DK Travel : Sydney : History & Culture

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Nicole Kidman

The famous Australian actress lives in a large Point Piper house for at least part of the year.
Old Government House

Governor Phillip’s cottage and country retreat, constructed in 1790, was rebuilt by Governor Hunter in 1799. Governor and Mrs Macquarie, who preferred it to their city residence, later made numerous alterations to the structure and interior design. The oldest public building in Australia, it is now a museum.
Old Government House

Overlooking the Parramatta River, this distinguished plastered brick residence (see Old Government House) is located on 105 ha (260 acres) of parkland. Australia’s oldest public building, it was built by Governors Hunter and Macquarie between 1799 and 1818. The porch is credited to Francis Greenway. The interior faithfully reflects the Macquaries’ era and their tastes, and houses one of Australia’s finest collections of 19th-century furniture. Tours explore the people who lived here as well as the eras they lived in.
Opera Australia

It is a joy to see Australia’s acclaimed national opera company perform in the Opera House. This world-class company stages a 14-week season in summer and a 17-week season in winter in Sydney.
Oscar and Lucinda (1988)

This Booker Prize-winning novel by Peter Carey traces a romance between a gambling minister and an heiress.
Patrick White (1912–90)

Australia’s Nobel prize-winning author for the Eye of the Storm (1973) hailed from a family of wealthy Australian pastoralists. He spent much of his early life in Europe but settled near Centennial Park in 1964. Although he wrote poetry and plays, he is best remembered for his novels, which often explore individuals’ efforts to divine meaning from the circumstances of their lives.
Pemulwy

This Eora warrior resisted white settlement until he was caught and beheaded in 1802.
Peter Corris (b. 1942)

Sydney’s Raymond Chandler, Peter Corris writes hard-boiled crime fiction set in and around Sydney. His main protagonist, Cliff Hardy, is a private detective forever sorting through the trash of the powerful and wealthy.
Puberty Blues (1979)

A coming-of-age 1970s beach culture story by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey.
Queen Victoria Building

The four-storey Romanesque QVB (see Queen Victoria Building) staggers visitors with its beautiful tiled floors, elegant staircases, stained glass, barrel-vaulted glass ceiling and copper domed roof. Built on the site of the old Sydney markets, this landmark was designed by George McRae and opened to applause in 1898. The shopping plaza was imaginatively restored in the 1980s.