Timeline of Sydney

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Pre-Colonial

Whale carvings in Bondi

• 50,000–45,000 BP – Near Penrith, a far western suburb of Sydney, numerous Aboriginal stone tools were found in Cranebrook Terraces gravel sediments dating to this time period; at first when these results were new they were controversial. More recently in 1987 and 2003, dating of the same strata has revised and corroborated these dates.^[1]
• 30,000 BP – Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity occurred in and around the Sydney basin, as evidenced by an archaeological dig in Parramatta, in Western Sydney.^[2][3] The finds show that the Aboriginal Australians in that region used charcoal, stone tools and possible ancient campfires.^[4][5]
• 21,100–17,800 BP – Stone artifact assemblages dating to this time period discovered in Shaws Creek (near Hawkesbury River) and in Blue Mountains. A rock shelter with flakes dating to this period discovered near Nepean River.^[6]
• 5,000–7000 BP – The Sydney rock engravings, a form of Australian Aboriginal rock art consisting of carefully drawn images of people, animals, or symbols, date to this time period.^[7]
• 4,000–2,000 BC – The first backed stone artifacts developed, such as blades and spears. The stones would drill, scrape, cut and grind material. They were also associated with woodworking.^[8]
• 1,000–500 BC – Bone and shell usage dating to this period discovered. They would've been attached to fishing spear prongs, which would mean that multi-pronged fishing spears occurred at this time. The evidence of spear-throwing is suggested by an excavated shell in Balmoral Beach.^[9]
• c 500 CE – Likely large tsunami.^[10]

18th–19th centuries

1770s–1790s

• 1770 – Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook, in command of HMS Endeavour, sights the east coast of Australia and lands at Kurnell.
• 1779 – Joseph Banks gives evidence supporting a colony in Botany Bay.
• 1783 – James Matra proposes colony in New South Wales.
• 1786 – British government decides to found convict settlement in Botany Bay.
• 1787 – First Fleet of eleven vessels under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth.
• 1788
  • Phillip arrives in Botany Bay but moves site of settlement to Sydney Cove.
  • French vessels under the command of Lapérouse land in Botany Bay.
  • Parramatta founded.
  • Convict Henry Kable successfully sues ship's master for stealing his goods on voyage.
  • Punitive expedition after killing of two convicts by aboriginal people fails to find any culprits.^[11]
• 1789
  • Smallpox epidemic kills many of indigenous population.
  • Rose Hill Packet built for service on Parramatta River.
  • Six marines hanged for theft from government stores.
  • Farquhar's comedy 'The Recruiting Officer' performed by convicts.^[12]
• 1790
  • Phillip speared by Willemering at Manly Cove.
  • Second Fleet arrives with many deaths and convicts in poor condition.
  • William Dawes creates word-list of Dharug language with the help of Patyegarang.
  • Glebe granted as endowment to Church of England.
• 1791
  • Successful convict farmer James Ruse granted land at Rosehill.
  • Convict station established at Old Toongabbie.
  • Mary Bryant and other convicts escape by open boat to Timor.
  • Third Fleet arrives with provisions.
  • Third Fleet ship Britannia leaves for whaling expedition in the South Seas.
  • First convicts arrive from Ireland in the Queen.

Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, 1792

• 1792
  • Burial Ground established.
  • Visit of first trading vessels, the Philadelphia and Hope from America.^[13]
  • Phillip returns to England, accompanied by Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne.
• 1793
  • John and Elizabeth Macarthur begin building Elizabeth Farm at Rosehill.
  • Visit of Malaspina's Spanish exploratory expedition.
  • First free settlers arrive on the Bellona.
  • First church built.
  • Watkin Tench's Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson published in London.
• 1794 – Maurice Margarot and four other radical political prisoners arrive.
• 1795
  • Bennelong returns from visit to England.
  • Descendants of cattle that had escaped in 1788 found at Cowpastures (Camden).
  • First printing press used to print government orders.^[14]
  • Complex legal case Boston v Laycock over shooting of pig by soldier.^[15]
  • Initiation ceremony of 15 indigenous youths at Farm Cove.^[16]
• 1796
  • White population: 4,000.
  • Political prisoner Thomas Muir escapes on American ship.
  • Bushranger "Black Caesar" shot and killed.
  • First theatre opens.^[17]
• 1797
  • Prospect, a western Sydney suburb, became the boundary between colonists and indigenous Australians. Hostility grew where a state of guerrilla warfare existed between indigenous people and the settler communities at Prospect and Parramatta.^[18] The aboriginal people were led by their leader, Pemulwuy, a member of the Bidjigal tribe who occupied the land.^[19]
  • First windmill.^[20]
  • First merino sheep brought from Cape of Good Hope by Captain Waterhouse.
  • Three survivors of Sydney Cove shipwreck reach Sydney after walking from Gippsland.
• 1798
  • First church burns down.
  • David Collins' An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales published in London.
  • Arrival of London Missionary Society preacher Rowland Hassall.
• 1799 – Five men convicted of murdering two aboriginals on the Hawkesbury but not punished.^[21]

1800s–1840s

• 1800 – Hundreds of rebels of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 arrive as convicts.
• 1801
  • Female Orphan School first state charitable institution.^[22]
  • Lieutenant Governor Paterson wounded by John Macarthur in a duel.
• 1802
  • Visit of Baudin's French exploratory expedition.
  • Matthew Flinders departs Sydney on Investigator for circumnavigation of Australia, accompanied by Bungaree.
  • Pemulwuy shot and killed.
• 1803
  • Sydney Gazette newspaper begins publication.
  • First Vaucluse House built.
  • First officially-permitted Catholic masses said by Fr Dixon.
  • Masonic meeting broken up by order of the Governor.^[23]
  • American brig Union stores thousands of sealskins from Bass Strait with Simeon Lord.
• 1804
  • Castle Hill convict rebellion
  • Fort Phillip construction begins.^[24]
• 1805 – first whaling vessels based in Sydney.^[25]
• 1806 – Visit of Russian ship Neva en route to Alaska.
• 1807
  • Surveyor James Meehan draws detailed plan of Sydney Town.^[26]
  • Merchant Robert Campbell establishes first shipbuilding yard at Kirribilli.
• 1808 – New South Wales Corps depose Governor Bligh in Rum Rebellion.
• 1810
  • Macquarie Street laid out and Hyde Park reserved as a public park.
  • First post office opened, with Isaac Nichols postmaster.
  • Liverpool founded.
  • Maori chief Ruatara stays with Rev Samuel Marsden at Parramatta and prepares mission to New Zealand.
• 1811
  • Castle Hill Lunatic Asylum established.
  • Mary Reibey inherits and expands the business interests of her husband Thomas Reibey.
• 1813
  • Crossing of Blue Mountains opens route from Sydney to west.
  • Benevolent Society founded as charity for general purposes.
  • First steam engine imported.^[27]
  • Middles punched out of 40,000 Spanish dollars to create Holey dollar local coinage.
• 1814 – Native Institution established for education of black children.
• 1815 – Sydney connected to inland by Cox's Road over Blue Mountains.
• 1816
  • Macquarie revives annual Aboriginal Feast Day at Parramatta.^[28]
  • Royal Botanic Gardens open.
  • Sydney Hospital built.
  • Cadmans Cottage built at The Rocks.
• 1817
  • Bank of New South Wales established.^[29]
  • Construction of Fort Macquarie begun on Bennelong Point.
  • Surveyor John Oxley departs to explore the Lachlan River.
• 1818
  • Macquarie Lighthouse operational.
  • Arrival of John Shying, first known Chinese immigrant.

