Sydney to Singapore

Port Jackson is still at the heart of Sydney today, just as it was when the city was first established in 1788.

A view of Sydney's Central Business District with some of Port Jackson's many islands in the foreground.

c. 1920 - Bondi Beach has long been a popular destination for surfers and sun-worshippers.

Sydney's Bondi Beach is one of the most famous beaches in Australia for its broad white sands and great surf.

Sydney's waters can be very busy during the summer months.

A satellite radar image shows the built up areas of Sydney around Botany Bay, at the bottom of the image, and Port Jackson, in the centre.

The famous Sydney Harbour Bridge that links the Central Business District and the North Shore.

From the air it is clear to see how Sydney developed around Port Jackson.

Sydney has spread out around Port Jackson, engulfing the area around Botany Bay that was considered unsuitable for settlement by early colonists.

Sydney Opera House was designed to look like an orange split open. It was built in 1973 and houses venues for many kinds of performance, not just opera.

These sandstone pillars in the Blue Mountains are known as the Three Sisters. They were eroded into their shape by the forces of wind and rain over thousands of years.

While it looks smooth from a distance, the Sydney Opera House is actually covered in more than a million ceramic tiles.

1909 - The Three Sisters are one of the best known sites in the Blue Mountains.

1773 - Map of Botany Bay from the HMS Endeavour's voyage, drawn by Cook.

This scene would have greeted Cook when HMS Endeavour hit Australian soil at Botany Bay in 1770.

Botany Bay's rich plant life led Captain Cook to recommend the area as a new British colony.

1924 - John Allcott's painting of HMS Endeavour, the ship James Cook captained to Botany Bay.

c. 1770 - Captain James Cook, British naval explorer, who unexpectedly discovered Australia on a voyage across the Pacific.

1798 - Map of Botany Bay, Port Jackson and Broken Bay, the first settled parts of Australia.

1948 - Algernon Talmage's painting of the founding of Australia at Sydney Cove by Captain Arthur Phillip, 1788.

1787 - Frank Allen's painting of the Charlotte, one of the ships in the First Fleet.

1790 - Thomas Luny's painting of the HMS Endeavour leaving Whitby Harbour to embark on the voyage that led to the discovery of Australia.

c. 1850 - Thomas Baines's painting of Aborigines fighting white settlers. Aboriginal resistance to the settlers was strong, but it was European diseases that wiped out many Aborigines.

c.1920 - An Aboriginal man showing his tribal scars. Each scar related to a different place that person felt spiritually close to.

1836 - Thomas Baines's painting of Aborigines resisting white encroachment.

c.1850 - Thomas Baines's interpretation of Aboriginal cave paintings.

1906 - Aborigine rock drawings on the wall of a cave. The dog in the foreground provides perspective.

Aboriginal rock engravings of kangaroos in Sydney.

At 1.7 metres long, this engraving of a man in the soft Hawesbury sandstone is an impressive reminder of the region's aboriginal history.

Aboriginal art, ancient and modern, decorates Sydney.

1900 - An Aboriginal man and child with a fresh kill: kangaroo.