What is the oldest city in Australia?
Sydney is the oldest city in Australia. It was founded on 26 January 1788, when the First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove and Captain Arthur Phillip established the colony of New South Wales.
Hobart, in Tasmania, is the second-oldest capital city. A British settlement was first established at Risdon Cove in 1803 and moved to the present site of Hobart in 1804.
Other early settlements include Parramatta, founded in 1788 shortly after Sydney, and Newcastle, established as a convict outpost in 1804. Brisbane began as the Moreton Bay penal settlement in the 1820s.
Much older history
Long before these cities existed, Aboriginal people lived in the same places for tens of thousands of years. The Sydney area is the traditional country of the Gadigal and other Eora clans, and evidence of their presence dates back thousands of years.
In Sydney, The Rocks area preserves many buildings from the colonial era. Cadmans Cottage, built in 1816, is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city.
Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth were founded later, in the 1820s and 1830s, as free settlements rather than convict colonies.
Did You Know?
Parramatta is home to Old Government House, built in the late 1790s and early 1800s.