Sydney Festival, Sydney, Australia New South Wales Media Man Int

Sydney Festial, Sydney, Australia

Websites

Sydney Festival City Of Sydney NSW Communities Arts

Profiles

Sydney Australia Events Art Lifestyle Travel World Directory

Rubber Duck, Darling Harbour - Sydney Festival 2013

News

Sydney Festival: Snow on Mars, by Greg Tingle - 6th January 2011

Folks, the Sydney Festival has started (well at least for journalists, photographers and media types).

An inquisitive and ambitious twelve year-old Waylon wants to be the first man on Mars and he’s shooting for the stars. But with his family constantly moving around he’s falling further behind in his schoolwork, and becoming a NASA astronaut like his hero Andy Thomas seems...well - as likely as finding snow on Mars.

Getting by with a little help from his family and friends, Waylon discovers that although dreams can be difficult to reach there can be tons of fun and excitement in trying to achieve them. Oh, there is snow on Mars!, at least in this production.

Snow on Wars was conceived and designed by Kim Carpenter and written by Richard Tulloch. Snow on Mars is an inspiring adventure that blasts off with aerial performers, actors, music and songs, making it perfect for audiences of all ages.

The show goes for approximately 15 minutes and parking and public transport is nearby, with the venue just being off to the side of City Rd and Cleveland Streets, Sydney.

Director: Gale Edwards

Company production and special thanks to: The University Of Sydney, City Of Sydney, Kim Carpenter's Theater Of Image - Sydney Theatre For Families, and Emma Collison Publicity and Icon Images

Venue: York Theater - Seymore Theatre Centre

Dates: January 7th to 16th January 2011

Rating 4 out of 5 stars (just don't expect Star Wars of War Of The Worlds, and you will leave a happy little space explorer)

*Photos by Eva Rinaldi Photography

Websites

Sydney Festival http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au

Sydney Festival - Snow On Mars http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2011/Family/Snow-on-Mars

YouTube.com feature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZYwtMn2kGs

Human Statue Bodyart - photography http://www.humanstatuebodyart.com.au/photography

Eva Rinaldi Photography http://www.evarinaldi.com

Icon Images http://www.iconimages.com.au

Media Man Int http://www.mediamanint.com

News

The Sydney Festival's US flavour - 4th January 2010
(Credit: AAP)

Hollywood heavyweight John Malkovich, country crooner Emmylou Harris and hip hop act Arrested Development will all help lend the 2011 Sydney Festival a distinctly American flavour as the annual cultural celebrations kick off on this weekend.

The January festival, which is in its 34th year, will begin in style on Saturday with the Festival First Night - an evening of free events in which Sydney will be transformed into an "epic theatre of music, drama and grand illusion".

American country singer Emmylou Harris is scheduled to give her first Australian performance in more than a decade, and US hip hop act Arrested Development are also set to impress first night audiences.

Advertisement: Story continues below
Later in the month, actor John Malkovich's appearance on stage at the Sydney Opera House is sure to become one of the headline events of the festival's calendar.

In joint production with the Sydney Symphony, Malkovich will play the "master scoundrel of seduction" Giacomo Casanova in The Giacomo Variations.

Festival director Lindy Hume has promised the festival will be "bold, whimsical and slightly eccentric", much like the city which houses it.

"With big colourful bursts of existential angst and crazy, abandoned love," said Hume, who is directing the festival for the second year.

The 2011 festival program celebrates the role of stories and storytelling in contemporary society.

More than a million people are expected to be attracted to the harbour city to attend the event, which runs from January 8 to 30.

Hundreds of shows will be performed on stages, buildings and balconies across the city, including a Paul Kelly show, Offspring star Eddie Perfect's new musical comedy Misanthropology and swing dancing at Sydney's Town Hall.

For more details of the festival and for ticketing information, visit www.sydneyfestival.org.au

Profile

The Sydney Festival program is Australia’s premier arts and cultural festival taking place in January each year.

