Darling Harbour, New South Wales

Darling Harbour from the Pyrmont Bridge

Darling Harbour, a locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. The locality extends northwards from Chinatown, along both sides of Cockle Bay to King Street Wharf on the east, and to the suburb of Pyrmont on the west. Cockle Bay is just one of the waterways that makes up Darling Harbour, which opens north into the much larger Port Jackson.

The precinct and its immediate surroundings are administered independently of the local government area of the City of Sydney, by a New South Wales state government statutory authority, the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.

History

Darling Harbour 1900

Darling Harbour is named after Lieutenant-General Ralph Darling, who was Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831. It was originally part of the commercial port of Sydney, including the Darling Harbour Railway Goods Yard. During the Great Depression, the eastern part of Darling Harbour (Barangaroo) became known as The Hungry Mile, a reference to the waterside workers searching for jobs along the wharves. ^[1]

By the mid-to-late 1980s it had become largely derelict and was redeveloped as a pedestrian and tourist precinct as an initiative of then New South Wales Minister for Public Works, Laurie Brereton. The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour was a venue of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games and a key meeting venue of APEC Australia 2007.

Darling Harbour in 1877.

Darling Harbour as a working port in the early 1980s.

Darling Harbour and Western Distributor freeway under construction in the early 1980s.

Attractions

South Steyne ferry outside the Australian National Maritime Museum

Darling Harbour with the now closed Sega World Sydney in the foreground

The Darling Harbour precinct is home to a number of major public facilities and attractions, including:

• Harbourside Shopping Centre which includes Kingpin Bowling Alley, M9 Laser wars as well as Australia's first retail jet-Flight simulator.
• Sydney Entertainment Centre
• Paddy's Markets
• Sydney's Chinese Gardens
• Tumbalong Park
• Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre
• Australian National Maritime Museum (featuring museum ships including HMAS Vampire)
• Star City Casino
• Powerhouse Museum
• Sydney Aquarium
• The LG IMAX theatre - the largest screen in the world ^[2]
• Sydney Wildlife World
• Aboriginal Centre
• Sega World Sydney (closed in 2000)

Transport

The Darling Harbour precinct is linked to the CBD by the Sydney Monorail by several stations. A ferry wharf near Sydney Aquarium provides access to the Inner Harbour ferry services, which runs services to Circular Quay and other suburbs.

Sydney skyline from Darling Harbour at Night

Redevelopment

East Darling Harbour is part of a massive urban renewal development. Plans for the 18-hectare site include half business and residential developments, while the other half to be reserved for open public space. The state government of NSW declared plans for "Globe Street", a street designed to become Australia's and Asia Pacific's centre for corporate trade (styled on New York's "Wall Street" district). The urban renewal development is not expected to be completed until 2020. East Darling Harbour will be known as Barangaroo.

This area was the site of the Sydney Port Authority and currently features an Overseas Passenger Terminal (Wharf 8) which is mainly used by Pacific Dawn (ship) which is the P&O Australia fleet which was previsouly served by Pacific Sun (ship) which is now based in Brisbane. MS Sun Princess which is operaterd by Princess Cruises also uses this as a home port.

The area was temporarily used for the World Youth Day 2008. It staged several events, among which the opening mass.

In pop culture

Darling Harbour is the location of the season residence on MTV's reality TV show, The Real World: Sydney, which aired in late 2007. The house has a large "Darling Harbour" sign along its edge, and the World Tower high rise building can be seen behind it.

The film Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie, shot in Sydney, featured some scenes filmed in Darling Harbor. Seven's Saturday morning TV Music Show Eclipse Music TV is filmed weekly at the precinct's shopping centre, Harbourside.

Views of Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour as seen from Sydney Tower.	Darling Harbour and the Pyrmont Bridge	Darling Harbour showing the Harbourside complex.	Spiral Fountain, Darling Harbour.
Cockle Bay	Cockle Bay at night	Sydney 2000 Olympic monument at Darling Harbour	View from Pyrmont Bridge

References

1. ^ "Hungry Mile gets minor role". The Sydney Morning Herald. September 12, 2006. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hungry-mile-gets-minor-role/2006/09/11/1157826874231.html. 
2. ^ IMAX Sydney | World's Biggest Screen

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Darling Harbour, New South Wales

• History of Darling Harbour from official website.
• Darling Harbour, New South Wales is at coordinates 33°52′20″S 151°11′56″E / 33.87230°S 151.19896°E / -33.87230; 151.19896Coordinates: 33°52′20″S 151°11′56″E / 33.87230°S 151.19896°E / -33.87230; 151.19896