Ruth Park's The Harp in the South (1948).[288] The first Australian-born female novelist, Louisa Atkinson, set various of her novels in Sydney.[289] Contemporary writers, such as Elizabeth Harrower, were born in the city and thus set most of the work there-Harrower's debut novel Down in the City (1957) was mostly set in a King's Cross apartment.[290][291][292] Well known contemporary novels set in the city include Melina Marchetta's Looking for Alibrandi (1992), Peter Carey's 30 Days in Sydney: A Wildly Distorted Account (1999), J.M. Coetzee's Diary of a Bad Year (2007) and Kate Grenville's The Secret River (2010). The Sydney Writers' Festival is held every year between April and May.[293]
Filmmaking in Sydney was quite prolific until the 1920s when spoken films were introduced and American productions gained dominance in Australian cinema.[294] The Australian New Wave of filmmaking saw a resurgence in film production in the city-with many notable features shot in the city between the 1970s and 80s, helmed by directors such as Bruce Beresford, Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong.[295] Fox Studios Australia commenced production in Sydney in 1998. Successful films shot in Sydney since then include The Matrix, Lantana, Mission: Impossible 2, Moulin Rouge!, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Australia, and The Great Gatsby. The National Institute of Dramatic Art is based in Sydney and has several famous alumni such as Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Baz Luhrmann, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Jacqueline Mckenzie.[296]
The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House illuminated during the 2015 Vivid Sydney festival of light
Sydney is the host of several festivals throughout the year. The city's New Year's Eve celebrations are the largest in Australia.[297] The Royal Easter Show is held every year at Sydney Olympic Park. Sydney Festival is Australia's largest arts festival.[298] The travelling rock music festival Big Day Out originated in Sydney. The city's two largest film festivals are Sydney Film Festival and Tropfest. Vivid Sydney is an annual outdoor exhibition of art installations, light projections, and music.
In 2015, Sydney was ranked 13th for being the top fashion capitals in the world.[299] It hosts the Australian Fashion Week in autumn. The Sydney Mardi Gras has commenced each February since 1979. Sydney's Chinatown has had numerous locations since the 1850s. It moved from George Street to Campbell Street to its current setting in Dixon Street in 1980.[300] The Spanish Quarter is based in Liverpool Street whilst Little Italy is located in Stanley Street.[220] Popular nightspots are found at Kings Cross, Oxford Street, Circular Quay, and The Rocks. The Star is the city's only casino and is situated around Darling Harbour.
Media
The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia's oldest newspaper still in print. Now a compact form paper owned by Fairfax Media, it has been published continuously since 1831.[301] Its competitor is the News Corporation tabloid The Daily Telegraph which has been in print since 1879.[302] Both papers have Sunday tabloid editions called The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Telegraph respectively. The Bulletin was founded in Sydney in 1880 and became Australia's longest running magazine. It closed after 128 years of continuous publication.[303] Sydney heralded Australia's first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette, published until 1842.
Each of Australia's three commercial television networks and two public broadcasters is headquartered in Sydney. Nine's offices and news studios are based in Willoughby,[304] Ten and Seven are based in Pyrmont, Seven has a news studio in the Sydney CBD in Martin Place[304][305] the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is located in Ultimo,[306] and the Special Broadcasting Service is based in Artarmon.[307] Multiple digital channels have been provided by all five networks since 2000. Foxtel is based in North Ryde and sells subscription cable television to most parts of the urban area.[308] Sydney's first radio stations commenced broadcasting in the 1920s. Radio became a popular tool for politics, news, religion, and sport and has managed to survive despite the introduction of television and the Internet.[309] 2UE was founded in 1925 and under the ownership of Fairfax Media is the oldest station still broadcasting.[309] Competing stations include the more popular 2GB, 702 ABC Sydney, KIIS 106.5, Triple M, Nova 96.9, and 2Day FM.[310]
Sport and outdoor activities
Sydney's earliest migrants brought with them a passion for sport but were restricted by the lack of facilities and equipment. The first organised sports were boxing, wrestling, and horse racing from 1810 in Hyde Park.[311] Horse racing remains popular to this day and events such as the Golden Slipper Stakes attract widespread attention. The first cricket club was formed in 1826 and matches were played within Hyde Park throughout the 1830s and 1840s.[311] Cricket is a favoured sport in summer and big matches have been held at the Sydney Cricket Ground since 1878. The New South Wales Blues compete in the Sheffield Shield league and the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder contest the national Big Bash Twenty20 competition.
