While the Eora people have called the Sydney area home for 60,000 years, its colonial history began with the arrival of the British First Fleet in 1788, making it Australia's oldest colonial settlement in what was called Sydney Cove (current-day Circular Quay). Sydney as a city grew quickly, acquiring its own set of “firsts”. These “firsts” are woven into its streets, shores and skylines – some of them are long gone, others have grown into beloved icons, but all of them helped shape the city we know today.
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First school
Ready for a history lesson? After the First Fleet arrived in 1788, the Female Orphan School (1801) and Male Orphan School (1819) were set up to educate destitute children.
Botany Public School, founded in 1848 with just one teacher and 30 students, holds the title of Sydney’s oldest public school still in operation. Before that, education was mostly church-run. Sydney Grammar (1825) is the oldest-running school in the city area; The King’s School, established in 1831, was the first independent school; and Fort Street High School was established in 1849 as a boys’ school.
Today, our education system looks very different. Sydney is home to more than 2,200 public schools across NSW, generally free apart from voluntary contributions. Of course, parents know all too well the challenge of securing a spot in highly sought after selective schools or footing the bill for elite private ones.
First train line
Sydney’s very first passenger train puffed its way from Redfern to Parramatta on September 26, 1855. Known as the “Great Trunk Line,” this 22km stretch linked Sydney Terminus (just south of where Central Station now stands) with Parramatta Junction (near today’s Granville). Sydney's first purely suburban railway, the North Shore Line, chugged from Hornsby to St Leonards in 1890. By 1926, Sydney had not only welcomed its first electric trains on the Illawarra Line but also opened the city’s underground to St James and Museum Stations – a big leap into modern commuting.
These days, the city’s transport system is a well-connected network of trains, trams, light rail, buses, ferries and the all-new lightning-fast Metro. Sure, there are the usual gripes – delays, trackwork, packed carriages – but there’s one cool feature visitors can’t get enough of: those brilliant flip-around train seats, letting you always face the way you’re heading.
First cinema
Love going to the movies? Step back in time to October 1896, when Sydneysiders first experienced the wonder of the silver screen at the Salon Lumière on Pitt Street. With wooden benches, silent films and a pianist providing the soundtrack, it was here that the very first cinematograph films in Australia were shown using the Lumière brothers’ Cinématographe.
From those humble beginnings, Sydney’s cinema scene has flourished. Today, you can catch a film in glamorous Art Deco cinemas like Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne or the heritage-listed Ritz Cinemas at Randwick, not to mention the many multiplexes. Our tip? Watch a film under the stars at an outdoor cinema this summer. A film at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair is the ultimate treat. Choc top, anyone?
First public pool
Ocean pools: that’s one thing that sets Sydney apart from other cities. From the Instagram-worthy Bondi Icebergs and MacCallum Pool at Cremorne Point to a myriad others along the coast, Sydneysiders love a saltwater swim.
Back in 1858, the first enclosed public baths – the Corporation Baths or Fig Tree Baths – opened on Woolloomooloo Bay. Built for hygiene rather than leisure, the baths were strictly segregated by gender to keep modesty intact.
Fast-forward to today, and you can still swim at Woolloomooloo. The Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool sits on the same bay and has just reopened after renovations to its saltwater pools, offering sweeping harbour vistas (love those eco-friendly electric heat pumps). As for the name? It honours Olympic swimmer Andrew “Boy” Charlton, who was just a teenager when he beat experienced champions.
First church
Sydney’s first church was hardly a landmark – just a wattle-and-daub chapel with a thatched roof built by convicts in 1793 on what’s now Lang Park on York St. It survived only five years before the convicts set it on fire(!). By 1810, a sturdier stone church called St Philip’s rose at Church Hill, later replaced in 1856 by the grand sandstone building that still graces York Street today.
Not far away, St James’ Anglican Church on King Street, consecrated in 1824 and designed by convict architect Francis Greenway, remains the city’s oldest surviving church in its original form. And in The Rocks is St Brigid’s where Catholics have been attending mass since 1835.
From modest chapels to grand sandstone landmarks like St Mary’s Cathedral (1838), these churches trace Sydney’s spiritual beginnings. Today, of course, the city is a tapestry of faith, with mosques, temples and synagogues reflecting its rich cultural diversity.
First amusement park
With a giant smile on its dial, Luna Park has been amusing Sydneysiders since 1935 – and this year it turns 90! When Adelaide’s Luna Park struggled to stay afloat during the Great Depression, its rides were dismantled and shipped east. In just three months, more than 800 workers – many fresh from building the Harbour Bridge – reassembled the Big Dipper, River Caves and Noah’s Ark. They even crafted that famous grin from chicken wire, plaster and canvas. The result? Luna Park Sydney.
Modelled on Coney Island’s Luna Park in New York, it was seasonal at first, before going year-round in 1972. Like its rollercoasters, it’s had its fair share of ups and downs, including the tragic Ghost Train fire in 1979.
Today, Luna Park remains a school-holiday favourite. Couples love the Ferris Wheel, kids race to the Wild Mouse, teens scream on the Sledgehammer and everyone loves the retro sideshow vibe. Best of all, it’s heritage-listed – so that grin isn’t going anywhere.
First Cricket Stadium
In the words of that 10cc song, “I don’t like cricket; I love it”. Turns out, our SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) pips Melbourne’s MCG at the post (or pitch) for being the oldest cricket stadium in Australia, dating back to 1848. (Melbourne’s MCG was founded in 1853 and hosted the first-ever Test match in Australia in 1877.)
Before it became hallowed ground, the SCG was a military training field known as the Garrison Ground. NSW Cricket Association took charge in 1875 and it was officially named the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1894. In 1882, the SCG hosted a Test match against England that would spark the Ashes rivalry. It also saw the first One Day International (ODI) between Australia and England in 1979.
More than 150 years on, the SCG is more than a cricket ground – it also hosts AFL, rugby and football matches as well as tons of concerts and cultural events.
First Zoo
Before Taronga Zoo stole the spotlight, Sydney’s first zoo was hiding in a swamp. In 1884, the city’s very first public zoo opened in Moore Park, on a site rather unglamorously called Billy Goat Swamp. Run by the Zoological Society of NSW, it gave Sydneysiders their first glimpse of exotic animals up close.
By the early 1900s, the site was far too cramped. A new home was needed. The solution came in 1912, when land overlooking Sydney Harbour was set aside. In 1916, all the animals in the zoo (parlez-vous!) were moved across. It took six months (remember, there was no Harbour Bridge then) and was a sight to behold. In fact, Jessie the elephant had to be shipped across on a ferry.
On 7 October 1916, Taronga Zoo officially opened. Since then, it’s grown into a world-class conservation hub, while still keeping visitors smiling with seal shows, birds of prey and those giraffes that have the best views of Sydney.
