Sydney
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The capital of the state of New South Wales and Australia’s largest city. It is no doubt one of the greatest metropolises on Earth, with world-famous sights like the Harbour Bridge and the fabled Opera House, which form a duo of iconic landmarks of the highest order. And on top of all that Sydney is also home to a number of more or less remarkable dark-tourism attractions.
More background info: Like elsewhere in Australia, the land on which modern-day Sydney is located had been inhabited by Aboriginals for at least 30,000 years when in 1770 the first British explorer, James Cook, arrived at Botany Bay (now in the south of Sydney). The natives were not happy with this and immediately clashed with the British.
Nevertheless, the British decided to establish a convict colony here (partly because a good chunk of those in the Americas had been lost due to the USA’s declaration of independence). And in 1788 the so-called “First Fleet” arrived in Australia, with hundreds of convicts and soldiers, over a thousand people in total.
Being disappointed with Botany Bay they quickly moved up to what is today Sydney Harbour, regarded as possibly the world’s best natural harbour. A Second and Third Fleet followed in 1790-91, and after that more and more convicts and immigrants kept arriving.
At Sydney, the first colonial settlement was founded, intended to be based on agriculture. But it took until the early 19th century for the settlement to become self-sufficient. Soon after, under Governor Macquarie, development of the settlement gathered pace and the colony extended beyond the limits of Sydney and into today’s New South Wales. Free settlers had joined the convicts and ex-convicts and in the 1840s convict transportations ended for good. Two years later Sydney was declared a city.
The gold rush in Victoria in the 1850s led to Melbourne temporarily overtaking Sydney as the largest city in Australia, but increasing immigration compensated for this subsequently. The rivalry between the two cities, however, persists to this day.
With federation of the colonies of Australia in 1901, Sydney became the capital of New South Wales. This was within a period of much investment and modernization, which was however severely dampened by the Great Depression of the 1930s. Nevertheless, one of the city’s premier icons, Sydney Harbour Bridge was constructed during that time and opened in 1932.
WWII actually gave Sydney an industrial boost, and apart from a series of minor attacks by midget submarines of Imperial Japan in Sydney Harbour, the city got through the war years unscathed.
The post-war years saw an enduring phase of economic boom and growth, coupled with yet more waves of immigration, initially primarily from Britain and Europe, but later increasingly also from Asian countries and the Middle East. Today the city’s population stands at well over 5 million, with about 40% born outside Australia.
The main landmark of the city, Sydney Opera House, one of the world’s most recognized and iconic modern buildings, opened in 1973.
Sydney is often ranked amongst the most liveable-in cities of the world, despite its price levels (especially housing, where it tops even New York). It is multicultural, safe, gay-friendly, dynamic and forward-looking. It’s also welcoming to tourists and indeed one of the southern hemisphere’s top city destinations, if not THE top one (though Melbourne certainly comes close, and sees itself as superior even).
What there is to see: From a dark-tourism perspective, the following six attractions deserve their separate individual chapters here:
In addition, the Police & Justice Museum might be of interest to some too, though I didn’t get round to visiting it myself. It’s located on the corner of Phillip Street and Albert Street near Circular Quay and housed in a former police station from the late 19th century. It’s normally open only Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except during school holidays when it’s open daily; admission is free (but pre-booking tickets online in advance is recommended).
Also of potential interest to some, but not visited by myself during my time in Sydney either, is the Australian National Maritime Museum (aka “MU-SEA-UM”) located in Darling Harbour at 2 Murray Street. Amongst other things it features a few vessels of the Royal Australian Navy, including an afloat submarine that you can explore the interior of. The museum is normally open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but during school holidays times may be different; admission 25 AUD (some concessions apply).
Darlinghurst Gaol, located just across the street from the Jewish Museum, no longer serves the function of a prison – it is now occupied by the National Art School – but the grand prison architecture with its former cell blocks, central tower, and elaborate gate can still be worth a quick look. The prison was built by convict labour and was in operation from 1840 to 1914. It was also the site of numerous executions, the last hanging taking place in 1907.
Keep your eyes open and you can spot various monuments, sculptures and other smaller-scale objects, some of which have a dark connection. Here are just two examples:
The “Emden Gun”, a four-inch naval gun recovered from the German cruiser Emden that was destroyed by the Australian Navy ship HMAS Sydney on 9 November 1914, i.e. early in WW1. It’s located in the south-eastern corner of Hyde Park not far from the ANZAC Memorial.