The program comprises around 300 performances and 80 events performed by over 1000 artists in at least 20 venues across Sydney.

Its opening night alone attracts over one million people. This event’s contemporary programming positions it at the forefront of arts practice in Australia and up there with the great festivals of the world.

Sydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks. The festival attracts an estimated 1 million people to its ticketed shows and large-scale free outdoor events.

History

Sydney Festival was established by the Sydney Committee, the NSW State Government and the City of Sydney with a view to attracting people into the city centre during the summer holiday month of January. In many ways it is probably still best understood as a celebration of Sydney and what the city has to offer. Attendees are predominantly Sydneysiders with a growing national and international audience.

For three weeks the Festival offers a program of around 300 performances and 80 events involving more than 1000 artists from Australia and abroad covering dance, theatre, music, visual arts, cross media and forums. In any given year, the program's diversity might include burlesque circus to New York rap to Russian theatre; from contemporary dance to family programs to traditional Indigenous arts practice. The Festival uses at least 20 venues including the city's main theatre venues such as Sydney Theatre, CarriageWorks, City Recital Hall and venues at Sydney Opera House, as well as community halls, parks and the city steets themselves.

Sydney Festival presents a number of large-scale free outdoor events including the long-running Concerts in The Domain with, each attracting up to 80,000 people.

Since 2008 the Festival's free opening event is Festival First Night, attracting approximately 250,000 people into the city centre. With up to seven stages set-up in the city's closed streets, parks and laneways, Festival First Night features up to 500 local and international performers, many of who are part of the Festvial program. Over the past three years, performers at Festival First Night include: Brian Wilson, Grace Jones, Al Green, Sharon Jones & The Dapkings, Pink Martini, Santagold, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, The Cat Empire, The Manganiyar Seduction, Dan Zanes & Friends, Spanish Harlem Orchestra and many more.

The Festival has a history of presenting Australian premieres and many of Australia's most memorable productions such as Cloudstreet have resulted from Sydney Festival's commitment to nurture local artists. It has brought many of the world's great artists to Sydney for the first time including: Ariane Mnouchkine and Thèâtre du Soleil (Flood Drummers), Robert Wilson (The Black Rider), Robert Lepage (Far Side of the Moon, The Andersen Project, Lipsynch), George Piper Dances, Netherlands Dance Theatre, James Thiérrée (Junebug Symphony, Au Revoir Parapluie), Philip Glass, Ian McKellen (Dance of Death), Batsheva Dance Company, National Theatre of Scotland (Black Watch, Aalst), Christopher Wheeldon Company, All Tomorrow's Parties, Al Green, Katona Jozsef Theatre, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, The National, Sufjan Stevens and Joanna Newsom.

The Festival's inclusive programming, broad range of free events and accessible pricing policies for the ticketed shows means that Sydney Festival is open to all, welcoming Sydneysiders and visitors alike. Within the program there is always a group of shows - all about an hour long - with $30 tickets. Tickets to all performances are available on the day for only $25 at the Tix for Next to Nix booth in Martin Place in the heart of Sydney's CBD.

Sydney Festival's total audience of approximately 1 million across all of its events makes it the most attended cultural event in Australia.

Sydney Festival Program

As an indication of Festival programming, the 2010 Festival included Schaubuhne Berlin's Hamlet, Headlong's Six Characters in Search of an Author, Peter Sellars' Oedipus Rex & Symphony of Psalms, 43 Rajastani musicians in The Manganiyar Seduction, Al Green, Shaun Parker's Happy As Larry, Fabulous Beast's Giselle, Circus Oz' Barely Contained, Red Leap Theatre's The Arrival, John Cale, Grizzly Bear, Medeski Martin & Wood, Laura Marling, Patrick Watson and many more.

The free program for Sydney Festvial 2010 included an outdoor concert by Indian superstar AR Rahman (with an audience of 50,000 people); Summer Sounds in The Domain with Toumani Diabate; Symphony in The Domain with Sydney Symphony; Mazda Opera in The Domain with Leonard Bernstein's Candide; and the much-loved annual AAMI Ferrython on with four Sydney ferries racing on Sydney Harbour.

