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This article is about the metropolitan area in Australia. For the local government area, see City of Sydney. For other uses, see Sydney (disambiguation).
| Sydney New South Wales | |||||||
 The Sydney Opera House and Sydney CBD on Port Jackson | |||||||
| Population: | 4,284,379 (1st) | ||||||
| • Density: | 345.7/km² (895.4/sq mi) | ||||||
| Established: | 26 January 1788 | ||||||
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: | ||||||
| Area: | 12144.6 km² (4689.1sq mi) | ||||||
| Time zone:
• Summer (DST) | AEST (UTC+10) | ||||||
| Location: | |||||||
| LGA: | various (38) | ||||||
| County: | Cumberland | ||||||
| State District: | various (49) | ||||||
| Federal Division: | various (22) | ||||||
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Location of Sydney within Australia
Sydney (pronounced /ˈsɪdniː/) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.28 million (2006 estimate).Year Book Australia, 2008 p.194. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales, and is the site of the first European colony in Australia, established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip, leader of the First Fleet from Britain.History of Australia. Oz Experience. A resident of the city is referred to as a Sydneysider.
Sydney is located on Australia\'s south-east coast. The city is built around Port Jackson, which includes Sydney Harbour, leading to the city\'s nickname, "the Harbour City". It is Australia\'s largest financial centre.[citation needed] Sydney\'s main industries include property and business services, manufacturing, tourism, media, health and community services.[citation needed]
The main airport serving Sydney, Kingsford Smith International Airport, is one of the busiest airports in Oceania.[citation needed]
Sydney is a major international tourist destination notable for its beaches and twin landmarks: the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and contains many bays, rivers and inlets. It has been recognised as a beta world city by the Loughborough University group\'s 1999 inventory.Beaverstock, J.V.; Smith, R.G.; Taylor, P.J.. Research Bulletin 5: A Roster of World Cities. Globalization and World Cities. The city has played host to numerous international sporting, political and cultural events, including the 1938 British Empire Games, 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2003 Rugby World Cup. In September 2007, the city hosted the leaders of the 21 APEC economies for APEC Australia 2007, and in July 2008 will host World Youth Day 2008.
Sydney is one of the most multicultural cities in the world which reflects its role as a major destination for immigrants to Australia.Designing for Diversity: the Multicultural City. 1995 Global Cultural Diversity Conference Proceedings, Sydney. Australian Government Department of Immigration and Citizenship. According to the Mercer cost of living survey, Sydney is Australia’s most expensive city, and the 21st most expensive in the world.Cost of living - The world\'s most expensive cities. City Mayors.
Contents |
A map of Sydney in 1789
Radiocarbon dating has provided evidence that the Sydney region has been populated by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years.Macey, Richard. "Settlers\' history rewritten: go back 30,000 years", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2007-09-15, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-09-15. At the time of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, 4000 - 8000 Aboriginal people lived in the region, locally known to them as "Eora".Kohen, J. L. 2000. First and last peoples: Aboriginal Sydney. In J. Connell (Ed.). Sydney the emergence of a global city. pp 76-95. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-550748-7, pp 76-78, 81-82, 83 There were three language groups in the Sydney region; these were further refined into dialects spoken by smaller clans. The principal languages were Darug (the Cadigal, original inhabitants of the City of Sydney, spoke a coastal dialect of Darug), Dharawal and Guringai. Each clan had a territory; the location of that territory determined the resources available. Although urbanization has destroyed most evidence of these settlements (such as shell middens), Sydney and its environs are well known for numerous rock drawings and carvings because of the nature of the rock, Hawkesbury sandstone.Elder, Bruce. "History set in stone", The Age, 2007-09-07. Retrieved on 2007-10-18. European interest in colonising Australia arose with the landing of British sea captain Lieutenant James Cook in Botany Bay in 1770. Under instruction from the British government, a convict settlement was founded by Arthur Phillip, who arrived at Botany Bay with a fleet of 11 ships on January 20, 1788. This site was soon found to be unsuitable for habitation, owing to poor soil and a lack of reliable fresh water. Phillip founded the colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. He named it after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, in recognition of Sydney\'s role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish a colony.[citation needed] In April 1789 a disease, thought to be smallpox, decimated the indigenous population of Sydney; a conservative estimate says that 500 to 1000 Aboriginal people died in the area between Broken and Botany Bays.There was violent resistance to British settlement, notably by the warrior Pemulwuy in the area around Botany Bay, and conflicts were common in the area surrounding the Hawkesbury River. By 1820 there were only a few hundred Aborigines and Governor Macquarie had begun initiatives to \'civilize, Christianize and educate\' the Aborigines by removing them from their clans.