In Macquarie Place Park stands a monument involving a cannon and an anchor from the Sirius, the flagship of the “First Fleet” (see above). It is most likely intended as a celebratory monument, but from an Aboriginal perspective, who mark the day of the arrival of the fleet as “Invasion Day”, it is most definitely of a dark association ...
This small park and surrounding square is also frequented by several white ibis, aka “bin chickens” (see also under Australia), which many Sydneysiders would also regard as something dark. But they are not hated by everybody, some (myself and especially my wife, included) actually find them fascinating, not least for the adaptability from wetland wading bird to city scavenger, but also for their elegant gait. They are especially numerous in Sydney (a “pest” locals might say); it’s estimated that the city is home to a population of over 10,000 of these “bin chickens”.
Location: on the south-east coast of Australia, ca. 250 km (155 miles) north-east of the capital Canberra and ca. 730 km (455 miles) south of Brisbane.
Google Maps locators:
Police & Justice Museum: [-33.8621, 151.2123]
Maritime Museum: [-33.8691 151.1991]
Former Darlinghurst Gaol: [-33.8797, 151.2185]
Emden Gun: [-33.8765, 151.2119]
Macquarie Place Park: [-33.8631, 151.2101]
Sydney Opera House: [-33.8564, 151.2151]
Harbour Bridge: [-33.8521, 151.2107]
QVB: [-33.8716, 151.2067]
Sydney Tower/Skywalk: [-33.8703, 151.2089]
Circular Quay ferry port: [-33.8608, 151.2112]
Central Station: [-33.8829, 151.2065]
Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD): [-33.9381, 151.1756]
Access and costs: easy to get to by plane, less so overland; generally quite expensive.
Details: A good proportion of foreign visitors to Australia will fly into Sydney’s international airport, the nation’s busiest. The two domestic terminals also provide connections to countless destinations within Australia. It’s called Kingsford Smith Airport (code SYD) and is of the the oldest continually operating airport in the world, dating back to 1920 (though it obviously has seen countless upgrades, expansion and modernization). Now there are plans for adding a second airport much farther out of the city to be opened in 2026. This will be called simply Western Sydney International.
Getting to Sydney overland is possible by train from Melbourne (ca. 10 hours), and theoretically also from Brisbane, but with less convenient connections. Naturally you could also get to Sydney by road, but having a car within the city is more a hindrance than an asset, and also not necessary.
Getting around in Sydney is easy by a highly convenient network of public transport, comprising of local trains, a tram (called “light railway”), buses and numerous passenger ferries that criss-cross Sydney’s fabled Harbour – and seeing the city from the water is a marvellous added bonus.
You can use all these means of transport with a single electronic card called an Opal Card that you can easily top up as needed at stations and machines, including at the airport and the Central Railway Station. You have to tap your card before boarding trains/trams/ferries and on board buses and then tap out again when/after disembarking (except for ferries that have only one single destination). The machines will display the remaining credit to alert you to possibly having to top up the card.
Sydney is one of not so many cities with a super-easy connection from/to the airport (Kingsford Smith, that is) – by local train, which is part of the general public transport network, but a bit more expensive than other journeys. The train is comfortable, relatively fast and it’s only a few stops to/from Central Station or the remaining inner-city train loop.
Within the CBD (Central Business District) you can also do a lot on foot, likewise in neighbourhoods like The Rocks, Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Barangaroo, Potts Point and others, where walking is also a good option.
Accommodation options are immensely wide in Sydney, including decent more budget-friendly options, while at the upper end of the scale prices can be very high indeed.
The same applies to food & drink. Eating out at one of Sydney’s countless upscale restaurants can cost dearly, but is often worth it. The most pricey but excellent meal I had was at the spectacular “Bennelong” restaurant that is actually part of the Sydney Opera House complex, housed in a somewhat scaled-down but still cavernous version of the Opera House architecture. Also not cheap but sensational was one of the best set meals I’ve ever encountered and it was all vegan (at “Yellow”). There are also superb Asian restaurants, especially Japanese and Chinese. At the other end of the scale there’s pub grub that can be significantly less expensive, or of course street food, especially in Chinatown, or the ubiquitous fast-food outlets, though it would be a shame to resort to that low end of the scale in such a foodie city.