The Festival's late night venues, both presenting contemporary music, are Beck’s Festival Bar and Festival Garden with the latter hosting The Famous Speigeltent.

Festival Directors

Lindy Hume: 2010 - 2012
Fergus Linehan: 2006 - 2009
Brett Sheehy: 2002 - 2005
Leo Schofield: 1998 - 2001
Anthony Steel: 1995 - 1997
Stephen Hall: 1977 - 1994 (Credit: Wikipedia)

Festival First Night - 8th January 2011

The heart of Sydney will be transformed into a magical wonderland for Festival First Night – and you’re all invited to catch some of the biggest names in the Festival for free!

Bring the kids in the afternoon to sing and dance with Lah-Lah’s big band or be wowed by circus company Circa. Bring your ukulele and join some massive music making.

In the evening, Hyde Park will be reborn as a vaudevillian playground. Catch a peek of Eddie Perfect’s new musical comedy Misanthropology and groove to Nashville’s The Dynamites, fronted by soul man Charles Walker. And don’t miss iOTA and the cast of Smoke & Mirrors on the Palm Stage.

At Chifley Square, New Zealand artist Michel Tuffery M.N.Z.M. presents First Contact, a 12-storey high multi-media projection artwork based on Captain Cook’s exploration of the South Pacific. A live soundtrack is provided by DJ NOMAD alongside SouthPacific dancers and drummers.

Over at The Domain Nukkan Ya Ruby celebrates the life and music of Ngarrindjeri singer-songwriter Ruby Hunter, with a line-up including Amos Roach, Dave Arden, Paul Kelly, Renee Geyer, Tiddas, Dan Sultan and more joining Archie Roach to pay tribute to one of Australia’s music legends. Then Emmylou Harris and her Red Dirt Boys are set to dazzle as they traverse Americana, bluegrass, country and folk.

Martin Place will explode with some of the best global sounds, including Hanggai from China’s progressive music scene, Senegal’s Daara J Family and hip-hop collective Arrested Development.

Leave the car at home.
For detailed public transport information visit 131500.info/events or call 131 500 closer to the event. For information on road closures, alternate traffic routes and parking restrictions visit rta.nsw.gov.au or call 132 701 closer to the event.

The City of Sydney is a principle sponsor of the Sydney Festival and is making it easy to get to the festival this year by offering free valet bike parking at Festival First night. Riding a bike is a great way to stay healthy and travel sustainably – so take a better road this year and cycle to the festival.

No BYO alcohol. No glass.
Food and beverages will be on sale throughout the event at St Mary’s forecourt, Hyde Park, The Domain and Queen’s Square. (Credit: City of Sydney)

Media Man does not represent The Sydney Festival

Media Man has reported on The Sydney Festival

Media Man Profile

Sydney, Australia

Sydney is the largest and most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. Inhabitants of Sydney are called Sydneysiders, comprising a cosmopolitan and international population of people from numerous places around the world.

The site of the first British colony in Australia, Sydney was established[6] in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip, commodore of the First Fleet as a penal colony. The city is built on hills surrounding Port Jackson which is commonly known as Sydney Harbour, where the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are featured prominently. The hinterland of the metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and the coastal regions feature many bays, rivers, inlets and beaches including the famous Bondi Beach. Within the city are many notable parks, including Hyde Park and the Royal Botanical Gardens.

In 2010, Sydney was ranked 7th in Asia and 28th globally for economic innovation in the Innovation Cities Top 100 Index by innovation agency 2thinknow. Sydney also ranks among the top 10 most livable cities in the world according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting and The Economist.

Sydney has a reputation as an international centre for commerce, arts, fashion, culture, entertainment, music, education and tourism, making it one of GaWC's Alpha + world cities. Sydney has hosted major international sporting events, including the 1938 British Empire Games, the 2000 Summer Olympics, and the final match of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The main airport serving Sydney is Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport.