The International Exhibition of 1879 at the Garden Palace
Macquarie\'s tenure as Governor of New South Wales was a period when Sydney was improved from its basic beginnings. Roads, bridges, wharves and public buildings were constructed by British and Irish convicts, and by 1822 the town had banks, markets, well-established thoroughfares and an organised constabulary. The 1830s and 1840s were periods of urban development, including the development of the first suburbs, as the town grew rapidly when ships began arriving from Britain and Ireland with immigrants looking to start a new life in a new country. On 20 July 1842 the municipal council of Sydney was incorporated and the town was declared the first city in Australia, with Charles H. Chambers the first mayor. Australian Encyclopaedia Volume 2, p 524, Angus and Robertson Limited, 1926 The first of several gold rushes started in 1851, and the port of Sydney has since seen many waves of people arriving from around the world. Rapid suburban development began in the last quarter of the 19th century with the advent of steam powered tramways and railways. With industrialisation Sydney expanded rapidly, and by the early 20th century it had a population well in excess of one million. The Great Depression hit Sydney badly. One of the highlights of the Depression era, however, was the completion of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932.Harbour Bridge Views (2007). Brief History of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
A rivalry has traditionally existed between Sydney and Melbourne since the gold rushes of the 1850s grew the capital of Victoria into Australia\'s largest and richest city.Farrelly, Elizabeth How could Sydney get it so wrong? Sydney Morning Herald, 4 November 2006 While Sydney overtook Melbourne in population in the early years of the 20th century,Linking a Nation: Australia\'s Transport and Communications 1788 - 1970 and has remained the largest city in Australia since this time, demographer Bernard Salt has predicted that if current trends continue, Melbourne will again become the most populous city in Australia by 2028. During the 1970s and 1980s Sydney\'s CBD with the Reserve Bank and Australian Stock Exchange clearly surpassed Melbourne as the nation\'s financial capital.Elias, David Tell Melbourne it\'s over, we won Sydney Morning Herald, 31 December 2003 Throughout the 20th century, especially in the decades immediately following World War II, Sydney continued to expand as large numbers of European and later Asian immigrants populated the metropolitan area. The culture brought about by immigrants was a major factor in the city\'s diverse and highly cosmopolitan atmosphere.
Sydney is in a coastal basin bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north and the Royal National Park to the south. Sydney lies on a submergent coastline, where the ocean level has risen to flood deep river valleys (ria) carved in the hawkesbury sandstone. One of these drowned valleys, Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is the largest natural harbour in the world.Showcase Destinations Sydney, Australia: The Harbour City by David Latta There are more than 70 harbour and ocean beaches, including the famous Bondi Beach, in the urban area. Sydney\'s urban area covers 1,687 km² (651 sq mi) as at 2001. name="abs_2016_0">2016.0 Census of Population and Housing: Selected Characteristics for Urban Centres, Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003-03-26 The Sydney Statistical Division, used for census data, is the unofficial metropolitan area1217.0.55.001 - Glossary of Statistical Geography Terminology, 2003, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003 and covers 12,145 km² (4,689 sq mi)."2032.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Australia in Profile – A Regional Analysis, 2001", Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004-01-16 This area includes the Central Coast and Blue Mountains as well as broad swathes of national park and other unurbanised land.
