The City of Sydney is the local government area (LGA) encompassing the Sydney central business district (CBD) and the surrounding inner city suburbs of Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by an Act of Parliament in 1842, the City of Sydney is the oldest, and the oldest-surviving, local government authority in New South Wales, and the second-oldest in Australia, with the City of Adelaide being older by two years.
Given its prominent position, historically, geographically, economically and socially, the City of Sydney has long been a source of political interest and intrigue. As a result of this, the boundaries, constitution and legal basis of the council have changed many times throughout its history, often to suit the governing party of the State of New South Wales. The City of Sydney is currently governed under the City of Sydney Act 1988, which defines and limits the powers, election method, constitution and boundaries of the council area. On 6 February 2004, the former local government area of the City of South Sydney, which itself had been created in 1989 from areas formerly part of the City of Sydney (including Alexandria, Darlington, Erskineville, Newtown and Redfern), was formally merged into the City of Sydney and the current city boundaries date from this merger.
The leader of the City of Sydney is known as the Lord Mayor of Sydney, currently held since 27 March 2004 by Clover Moore, who also served concurrently as the state Member of Parliament for Sydney and Bligh from 1988 to 2012.
History
The name Sydney comes from "Sydney Cove" which is where Governor Arthur Phillip established the first British settlement, after arriving with the First Fleet. On 26 January 1788, he named it after Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, who was the Home Secretary at the time, and the man responsible for the plan for the convict colony in Australia.
The "City of Sydney" was established on 20 July 1842 by the New South Wales Government under the City of Sydney Act 1842 No. 16a. The area encompasses present-day Woolloomooloo, Surry Hills, Chippendale and Pyrmont, an area of 11.65 km2. There were six wards established by boundary posts. These wards were: Gipps, Brisbane, Macquarie, Bourke, Cook and Phillip. A boundary post still exists in front of Sydney Square.
The boundaries of the City of Sydney have changed fairly regularly since 1900. The bankrupt Municipality of Camperdown was merged with the city in 1909. As a result of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, the municipalities of Alexandria, Darlington, Erskineville, Newtown, Redfern, The Glebe, Waterloo, and Paddington were added to the city. In 1968 the boundaries were changed and many of these suburbs moved to be part of a new municipality of South Sydney. South Sydney was brought back into the city in 1982, but became separate again under the City of Sydney Act of 1988 and then became smaller than its original size at 6.19 km2. It grew again in February 2004 with the merger of the two council areas, and now has a population of approximately 170,000 people.
These changes in boundaries have often resulted in control of the council by the governing party in the Parliament of New South Wales at the time; the Labor Party often sought to have traditional working-class suburbs like Redfern, Erskineville, Alexandria and Waterloo included in the council area, and the Liberal Party and its predecessors often desired a smaller council area focused on inner-Sydney or a limited/broader voting franchise. A 1987 re-organisation initiated by a Labor state government and completed in 1989 under a Liberal Coalition government saw the City of Sydney split again, with southern suburbs forming the City of South Sydney, a moved that advantaged the government of the day, as the southern suburbs now in South Sydney Council had traditionally voted Labor.
On 8 May 2003 the Labor state Government partially undid this change, when approximately 40% of the South Sydney City Council area was merged back into the City of Sydney including Camperdown, Chippendale, Darlington, East Sydney, Kings Cross and Woolloomooloo. Glebe was also transferred back from Leichhardt Council to the City of Sydney. On 6 February 2004, the remaining parts of the South Sydney City Council were merged into the City of Sydney. Critics claimed that this was performed with the intention of creating a "super-council" which would be under the control of Labor, which also controlled the NSW Government. Subsequent to this merger, an election took place on 27 March 2004 which resulted in the independent candidate Clover Moore defeating the high-profile Labor candidate, former federal minister Michael Lee and winning the position of Lord Mayor.
Boundary The current City of Sydney Local Government Area (LGA) covers about .
City of Sydney provides an official map of the LGA. Alternatively the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales provides an interactive map of the Sydney LGA.
Historical boundaries The City of Sydney is traditionally the governing authority for Sydney's city centre. However, the boundaries of the City of Sydney have always been larger than the city centre or CBD. For example, Pyrmont has been in the City of Sydney since 1842 but is usually considered to be an inner western suburb, not a part of the Sydney city centre or CBD.
The postcode zone 2000 is also roughly correlative with the city centre.
Local Government Area The City of Sydney local government area covers about . The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales defines suburbs as a named geographical area with defined boundaries. A suburb is also known as a locality in rural areas.
Suburbs Suburbs within or partially within the City of Sydney are:
Alexandria Barangaroo Beaconsfield Camperdown (shared with Inner West Council) Centennial Park (shared with City of Randwick) Chippendale Darlinghurst Darlington Dawes Point Elizabeth Bay Erskineville Eveleigh Forest Lodge Glebe Haymarket Millers Point Moore Park Newtown (shared with Inner West Council) Paddington (shared with Municipality of Woollahra) Potts Point Pyrmont Redfern Rosebery (shared with Bayside Council) Rushcutters Bay St Peters (shared with Inner West Council) Surry Hills Sydney CBD The Rocks Ultimo Waterloo Woolloomooloo Zetland
Localities Localities in the City of Sydney are:
Broadway Central Park Chinatown Circular Quay Darling Harbour The Domain East Sydney Garden Island Goat Island Golden Grove Green Square Kings Cross Macdonaldtown Railway Square Strawberry Hills St James Wynyard
Urban Places Urban places:The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales defines an urban place as a place, site or precinct in an urban landscape, the name of which is in current use, but the limits of which have not been defined under the address locality program.