History

Radio carbon dating suggests that the Sydney region has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years. The traditional Indigenous inhabitants of Sydney Cove are the Cadigal people, whose land once stretched from south of Port Jackson to Petersham. While estimates of the population numbers prior to the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 remains contentious, approximately 4,000–8,000 Aboriginal people lived in the Sydney region prior to contact with British settlers. The British called the Indigenous people the "Eora", because being asked where they came from, these people would answer: "Eora", meaning "here", or "from this place" in their language. There were three language groups in the Sydney region, which were divided into dialects spoken by smaller clans. The principal languages were Darug (the Cadigal, original inhabitants of the City of Sydney, spoke a coastal dialect of Darug), Dharawal and Guringai. Each clan had a territory, the location of said territory determined the resources available. Although urbanisation has destroyed much evidence of these settlements (such as shell middens), a number of Sydney rock engravings, carvings and rock art remain visible in the Hawkesbury sandstone of the Sydney basin.

In 1770, British sea Captain Lieutenant James Cook landed in Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. It is here that Cook made first contact with an Aboriginal community known as the Gweagal. Under instruction from the British government, a convict settlement was founded by Arthur Phillip, who arrived at Botany Bay with a fleet of 11 ships on 18 January 1788. This site was soon determined to be unsuitable for habitation, owing to poor soil and a lack of reliable fresh water. Phillip subsequently founded the colony one inlet further up the coast, at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. He named it after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, in recognition of Sydney's role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish a colony. The original name was intended to be Albion until Phillip decided upon Sydney.

The International Exhibition of 1879 at the Garden Palace

In April 1789 a disease, thought to be smallpox, killed an estimated 500 to 1000 Aboriginal people between Broken Bay and Botany Bay. There was violent resistance to British settlement, notably by the warrior Pemulwuy in the area around Botany Bay, and conflicts were common in the area surrounding the Hawkesbury River. By 1820 there were only a few hundred Aborigines and Governor Macquarie had begun initiatives to 'civilise, Christianise and educate' the Aborigines by removing them from their clans. Macquarie's tenure as Governor of New South Wales was a period when Sydney was improved from its basic beginnings. Roads, bridges, wharves and public buildings were constructed by British and Irish convicts, and by 1822 the town had banks, markets, well-established thoroughfares and an organised constabulary. The 1830s and 1840s were periods of urban development, including the development of the first suburbs, as the town grew rapidly when ships began arriving from Britain and Ireland with immigrants looking to start a new life in a new country. On 20 July 1842 the municipal council of Sydney was incorporated and the town was declared the first city in Australia, with John Hosking the first elected mayor. The first of several Australian gold rushes started in 1851, and the port of Sydney has since seen many waves of people arriving from around the world.

Sydney harbour in 1932
Rapid suburban development began in the last quarter of the 19th century with the advent of steam powered tramways and railways. With industrialisation Sydney expanded rapidly, and by the early 20th century it had a population of more than a million.In 1929 the novelist Arthur Henry Adams calls it the "Siren City of the South" and "Athens of Australia". The Great Depression hit Sydney badly. One of the highlights of the Depression era, however, was the completion of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932. There has traditionally been a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne since the gold rushes of the 1850s made the capital of Victoria Australia's largest and richest city. Sydney overtook Melbourne in population in the early years of the 20th century, and has remained the largest city in Australia since this time. During the 1970s and 1980s Sydney's CBD with a great number of financial institutions including the headquarters of the Reserve Bank surpassed Melbourne as the nation's financial capital. Throughout the 20th century, especially in the decades immediately following World War II, Sydney continued to expand as large numbers of European and later Asian immigrants populated the metropolitan area.