Geographically, Sydney sprawls over two major regions: the Cumberland Plain, a relatively flat region lying to the south and west of the harbour, and the Hornsby Plateau, a sandstone plateau lying mainly to the north of the harbour, dissected by steep valleys. The oldest parts of the city are located in the flat areas south of the harbour; the North Shore was slower to develop because of its hilly topography, and was mostly a quiet backwater until the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932, linking it to the rest of the city.
Avalon Beach in Sydney\'s north. Sydney\'s hot weather in summer makes its beaches very popular.
Sydney has a temperate climate with warm summers and mild winters, with rainfall spread throughout the year.Climate Classification of Australia (map). Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved on 2007-10-20. The weather is moderated by proximity to the ocean, and more extreme temperatures are recorded in the inland western suburbs. The warmest month is January, with an average air temperature range at Observatory Hill of 18.6-25.8 °C (65.5-78.4 °F) and an average of 14.6 days a year over 30 °C (86.0 °F). The maximum recorded temperature was 45.3 °C (113.5 °F) on 14 January 1939 at the end of a 4 day nationwide heat wave.Bureau of Meteorology. 2006. Climate summary for Sydney, January 2006 The winter is mildly cool, with temperatures rarely dropping below 5 °C (41 °F) in coastal areas. The coldest month is July, with an average range of 8-16.2 °C (46.4-61.2 °F). The lowest recorded minimum was 2.1 °C (35.8 °F). Rainfall is fairly evenly divided between summer and winter, but is slightly higher during the first half of the year, when easterly winds dominate. The average annual rainfall, with moderate to low variability, is 1,217 mm (48 in), falling on an average 138 days a year.Australian Bureau of Meteorology. 2005. Climate averages.Ellyard, D. 1994. Droughts and Flooding Rains. Angus & Robertson ISBN 0-207-18557-3 Snowfall last occurred in the Sydney City area in the 1830s.MacDonnell, Freda. Thomas Nelson (Australia) Limited, 1967. Before King’s Cross
Although the city does not suffer from cyclones or significant earthquakes, the El Niño Southern Oscillation plays an important role in determining Sydney\'s weather patterns: drought and bushfire on the one hand, and storms and flooding on the other, associated with the opposite phases of the oscillation. Many areas of the city bordering bushland have experienced bushfires, notably in 1994 and 2001-02 — these tend to occur during the spring and summer. The city is also prone to severe hail storms and wind storms. One such storm was the 1999 hailstorm, which severely damaged Sydney\'s eastern and city suburbs. The storm produced massive hailstones of at least 9 cm (3.5 in) in diameter and resulting in insurance losses of around AUD $1.7 billion in less than five hours.The Sydney Hailstorm - 14 April 1999. Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved on 2006-10-05. The city is also prone to flash flooding from enormous amounts of rain caused by East Coast Lows (a low pressure depression which deepens off the state usually in winter and early spring which can bring significant damage by heavy rain, cyclonic winds and huge swells). The most notable event was the great Sydney flood which occurred on 6 August 1986 and dumped a record 327.6 mm (12.9 in) on the city in 24 hours. This caused major traffic chaos and damage in many parts of the metropolitan area.Rain in Sydney, 1986 in Australian Climate Extremes, Bureau of Meteorology, accessed 9 September 2006.
| Climate chart for Sydney | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
103 26 19 |
117 26 19 |
131 25 18 |
127 22 15 |
123 19 12 |
128 17 9 |
98 16 8 |
82 18 9 |
69 20 11 |
77 22 14 |
83 24 16 |
78 25 18 |
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| temperatures in °C • precipitation totals in mm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Imperial conversion
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The Bureau of Meteorology has reported that the last four years in Sydney have been the warmest since records began in 1859. 2004 had an average daily maximum temperature of 23.39 °C, 2005 - 23.35 °C, 2002 - 22.91 °C and 2003 - 22.65 °C. The average daily maximum between 1859 and 2004 was 21.6 °C (70.9 °F). For the first nine months of 2006 the mean temperature was 18.41 °C (65.1 °F); the warmest year previously was 2004 with 18.51 °C (65.32 °F). Since November 2003, there have been only two months in which the average daily maximum was below average: March 2005 (about 1 °C below average)Cool, cloudy and rainy end to March in Sydney in Sydney Climate Summary - NSW Regional Office, Bureau of Meteorology, accessed 21 october 2007. and June 2006 (0.7 °C below average)Sydney has coldest June in 24 years in Sydney Monthly Climate Summary - NSW Regional Office, Bureau of Meteorology, accessed 21 october 2007..