Like in the other large cities in Australia, craft beer has made serious inroads, though in my impression less so (at least quality-wise) compared to, say Brisbane or Melbourne. Prices are high. The same goes for wine, in particular in restaurants, where it’s seriously expensive. Tap water in Sydney is perfectly potable, and offered for free at restaurants, though some people prefer bottled water for taste reasons.
The climate in Sydney can be taxing in the summer when temperatures can rise to well above 40 degrees Celsius, while winters are generally mild and pleasant with temperatures rarely dropping into single figures.
Time required: four or five days could suffice to see everything listed above, but Sydney deserves a bit more time. I had seven days in total in the city (though not in one chunk) and could possibly have stayed longer without running out of things to do.
Combinations with other dark destinations: see under Australia in general.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: Sydney is a fabulous city destination in its own right. The Central Business District (CBD) has lots of remarkable colonial-era architecture to marvel at, e.g. the Town Hall. But the one edifice that impressed me the most when I was there was the Queen Victoria Building (QVB for short). It’s a grand pile with a central dome, housing an upscale shopping mall on three levels (plus a basement level with a few more shops). The shops aside, the interior design is certainly special.
The very oldest surviving colonial building, after Hyde Park Barracks, is the small St James’ Church just across the road. This was commissioned in 1819 and consecrated in 1824. Much larger and grander is the massive neo-Gothic St Mary’s Cathedral (Catholic) just a bit further south-east.
The most iconic structures, however, the ones that almost define the city, came about in the 20th century: Sydney Harbour Bridge (opened in 1932) and Sydney Opera House (opened in 1973), which is regarded as one of the top masterpieces of modern architecture. Both are so iconic that you could say they’re the southern hemisphere's equivalents of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Tower Bridge in London.
The Harbour Bridge features a special tourist attraction: the Bridge Climb, offered since 1998. On these tours that last over three hours, groups of climbers ascend the southern arch to its summit, secured by special equipment – but it comes with a very steep price tag: between 300 and 400 AUD (depending on the time of day, twilight being the most popular and expensive option). Less expensive (30 AUD) and not quite so physically demanding is going up the south-east pylon of the Harbour Bridge which has a lookout platform at the top (200 steps up) affording excellent views over to the Opera House, and inside is also a small museum exhibition about the construction of the Bridge.
The Sydney Tower, still the city’s tallest structure (if only just), offers great heights and views at a more affordable price and with much greater comfort. But it also offers an additional thrill option: the adventurous can go on what’s called the “Skywalk”, where you walk the rim of the open-air deck above the normal viewing platform, again with the aid of special equipment. This doesn’t come exactly cheap either, but at ca. 100 AUD isn’t quite as extreme as the Bridge Climb.
Other modern architecture can be admired only from ground level. Amongst the bland office towers are also some more remarkable structures, ranging from brutalist concrete monsters to the latest additions in Barangaroo on the eastern side of Darling Harbour. The tallest needle here is a luxury hotel, and the north-east-facing rooms afford views over the Harbour Bridge AND the Opera House that are absolutely priceless (you wish! … they surely cost a hefty premium).
Perhaps the most touristy district is The Rocks, one of the oldest parts of town and featuring many historic buildings (including a couple of pubs that vie for the title “oldest pub”). The Rocks sits on the western side of Circular Quay, providing the best land-based views over to the Opera House … unless, that is, when there’s a cruise ship, one of those horrible contemporary monsters of the seas, in port blotting out the views, as this part of Circular Quay’s waterfront serves as the cruise-ship terminal.
The southern part of Circular Quay is the city's main ferry port. Sydney’s iconic green-and-yellow passenger ferries provide not only public transport to various points in Sydney Harbour and beyond, they also give you the best views of both of the city’s iconic sights at the same time, and also of the CBD's skyline.
Another watery feature that Sydney is well known for is its beaches. Bondi Beach is only the most famous one, but there are several others, from Manly in the north to the one at the very sheltered cove at Clovelly near Waverley Cemetery in the south, to name but two.
The city also boasts numerous museums and art galleries, too many to list here, as well as two (!!) zoos, pleasant parks and vibrant neighbourhoods with plenty of restaurants and bars. But I will leave it at this. More info about the non-dark sides of Sydney is easy to come by, both online and in guidebook form.
See also under Australia in general.