First played in Sydney in 1865, rugby grew to be the city's most popular football code by the 1880s. One-tenth of the state's population attended a New South Wales versus New Zealand rugby match in 1907.[311] Rugby league separated from rugby union in 1908. The New South Wales Waratahs contest the Super Rugby competition, while the Sydney Rays represent the city in the National Rugby Championship. The national Wallabies rugby union team competes in Sydney in international matches such as the Bledisloe Cup, Rugby Championship, and World Cup. Sydney is home to nine of the sixteen teams in the National Rugby League competition: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Penrith Panthers, Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs, St George Illawarra Dragons, Sydney Roosters, and Wests Tigers. New South Wales contests the annual State of Origin series against Queensland.
Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers compete in the A-League (men's) and W-League (women's) soccer competitions and Sydney frequently hosts matches for the Australian national men's team, the Socceroos. The Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney Giants are local Australian rules football clubs that play in the Australian Football League. The Giants also compete in AFL Women's. The Sydney Kings compete in the National Basketball League. The Sydney Uni Flames play in the Women's National Basketball League. The Sydney Blue Sox contest the Australian Baseball League. The Waratahs are a member of the Australian Hockey League. The Sydney Bears and Sydney Ice Dogs play in the Australian Ice Hockey League. The Swifts are competitors in the national women's netball league.
Sailing on Sydney Harbour
Women were first allowed to participate in recreational swimming when separate baths were opened at Woolloomooloo Bay in the 1830s. From being illegal at the beginning of the century, sea bathing gained immense popularity during the early 1900s and the first surf lifesaving club was established at Bondi Beach.[311][312] Disputes about appropriate clothing for surf bathing surfaced from time to time and concerned men as well as women. The City2Surf is an annual 14-kilometre (8.7-mile) running race from the CBD to Bondi Beach and has been held since 1971. In 2010, 80,000 runners participated which made it the largest run of its kind in the world.[313]
Sailing races have been held on Sydney Harbour since 1827.[314] Yachting has been popular amongst wealthier residents since the 1840s and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron was founded in 1862. The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is a 1,170-kilometre (727-mile) event that starts from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day.[315] Since its inception in 1945 it has been recognised as one of the most difficult yacht races in the world.[316] Six sailors died and 71 vessels of the fleet of 115 failed to finish in the 1998 edition.[317]
The Royal Sydney Golf Club is based in Rose Bay and since its opening in 1893 has hosted the Australian Open on 13 occasions.[311] Royal Randwick Racecourse opened in 1833 and holds several major cups throughout the year.[318]
Sydney benefitted from the construction of significant sporting infrastructure in preparation for its hosting of the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Sydney Olympic Park accommodates athletics, aquatics, tennis, hockey, archery, baseball, cycling, equestrian, and rowing facilities. It also includes the high capacity Stadium Australia used for rugby, soccer, and Australian rules football. Sydney Football Stadium was completed in 1988 and is used for rugby and soccer matches. Sydney Cricket Ground was opened in 1878 and is used for both cricket and Australian rules football fixtures.[311]
The Sydney International tennis tournament is held here at the beginning of each year as the warm-up for the Grand Slam in Melbourne. Two of the most successful tennis players in history: Ken Rosewall and Todd Woodbridge were born in and live in the city.
Government
See also: Local government areas of New South Wales
Historical governance
The Old Registry Office, now part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, was one of three of the earliest established courts in Sydney.
