The Rocks Unveiled

A journey through Sydney's storied past.

- Devayani Medhekar

As the flight touched down at Sydney International Airport, I felt ecstatic that I had finally been able to keep my promise to myself—that I would return one day to this beautiful and enchanting multicultural city, with its iconic structures, bays, and sandy beaches!

The drive from the airport to North Sydney brought back memories and led to comparisons between what it was then and what it had become. A fast-paced city now, Sydney was once the land of the Indigenous Australians (the Aboriginal people) for about 40,000 years until the arrival of Captain James Cook's voyage in 1770, when Great Britain claimed possession of the vast land, calling it New South Wales.

That I had returned two decades later was of no consequence to me. I was just excited and looking forward to revisiting familiar haunts, reconnecting with friends, and, above all, exploring places I had not been able to see before—primarily the areas with a colourful past that is intriguing, overwhelming, and amazing!

It's a past that is well preserved at The Rocks, the "birthplace" of modern Sydney.

It was here that the fleet of 11 British ships arrived in 1788 and set up a penal colony at Port Jackson (now Sydney) with 1,500 exiled convicts, who inadvertently became the pioneers of the British-Australian settlement. From a lawless convict colony to a highly developed city, Sydney has come a long way.