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily maximum temperature (°C) | 25.8 | 25.7 | 24.7 | 22.4 | 19.3 | 16.9 | 16.2 | 17.7 | 19.9 | 22.0 | 23.6 | 25.1 | 21.6 | |
| Mean daily minimum temperature (°C) | 18.6 | 18.7 | 17.5 | 14.7 | 11.5 | 9.2 | 8.0 | 8.9 | 11.0 | 13.5 | 15.5 | 17.5 | 13.7 | |
| Mean total rainfall (mm) | 103.3 | 117.4 | 131.2 | 127.2 | 123.3 | 128.1 | 98.1 | 81.5 | 68.7 | 76.9 | 83.1 | 78.1 | 1217.0 | |
| Mean number of rain days | 12.1 | 12.3 | 13.3 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 11.4 | 10.3 | 9.9 | 10.3 | 11.5 | 11.4 | 11.5 | 138.0 | |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology | ||||||||||||||
Kingsford Smith
International Airport
Chatswood\'s high-rise commercial district.
Sydney\'s central business district (CBD) extends southwards for about 3 kilometres (1.25 mi) from Sydney Cove, the point of the first European settlement in the area at the southern end of the bridge known as "The Rocks". Densely concentrated skyscrapers and other buildings including historic sandstone buildings such as the Sydney Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building are interspersed by several parks such as Wynyard and Hyde Park. The Sydney CBD is bounded on the east side by a chain of parkland that extends from Hyde Park through the Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens to Farm Cove on the harbour. The west side is bounded by Darling Harbour, a popular tourist and nightlife precinct while Central station marks the southern end of the CBD. George Street serves as the Sydney CBD\'s main north-south thoroughfare.
As the site of earliest European settlement in Australia, the CBD contains many other historic buildings such as the Sydney Mint, one of Australia\'s oldest buildings, Fort Denison, a penal site which was built in the colonial days on a small island situated on the harbour, as well as heritage listed buildings in The Rocks. The area also boasts well known modern architectural sites such as the Sydney Opera House and Martin Place.
Although the CBD dominated the city\'s business and cultural life in the early days, other business/cultural districts have developed in a radial pattern since World War II. As a result, the proportion of white-collar jobs located in the CBD declined from more than 60 per cent at the end of World War II to less than 30 per cent in 2004.[citation needed] Together with the commercial district of North Sydney, joined to the CBD by the Harbour Bridge, the most significant outer business districts are ParramattaParramatta City Centre. Department of Planning. Retrieved on 2007-10-29. in the central-west, PenrithPenrith City Centre. Department of Planning. Retrieved on 2007-10-29. in the west, Bondi Junction in the east, LiverpoolLiverpool City Centre. Department of Planning. Retrieved on 2007-10-29. in the southwest, Chatswood to the north, and Hurstville to the south.
The extensive area covered by urban Sydney is formally divided into more than 300 suburbs (for addressing and postal purposes), and administered as 38 local government areas. There is no city-wide government, but the Government of New South Wales and its agencies have extensive responsibilities in providing metropolitan services.Department of Local Government. Local Council Boundaries Sydney Outer (SO) The City of Sydney itself covers a fairly small area comprising the central business district and its neighbouring inner-city suburbs. In addition, regional descriptions are used informally to conveniently describe larger sections of the urban area. These include Eastern Suburbs, Hills District, Inner West, Lower North Shore, Northern Beaches, North Shore, St George, Southern Sydney, South-eastern Sydney, South-western Sydney, Sutherland Shire and Western Sydney. However, many suburbs are not conveniently covered by any of these categories.