Government House, 1819

• 1819
  • Hyde Park Barracks built.
  • Design of St James' Church commissioned from Francis Greenway.
  • Visit of de Freycinet's French exploratory expedition.
  • Land in north-western Sydney granted to aboriginal guides Colebee and Nurragingy.
  • 14-year-old aboriginal girl at Parramatta wins first prize in school examinations.^[30]
• 1820
  • Devonshire Street Cemetery established.
  • Deaths from flu epidemic.^[31]
• 1821
  • First Catholic church, St Mary's, begins construction.
  • Philosophical Society (later Royal Society of New South Wales) founded.
• 1822
  • Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales founded.
  • Bank of New South Wales cashier Francis Williams convicted of embezzling £12,000.^[32]
• 1823 – First Sydney Royal Easter Show held.
• 1824
  • St James' Church consecrated.
  • Supreme Court of New South Wales proclaimed.
  • The Australian newspaper begins publication.
• 1825
  • New South Wales Legislative Council established in Sydney.
  • First known musical composition in Australia, Reichenberg's 'Australian Quadrilles'.^[33]
• 1826
  • Scots Church opened.
  • Eliza Darling establishes the first friendly society, the Female Friendly Society of the Town of Sydney.
  • Sydney Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room founded.
  • Sydney Dispensary established to provide medicine and outpatient care for the poor.^[34]
  • Visiting painter Augustus Earle paints portraits of leading citizens.
• 1827 – Australian Museum established.^[35]
• 1828
  • Thieves steal some £14,000 in Bank of Australia robbery.
  • North Head begins use as quarantine station.
• 1831
  • Weekly Sydney Herald newspaper begins publication.^[36][37]
  • The King's School, Parramatta founded.
  • Land granted to indigenous woman Maria Lock and her white husband.
• 1833
  • Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts founded.^[38]
  • Randwick Racecourse opened.
  • Theatre Royal opened.
  • Eight killed in explosion of brig Ann Jameson at King's Wharf.^[39]
• 1834
  • John Bede Polding appointed first Catholic bishop.
  • Markets consolidated at Paddy's Markets site at Haymarket.
  • Australian Union Benefit Society formed to support workers in distress.^[40]
  • Commercial Banking Company of Sydney founded.
• 1835 – Tooth & Co build Kent Brewery at Blackwattle Creek.
• 1836
  • Visit of Charles Darwin on voyage of the Beagle.
  • First Anglican bishop installed.
  • Great North Road completed connecting Sydney to Hunter Valley.
• 1837
  • Government House^[41] and Botany-Sydney aqueduct^[38] built.
  • James Mudie's The Felonry of New South Wales defames many leading citizens.
• 1838
  • Seven perpetrators of Myall Creek Massacre hanged.
  • David Jones (shop) in business.^[42]
  • Australian Club founded.
• 1839
  • Penal establishment for secondary punishment opened on Cockatoo Island.
  • First ice imported to Sydney from Boston.^[43]
• 1840
  • Farmers & Co. in business.^[44]
  • Visiting Maori chiefs' attempted sale of South Island to W.C. Wentworth and associates prevented by Governor Gipps.^[45]
• 1841
  • Caroline Chisholm establishes Female Immigrants Home
  • Darlinghurst Gaol in operation.
  • Scarlet fever epidemic.^[46]
  • First photograph in Australia.
  • Construction begun of Victoria Barracks in Paddington.
  • Street gas lights turned on, supplied by Australian Gas Light Company
• 1842
  • City incorporated; city council elected.^[47]
  • Area of city: 11.65 square kilometres (approximate).^[48]
  • Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney established.
• 1843
  • Depth of depression with failures of Bank of Australia and Sydney Banking Company.
  • Riot during campaign for first elected Legislative Council.
• 1844 – Hero of Waterloo Hotel built.
• 1846
  • Hero's welcome to Ludwig Leichhardt on his return from overland expedition to Port Essington.
  • First Australian meat canning plant opened.^[49]
  • Opening of Pitt Street Congregational Church.
• 1847
  • Isaac Nathan's opera Don John of Austria produced at Royal Victoria Theatre.
  • Herman Melville's Omoo describes a whaling voyage from Sydney.
• 1848
  • House of the Good Shepherd and Sydney Female Refuge founded as women's refuges.^[50]
  • First shipment of Irish Famine orphans arrives on the Earl Grey.^[51]
• 1849
  • Arrival of Hashemy, last convict transport.
  • Foundation of AMP Society to provide life insurance.

1850s–1890s

• 1850
  • University of Sydney established.
  • Freeman's Journal newspaper begins publication.
• 1851 – Parliamentarian Stuart Donaldson and explorer Thomas Mitchell fight last known duel in Australia.
• 1852 – University of Sydney appoints first professors, John Woolley, Morris Birkbeck Pell and John Smith.
• 1853 – Manly ferry services begin.
• 1854
  • Sydney Cricket Ground opens.
  • St Paul's College, University of Sydney founded.^[52]
• 1855
  • First New South Wales Government Railways train operates from Redfern to Parramatta.
  • Sydney Mint established in General Hospital and Dispensary building.
  • Stonemasons first workers to win Eight-hour day.
  • Lola Montez shocks theatregoers with her "libertinish and indelicate" Spider Dance.^[53]
• 1856
  • First Pyrmont Bridge built.^[54]
  • St Philip's Church rebuilt.
  • Anglican Moore Theological College opens.
  • First Australian medical school established at Sydney University.
• 1857
  • Wreck of Dunbar at The Gap kills 121.
  • Fitzroy Dock dry dock completed on Cockatoo Island Dockyard.
  • St Vincent's Hospital founded by Sisters of Charity.
  • St John's College, Sydney University founded.
  • Construction of Fort Denison completed.
  • Australian Museum opened to the public.
• 1858
  • Sydney Observatory built.
  • Royal Navy takes over Garden Island for use as naval base.

