This is a view of Melbourne taken from across the bay at Williamstown. Yes these Black Swans really do live there.

HISTORY OF MELBOURNE

Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman and a group of businessmen who bought land from the local Aborigines for some trinkets.

It was named, in 1837, after the British Prime Minister at the time: Lord Melbourne.

Sydney

THE CITY

Sydney is Australia's oldest and largest city. About 3.8 million people live in the greater Sydney area. The defining symbols of Sydney are its Opera House and "coat hanger bridge".

Sydney is the commercial capital of Australia.

The people of Sydney came from all over the world.

OPERA HOUSE

The Opera House, situated at Bennelong Point, is an absolutely exquisite building. Its roof-line is meant to symbolise the bellowing "sails" of sailing ships of a bygone era and the spinnakers of the racing yachts that ply the harbour today.

The Sydney Opera House:

• Took 14 years to build and cost $102,000,0000 when completed in 1973.
• Was designed by the Danish architect Jorn Utzon.
• Covers 1.8 hectares (4.5 acres).
• Is 185 metres (611 feet) long, 120 metres (380 feet) wide and the tip of its highest arch is 67 metres (221 feet) above sea level.
• Roofs are made up of 2,194 pre-cast concert sections held together by 350 kilometres (217 miles) of steel cable.
• Roofs are covered with over 1,056,000 tiles.
• Hosts over 3000 events each year with audiences of around 2 million people.
• Has nearly 200,000 visitors on guided tours each year.

THE HARBOUR BRIDGE

The Sydney Harbour Bridge took seven years to build and was opened in 1932.

• The steel used for the bridge weights over 52,800 tonnes.
• There are over 6 million steel rivets in the bridge.
• It took till 1988 to finally pay off the cost of building the bridge.
• It takes 30,00 0 lifers of paint to paint the bridge.

HISTORY OF SYDNEY

The Aboriginal people lived around the area that is now Sydney for thousands of years before the first european settlers arrived in the 1770's.

The area that is now Sydney was named Port Jackson by captain James Cook when he visited the east coast of Australia in 1770. Port Jackson was selected by Captain Arthur Phillip as the most suitable site for the first european settlement in Australia in 1788. He named the place after the British Prime Minister at the time: Lord Sydney.

The colony faced many hardships and near starvation trying to grow crops in this new land. After the initial difficulties however the colony grew rapidly as new migrates arrived in larger numbers.