Sydney

Take a taxi from Sydney Airport and chances are that the driver will not say “G’day” with the broad accent you might expect. Probe¹ a little further and you will probably discover that he was not born in Australia. Like the United States, Australia is a society of immigrants, and Sydney has been a preferred destination for many of these new arrivals. Over the past half century the Anglo-Irish² immigrants who made up the city’s original population have been joined by successive waves of Italians, Greeks, Turks, Lebanese, and, more recently, Asians. This intermingling³ has created a cultural vibrancy⁴ and energy that were missing only a generation ago.

Sydney is a city in a hurry. Compared with traffic in the rest of Australia, Sydney’s is fast and impatient. The more than 4 million people in this city work hard and play harder; moderation is something practiced by the citizens of Melbourne. Sydney has the tallest buildings, the most expensive real estate, the finest beaches, and the seediest nightlife of any Australian city. Most Australians regard its loud, brash ways with a mixture of fear and fascination, although Sydneysiders prefer to think of home as virile⁵ rather than vulgar.

The city’s panache⁶ and appetite for life seem a strident⁷ contrast to the barren, unforgiving continent at its door. In fact, for the average Sydneysider, life unfolds in one of the red-roofed suburbs that surround the city. The outback⁸ is as foreign to most of them as the Mojave Desert is to the inhabitants of Boston. They have embraced Sydney’s harbor with a passion, however. The harbor is a shining gem, studded with small bays and inlets⁹ and crowned by the billowing¹⁰ sails of the Opera House.