Sydney historical timeline

Chronology

1. 1770 — James Cook makes the first British landfall on the eastern coastline at the Kurnell peninsula, by Botany Bay. The site is in Botany Bay National Park and the suburb of La Perouse next to it is named for the French navigator who arrived days after the First Fleet.
2. 1788 — Arthur Phillip raises the flag at Sydney Cove on 26 January, founding the colony. The date is now Australia Day, and it is contested for exactly this reason.
3. 1789 — A smallpox epidemic in April kills about half the region's Indigenous population.
4. 1790 — In November, Bennelong leads a group of survivors of the Sydney clans into the settlement, establishing a continuous Aboriginal presence in settled Sydney. Bennelong Point, where the Opera House stands, carries his name.
5. 1842 — Sydney is declared a city and the New South Wales Legislative Council becomes semi-elected, with a governing council chosen on a restrictive property franchise.
6. 1850s — The gold rushes transform the colony's population and wealth.
7. 1923 — The first sod for the Harbour Bridge is turned on 28 July at Milsons Point. Dorman Long take eight years over it and the bridge opens on 19 March 1932.
8. 1954 — An estimated one million people, most of the city, watch Elizabeth II land at Farm Cove, the first reigning monarch to set foot on Australian soil, 165 years after Phillip raised the Union Jack at the same place.
9. 1973 — The Opera House opens on 20 October, sixteen years after Jørn Utzon won the 1957 design competition; the building was completed by an Australian team under Peter Hall after Utzon left.
10. 2000 — The Olympics are held at what is now Sydney Olympic Park, still the city's main sporting and recreational precinct.
11. 2019 — Sydney Metro Northwest opens on 26 May from Chatswood to Tallawong, bringing heavy rail to the Hills District for the first time. The CBD and South East Light Rail follows in April 2020.