Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
INTO THE NEW MILLENNIUM
A booming 1980s economy saw Sydney skyscrapers spring up, while the bicentennial cel-
ebrations in 1988 also boosted the city's ego. The subsequent economic bust in 1989 left a
number of abandoned construction holes in the city centre, but with the announcement of
the 2000 Olympic Games, Sydney reinvigorated itself and put on a great show for the
world.
Australian indigenous issues have been to the fore over the last couple of decades. In
1992 a landmark High Court case overturned the principle of terra nullius and in a later
court case, the Wik decision declared that pastoral leases do not necessarily extinguish nat-
ive title, and that Aborigines could still claim ancestral land under white ownership. The
implications of this ruling are still being resolved.
In 1997 the damning
Bringing Them Home
report was tabled in federal parliament,
which graphically detailed the harm done to the stolen generation of Indigenous Australi-
ans. A quarter of a million Sydneysiders marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2000,
calling on the government to apologise for the historical systematic ill treatment of Aus-
tralia's first people. It took until 2008 and a change of federal government for the apology
to take place.
Sydney welcomed the millennia with a boom of fireworks and
a combination of excitement and scepticism about the upcoming
Olympics. Once they rolled around, all doubts were dispelled and
Sydneysiders embraced the Games with much passion and good
cheer. The rosy glow lingered long after the flame was extin-
guished, and the effect on tourism to the city has been pro-
nounced.
Riveting
Historical
Reads
The Lieutenant (Kate Grenville)
The Playmaker (Thomas
Keneally)
The 2004 election of colourful Clover Moore as lord mayor
was perhaps a reaction to a growing frustration with state politics.
An independent politician, she came with none of the baggage of
her rivals on either side of Australia's left-right divide. She also
embraces many of the issues for which Sydney is famed, such as
environmental sustainability and gay rights.
Oscar & Lucinda (Peter Carey)
The Harp in the South (Ruth
Park)
In the 2011 state elections, the Liberal-National Coalition celebrated a landslide win over
Labor who had been in power for the previous 16 years (but had been through four leaders
since 2008). When it comes to politics, Sydneysiders are a cynical bunch, and many view
both major political parties with similar mistrust.