Argyle Cut Centennial Parklands Entertainment Quarter Central Chinatown Church Hill Circular Quay Darling Island Darling Square East Sydney Equality Green Fox Studios Gallows Hill Glebe Point Golden Grove Herald Square Jack Mundey Place Kings Cross Macdonaldtown Queens Square Shakespeare Place Strawberry Hills Taylor Square The Hungry Mile The University of Sydney Three Saints Square Town Hall Walsh Bay Wynyard
Demographics At the 2021 census, there were people in the Sydney local government area, of these 52.3% were male and 47.7% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.4% of the population. The median age of people in the City of Sydney was 34 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 7.6% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 9.7% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 25.2% were married and 9.8% were either divorced or separated.
Population growth in the City of Sydney between the 2006 Census and the 2011 Census was 4.57%; with a significant increase of 22.93% between 2011 and 2016; and a more modest increase of 1.56% between 2016 and 2021 likely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. When compared with total population growth of Australia of 8.81% between 2011 and 2016, population growth in the Sydney local government area was almost triple the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the City of Sydney was just under 1.5 times the national average.
The proportion of dwellings in the City of Sydney that are apartments or units is 78.5%, which is substantially different from the Australian average of 14.2%. The proportion of residents in the Sydney local government area that claimed Australian ancestry was approximately half the national average.
Selected historical census data for Sydney local government areaCensus year 2001 200620112016 2021Population Estimated residents on census night LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales 10th 8th 12th% of New South Wales population 2.18% 2.39% 2.45% 2.79% 2.62%% of Australian population 0.73% 0.79% 0.79% 0.89% 0.83%Estimated ATSI population on census night 1,993 1,982 2,175 2,413 3,009% of ATSI population to residents 1.4% 1.3% 1.3% 1.2% 1.4%Median weekly incomes Personal income Median weekly personal income 717 888 953 $A1,241% of Australian median income 153.9% 153.9% 144.0% 154.2% Family income Median weekly family income A$1,204 A$2,273 $A2,524 $A3,057% of Australian median income 117.2% 153.5% 145.6% 144.2%Household income Median weekly household income A$1,819 A$1,639 A$1,926 A$2,212% of Australian median income 105.9% 132.8% 133.9% 126.7%Dwelling structure Dwelling type Flat or apartment61.6% 73.7% 73.6% 77.1% 78.5% Semi-detached, terrace or townhouse22.9% 20.2% 21.2% 19.7% 18.3%Separate house 2.8% 4.9% 4.2% 2.0% 2.1%Other dwellings1.5% 1.0% 0.3% 0.5% 0.6% Unoccupied dwellings10.2% 8.5% 11.2% 11.9% 16.1%
Selected historical census data for Sydney local government areaAncestry, top responses20012006201120162021 No Data No Data English19.3% English 18.1% English 25.1%Australian13.9% Chinese 13.4% Australian 16.8%Chinese9.7% Australian 11.9% Chinese 16.8%Irish8.5% Irish 8.0% Irish10.7%Scottish5.8% Scottish 5.3% Scottish7.5%Country of birth, top responses20012006201120162021Australia41.1% Australia 40.5% Australia 44.0% Australia 39.4% Australia 44.6% United Kingdom5.0% England 4.2% China 5.4% China 9.7% China 7.8%New Zealand3.5% China 3.5% England 4.9% England 4.5% England 4.8%China2.2% New Zealand 3.0% New Zealand 3.3% Thailand 3.3% Thailand 3.0%Indonesia1.9% Indonesia 2.0% Indonesia 2.2% New Zealand 2.6% Indonesia 2.7%Hong Kong1.0% South Korea 1.6% Thailand 2.1% Indonesia 2.5% New Zealand 2.7%Language, top responses (other than English)20012006201120162021Cantonese2.9% Mandarin 3.7% Mandarin 5.1% Mandarin 9.9% Mandarin 8.6%Mandarin2.2% Cantonese 3.3% Cantonese 3.2% Thai 3.2% Cantonese 2.8%Indonesian1.6% Indonesian 1.7% Thai 2.1% Cantonese 2.9% Thai 2.8%Greek1.5% Korean 1.6% Indonesian 1.9% Indonesian 2.2% Spanish 2.4%Russian1.2% Greek 1.3% Korean 1.6% Spanish 1.7% Indonesian 2.1%Religious affiliation, top responses20012006201120162021No Religion19.0% No Religion 23.7% No Religion 33.6% No Religion 43.2% No Religion 51.0%Catholic18.4% Catholic 18.3% Catholic 19.0% Not Stated 15.8% Catholic 15.2%Anglican11.1% Anglican 10.0% Anglican 9.0% Catholic 15.4% Not Stated8.4%Buddhism4.2% Buddhism 5.2% Buddhism 6.5% Buddhism 7.0% Buddhism 6.5%Eastern Orthodox2.7% Eastern Orthodox 2.6% Eastern Orthodox 2.6% Anglican 5.8% Anglican 4.9%
2001 Census data comprise the sum of the former South Sydney and the former Sydney local government areas with the addition of localities Glebe and Forest Lodge.
Council
Current composition and election method