The City of Sydney's flag, which was designed in 1908.[319]
During early colonial times the presiding Governor and his military shared absolute control over the population.[45] This lack of democracy eventually became unacceptable for the colony's growing number of free settlers. The first indications of a proper legal system emerged with the passing of a Charter of Justice in 1814. It established three new courts, including the Supreme Court, and dictated that English law was to be followed.[320] In 1823 the British Parliament passed an act to create the Legislative Council in New South Wales and give the Supreme Court the right of review over new legislation.[321] From 1828 all of the common laws in force in England were to be applied in New South Wales wherever it was appropriate.[321] Another act from the British Parliament in 1842 provided for members of the Council to be elected for the first time.[321]
The Constitution Act of 1855 gave New South Wales a bicameral government. The existing Legislative Council became the upper house and a new body called the Legislative Assembly was formed to be the lower house.[322] An Executive Council was introduced and constituted five members of the Legislative Assembly and the Governor.[323] It became responsible for advising the ruling Governor on matters related to the administration of the state. The colonial settlements elsewhere on the continent eventually seceded from New South Wales and formed their own governments. Tasmania separated in 1825, Victoria did so in 1850, and Queensland followed in 1859.[322] With the proclamation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 the status of local governments across Sydney was formalised and they became separate institutions from the state of New South Wales.[324]
Government in the present
Sydney is divided into local government areas (also known as councils or shires) which are comparable in nature to London's boroughs.[325] These local government areas have elected councils which are responsible for functions delegated to them by the New South Wales Government. The 31 local government areas making up Sydney according to the New South Wales Division of Local Government are:
Bayside
Canterbury-Bankstown
Blacktown
Burwood
Camden
Campbelltown
Canada Bay
Cumberland
Fairfield
Georges River
Hawkesbury
The Hills
Hornsby
Hunter's Hill
Inner West
Ku-ring-gai
Lane Cove
Liverpool
Mosman
North Sydney
Northern Beaches
Parramatta
Penrith
Randwick
Ryde
Strathfield
Sutherland
Sydney
Waverley
Willoughby
Woollahra
Sydney's local government areas
Sydney is the location of the secondary official residences of the Governor-General of Australia and the Prime Minister of Australia, Admiralty House and Kirribilli House respectively.[326] The Parliament of New South Wales sits in Parliament House on Macquarie Street. This building was completed in 1816 and first served as a hospital. The Legislative Council moved into its northern wing in 1829 and by 1852 had entirely supplanted the surgeons from their quarters.[320] Several additions have been made to the building as the Parliament has expanded, but it retains its original Georgian façade.[327] Government House was completed in 1845 and has served as the home of 25 Governors and 5 Governors-General.[328] The Cabinet of Australia also meets in Sydney when needed.
The highest court in the state is the Supreme Court of New South Wales which is located in Queen's Square in Sydney.[329] The city is also the home of numerous branches of the intermediate District Court of New South Wales and the lower Local Court of New South Wales.[330]
Public activities such as main roads, traffic control, public transport, policing, education, and major infrastructure projects are controlled by the New South Wales Government.[331]
A New South Wales Police Force highway patrol car.
It has tended to resist attempts to amalgamate Sydney's more populated local government areas as merged councils could pose a threat to its governmental power.[332] Established in 1842, the City of Sydney is one such local government area and includes the CBD and some adjoining inner suburbs.[333] It is responsible for fostering development in the local area, providing local services (waste collection and recycling, libraries, parks, sporting facilities), representing and promoting the interests of residents, supporting organisations that target the local community, and attracting and providing infrastructure for commerce, tourism, and industry.[334] The City of Sydney is led by an elected Council and Lord Mayor who has in the past been treated as a representative of the entire city.[335]
In regards to emergency services, Greater Sydney is served by:
New South Wales Police Force
New South Wales Ambulance
In federal politics, Sydney was initially considered as a possibility for Australia's capital city; the newly created city of Canberra ultimately filled this role.[336] Six Australian Prime Ministers have been born in Sydney, more than any other city, including first Prime Minister Edmund Barton and Malcolm Turnbull.
