A sweeping history of one of the world’s most recognised landscapes, Sydney Harbour explores the story of the waterway from the time of the Gameragal and Gadigal to the highly charged contemporary debates about the future of the harbour. The story moves as seamlessly as the tides as the harbour is taken from its traditional owners and transformed from a penal colony on the outer rim of the European imagination to an international commercial hub. Along the way, the waterway is lauded for its uncommon beauty, serves as an aquatic common enjoyed and contested. It becomes a symbol of a city and, finally, of a nation. A beautifully written, compelling book, this updated edition of Sydney Harbour lays out the interaction between the glittering harbour and the people who fish it, sail on it, build at the edges of it, fight for it, portray it, and marvel at it.

Ian Hoskins sailed through the heads of Sydney Harbour as a four-year-old arriving in Australia for the first time. He is now the Council Historian at North Sydney based at the Stanton Library, where he writes about local history and helps to manage two small museums, a heritage centre, archives, and a historic cemetery. He has a PhD in history from Sydney University and has worked at the Powerhouse Museum where he curated social history exhibitions and co-authored What's in Store?: A History of Retailing in Australia 1880–1930.

Introduction 1 The indigenous harbour 2 The unexpected harbour 3 From convicts to commerce 4 A ‘ civilised’ harbour 5 Defending the harbour 6 A harbour of wonder, a harbour of filth 7 Planning the harbour 8 Workers and warriors 9 Modernism and its critics 10 The people’ s harbour Notes Acknowledgments Index