Sydney University, c. 1880s

• 1859
  • Parliamentary electoral districts of East Sydney and West Sydney created.
  • Great Hall of the University of Sydney completed.
• 1861
  • Thomas Sutcliffe Mort establishes freezing works at Darling Harbour.
  • First horse-drawn trams run from Circular Quay to Redfern station.
  • Population: 95,000 city and suburbs.^[41]
• 1863 – Imprisoned bushranger Captain Thunderbolt escapes from Cockatoo Island by swimming.
• 1865 – St Mary's Cathedral destroyed by fire.
• 1866 – Bridge St building demolished in nitroglycerine explosion.^[55]
• 1867
  • Measles epidemic kills some 750, mostly young children.^[56]
  • First burials at Rookwood Cemetery.
• 1868
  • Belmore Park opens.
  • St Andrew's Cathedral consecrated.^[41]
  • Prince Alfred survives shooting by Irishman Henry O'Farrell at Clontarf.
  • First mention of Granny Smith apple, discovered by Maria Smith at Ryde.^[57]
• 1869 – State Government purchases Subscription Library and opens Sydney Free Public Library.
• 1871
  • Trades & Labor Council formed as peak union body.
  • Sydney Exchange and Academy of Art founded.
• 1872
  • Sydney connected to Europe by telegraph.
  • Fish market opens in Woolloomooloo.^[58]
  • Tooheys opens Darling Brewery.^[59]
• 1874
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales opened.
  • Foundling Institution established.
• 1875 – Holtermann panorama of Sydney Harbour photographed.
• 1877 – Waverley Cemetery established near city.
• 1878
  • Great Synagogue completed.
  • Speakers' Corner established in The Domain.
  • Robinson-Finlay wedding takes place.
• 1879
  • St Aloysius College, Jesuit school established.
  • Sydney Riot of 1879 over unpopular umpiring decision.
  • Sydney International Exhibition held; Garden Palace built.
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales opens.
  • Opera House opens in King Street.
  • Dymocks bookseller in business.
  • New South Wales Zoological Society founded.^[60]
  • Royal National Park established south of the city.
  • Joseph Conrad's first visit to Sydney.^[61]
• 1880
  • Jesuit school Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview established on Lane Cove River.
  • Children's Hospital opened.
  • Wirth's Circus begun.
• 1881
  • Population: 237,300 city and suburbs.^[41]
  • First telephone exchange.^[62]
  • Coast Hospital (later Prince Henry) for infectious diseases opened at Little Bay.
• 1882
  • Sydney Showground opens.
  • St Mary's Cathedral consecrated.^[41]
  • Royal Prince Alfred Hospital opened.
  • Garden Palace destroyed by fire.
  • Construction of Eveleigh Railway Workshops begun.
  • Sydney Technical College formed, incorporating Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts.
  • Royal Easter Show moves to Moore Park site.
  • The Australian Golf Club established.
• 1883
  • Main Southern railway line completed to Albury.^[63]
  • Sydney High School and Sydney Wharf Labourers Union^[64] established.
  • Sydney University Medical School founded by Professor Anderson Stuart.
  • Sydney Cricket Ground hosts third and fourth tests in first test tour in Australia.
• 1885 – Doyles Restaurant at Watsons Bay founded.
• 1886 – Angus & Robertson bookselling partnership formed.
• 1887
  • Four hanged in Mount Rennie rape case.
  • Parramatta Girls Home opened.
• 1888
  • Arrival of Afghan from Hong Kong sparks anti-Chinese demonstrations.^[65]
  • Centennial Park established to mark centenary of Sydney.
  • Louisa Lawson founds The Dawn feminist magazine.
  • Charles Conder's paintings Coogee Bay and Departure of the Orient - Circular Quay.

    

    Conder, Coogee Bay, 1888

  • Intercolonial Rabbit Commission meets to consider schemes for eradication of rabbits.^[66]
• 1889
  • Sydney Town Hall built.^[41]
  • Women's College^[52] and Sydney Church of England Grammar School founded.
  • St Patrick's Seminary, Manly, founded.
• 1890
  • Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ installed.^[67]
  • Julian Ashton Art School established.
  • Hotel Metropole opens.
  • Charles Kerry photography studio in business.^[68]
• 1891
  • General Post Office built.
  • Population: 399,270 city and suburbs.^[41]
  • Australia Hotel opens with visit of Sarah Bernhardt.
  • Constitutional Convention meets to begin framing constitution for federated Australia.
  • Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales founded, with Mary Windeyer president.
• 1892
  • Strand Arcade opens.
  • GPS (Great Public Schools) Association founded.
  • Henry Lawson's short story The Drover's Wife published in The Bulletin.
  • The Women's College, University of Sydney opens.
  • Suspension Bridge connects Northbridge and Cammeray.
• 1893
  • Technological Museum opens.
  • Royal Sydney Golf Club founded.
  • Baby farmers John and Sarah Makin convicted of murder of infants.
  • Arthur Streeton's painting Railway Station, Redfern.
  • Socialists led by William Lane set out to found New Australia settlement in Paraguay.
  • Women's Hospital, later Crown Street Women's Hospital, opened.

Streeton, Railway Station, Redfern, 1893

• 1894 - Seven Little Australians published.
• 1895
  • City Tattersalls Club formed.
  • Mark Twain visits Sydney on lecture tour.^[69]
• 1896
  • Australis motor car manufactured in Leichhardt.
  • First Australian film shown at first cinema.
• 1897
  • Balmain Colliery dug.
  • Sacred Heart Monastery, Kensington, constructed.
  • Cardinal Moran stands unsuccessfully for election to the Australasian Federal Convention.
• 1898
  • Queen Victoria Building constructed.
  • Sze Yup Temple built in Glebe.
  • Clyde Engineering formed to manufacture railway rolling stock.
• 1899 – Ultimo Power Station commissioned.
• 1900
  • Sydney Harbour Trust active.
  • Bubonic plague outbreak.^[70]
  • NSW troops embark for Boer War.