Infrastructure
Education
The University of Sydney
Education became a proper focus for the colony from the 1870s when public schools began to form and schooling became compulsory.[337] The population of Sydney is now highly educated. 90% of working age residents have completed some schooling and 57% have completed the highest level of school.[3] 1,390,703 people were enrolled in an educational institution in 2011 with 45.1% of these attending school and 16.5% studying at a university.[198] Undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications are held by 22.5% of working age Sydney residents and 40.2% of working age residents of the City of Sydney.[3][338] The most common fields of tertiary qualification are commerce (22.8%), engineering (13.4%), society and culture (10.8%), health (7.8%), and education (6.6%).[3]
There are six public universities based in Sydney: The University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, University of Technology Sydney, Macquarie University, Western Sydney University, and Australian Catholic University. Five public universities maintain secondary campuses in the city for both domestic and international students: the University of Notre Dame Australia, Central Queensland University, Victoria University, University of Wollongong, and University of Newcastle. Charles Sturt University and Southern Cross University, both public universities, operate secondary campuses only designated for international students. In addition, four public universities offer programmes in Sydney through third-party education providers: University of the Sunshine Coast, La Trobe University, Federation University Australia and Charles Darwin University. 5.2% of residents of Sydney are attending a university.[339] The University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney are ranked top 50 in the world, the University of Technology Sydney is ranked 193, while Macquarie University ranks 237, and Western Sydney University below 500.
Sydney has public, denominational, and independent schools. 7.8% of Sydney residents are attending primary school and 6.4% are enrolled in secondary school.[339] There are 935 public preschool, primary, and secondary schools in Sydney that are administered by the New South Wales Department of Education.[340] 14 of the 17 selective secondary schools in New South Wales are based in Sydney.[341]
Public vocational education and training in Sydney is run by TAFE New South Wales and began with the opening of the Sydney Technical College in 1878. It offered courses in areas such as mechanical drawing, applied mathematics, steam engines, simple surgery, and English grammar.[179] The college became the Sydney Institute in 1992 and now operates alongside its sister TAFE facilities across the Sydney metropolitan area, namely the Northern Sydney Institute, the Western Sydney Institute, and the South Western Sydney Institute. At the 2011 census, 2.4% of Sydney residents are enrolled in a TAFE course.[339]
Health
The Sydney Hospital, the oldest teaching hospital in the city.
The first hospital in the new colony was a collection of tents at The Rocks. Many of the convicts that survived the trip from England continued to suffer from dysentery, smallpox, scurvy, and typhoid. Healthcare facilities remained hopelessly inadequate despite the arrival of a prefabricated hospital with the Second Fleet and the construction of brand new hospitals at Parramatta, Windsor, and Liverpool in the 1790s.[342]
Governor Lachlan Macquarie arranged for the construction of Sydney Hospital and saw it completed in 1816.[342] Parts of the facility have been repurposed for use as Parliament House but the hospital itself still operates to this day. The city's first emergency department was established at Sydney Hospital in 1870. Demand for emergency medical care increased from 1895 with the introduction of an ambulance service.[342] The Sydney Hospital also housed Australia's first teaching facility for nurses, the Nightingale Wing, established with the input of Florence Nightingale in 1868.[343]
Healthcare gained recognition as a citizen's right in the early 1900s and Sydney's public hospitals came under the oversight of the Government of New South Wales.[342] The administration of healthcare across Sydney is handled by eight local health districts: Central Coast, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Sydney, Nepean Blue Mountains, Northern Sydney, South Eastern Sydney, South Western Sydney, and Western Sydney.[344] The Prince of Wales Hospital was established in 1852 and became the first of several major hospitals to be opened in the coming decades.[345] St Vincent's Hospital was founded in 1857,[128] followed by Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in 1880,[346] the Prince Henry Hospital in 1881,[347] the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1882,[348] the Royal North Shore Hospital in 1885,[349] the St George Hospital in 1894,[350] and the Nepean Hospital in 1895.[351] Westmead Hospital in 1978 was the last major facility to open.[352]
Transport
Roads