Economy

As the financial and economic hub of Australia, Sydney has grown to become a wealthy and prosperous city, ranking as the second wealthiest city in the world in terms of per capita purchasing power. The largest economic sectors in Sydney, as measured by the number of people employed, include property and business services, retail, manufacturing, and health and community services. Since the 1980s, jobs have moved from manufacturing to the services and information sectors. Sydney provides approximately 25 percent of the country's total GDP.

The Australian Securities Exchange and the Reserve Bank of Australia are located in Sydney, as are the headquarters of 90 banks and more than half of Australia's top companies, and the regional headquarters for around 500 multinational corporations. Of the ten largest corporations in Australia by revenue, four have headquarters in Sydney: Caltex Australia, the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, and Woolworths. Of the 54 authorised deposit-taking banks in Australia, 44 are based in Sydney including nine of the 11 foreign subsidiary banks in Australia and all of the 29 local branches of foreign banks. Major authorised foreign banks in Sydney include Citigroup, UBS Australia, Mizuho Corporate Bank, HSBC Bank Australia and Deutsche Bank.

Shopping locations in Sydney include Pitt Street, George Street, King Street, Market Street, and Castlereagh Street, shopping complexes such as the Queen Victoria Building and Westfield Sydney, arcades such as The Strand Arcade and Mid City Centre, and department stores such as Myer and David Jones, all of which are in the shopping district in the city centre, a place to find major international brand name labels. Also in the city centre is Chinatown, which includes Paddys Markets, which is Sydney's city markets, a place for bargain hunting.

Outside the city centre there are number of other shopping destinations of interest. Inner eastern suburbs such as Potts Point, Darlinghurst and Surry Hills provide a diverse range of shops for the culturally creative and alternative lifestyle groups that live there, whilst other inner eastern areas like Paddington and Woollahra are home to boutiques selling more niche products. Inner western suburbs like Newtown and Glebe cater more towards students and alternative lifestyles. Double Bay in Sydney's harbourside eastern suburbs is un upmarket area known for its expensive boutiques. Seaside areas, including Bondi Beach in the eastern beaches area and Manly in the northern beaches area, have a retail scene based upon their beach locations, with many surfing and surfer style clothing shops.

Sydney received 7.8 million domestic visitors and 2.5 million international visitors in 2004. In 2007, the (then) Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma established Events New South Wales to "market Sydney and NSW as a leading global events destination". Fox Studios Australia has large film studios in the city.

As of 2004, the unemployment rate in Sydney was 4.9 percent. According to The Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide cost of living survey, Sydney is the sixteenth most expensive city in the world, while a UBS survey ranks Sydney as 15th in the world in terms of net earnings. As of September 2009, Sydney has the highest median house price of any Australian capital city at $569,000, and a median unit price of $400,000. Sydney also has the highest median rent prices of any Australian city at $450 a week.

The Sydney Region accounts for 12 percent (approximately $1 billion per annum) of the total agricultural production, by value, of NSW. Sydney provides 55% of NSW's flower production and 58% of its turf production, as well as 44% of state's nurseries.[61] In 1994-1995 Sydney produced 44% of New South Wales' poultry meat and 48% of the state's eggs.

Culture of Sydney
Sydney hosts many different festivals and some of Australia's largest social and cultural events. These include the Sydney Festival, Australia's largest arts festival which is a celebration involving both indoor and free outdoor performances throughout January; the Biennale of Sydney, established in 1973; the Big Day Out, a travelling rock-music festival which originated in Sydney; the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras along Oxford Street; the Sydney Film Festival and many other smaller film festivals such as the short film Tropfest and Flickerfest. Sculpture by the Sea, Australia's largest outdoor sculpture exhibit, began in Bondi Beach in 1996.

Australia's premier prize for portraiture, the Archibald Prize is organised by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The Sydney Royal Easter Show is held every year at Sydney Olympic Park, the final of Australian Idol takes place on the steps of the Opera House, and Australian Fashion Week takes place in April/May and September. Sydney's New Year's Eve and Australia Day celebrations are the largest in Australia.