20th century

1900s–1940s

King Street, circa 1900

• 1901
  • Inauguration of Commonwealth of Australia at Centennial Park, with Sydney lawyer Edmund Barton first prime minister.
  • Royal Australian Historical Society founded.
  • Population: 112,137 city; 369,693 suburbs.^[41]
  • Fire destroys Anthony Hordern & Sons' department store with five lives lost.
  • Haberfield subdivided to create garden suburb of Federation houses.
• 1902
  • Second Pyrmont Bridge built.
  • Fort Macquarie Tram Depot opened on Bennelong Point.
  • Sayers, Allport & Potter market successful phosphorus-based rabbit poison.
• 1903
  • Glebe Island Bridge and Her Majesty's Theatre^[71][72] rebuilt.
  • Bronte Surf Club became the first Surf Club as noted in Bronte by S. Vesper in his history of the Bronte Surf Club
  • Death of prominent Chinese businessman Quong Tart after bashing.
• 1904 – Electric street lighting installed.^[72]
• 1905
  • Anthony Hordern & Sons's Palace Emporium in business.
  • Dental Hospital founded.
• 1906
  • Central railway station opens.
  • Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club active.^[72]
• 1907
  • 20 October: Bathing costume protests.
  • Wylie's Baths built at Coogee.
  • Melbourne–Sydney telephone begins operating.^[72]
  • Bequest of David Scott Mitchell leaves major collection of Australiana to State Library of New South Wales.
• 1908
  • Camperdown becomes part of city.^[48]
  • New South Wales Rugby League Premiership formed
  • Burns-Johnson world heavyweight boxing title fight at Sydney Stadium.
  • Visit of American Great White Fleet.
• 1909
  • City of Sydney Library established.
  • Mark Foy's emporium opened on Liverpool Street.
  • First powered flight in Australia at Victoria Park Racecourse, Zetland.
  • Death of Saint Mary MacKillop at North Sydney.
  • First section of Long Bay Jail opened.
• 1910
  • The Sun newspaper begins publication.^[73]
  • Escapologist Harry Houdini demonstrates his skills.^[74]
• 1912
  • Natural living advocate William Chidley declared insane and confined in Callan Park Hospital.
  • Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie win 100m gold and silver in the first Olympics to have women's swimming.
  • Construction begins of garden suburb of public housing at Daceyville.
  • Culwulla Chambers built.^[72]
• 1913
  • Eileen O'Connor founds Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor to assist the sick poor at home.
  • Arrival of first Royal Australian Navy fleet.^[75]
  • Sydney quarantined in smallpox epidemic.^[76]
  • Eryldene, Gordon house and garden designed for E.G. Waterhouse by William Hardy Wilson.
• 1914
  • Anzacs train at Kensington Racecourse before being sent to Gallipoli.
  • Maurice Guillaux makes first airmail flight from Melbourne to Sydney.
• 1915
  • Sydney Conservatorium of Music established.^[52]
  • Crowds welcome Cooee March from Gilgandra with 263 recruits.
• 1916
  • First Anzac Day commemoration in Sydney.^[77]
  • 14 February: Liverpool riot of 1916.
  • Trial and conviction of the Sydney Twelve radicals.
  • Taronga Zoo opens.
  • Art in Australia magazine begins publication.
  • Middleweight boxer Les Darcy wins Australian heavyweight championship at Sydney Stadium.
  • James Hardie begins asbestos manufacture at Camellia.
  • Sydney Camera Circle formed to promote a Pictorialist style of photography.
  • First issue of School Magazine.
• 1917
  • General strike begins with walkouts of Sydney railway workers.
  • J.G. Park photography studio in business (approximate date).^[68]
  • White Bay Power Station operational.
• 1918
  • Crowds celebrate Armistice Day.^[78]
  • Publication of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie introduces May Gibbs' cartoon gumnut babies.
  • Norman Lindsay's children's book The Magic Pudding published.
• 1919
  • Some 3,500 die in Spanish Flu epidemic.^[79]
  • Elioth Gruner's Spring Frost painted at Emu Plains.
• 1920
  • Communist Party of Australia formed.
  • 18 February: World's "first" swimsuit competition (beauty contest) held in Sydney.^[37]
  • Hurlstone Park Choral Society formed.
  • The Home luxury magazine first published.
  • Transgender Eugene Falleni convicted of murder of wife.
  • Enthusiastic welcome for visit of Prince of Wales.^[80]
• 1921
  • First award of Archibald Prize for portraiture.
  • Bronte Splashers Winter Swimming Club was formed becoming the first Winter Swimming Club in Australia.
  • First appearance of cartoonist Jimmy Bancks' character Ginger Meggs.
  • Supreme Court case Partridge v. Dwyer ignites sectarian conflict over escaped nun Sister Liguori.
• 1922
  • State funeral for Henry Lawson.
  • D.H. Lawrence's brief visit results in novel Kangaroo set in extreme Right and Left politics in Sydney.
  • HMAS Adelaide completed at Cockatoo Island Dockyard after seven years building.
• 1923 – ABC radio station 2BL begins broadcasting.
• 1924
  • Sydney Airport begins operating.
  • Hordern Pavilion built.
  • Architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin move to Castlecrag and begin designing the suburb.
  • Star Amphitheatre completed at Balmoral Beach.
  • HMAS Australia scuttled off Sydney Heads under terms of disarmament treaty.
  • First Spit Bridge opened.
  • Knox Grammar School established.
  • Woolworths opens first variety store.
• 1925
  • Poet Christopher Brennan dismissed by Sydney University for divorce and drunkenness.
  • First commercial radio station, 2UE, begins broadcasting.
• 1926
  • Electric train services begin
  • Radio station 2GB begins broadcasting.
  • Anna Pavlova dances at Her Majesty's Theatre.^[81]
  • Patent for Weet-Bix cereal registered.
• 1927
  • Sydney Cenotaph erected.
  • Hyde Park completed.
  • Greycliffe ferry disaster on Sydney Harbour kills 40.
  • Darrell Lea chocolate shop established in Haymarket.
  • David Jones' Elizabeth Street department store opens.
  • Aeroplane Jelly launched.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

• 1928
  • Capitol Theatre opens.
  • Coogee Pleasure Pier opens.^[82]
  • Bondi Surf Pavilion and Balmoral Bathers Pavilion built.
  • Government Savings Bank Building constructed.^[83]
  • Catholic Eucharistic Congress witnessed by 500,000.^[84]
  • Charles Kingsford Smith leaves for first Trans-Tasman flight.
  • Alexander MacRae's line of swimwear renamed Speedos.
  • Sydney University Quad jacaranda planted.

The Grace Building, 1930, by Max Dupain

• 1929
  • State Theatre opens.^[83]
  • Sun Building constructed.^[83]
  • Bunnerong Power Station begins operation.
  • Bondi Icebergs winter swimming club founded.
• 1930
  • Modern Art Centre opens.^[85]
  • Grace Building constructed in Art Deco style.
  • Doris Fitton founds Independent Theatre.
  • Grace Cossington Smith's painting The Bridge in Curve shows the Harbour Bridge under construction.
• 1931 – Collapse of Government Savings Bank and amalgamation with Commonwealth Bank.^[86]

Aerial view of Sydney, 1932

• 1932
  • Sydney Harbour Bridge opened, with horseman de Groot cutting ribbon ahead of the premier.
  • Town Hall railway station, and Wynyard railway station opened.
  • Governor Sir Philip Game dismisses Premier Jack Lang in constitutional crisis.
  • Bodyline bowling of Harold Larwood secures England victory in first test match.
  • Dymocks building constructed.^[83]
  • Archibald Fountain unveiled.
  • Arthur Stace begins decades of chalking "Eternity" on Sydney pavements.
  • Edward Hallstrom's refrigerator factory opens in Willoughby.
  • Newly-formed Australian Broadcasting Commission establishes National Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra (later Sydney Symphony Orchestra).
• 1933
  • Australian Women's Weekly begins publication.
  • Population: city and suburbs; 1,235,267^[87]
  • Australia's first traffic lights installed at corner of Market and Kent streets.^[88]
• 1934
  • Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park opened.
  • Communist Egon Kisch given test in Scottish Gaelic in attempt to exclude him from Australia.
  • Christina Stead's novel Seven Poor Men of Sydney portrays struggles of poor intellectuals.
  • Comedian Roy Rene's only film, Strike Me Lucky made by Ken G. Hall.
• 1935
  • Luna Park and Astoria Theatre^[89] open.
  • Shark Arm case when human arm found in captured shark.
  • Shark Menace Advisory Committee recommends meshing.^[90]
  • Olive Cotton's photograph Tea cup ballet.
• 1936
  • First Black and White charity ball.^[91]
  • Ford car factory opened at Homebush West.
  • Harry's Cafe de Wheels pie cart opens in Woolloomooloo.
  • Arrival of new HMAS Sydney.

