AUSTRALIA: Sydney Street Scenes

Sydney has a rich history dating back to prehistoric times when Aboriginal Australians inhabited the region for at least 30,000 years. 

The modern European history of the city began with the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships in 1788 when 1,000 settlers (most of whom were convicts) docked on Australia’s shores and began the foundation of a penal colony for Britain. 

A little background and historical trivia for your next cocktail party: 

Britain used to send their convicts to their colony in America. But, after the American Revolution, British convicts were no longer welcome in the former colony. 

British soldiers returned to Britain looking for work after the American Revolution. Unfortunately, Britain was already facing overpopulation and unemployment. 

This crunch of returning soldiers, over population and unemployment created a dire situation with people committing petty crimes while just trying to survive. Britain then had another problem with an overabundance of "convict prisoners". Since there were no prisons many of them were held for years in overcrowded ships docked at ports.

The government's solution was to send the "convicts" to new shores in Australia, for 7 or 14 years, providing free hard labour to build up a new British colony. 

Thanks to them, and free settlers, Sydney today is a major international capital of culture and finance and one of the most important ports in the South Pacific. 

Random shots in this beautiful vibrant city:

Sydney Fish Market:

Shopping in the historical Queen Victoria Building:

Reminders of Britain:

Beaches:

Even on a windy, cloudy and cool day they are still pretty nice.

Those early "convicts" set the city up to be a very nice place for their descendants and new immigrants to call home.