A survey based on tracking the frequency of words and phrases in the media, cited Sydney as number 9 on a list of the world's top fashion cities in 2009. The city is the site of the world renowned Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, which occurs biannually, and is home to many of Australia's premier fashion houses. Most international designers have a major presence in Sydney and Australia's Next Top Model is one of the most watched shows on national television.

]Entertainment and performing arts.

Sydney's cultural institutions include the Sydney's Opera House. It has five halls, including a large concert hall and opera and drama theatres; it is the home of Opera Australia—the third-busiest opera company in the world, and the Sydney Symphony. Other venues include the Sydney Town Hall, City Recital Hall, the State Theatre, the Theatre Royal, Sydney, the Sydney Theatre and the Wharf Theatre, the Capitol Theatre and the Lyric and Star Theatres, Star City.

The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is located adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens and serves the Australian music community through music education and biannual Australian Music Examination Board exams. The Sydney Dance Company was under the leadership of Graeme Murphy during the late 20th century. The Sydney Theatre Company has a regular roster of local plays, such as noted playwright David Williamson, classics and international playwrights.

In 2007, The New Theatre celebrated 75 years of continuous production in Sydney. Other important theatre companies in Sydney include Company B and Griffin Theatre Company. From the 1940s through to the 1970s the Sydney Push, a group of authors and political activists whose members included Germaine Greer, influenced the city's cultural life. The National Institute of Dramatic Art, based in Kensington, boasts internationally famous alumni such as Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Baz Luhrmann and Cate Blanchett. Sydney's role in the film industry has increased since the opening of Fox Studios Australia in 1998.

Prominent films which have been filmed in the city include Moulin Rouge!, Mission: Impossible II, Star Wars episodes II and III, Superman Returns, Dark City, Son of the Mask, Stealth, Dil Chahta Hai, Happy Feet, Australia and The Matrix. Films using Sydney as a setting include Finding Nemo, Strictly Ballroom, Muriel's Wedding, Our Lips Are Sealed, and Dirty Deeds. Many Bollywood movies have also been filmed in Sydney including Singh Is Kinng, Bachna Ae Haseeno, Chak De India, Heyy Babyy. As of 2006, over 229 films have been set in, or featured Sydney.

Sydney's most popular nightspots include Kings Cross, Oxford Street, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay and The Rocks, which all contain various bars, nightclubs and restaurants. Star City Casino, is Sydney's only casino and is situated around Darling Harbour. There are many traditional pubs, cafes and restaurants in inner-city areas such as Newtown, Balmain, Leichhardt and Surry Hills. Sydney's main live music hubs include areas such as Newtown and Annandale, which nurtured acts such as AC/DC, Bliss n Eso, Sparkadia, Midnight Oil and INXS. Other popular nightspots tend to be spread throughout the city in areas such as Bondi, Manly, Cronulla and Parramatta.

Tourism
Tourism in Sydney

In the year ending March 2008, Sydney received 2.7 million international visitors. The most well-known attractions include the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Other attractions include Royal Botanical Gardens, Luna Park, some 40 beaches and Sydney Tower.

Sydney also has several popular museums, such as the Australian Museum (natural history and anthropology), the Powerhouse Museum (science, technology and design), the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Sport and outdoor activities

Sydney is well-endowed with open spaces and access to waterways, and has many natural areas, even in the city centre. Within the CBD are the Chinese Garden of Friendship, Hyde Park, The Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens. The metropolitan area contains several national parks, including the Royal National Park, the second oldest national park in the world, and several parks in Sydney's far west which are part of the World Heritage listed Greater Blue Mountains Area.

Sport
Sport is an important part of Sydney's culture. The most popular sport in Sydney is rugby league. The NSWRFL (today known as the NRL) began in Sydney in the 1908 season and is the largest and most prestigious domestic rugby league competition in the Southern Hemisphere. The city is home to nine of the sixteen teams currently in the National Rugby League competition: the Canterbury Bulldogs, Cronulla Sharks, Manly Sea Eagles, Penrith Panthers, Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs, St George Illawarra Dragons, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers.