Martin Place in 1939, prior to pedestrianisation

• 1937 – Enoch Powell appointed Professor of Greek at Sydney University.
• 1938
  • City hosts 1938 British Empire Games.
  • Five dead when large waves wash away sandbar at Bondi Beach.^[92]
  • Aboriginal Day of Mourning protests sesquicentennial celebrations of settlement.
  • 19 die in capsize of ferry Rodney.
  • Rose Bay Flying Boat Base opened with flights to London.
  • Ken G. Hall's comedy Dad and Dave Come to Town includes feature film debut of Peter Finch.
• 1939
  • AWA Tower built.^[83]
  • Last execution in NSW.
  • Prime Minister Joseph Lyons dies at St Vincent's Hospital.
• 1940
  • St James Theatre opens.^[89]
  • Charles Chauvel movie Forty Thousand Horsemen filmed at Bondi and Cronulla.
  • Dunera arrives after horror voyage with "enemy aliens".
  • Christina Stead's novel The Man Who Loved Children describes growing up with a controlling paterfamilias.
• 1941
  • Daily Mirror newspaper begins publication.^[36]
  • Queen Mary departs Sydney with troops for Middle East.^[93]
  • Eleanor Dark's novel The Timeless Land set in the first years of Sydney.

HMAS Kuttabul after sinking by Japanese midget submarine, Garden Island, 1942

• 1942
  • Anti-submarine defences built.
  • May–June: Attack on Sydney Harbour by Japanese midget submarines.
  • Bankstown Bunker constructed as Air Defence HQ.
  • Yaralla Military Hospital (later Concord Repatriation General Hospital) opened.
• 1943
  • Sydney University philosopher John Anderson censured by State Parliament for anti-religious views.
  • William Dobell's Archibald Prize-winning portrait Mr Joshua Smith subject of legal case as to whether it was a caricature.
  • Kylie Tennant's novel Ride on Stranger describes a country girl making her way in the city.
• 1944 – Sali Herman's painting McElhone Stairs wins Wynne Prize.
• 1945
  • Celebration of VJ Day.^[94]
  • First Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
• 1946
  • Sydney Symphony Orchestra active.
  • Norman Gilroy named first Australian-born cardinal.
  • Criminal Darcy Dugan makes first of several escapes from custody.
• 1947
  • Population: 95,852 city; 1,484,434 metro.^[52]
  • Qantas operates Sydney-London Kangaroo Route.
  • New Year's Day hailstorm causes massive damage.
  • Don Bradman scores 100th first-class century.
  • Australian School of Pacific Administration moved to Middle Head.
  • Russell Drysdale's painting Sofala wins Wynne Prize.
• 1948
  • Visit of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.^[95]
  • Communist-Catholic debate attracts 30,000 to Sydney Stadium.^[96]
  • Ruth Park's novel The Harp in the South describes an inner-Sydney poor Irish community.
  • Qantas connects Australia to Africa via air for first time via Sydney-Johannesburg Wallaby Route.^[97][98]
• 1949
  • Alexandria, Darlington, Erskineville, Glebe, Newtown, Paddington, Redfern, and Waterloo become part of the city.^[48]
  • University of Technology (later University of New South Wales) established.
  • Australia's first computer, CSIRAC, constructed at CSIRO Radiophysics Lab.
  • Security forces seize documents in raid on Communist headquarters Marx House.^[99]
  • Broadcast of first of 5795 episodes of radio serial Blue Hills.
  • Villawood Migrant Hostel built.
  • Ingrid Bergman stars in Alfred Hitchcock's film Under Capricorn, set in 1830s Sydney.

1950s–1990s

• 1950
  • Nuffield Australia opens car assembly plant at Zetland.
  • June Dally-Watkins opens school of deportment and etiquette.
• 1951 - Cumberland Plan adopted for green belt around city.
• 1952
  • Berala train crash kills 10.
  • Camellia expert Professor E.G. Waterhouse founds Camellia Research Society.
• 1953
  • Sydney Sun-Herald newspaper in publication.^[73]
  • Racehorse trainer Tommy J. Smith wins the first of 33 consecutive Sydney Trainers' Premierships.

Queen Elizabeth II alighting at Farm Cove, 1954

• • Rugby league commentator Frank Hyde broadcasts the first of 33 consecutive grand finals on 2SM.
  • Fictionalised autobiography Caddie, A Sydney Barmaid published.
  • Caroline Grills convicted of murdering relatives with thallium rat poison.
  • 100,000 attend Fr Peyton's rosary crusade at Sydney Cricket Ground.^[100]