The Central Business District in Sydney is home to most of Sydney\'s financial centres
Sydney is a modern, prosperous city with the highest median household income of any major city in Australia (US$43,171 PPP).
The largest economic sectors in Sydney, measured by numbers of people employed, include property and business services, retail, manufacturing, and health and community services.Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2002. Sydney - Basic Community Profile and Snapshot - 2001 Census Since the 1980s, jobs have moved from manufacturing to the services and information sectors. Sydney provides approximately 25 percent of the country\'s total GDP.City Commerce - City of Sydney Media Centre. Accessed 21 July, 2006.
Sydney is the largest corporate and financial centre in Australia and is also an important financial centre in the Asia Pacific.Daly, M. T. and Pritchard, B. 2000. Sydney:Australia\'s financial and commercial capital. In J. Connell (Ed.). Sydney the emergence of a global city. pp 76-95. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-550748-7, pp 167-188 The Australian Securities Exchange and the Reserve Bank of Australia are located in Sydney, as are the headquarters of 90 banks and more than half of Australia\'s top companies, and the regional headquarters for around 500 multinational corporations.City Commerce - City of Sydney Media Centre. Accessed 21 July, 2006. Of the ten largest corporations in Australia (based on revenue)BRW 1000, four have headquarters in Sydney (Caltex Australia, the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, and Woolworths). Fox Studios Australia has large movie studios in the city.
The Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) is one of the Asia Pacific\'s largest financial futures and options exchanges, with 64.3 million contracts traded during 2005. In global terms it is the 12th largest futures market in the world and the 19th largest including options.Overview, Sydney Futures Exchange website, accessed 3 July 2006 With the increasing commercial role of Sydney\'s many medical laboratories and research centres, science and research is another strong growth sector.[citation needed]Tourism plays an important role in Sydney\'s economy, with 7.8 million domestic visitors and 2.5 million international visitors in 2004.Tourism NSW. 2004.Tourism Data Card - Forecasts, Economic Impacts and selected Regional Data - 2004
Sydney\'s retail environment is flourishing, with many shopping centres and retail outlets throughout the city. Premier locations in the central city include the Queen Victoria Building on George Street and the pedestrian mall on Pitt Street. Oxford Street in Paddington and Crown Street, Woolahra are home to boutiques selling more niche products. Many of the large regional centres around the metropolitan area also contain large shopping complexes, such as Parramatta in Western Sydney, Bondi Junction in the Eastern Suburbs and Chatswood on the North Shore.
As of September 2003, the unemployment rate in Sydney was 5.3 per cent.Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2005. Sydney Statistical Division. According to The Economist Intelligence Unit\'s Worldwide cost of living survey, Sydney is the sixteenth most expensive city in the world, while a UBS survey ranks Sydney as 18th in the world in terms of net earnings.London is the most expensive city in the world while Swiss cities are home to highest earners. Economics. City Mayors (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
As of 20 September 2007, Sydney has the highest median house price of any Australian capital city at $559 000.Real Estate Institute of Australia. Still strong confidence in the housing market, Press Release Sydney also has the highest median rent prices than any other Australian city at $450 a week. A report published by the OECD in November 2005, shows that Australia has the Western World\'s highest housing prices when measured against rental yields.Boilling, M. February 2 2006. City among most costly, Herald Sun
Sydney has been classified as a "Beta" global city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network.Beaverstock, J.V. et alA Roster of World Cities
At the time of the 2006 census, there were 4,119,190 residents present in the Sydney Statistical Division.Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Sydney (Statistical Division). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2007-10-31. Of those 3,641,422 lived in Sydney\'s urban area.Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Sydney (Urban Centre/Locality). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2007-11-02. Inner Sydney was the most densely populated place in Australia with 4,023 persons per square kilometre.Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2005. National Regional Profile: Inner Sydney The statistical division is larger in area than the urban area, as it allows for predicted growth. A resident of Sydney is commonly referred to as a Sydneysider.about.com, Strine and Aussie Slang. Sanger to Sydneysider
