10 Origins Of Famous City Names
8. Sydney
Sydney is probably the most well known Australian city and is often mistaken for being Australias capital. Sydney is home to the instantly recognisable landmarks of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
On the 26th January 1788, the first English colonists arrived on Australias shores after seven long months of sailing. The colonists consisted of over seven hundred convicts accompanied by guards and experienced sailors. The voyage was being overseen by Admiral Arthur Phillips, the man responsible for discovering the site where Sydney now stands and also naming it. Phillips first gave the name Sydney to a small bay on the southern shore of Sydney harbour. The name was then reused for the settlement that began to develop there. Phillips chose the name Sydney in honour of the then british home secretary, Thomas Townsend Lord Sydney, as he was the man responsible for devising the plan to ship convicts to Australia. Sydney grew at a rapid rate as ships continued to bring more and more colonists to Australia and it was finally made a city and granted a Mayor in 1842.