Mrs Petrov at Sydney Airport, 1954

• 1954
  • Queen Elizabeth II makes first royal visit.^[101]
  • Dramatic photo of Mrs Petrov being dragged across tarmac of Sydney Airport sparks Petrov Affair.
  • Model Shirley Beiger acquitted of murder after shooting her lover dead outside Chequers nightclub.^[102]
  • Sydney Film Festival begins.
• 1955 – Public outcry against Rosaleen Norton, the "Witch of Kings Cross", for alleged Satanism.
• 1956
  • ATN Channel 7 television begins broadcasting.^[73]
  • Circular Quay railway station opened marking the completion of the City Circle.
  • St George rugby league club wins the first of 11 consecutive premierships.
  • Kurnell Refinery built.
  • Kirribilli House begins use as Prime Ministerial residence.
  • Anti-communist cultural magazine Quadrant founded.
  • James Dibble begins 27 years as ABC TV newsreader.
  • Conservatorium director Eugene Goossens resigns after pornography found at Airport.
  • First drive-in theatres opened.
• 1957
  • Jørn Utzon wins competition to design Sydney Opera House.
  • John Laws joins 2UE, beginning 60-year Sydney radio career.
• 1958
  • Cahill Expressway completed.
  • National Institute of Dramatic Art founded.
  • First Australian nuclear reactor opened at Lucas Heights.
  • Cyril Pearl's Wild Men of Sydney describes corruption in colonial times.
  • Betty Archdale becomes headmistress of Abbotsleigh girls' school, known for progressive reforms.
  • Professor Harry Messel founds International Science School.
• 1959
  • Joe Cahill dies in office after seven years as premier.
  • 150,000 attend evangelist Billy Graham's last appearance at Sydney Showground.^[103]
  • D'Arcy Niland's novel The Big Smoke tells stories of early twentieth-century Sydney.
  • Ice skating rink built at Prince Alfred Park.^[104]
  • Broughton Knox becomes principal of Moore Theological College.
• 1960
  • Murder of Graeme Thorne solved with scientific methods.
  • Overseas Passenger Terminal opens at Circular Quay.
  • Completion of Warragamba Dam ensures reliable water supply to Sydney.
  • Paul Robeson sings Ol' Man River to construction workers on Opera House site.^[105]
  • Clontarf beach washed away by Chilean tsunami.^[106]
• 1961
  • Last Trams in Sydney operate.
  • Dr William McBride reveals thalidomide is causing birth defects.
  • Demolition of Subiaco colonial home, Rydalmere, prompts moves to preserve architectural heritage.^[107]
  • Tania Verstak first immigrant Miss Australia.
  • Dedication of Baha'i Temple.
  • El Alamein Fountain opened at Kings Cross.
• 1962
  • First performance by Australian Ballet at Her Majesty's Theatre.
  • Shows by visiting comedian Lenny Bruce cancelled for obscenity.^[108]
  • AMP Building opens, then the tallest building in Australia.
  • Blues Point Tower completed.
• 1963
  • Mysterious deaths of Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler.
  • Lifeline telephone counselling service launched by Rev Alan Walker.
  • Harry Triguboff founds Meriton property development company.
  • Last fatal shark attack in Sydney Harbour.
• 1964
  • Gladesville Bridge opened.
  • Macquarie University established.
  • Dawn Fraser returns from Tokyo Olympics with third consecutive women's 100m freestyle gold medal.
  • Rev Ted Noffs establishes Wayside Chapel near Kings Cross.
  • The Beatles perform at Sydney Stadium.^[109]
  • The Mavis Bramston Show brings satirical sketch comedy to Australian TV.
  • First of Charmian Clift's five years of essays in Sydney Morning Herald.
  • James Hardie Industries ignores warning on the extreme health risks of asbestos manufacture.^[110]
  • Paddington Society founded.^[111]
  • Colourful academic Fred May appointed foundation professor of Italian at Sydney University.
• 1965
  • Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti in J.C. Williamson's opera tour.^[112]
  • Controversy over failure of Sydney University to appoint Dr Knopfelmacher to post in political philosophy.
  • Roselands Shopping Centre opens.
  • Wanda Beach Murders.
  • Sydney Maritime Museum founded.
  • Hydrofoil ferry service to Manly begins.
• 1966
  • Attempted assassination of Arthur Calwell, Federal opposition leader, in Mosman.
  • Protestors disrupt motorcade of President Lyndon Johnson in Oxford Street.^[113]
  • Significant changes to Opera House design after Jørn Utzon's resignation.
  • Movie comedy They're a Weird Mob portrays tensions between Italian immigrants and Irish-Australians.
  • Children's TV series Play School begins broadcasting.
  • Wentworth Hotel opens.
  • Bee Gees achieve first major hit

Sydney Opera House under construction, 1968

• 1967
  • Australia Square hi-rise built.
  • Thomas Keneally wins Miles Franklin Award for novel Bring Larks and Heroes set in early Sydney.
  • Bourbon & Beefsteak pub opens in Kings Cross, catering to American servicemen on leave from Vietnam.
  • HMAS Platypus, Neutral Bay commissioned as base for Oberon-class submarines.
• 1968
  • South Sydney Municipal Council created.^[48]
  • Sydney Region Outline Plan envisages dispersed city centres.
  • Sister city relationship established with San Francisco, USA.^[114]
  • Skippy the Bush Kangaroo TV series begins broadcast.
  • Glenfield siege ends with wedding of gunman and hostage.
  • D.M. Armstrong's A Materialist Theory of the Mind defends philosophical theory that the mind is identical with the brain.
  • Entrepreneur Dick Smith founds Dick Smith Car Radios, later Dick Smith Electronics.
  • Leonie Kramer appointed Professor of Australian Literature at Sydney University.
• 1969
  • Large-scale artist Christo creates Wrapped Coast by wrapping part of Little Bay in plastic.
  • Crash landing of Boeing 707 after bird strike on takeoff, no injuries.^[115]
• 1970
  • Pope Paul VI makes first papal visit.
  • Nimrod Theatre founded.
  • Aboriginal Legal Service founded in Redfern.
  • Many arrests in Vietnam Moratorium demonstrations.
• 1971
  • City of Sydney Strategic Plan created.^[116]
  • Green Bans led by Jack Mundey begin with campaign to save Kellys Bush in Hunters Hill.
  • Protests against Springbok rugby union tour.
  • First City2Surf fun run and race.
  • First McDonald's in Australia opens at Yagoona.^[117]
  • Qantas pays $500,000 ransom in bomb hoax.
  • Ken Rosewall and Margaret Court champions in the last Australia Open tennis tournament held at White City.
• 1972
  • Construction workers take over the Sydney Opera House.
  • Aboriginal Medical Service established in Redfern.^[72]
  • Gough Whitlam's Blacktown speech launches successful Labor It's Time federal election campaign.
  • Soap opera Number 96 stretches boundaries of what can be shown on TV.
  • Cleo magazine for young women founded with Ita Buttrose as editor.
  • Fashion designer Carla Zampatti opens first boutique in Surry Hills.
  • Rabbi Apple begins 33-year term as Senior Rabbi of Great Synagogue.

Patrick White, 1973

• 1973
  • Sydney Opera House opens.
  • Patrick White awarded Nobel Prize for Literature.
  • Political disturbances in University of Sydney Philosophy Department lead to strike and split in department.^[118]
  • Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady completed in Redfern.
• 1974
  • Elsie Women's Refuge established in Glebe.
  • Federal government buys Glebe Estate to begin urban renewal.
  • Bob Hawke and Frank Sinatra negotiate deal for Sinatra to continue controversial tour.^[119]
• 1975
  • Disappearance of activist Juanita Nielsen.
  • Savoy Hotel fire kills 15.
  • Preterm abortion clinic burns down in suspicious circumstances.
  • Development begins of Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System.
  • Triple J radio begins broadcasting.
  • Radio Station 2EA (later SBS Radio) begins broadcasts in multiple languages.
  • Premiere of TV comedy The Norman Gunston show with Garry McDonald.
  • Gough Whitlam meets Iraqi agents at Blues Point Tower seeking money for electioneering.^[120]
  • Old Sydney Town theme park opened at Somersby.
• 1976
  • Sydney New Year's Eve firework display launched.
  • Graeme Murphy appointed artistic director of Dance Company of NSW, later Sydney Dance Company.
  • Gas supply converted to natural gas with opening of Moomba to Sydney Pipeline.