Freedom Arch in Cabramatta, a suburb home to a large proportion of Sydney\'s Vietnamese population
In the 2006 census, the most common self-described ancestries identified for Sydney residents were Australian, English, Irish, Scottish and Chinese. The Census also recorded that one per cent of Sydney\'s population identified as being of indigenous origin and 31.7 per cent were born overseas. The three major sources of immigrants are England, China and New Zealand. Significant numbers of immigrants also came from Vietnam, Lebanon, Italy, India and the Philippines. Most Sydneysiders are native speakers of English; many have a second language, the most common being Arabic (including the Lebanese dialect), Chinese languages (Mandarin and Cantonese), and Greek. Sydney has the seventh largest percentage of a foreign born population in the world, ahead of cities such as the highly multicultural London and Paris.http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2004/pdf/hdr04_chapter_55.pdf
The median age of a Sydney resident is 34, with 12 per cent of the population over 65 years. 15.2 per cent of Sydney residents have educational attainment equal to at least a bachelor\'s degree,The City of Sydney Community Profile - Sydney Statistical Division. 2006. What are our qualifications?, profile.id which is lower than the national average of 19 per cent.[citation needed]
According to the 2006 census, 64 per cent of the Sydney residents are identified as Christians, 3.7 per cent as Buddhists, 3.9 per cent as Muslims, 1.7 per cent as Hindus, 0.9 per cent as Jews and 14.1 per cent as having no religion.
Sydney hosts many different festivals and some of Australia\'s largest social and cultural events. These include the Sydney Festival, Australia\'s largest arts festival which is a celebration involving both indoor and free outdoor performances throughout January; the Biennale of Sydney, established in 1973; the Big Day Out, a travelling rock music festival which originated in Sydney; the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras along Oxford Street; the Sydney Film Festival and many other smaller film festivals such as the short film Tropfest and Flickerfest. Australia\'s premier prize for portraiture, the Archibald Prize is organised by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The Sydney Royal Easter Show is held every year at Sydney Olympic Park, the final of Australian Idol takes place on the steps of the Opera House, and Australian Fashion Week takes place in April/May. Also, Sydney\'s New Years Eve and Australia Day celebrations are the largest in Australia.
Sydney has a wide variety of cultural sites and institutions. Sydney\'s iconic Opera House has five theatres capable of hosting a range of performance styles; it is the home of Opera Australia—the third busiest opera company in the world, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.Autumn Opera Season. Tourism Victoria. Retrieved on 2007-10-15. Other venues include the Sydney Town Hall, City Recital Hall, the State Theatre and the Wharf Theatre.
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall
The Sydney Dance Company under the leadership of Graeme Murphy during the late 20th century has also gained acclaim. The Sydney Theatre Company has a regular roster of local plays, such as noted playwright David Williamson, classics and international playwrights.
In 2007, New Theatre (Newtown) celebrates 75 years of continuous production in Sydney. Other important theatre companies in Sydney include Company B and Griffin Theatre Company. From the 1940s through to the 1970s the Sydney Push, a group of authors and political activists whose members included Germaine Greer, influenced the city\'s cultural life.
The National Institute of Dramatic Art, based in Kensington, boasts internationally famous alumni such as Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Baz Luhrmann and Cate Blanchett. Sydney\'s role in the film industry has increased since the opening of Fox Studios Australia in 1998. Prominent films which have been filmed in the city include Moulin Rouge!, Mission Impossible II, Star Wars episodes II and III, Superman Returns, Dark City, Dil Chahta Hai, and The Matrix. Films using Sydney as a setting include Finding Nemo, Strictly Ballroom, Mission Impossible II, Muriel\'s Wedding, and Dirty Deeds. As of 2006, over 2
