Port
Jackson, also known as Sydney Harbour,
is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia.
It is known for its beauty, and in particular,
as the location of the Sydney Opera House
and Sydney Harbour Bridge. The land around
Port Jackson was occupied at the time
of European discovery and colonisation
by various tribes including the Gadigal,
Cammeraygal, Eora and Wanegal peoples.
The Gadigal people are said to have occupied
the land stretching along the south side
of Port Jackson from what is now South
Head, in an arc west through to Petersham.
The Cammeraygal lived on the northern
side of the harbour. The area along the
southern banks of the Parramatta River,
west of Petersham to Rose Hill, was reported
to belong to the Wanegal. The Eora people
lived on the southern side of the harbour,
close to where the First Fleet settled.
The
harbour's discovery by Europeans is credited
to Lt James Cook in 1770, although he
did not enter it. Cook named the harbour
after Sir George Jackson, Judge Advocate
of the Fleet at the time; he noted in
his log that "there appears to be
a good anchorage". Captain Arthur
Phillip established the first colony in
Australia at Sydney Cove inside Port Jackson
in 1788 which was to become the city of
Sydney. In his first dispatch from the
colony back to England letter noted that
"...we had the satisfaction of finding
the finest harbour in the world, in which
a thousand sail of the line may ride in
the most perfect security...". Geologically,
Port Jackson is a drowned river valley,
or ria. It is 19 km long with an area
of 55 sq km. The estuary's volume at high
tide is 562,000 megalitres. The perimeter
of the estuary is 317 kilometres. It is
regarded as the Worlds largest natural
Harbour, the 2nd being Poole harbour.
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