These bars are not the easiest places in Sydney to find. But once you've opened the unmarked door, or snuck down the winding staircase, you'll be happy you made the effort.
Sydney is a city with an amazing abundance of mystery and intrigue. So, whether you’re a rosy-cheeked relative newcomer or a born'n'bred Sydney city slicker, you want to at least sound like you know all of her secrets.
We’ve compiled a handy list of essential pieces of trivia about our famed city. Keep this one in your back pocket so you can show off your knowledge to out of towners. Ready? Let's go.
- We like to think of ourselves as the southern cousins of the rest of the world, but actually, Sydney shares a similar latitude with other famous cities around the world, like Buenos Aires in Argentina, Montevideo in Uruguay and Cape Town in South Africa.
- No, it’s not just a quaint name. The Granny Smith apple was developed in Sydney, by a humble orchardist named Maria Ann Smith from Ryde. She’d toss seeds from French crab apples out her window, which, combined with Ryde’s famously fertile soil at the time, resulted in one of the most recognisable mutations of apples in the world. Now, a street festival held each year in Eastwood celebrates good ol' Granny’s legacy.
- Turning to the view outside, our pristine Sydney Harbour isn’t all just surface-level good looks – it’s also the world’s deepest natural harbour, holding some 504,000 megalitres of water.
- Have you seen those birdcages in Angel Place? Next time you walk through it, if you listen closely, you’ll be able to hear chirping and birdsong. The Angel Place birdcages are part of an installation called ‘Forgotten Songs’, which engages with the impacts of urbanisation on Sydney’s fauna – the songs playing are those of 50 birds which were displaced by European colonisation.
- The Crown Sydney, located in the waterside precinct of Barangaroo, nabbed the title of the tallest building in the city in 2020 – it stands a whopping 271 metres tall.
- It sounds like the start of a psychedelic movie, but the tunnel leading to Circular Quay from the historic St James Railway Station near Hyde Park was used as an ‘experimental mushroom farm’ between 1933 to 1934. The dank and dark is perfect for fungi growing. Back in the day, you could have had a nice trip without even boarding a train.
- With those soaring sails and an arts program teeming with local and international talent, Danish architect Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House is an icon, for sure – but there’s a lot of effort that goes into keeping our most recognisable structure in prime condition. Weary hands need to change 15,500 light bulbs inside the Sydney Opera House every single year.
- Speaking of the Opera House, 6,233 square metres of glass were specially ordered from a maker called Boussois Souchon Neuvesel in France for its construction. The glass’s particular tint of topaz is unique to the Opera House.
- You might recognise our mighty Harbour Bridge from anywhere, but this icon has a dark, steely underbelly. Sixteen workers reportedly died during its construction, and around 800 families were forcibly relocated to make way for the Bridge – without any compensation.
- While many newcomers to Sydney presume that the bustling CBD and surrounding suburbs like Darlinghurst, Surry Hills and Kings Cross form the centre of our city, they’re a little off. Like, 22 kilometres off. There’s a wealth of attractions further west, so much so that the actual physical centre of the city is the Western Sydney suburb of Granville.
- In 2008, Sydney won the world record for the longest line of pizzas in the world, when a line stretching 221 metres took over Norton Street in the traditionally Italian suburb of Leichhardt. After the Guinness World Record adjudicator handed over the title from its previous holders in Florida, all 826 pizzas were donated to food charity OzHarvest.
- It might be an underrated form of transport, but Sydney is home to the Southern Hemisphere's longest travellator. It stretches all the way from the Domain's car park to Hyde Park. Hop on and feel like you're in The Terminal on your morning commute.
- Before Central Station, there was Mortuary Station – and it’s as eerie as it sounds. In the nineteenth century, spooky ‘funeral trains’ would carry coffins and their mourners from the centre of the city to the farther-flung Rookwood Cemetery, as burial space became harder and harder to come by in the city. We hope someone remembered to tap off for them.
