Events

Sydney Opera House on Dipity.

Source of content: State of New South Wales through the State Records Authority, (2003), "Archives In Brief 28 - A brief history of the Sydney Opera House"

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Early History

Before the Opera House took its proud place at the tip of Bennelong Point the site had been used as a hut, a fort with 15 guns and a tram shed. In fact Bennelong Point was not the first name given to this tract of land. In the early years of settelement it was known as Cattle Point because it was the place that the cattle from the First Fleet were landed after an arduous eight-month long journey from England.

View from the western side of Sydney Cove (Circular Quay) looking to Bennelong Point and Fort Macquarie, Lithograph by Adolphe Jean- Baptiste Bayot (1810-1866)

The namesake for the point, Bennelong, is famed for being plucked by Governor Phillip in 1789 to become a mediator between the Indigenous inhabitants and the recently arrived European settlers. Bennelong was provided with a hut to reside at the Point and in his role became a prominent member of the early colony. In 1795, after returning from a trip into London with Phillip to meet King George II , Bennelong adopted European dress and demeanour and in doing so estranged many of his people.

Fort Macquarie at Bennelong Point, c. 1870, Kerry & Co., in NSW State Library Records

Fort Macquarie was designed by Francis Greenway, the colony's first architect who is also repsonsible for the design of Hyde Park Barracks. It was built from convict labour with stone cut from the domain. The fort remained until 1901 when it was demolished to make way for a tram shed that remained until the 1950s.

Construction of the wharf on the eastern side of Bennelong Point, c. January 1950, in State Records NSW Photographic Collection

 An 1830 performance that made history

Bennelong Point is credited with being the location for the first recorded theatrical preformance under canvas in Australia. On January 1830, officers from the ships Crocodile and Zebra performed the colourfly titled Agnes, or The Bleeding Nun and The Miller and his Men. 


Opening Ceremony


The official ceremony proceedings for the opening of the Sydney Opera House on October 20, 1973 nwas presided over by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The fanfare that surrounded the event and the appearance of the Queen was tremendous. In her speech to the eager crowd that gathered on the steps of the House, she declared the House officially opening and tempered this triumphant announcement with aknowledgment of the political furore that surrounded its construction.

The Sydney Opera House has captured the imagination of the world.. though I understand that its construction has not been totally without problems. But every great imaginative venture has had to be tempered by the fire of controversy. Controversy of the most extreme kind attended the building of the Pyramids, yet they stand today- 4,000 years later- aknowledged as one of the wonders of the world. So I hope and believe it will be with the Sydney Opera House.

World Heritage Listing

On 28 June 2007, the Sydney Opera House was enscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. With this formal annoucement came the recognition that the site is of outstanding international cultural significance. It has the honour of being the youngest cultural site to have been included on the list.

Frank Sartor, the standing NSW Planning and Arts Minister at the time of the announcement, summed up the community response when he said:

Today Sydney shares Utzon’s triumph – we have never forgotten what a gift he gave this great city and now the world will never forget it either.

Sartor may well be right, but for the thousands of visitors each year to Sydney who flock to the Harbour to see the famed bridge and Opera House, a World Heritage listing hardly need apply.