1878 Panoramic View of Sydney Harbor, Australia

This is a c. 1878 panoramic view of Sydney Harbor in Sydney, Australia. The view depicts the harbor and its environs from the north shore, with Blue's Point just to the left of center. Beautifully executed, individual buildings, trees, and ships in the harbor are rendered in incredible detail. A smaller sketch used as a key is situated in the upper right quadrant, in which geographic landmarks, such as Ball's head, Goat Island, Waterview Bay, Garden Island, Milson's Point, and Blue's Point are identified. Other sites, including Fort Macquarie, the Outer Domain Botanical Gardens, and Hunter's Hill are also labeled. Thirty other sites around the city, including wharves, works, hotels, Sydney University, the Government Printing Office, and the Custom House, are illustrated in profile and labeled numerically, with the numbers corresponding to an index below this sketch.

Publication History and Census

This view was created by an unknown artist and published c. 1878. We have dated this view to c. 1878 because of the presence of Sydney Technical College, which was established in 1878. This view is extremely rare as we are aware of only one other example.