The motor vehicle, more than any other factor, has determined the pattern of Sydney's urban development since World War II.[353] The growth of low density housing in the city's outer suburbs has made car ownership necessary for hundreds of thousands of households. The percentage of trips taken by car has increased from 13% in 1947 to 50% in 1960 and to 70% in 1971.[353] The most important roads in Sydney were the nine Metroads, including the 110-kilometre (68-mile) Sydney Orbital Network. Widespread criticism over Sydney's reliance on sprawling road networks, as well as the motor vehicle, have stemmed largely from proponents of mass public transport and high density housing.[354][355][356] The Light Horse Interchange in western Sydney is the largest in the southern hemisphere.[357]
There can be up to 350,000 cars using Sydney's roads simultaneously during peak hour, leading to significant traffic congestion.[353] 84.9% of Sydney households own a motor vehicle and 46.5% own two or more.[198] Car dependency is an ongoing issue in Sydney-of people that travel to work, 58.4% use a car, 9.1% catch a train, 5.2% take a bus, and 4.1% walk.[198] In contrast, only 25.2% of working residents in the City of Sydney use a car, whilst 15.8% take a train, 13.3% use a bus, and 25.3% walk.[358] With a rate of 26.3%, Sydney has the highest utilisation of public transport for travel to work of any Australian capital city.[359]
Trams and light rail
Sydney once had one of the largest tram networks in the British Empire after London.[360] It served routes covering 291 kilometres (181 miles). The internal combustion engine made buses more flexible than trams and consequently more popular, leading to the progressive closure of the tram network with the final tram operating in 1961.[353] From 1930 there were 612 buses across Sydney carrying 90 million passengers per annum.[361]
In 1997, the Inner West Light Rail (also known as the Dulwich Hill Line) opened between Central station and Wentworth Park. It was extended to Lilyfield in 2000 and then Dulwich Hill in 2014. It links the Inner West and Darling Harbour with Central station and facilitated 9.1 million journeys in the 2016-17 financial year.[362] A second, the CBD and South East Light Rail 12 km (7.5 mi) line serving the CBD and south-eastern suburbs is planned to open in early 2019.[363] When the light rail project is completed, it would cover a total distance of 12 km with 19 different stops. A light rail line serving Western Sydney has also been announced, due to open in 2023.
Buses
Bus services today are conducted by a mixture of Government and private operators. In areas previously serviced by trams the government State Transit Authority operates, in other areas, there are private (albeit part funded by the state government) operators. Integrated tickets called Opal cards operate on both government and private bus routes. State Transit alone operated a fleet of 2,169 buses and serviced over 160 million passengers during 2014. In total, nearly 225 million boardings were recorded across the bus network[364] NightRide is a nightly bus service that operate between midnight and 5am, also replacing trains for most of this period.
Trains
Rail services are operated by Sydney Trains and Sydney Metro. Sydney Trains serves 175 stations across greater Sydney and had an annual ridership of 359 million passenger journeys in 2017-18.[365] Sydney's railway was first constructed in 1854 with progressive extension to the network to serve both freight and passengers across the city, suburbs, and beyond to country NSW. In the 1850s and 1860s the railway reached Parramatta, Campbelltown, Liverpool, Blacktown, Penrith, and Richmond.[353] In 2019, 91.6% of trains arrived on time.[366] Sydney Metro, an automated rapid transit system separate from the suburban network, commenced operation in 2019, with plans in place to extend the system through the CBD by 2024.[367][368]
Ferries
At the time the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932, the city's ferry service was the largest in the world.[369] Patronage declined from 37 million passengers in 1945 to 11 million in 1963 but has recovered somewhat in recent years.[353] From its hub at Circular Quay the ferry network extends from Manly to Parramatta.[369]
Airports
Sydney Airport, officially "Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport", is located in the inner southern suburb of Mascot with two of the runways going into Botany Bay. It services 46 international and 23 domestic destinations.[35] As the busiest airport in Australia it handled 37.9 million passengers in 2013 and 530,000 tonnes of freight in 2011.[35] It has been announced that a new facility named Western Sydney Airport will be constructed at Badgerys Creek from 2016 at a cost of $2.5 billion.[370] Bankstown Airport is Sydney's second busiest airport, and serves general aviation, charter and some scheduled cargo flights. Bankstown is also the fourth busiest airport in Australia by number of aircraft movements.[371] Port Botany has surpassed Port Jackson as the city's major shipping port. Cruise ship terminals are located at Sydney Cove and White Bay.