Cricket is the most popular summer sport in Sydney. The Ashes Series between Australia and England is widely popular among the people. As the state capital, Sydney is also the home of the NSW Blues cricket team in the Sheffield Shield cricket competition. Sydney Cricket Ground and ANZ Stadium here host cricket matches. This city has also hosted 1992 Cricket World Cup and will also host the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Sydney Cricket Ground is at present the only test venue in the city. Plans are going on to accommodate ANZ Stadium as an international cricket venue for Australia.
Sydney is the only city other than Brisbane and Melbourne to have an elite presence in the 4 major football codes of Australia - rugby league, football (soccer), rugby union and AFL. Association Football is represented by Sydney FC and Sydney Rovers FC (from 2011) in the A-League, whilst the second tier competitions NSWPL and NSW Super League provide many players to the A-League. Sydney also hosts major association football events of the national team, the Socceroos, most notably the World Cup Qualifier against Uruguay in 2005. Rugby Union is represented by the NSW Waratahs in the elite Southern Hemisphere Super 14 competition. The Suburban rugby competition is the Shute Shield which provides many Super 14 players. High profile Wallabies games are held in Sydney such as the Bledisloe Cup, Tri Nations matches, British and Irish Lions games, and most notably the final of the 2003 Rugby World Cup against England.

Sydney also has an Australian Football League (AFL) team called the Sydney Swans; with a second team - GWS (Greater Western Sydney) forming to enter the main AFL league in 2012, a woman's netball team (Swifts), a baseball team (Patriots), a field hockey team (Waratahs), two ice hockey teams (Penrith Bears & Sydney Ice Dogs) and a WNBL team (Sydney Uni Flames). The Sydney Kings will be re-entering the NBL competition at the end of 2010.

The NSW Blues rugby league team contests the annual Rugby League State of Origin series against the Queensland Maroons. Large sporting events such as the NRL Grand Final and Bledisloe Cup games are regularly held at the ANZ Stadium, the main stadium for the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Other events in Sydney include the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, the Golden Slipper horse race, and the City to Surf race. Prominent sporting venues in Sydney include the Sydney Cricket Ground or SCG, ANZ Stadium, The Sydney Football Stadium, Eastern Creek Raceway, Royal Randwick and Rosehill Gardens Racecourse.

Media
Media in Sydney

ABC building in Ultimo
Sydney has two main daily newspapers. The Sydney Morning Herald is the oldest extant newspaper in Australia, having been published regularly since 1831. The Herald's competitor, The Daily Telegraph, is a News Corporation-owned tabloid. Both papers have tabloid counterparts published on Sunday, The Sun-Herald and the Sunday Telegraph, respectively.

The three commercial television networks (Seven, Nine, Ten), as well as the government national broadcast services (ABC and SBS) are headquartered in Sydney. Also a community television station, TVS, broadcasts in the Sydney area. Historically, the networks have been based in the northern suburbs, but the last decade has seen several move to the inner city. Nine has kept its headquarters north of the harbour, in Willoughby. Ten has its studios in a redeveloped section of the inner-city suburb of Pyrmont, and Seven also has headquarters in Pyrmont, production studios at Epping as well as a purpose-built news studio in Martin Place in the CBD.

The ABC has a large headquarters and production facility in the inner-city suburb of Ultimo and SBS has its studios at Artarmon. Foxtel and Optus both supply pay-TV over their cable services to most parts of the urban area.

The five free-to-air networks have provided digital television transmissions in Sydney since January 2000. There are also nine additional Freeview Digital Services. These include ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24, SBS Two, 7TWO, 7mate, GO!, GEM HD and ONE HD.

