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sydney: general info
· city links
· history
· hostels
tours
· nightlife
· photos
· things to do
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From its sordid beginnings as a British penal colony in 1788, Sydney rapidly flourished, establishing booming trade
links and witnessing large-scale development throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The Sydney Opera House a feat
of avant-garde architectural vision epitomizes the citys desire to lead the New World in the 21st century. Sydneys
architecture is a stunning mlange, with little Victorian structures nestling below towering concrete, steel and glass skyscrapers.
All the exuberance and plate-glass sophistication nonetheless fail to compensate for a certain competitive edginess
in the citys psyche. After the Australian Federation was created in 1901, the traditional bickering between Sydney
and its arch rival, Melbourne, was settled in 1908, by making Canberra the new national capital. However, until 1927,
when the city of Canberra was completed, Melbourne remained the seat of national government. Nevertheless, Sydneysiders
insist that their city remains the true capital of Australia and indeed, with a triumphant hosting of the 2000 Olympic
Games, the world might even agree with this. But the rivalry with Melbourne persists a rivalry based more on style
than on stature for, while Sydney is decidedly Anglo in its ethnic orientation, Melbourne is more continental, with a
much more tangibly imported culture.
Australias white history has eclipsed its indigenous inheritance and, although Sydney has the highest Aboriginal
population of any Australian city, a stroll around the citys streets offers little evidence that it has anything other
than a white and latterly, an Asian heritage. While museums, galleries, theatre and dance troupes pay tribute to the
archaeological and cultural legacy of indigenous culture, Aborigines in the city remain very much an invisible minority.
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