Aftermath of Granville train disaster, 1977

• 1977
  • Granville train disaster kills 84.
  • Sydney Festival begins.
  • Harry Seidler-designed MLC Centre opens.
  • First Sydney International Piano Competition.
  • Lakemba Mosque completed.
• 1978
  • First Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
  • Painter Brett Whiteley wins Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes in same year.
  • Hilton bombing kills three.
  • Marriage of former Sydney schoolgirl Marie-Christine von Reibnitz to Prince Michael of Kent.
  • Westmead Hospital opens.
  • TV miniseries Against the Wind depicts life in early Sydney.
• 1979
  • 9 June: 1979 Sydney Ghost Train fire.
  • Martin Place pedestrianised.
  • Eastern Suburbs railway line opens.
  • Sydney Theatre Company founded.
  • Teen novel Puberty Blues describes surfing culture in Sutherland Shire.
  • Racing identity and crime figure George Freeman survives being shot in the neck.
  • Racehorse Kingston Town wins first of 21 Sydney races from 21 starts.
  • Liliana Gasinskaya defects from Russian cruise ship in red bikini.
• 1980
  • Collapse of Nugan Hand Bank.
  • Publication of the first of Peter Corris's Cliff Hardy detective novels.
  • Clive James's memoir Unreliable Memoirs describes his Sydney childhood and youth.
  • CPAP machine for sleep apnea developed by Colin Sullivan.
  • SBS Television begins broadcasts in multiple languages from studios in Milsons Point.
  • Crash at Sydney Airport kills 13.
  • Family Court judge David Opas shot dead outside his Woollahra home.
  • Bill Collins' Golden Years of Hollywood begins national broadcast on Network 10.
• 1981
  • Sydney Tower opened.
  • Drug dealer Warren Lanfranchi shot dead by policeman Roger Rogerson in Chippendale.
  • Croatian Six convicted of conspiracy to bomb several targets.
  • Judy Davis/Bryan Brown movie Winter of Our Dreams portrays inner-Sydney life.
  • First of 1088 episodes of TV series A Country Practice.
  • Reverend Fred Nile begins 42 years in Legislative Council defending conservative Christian values.
• 1982
  • Bombings of Israeli Consulate and Hakoah Club.
  • First Harvey Norman retail store opened at Auburn.
• 1983
  • Hillsong Church established in Baulkham Hills.
  • Glenn Murcutt-designed Berowra Waters Inn restaurant opened by Gay and Tony Bilson.
  • Golfer Jack Newton loses right arm after walking into propeller at Sydney Airport.
  • Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti perform at Opera House benefit concert.
  • Movie Careful, He Might Hear You adapts Sumner Locke Elliott's novel of Sydney childhood.
  • Nicole Kidman begins film career in Bush Christmas and BMX Bandits.
  • Carols in the Domain Christmas concert begun.
  • Sydney Entertainment Centre opened in Haymarket.
• 1984
  • Victor Chang performs Australia's first successful heart transplant at St Vincent's Hospital.
  • Judge's wife killed in Family Court of Australia attacks.
  • Seven killed in Milperra massacre bikie shootout.
  • Bank robbery and hostage crisis in George Street.
  • Elton John married.^[121]
• 1985
  • Parliament House rebuilt.
  • Granny Smith Festival begins in Eastwood.
  • Financial services firm Hill Samuel becomes Macquarie Bank.
  • Chief Stipendiary Magistrate Murray Farquhar jailed for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
  • Suicide of Dr Harry Bailey while under investigation for deep sleep therapy at Chelmsford Hospital.
  • Wonderland theme park opened at Eastern Creek.
• 1986
  • Body of Sallie-Anne Huckstepp found in Centennial Park.
  • Anita Cobby murder.
  • Disappearance and killing of nine-year-old Samantha Knight.
  • Playing Beatie Bow movie dramatises Ruth Park's young adult novel of time travel in inner Sydney.
• 1987
  • University of Sydney's Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific established.^[122]
  • Sydney Kings men's basketball team formed.
• 1988
  • Australian Bicentenary events staged including First Fleet Re-enactment on Sydney Harbour.
  • Sydney Monorail opens
  • University of Technology, Sydney and University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies^[122] established.
  • Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre and Powerhouse Museum open.
  • Kay Cottee completes first women's solo non-stop unassisted circumnavigation of world.
  • Peter Sculthorpe's composition Kakadu completed.
  • Bicentennial Park, Homebush Bay and Mount Annan Botanic Garden open near city.
  • New South Wales Institute of Technology becomes University of Technology Sydney.
  • Murder of Scott Johnson, most prominent of gay gang murders.
  • Murder of Janine Balding.
• 1989
  • South Sydney City Council established.^[48]
  • Area of city: 6.19 square kilometres.^[48]
  • Neil Perry opens Rockpool restaurant.
  • Clean Up Sydney Harbour event initiates Ian Kiernan's Clean Up Australia campaign.
  • St James Ethics Centre (later The Ethics Centre) founded.
  • Three colleges federate to form University of Western Sydney (later Western Sydney University).
  • Bangarra Dance Theatre formed.

Sydney hosts the 2000 Summer Olympics.

• 1990
  • Sydney Children's Choir founded.
  • Bell Shakespeare company founded by actor John Bell.
  • Arrest of "Granny Killer" John Wayne Glover.
  • Media tycoon Kerry Packer revived after severe heart attack while playing polo at Warwick Farm.
  • Eureka Prizes for science inaugurated.
• 1991
  • Sydney Park established.
  • Heart surgeon Victor Chang shot dead in Mosman.
  • Eight dead in Strathfield massacre.
  • Arson attacks on five synagogues.
  • Museum of Contemporary Art opens in former Maritime Services Board building.
  • Fr Chris Riley founds Youth Off The Streets charity.
  • James Ruse Agricultural High School begins run of 32 consecutive years as top-ranked school in Higher School Certificate.
  • Colleges at Strathfield and North Sydney amalgamate with interstate colleges to form Australian Catholic University.
• 1992
  • Sydney Harbour Tunnel opened.
  • Sydney Jewish Museum opened.
  • Melina Marchetta's novel Looking for Alibrandi explores growing up in multicultural inner Sydney.
  • Paul Keating's Redfern Park Speech calls for new approaches to indigenous policy.
  • Fred Hollows Foundation set up to continue Fred Hollows' work on eye care in third world countries and remote Australia.
  • Legal action by some Sydney Anglicans fails to prevent ordination of women elsewhere.
  • First Big Day Out music festival.
• 1993
  • Sydney makes successful bid for 2000 Olympics.
  • South Sydney Heritage Society founded.^[123]
  • Offset Alpine fire raises suspicions of arson.
  • Liberal Presbyterian minister Peter Cameron convicted of heresy by church court.
• 1994
  • Sydney International Aquatic Centre opens.
  • Politician John Newman assassinated in Cabramatta.
  • January bushfires penetrate several suburbs.
  • Two blank shots fired at Prince Charles by David Kang at Darling Harbour.
  • Peter Coleman's Memoirs of a Slow Learner describes literary life of the 1950s.
  • Wedding scene of movie Muriel's Wedding filmed at St Mark's Church, Darling Point.
• 1995
  • Anzac Bridge opens.
  • Pope John Paul II beatifies Mary MacKillop at Randwick Racecourse.
  • Museum of Sydney opens.
  • Sydney's first legal casino opens.
  • 5T gang's domination of Cabramatta murders and drug trade declines with assassination of its leaders.
  • Death of Anna Wood from ecstasy tablet.
• 1996
  • Princess Diana attends Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute Royal Ball.^[124]
  • CSIRO patents successful fast wifi technology developed by John O'Sullivan and other scientists.
  • New Prime Minister John Howard makes Kirribilli House rather than The Lodge in Canberra his principal residence.^[125]
  • Rats in the Ranks documentary portrays machinations in Leichhardt Council.
• 1997
  • Wood Royal Commission finds widespread corruption in NSW Police Force.
  • The Star, Sydney casino opens.
  • First Sydney Writers' Festival.
  • First Sculpture by the Sea outdoor sculpture exhibition at Bondi Beach.
  • Inner West Light Rail opens between Central and Wentworth Park, signalling the return of trams to Sydney after 36 years.
  • Suicide of singer Michael Hutchence at Double Bay.
• 1998
  • Sydney to Hobart Yacht race leaves Harbour despite storm warning, six yachtsmen killed.
  • Filming of The Matrix at Fox Studios and city locations.
  • March: State Hockey Centre opens.
  • BridgeClimb Sydney commences.
  • Water crisis over fears of contamination with pathogens.
  • Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority formed to coordinate state-owned Harbour properties.