Many AM and FM government, commercial and community radio services broadcast in the Sydney area. The local ABC radio station is 702 ABC Sydney (formerly 2BL).[82] The talkback radio genre is dominated by the perennial rivals 2GB and 2UE. Popular Music radio stations include Triple M, 2Day FM and Nova 96.9, which generally target people under 40. In the older end of the music radio market, Classic Rock 95.3 and Mix 106.5 target the 25–54 age group, while WS-FM targets the 40–54 age group with their Classic Hits format mostly focusing on the 70s and 80s. Triple J (ABC), 2SER and FBi Radio provide a more independent, local and alternative sound. There are also a number of community stations broadcasting to a particular language group or local area.

On 1 July 2009, DAB+ Digital Radio officially started. ABC and commercial radios provide full programing.

Government

Sydney's Local Government Areas
Apart from the limited role of the Cumberland County Council from 1945–1964, there has never been an overall governing body for the Sydney metropolitan area; instead, the metropolitan area is divided into local government areas (LGAs) which are comparable to boroughs in cities such as London. These areas have elected councils which are responsible for functions delegated to them by the New South Wales State Government, such as planning and garbage collection.

The City of Sydney includes the central business area and some adjoining inner suburbs, and has in recent years been expanded through amalgamation with adjoining local government areas, such as South Sydney. It is led by the elected Lord Mayor of Sydney and a council. The Lord Mayor, however, is sometimes treated as a representative of the whole city, for example during the Olympics.

Most citywide government activities are controlled by the state government. These include public transport, main roads, traffic control, policing, education above preschool level, and planning of major infrastructure projects. Because a large proportion of the New South Wales population lives in Sydney, state governments have traditionally been reluctant to allow the development of citywide governmental bodies, which would tend to rival the state government. For this reason, Sydney has always been a focus for the politics of both state and federal parliaments. For example, the boundaries of the City of Sydney LGA have been significantly altered by state governments on at least four occasions since 1945, with expected advantageous effect to the governing party in the New South Wales Parliament at the time.

The 38 LGAs commonly described as making up Sydney are

Ashfield
Auburn
Bankstown
Blacktown
Botany Bay
Burwood
Camden
Campbelltown
Canada Bay
Canterbury
Fairfield
The Hills
Holroyd
Hornsby
Hunter's Hill
Hurstville
Kogarah
Ku-ring-gai
Lane Cove
Leichhardt
Liverpool
Manly
Marrickville
Mosman
North Sydney
Parramatta
Penrith
Pittwater
Randwick
Rockdale
Ryde
Strathfield
Sutherland
Sydney
Warringah
Waverley
Willoughby
Woollahra

The classification of which councils make up Sydney varies. The Local Government Association of New South Wales considers all LGAs lying entirely in Cumberland County as part of its 'Metro' group, which excludes Camden (classed in its 'Country' group). The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines a Sydney Statistical Division (the population figures of which are used in this article) that includes all of the above councils as well as Wollondilly, the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Gosford and Wyong.

Utilities
Water storage and supply for Sydney is managed by the Sydney Catchment Authority, which is an agency of the NSW Government that sells bulk water to Sydney Water and other agencies. Water in the Sydney catchment is chiefly stored in dams in the Upper Nepean Scheme, the Blue Mountains, Woronora Dam, Warragamba Dam and the Shoalhaven Scheme. Historically low water levels in the catchment have led to water use restrictions and the NSW government is investigating alternative water supply options, including grey water recycling and the construction of a seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant at Kurnell. As of May 2009, the plant was 80% completed, and was due to start supplying fresh water to Sydney at the end of the year.

In late January 2010, the NSW government announced that desalination plant was operating and people in different regions were being supplied with desalinated water. There were no complaints or reports about water odour, which people had previously perceived was going to be present.[citation needed] Sydney Water also collects the wastewater and sewage produced by the city.

Four companies supply natural gas and electricity to Sydney: Energy Australia, AGL, Integral Energy and Origin Energy. The natural gas supply for the city is sourced from the Cooper Basin in South Australia. Numerous telecommunications companies operate in Sydney providing terrestrial and mobile telecommunications services. (Credit: Wikipedia)

PartyCasino.com website PartyCasino.com profile PartyCasino.com Slots