Environmental issues and pollution reduction
As climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and pollution have become a major issue for Australia, Sydney has in the past been criticised for its lack of focus on reducing pollution, cutting back on emissions and maintaining water quality.[372] Since 1995, there have been significant developments in the analysis of air pollution in the Sydney metropolitan region. The development led to the release of the Metropolitan Air Quality Scheme (MAQS), which led to a broader understanding of the causation of pollution in Sydney, allowing the government to form appropriate responses to the pollution.[373] The 2019-20 Australian bushfire season significantly impacted outer Sydney, and consequently dramatically reduced the air quality of the Sydney metropolitan area leading to a smoky haze that has lingered for many days throughout December. The air quality was 11 times the hazardous level in some days,[374][375] even making it worse than New Delhi's,[376] where it was also compared to "smoking 32 cigarettes" by Associate Professor Brian Oliver, a respiratory diseases scientist at the University of Technology Sydney.[377]
Australian cities are some of the most car dependent cities in the world.[378] Sydney in particular has a high level of car dependency,[379] especially by world city standards, although it is the lowest of Australia's major cities at 66%.[380] Furthermore, the city also has the highest usage of public transport in an Australian city, at 27%-making it comparable with New York City, Shanghai and Berlin. Despite its high ranking for an Australian city, Sydney has a low level of mass-transit services, with a historically low-density layout and significant urban sprawl, thus increasing the likelihood of car dependency.[381][382] Strategies have been implemented to reduce private vehicle pollution by encouraging mass and public transit,[383] initiating the development of high density housing and introducing a fleet of 10 new Nissan LEAF electric cars, the largest order of the pollution-free vehicle in Australia.[384] Electric cars do not produce carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide, gases which contribute to climate change.[385][386] Cycling trips have increased by 113% across Sydney's inner-city since March 2010, with about 2,000 bikes passing through top peak-hour intersections on an average weekday.[387] Transport developments in the north-west and east of the city have been designed to encourage the use of Sydney's expanding public transportation system.
The City of Sydney became the first council in Australia to achieve formal certification as carbon-neutral in 2008.[388][389] The city has reduced its 2007 carbon emissions by 6% and since 2006 has reduced carbon emissions from city buildings by up to 20%.[387][390] The City of Sydney introduced a Sustainable Sydney 2030 program, with various targets planned and a comprehensive guide on how to reduce energy in homes and offices within Sydney by 30%.[387][391] Reductions in energy consumption have slashed energy bills by $30 million a year.[392] Solar panels have been established on many CBD buildings in an effort to minimise carbon pollution by around 3,000 tonnes a year.[393]
The city also has an "urban forest growth strategy", in which it aims to regular increase the tree coverage in the city by frequently planting trees with strong leaf density and vegetation to provide cleaner air and create moisture during hot weather, thus lowering city temperatures.[394] Sydney has also become a leader in the development of green office buildings and enforcing the requirement of all building proposals to be energy-efficient. The One Central Park development, completed in 2013, is an example of this implementation and design.[395][396][397][398]
Utilities
Obtaining sufficient fresh water was difficult during early colonial times. A catchment called the Tank Stream sourced water from what is now the CBD but was little more than an open sewer by the end of the 1s.[399] The Botany Swamps Scheme was one of several ventures during the mid 1800s that saw the construction of wells, tunnels, steam pumping stations, and small dams to service Sydney's growing population.[399]
The first genuine solution to Sydney's water demands was the Upper Nepean Scheme which came into operation in 1886 and cost over £2 million. It transports water 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Nepean, Cataract, and Cordeaux rivers and continues to service about 15% of Sydney's total water needs.[399] Dams were built on these three rivers between 1907 and 1935.[399] In 1977 the Shoalhaven Scheme brought several more dams into service.[400]
The WaterNSW now manages eleven major dams: Warragamba one of the largest domestic water supply dams in the world,[401] Woronora, Cataract, Cordeaux, Nepean, Avon, Wingecarribee Reservoir, Fitzroy Falls Reservoir, Tallowa, the Blue Mountains Dams, and Prospect Reservoir.[402] Water is collected from five catchment areas covering 16,000 square kilometres (6,178 square miles) and total storage amounts to 2.6 teralitres (0.6 cubic miles).[402] The Sydney Desalination Plant came into operation in 2010.[399]
The two distributors which maintain Sydney's electricity infrastructure are Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy.[403][404] Their combined networks include over 815,000 power poles and 83,000 kilometres (52,000 miles) of electricity cables.
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