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Sydney is a young, vibrant city that throws together innumerable groups and cultures. From corporate climbers to degenerate boozers, sports nuts, surfers and artists, the whole world is here.

The Sydneysider is not afraid of change, quick to challenge pomposity and endowed with a healthy spirit of self-belief. But, this is also a fashion conscious city, and Melbourners may tell you that Sydneysiders are flash and brash; more style than substance.

The city’s cultural links to Britain have dissipated with immigration surges from other parts of the world. The original colonists wanted to prove they were worthy of the mother country, but with federation came a budding sense of nationhood.

After the second world war, Australia welcomed settlers from Europe. Most of these first arrived and settled in Sydney, and the city’s culture was forever altered with large groups of Greeks, Lebanese, Maltese and Italians. A large Jewish community grew up around the Great Synagogue. The late 20th century saw increasing immigration from Asia – a trend that began when Chinese migrants arrived during the 19th century gold rush. Each of these has left a mark on the city, from the Italian speaking shops of Leichhardt, to central Sydney’s Chinatown. Today you will find Lebanese communities scattered across Bankstown, Punchbowl and Lakemba. Cabramatta is home to many Vietnamese and the Chinese, Greeks and Italians are found everywhere.

The original inhabitants of Australia, the Aborigines, have their own culture, which developed over tens of thousands of years. They refer to the creation of the world as ‘Dreamtime’ (when their ancestors rose from the land to become one with nature). Aboriginal people place a profound importance on reliving and recording Dreamtime and ancestral events through traditional song, dance and rituals.