Cathy Freeman prepares for the 400m final at the Sydney Olympics

• 1999
  • 6 March: Stadium Australia opens.
  • 4 October: Sydney Super Dome opens.
  • 8 December: Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre opens.
  • City Recital Hall opens.
  • Lucy Dudko enables escape of prisoner from Silverwater Gaol in hijacked helicopter.
  • Hailstorm causes damage of around A$2.3bn.
  • John Birmingham's Leviathan explores the dark side of Sydney history.
• 2000
  • September: City hosts 2000 Summer Olympics and 2000 Summer Paralympics.
  • City of Sydney Historical Association founded.^[126]
  • Spires of St Mary's Cathedral completed.
  • Mary Donaldson meets her future husband, Prince Frederik of Denmark, at the Slip Inn.
  • Moulin Rouge! filmed at Fox Studios.
  • Wave of ethnically-motivated gang rapes in Western Sydney.

St Mary's Cathedral with completed spires

21st century

2000s

• 2001
  • Sydney Harbour Federation Trust established.
  • Population: 4,128,272.
  • Drama film Lantana portrays complex relationships in Sydney suburbia.
  • Escape of 40 detainees from Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.
• 2002
  • Glenn Murcutt awarded Pritzker Architecture Prize.
  • Short+Sweet 10-minute play festival founded.
• 2003
  • Lowy Institute for International Policy headquartered in city.^[122]
  • Archbishop Pell appointed cardinal.
  • Prominent stockbroker Rene Rivkin found guilty of insider trading.
  • Animated movie Finding Nemo features fish escaping Sydney dentist.
  • First season of home renovation reality TV series The Block filmed at Bondi.
  • Inga Clendinnen's Dancing with Strangers examines the indigenous-colonist encounter in the first years of Sydney.
  • ICAC investigation reveals large-scale theft of Australian Museum specimens.
• 2004
  • 14 February: 2004 Redfern riots.
  • City of South Sydney becomes part of City of Sydney.
  • Clover Moore begins record-length term as Lord Mayor of Sydney.
  • Judicial inquiry criticises James Hardie for evading compensation to victims of asbestos.
• 2005
  • December: 2005 Cronulla riots occur near city.
  • Macquarie Fields riots.
  • Cross City Tunnel opens.
  • Businessman Rodney Adler jailed for misconduct related to the collapse of HIH Insurance.
  • Sydney Swans Australian Rules football team win AFL Grand Final.
  • Bankstown Bites Food Festival and Sydney Comedy Festival begin.
  • Nuix data searching software company incorporated.
• 2006
  • Liberal arts college Campion College opens at Toongabbie.
  • University of Notre Dame Australia opens Sydney campus.
  • Bondi Rescue TV series first broadcast.
  • Ursula Dubosarsky's children's book The Red Shoe portrays growing up in 1950s Sydney.
  • Don Ritchie awarded OAM for dissuading many from committing suicide at The Gap.
  • Controversy over Sheikh Hilaly comparing women to uncovered meat.
• 2007
  • Tight security for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum breached by The Chaser's fake Canadian motorcade.
  • Carriageworks arts precinct opened at former Eveleigh Carriage Workshops site.
  • Sydney Underground Film Festival begins.
• 2008
  • Pope Benedict XVI visits for World Youth Day 2008.
  • Exhibition of Bill Henson photographs at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery cancelled after police raid.
• 2009
  • Dictionary of Sydney launched online.
  • Institute for Economics and Peace headquartered in city.
  • Festival of Dangerous Ideas begins.
  • First Vivid Sydney light festival
  • Holsworthy Barracks terror plot uncovered.
  • Contract killing of Michael McGurk in Cremorne.
  • Lin family murders in Epping.

2010s

A Sydney Metro train

• 2010
  • Sydney Desalination Plant at Kurnell begins operation.
  • Jessica Watson returns to Sydney after solo round the world voyage.
• 2011
  • 11 killed in deliberately-lit Quakers Hill Nursing Home fire.
  • Population: 4,028,524.^[127]
• 2012 - Redevelopment of Barangaroo commences.
• 2013
  • Southern Sydney Freight Line opened.
  • White Bay Cruise Terminal opened.
• 2014
  • 2014 Sydney hostage crisis
  • Second Sydney Airport location announced as Badgerys Creek.
  • Festival of Dangerous Ideas cancels speech by Hizb ut-Tahrir.^[128]
  • Afterpay buy now pay later service launched.
• 2015 - Police worker killed by Islamic terrorist in Parramatta.
• 2016
  • International Convention Centre opened.
  • Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid found guilty of corruption over Circular Quay retail leases.
• 2017
  • Population reaches 5 million, according to the 2016 Australian census.^[129]
  • Lucrative The Everest horse race first run.
• 2018 - Bruce Beresford's movie Ladies in Black portrays 1959 department store employees, adapting Madeleine St John's novel The Women in Black.
• 2019
  • Completion of the Sydney Metro Northwest, the first line of the upcoming Sydney Metro, Australia's first rapid transit system.
  • Light Rail opens from Circular Quay to Randwick.

2020s

• 2020
  • 4 Jan Record high temperature of 48.9 °C (120 °F) recorded at Penrith.^[130]
  • Disembarkation of Ruby Princess cruise ship leads to cluster of COVID-19 cases.
  • Opening of the remaining leg of the Light Rail to Kingsford.
  • 75-storey Crown Sydney tower completed at Barangaroo.
• 2021
  • Severe lockdowns for Greater Sydney in COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Martin Green awarded Japan Prize for research on solar cells.
• 2022
  • Anthony Albanese becomes fourth consecutive Prime Minister from Sydney.
  • Simone Young takes up position as Chief Conductor of Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
  • Fatal shark attack at Little Bay.
• 2023 - Rozelle Interchange opens.
• 2024
  • Six killed in Bondi Junction stabbings.
  • Stabbing of Assyrian bishop Mari Emmanuel during church service.
  • Opening of Chatswood-City-Sydenham Metro line.

See also

• History of Sydney
• List of mayors, lord mayors and administrators of Sydney
• List of governors of New South Wales, headquartered in Sydney
• List of premiers of New South Wales, headquartered in Sydney.