X-Nico

unusual facts about Sydney harbour



Aboriginal Memorial

In 1988, Australia marked 200 years since its first official white settlement, established by Captain Arthur Phillip on Sydney Harbour in 1788.

Balls Head Bay

Balls Head Bay is a bay located to the east of the Waverton Peninsula and the west of Berry Island, on the north of Sydney Harbour.

Balmain Rowing Club

Balmain Rowing Club is the fourth oldest rowing club in continuous operation on Sydney Harbour, Australia, and was established in July 1882 at Balmain, Sydney.

Berrys Bay

Berrys Bay is a bay located to the west of the Waverton Peninsula and the east of McMahons Point, on the north of Sydney Harbour.

Chromera velia

Chromera velia was first isolated by Dr Bob Moore (then at Carter Lab, University of Sydney) from the stony coral (Scleractinia, Cnidaria) Plesiastrea versipora (Faviidae) of Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia (collectors Thomas Starke-Peterkovic and Les Edwards, December 2001).

De Havilland DH.51

The first aircraft was exported to Australia in 1927, as a floatplane it capsized in Sydney Harbour in January 1931.

Ian Cohen

Cohen was a founder of the Sydney Peace Squadron and the Brisbane Peace and Environment fleet and came to international attention in 1986 when photographed on a surfboard, while clinging to the bow of the destroyer USS Oldendorf (DD-972), as she pulled into Sydney Harbour to participate in the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Australian Navy.

Kellyville, New South Wales

The now defunct Sydney CBD Rail Link, which would have provided for a second crossing of Sydney Harbour and up to four new CityRail stations within the city, would also have brought faster, more reliable services to every reach of the existing network by easing capacity on the severely congested City Circle, in particular Town Hall and Wynyard stations.

Macarthur Girls High School

The school is located on an area of land first granted to William Reid (a seaman-convict from the Sirius, the first ship of the First Fleet to enter Sydney Harbour in 1788).

Tightrope walking

Henri L'Estrange, 19th century Australian; first person to tightrope walk across Sydney harbour and early balloonist

Vanvoorstia bennettiana

The alga has only been found in two localities; both in or near Sydney Harbour.


see also

Ben Buckler Gun Battery

The Ben Buckler Gun Battery was constructed in 1892 as one of a set of three coastal defense fortifications for Sydney Harbour, the other two being Signal Hill Battery at Watsons Bay and the Shark Point Battery in Vaucluse.

Elizabeth Cain

On 28 March 2007, Cain and several members of the Australian figure skating team were in a small boat in Sydney Harbour near the Harbor Bridge when it collided with a ferry.

George Glover Campbell

Born to parents Isaac Campbell, a grocer, and Susannah Patterson in England, Campbell jnr arrived in Australia in 1905, he lived at Drummoyne and worked in Sydney harbour shipyards.

HMAS Samuel Benbow

Samuel Benbow was in Sydney Harbour during the Attack on Sydney Harbour on 31 May-1 June 1942.

Hugh Buggy

In 1932, following the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, he was the only reporter to gain an interview with Captain Francis de Groot.

In the Last Stride

Dave Smith, retired heavyweight boxing champion travels around Australia having various adventures, including working as a swagman, fighting Les O'Donnell, a speedboat chase across Sydney harbour, a football game involving rugby league stars, and a climax in which Dave's horse Sunlocks wins the Sydney Cup.

Kenneth Slessor

The bells motif in "Five Bells" is referenced at the end of the 1999 song "You Gotta Love This City" by The Whitlams, which also involves a drowning death in Sydney Harbour.

New South Wales state election, 1962

He promised to build the Newcastle freeway without a toll, to construct the Eastern Suburbs Railway and to plan for a second crossing of Sydney Harbour.

North Head

'North Head', one of the Sydney Heads at the entrance to Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), New South Wales, Australia.

North Shore Rowing Club

Sir George Dibbs, a three-time Premier of New South Wales was one of the instigators of a public meeting held in July 1879 at Milsons Point to consider the prospects of establishing a rowing club on Sydney harbour's north side.

Nova Scotia Highway 125

Part of the provincial 100-series arterial highway network, Highway 125 encircles the west side of Sydney Harbour, from an interchange with Highway 105 (the Trans-Canada Highway) at Sydney Mines to Trunk 4 (Grand Lake Road) immediately east of Sydney.

Port Jackson

The first recorded European discovery of Sydney Harbour, was by Lieutenant James Cook in 1770 - Cook named the inlet after Sir George Jackson, (one of the Lord Commissioners of the British Admiralty, and Judge Advocate of the Fleet).

Rhodes, New South Wales

There is a health-based ban in Sydney Harbour (including the Parramatta River and Homebush and Brays Bays near Rhodes) on the taking of all intertidal organisms such as oysters and pipis.