Totally Findable Tourist Caches
Welcome to Sydney
This series of geocaches is designed primarily with visitors to Sydney in mind who may have limited time and transport options and want a quick and easy find while out enjoying some sightseeing around this beautiful city.
All cache containers will be one of three types; a flat magnetic key case (MKC), a round film canister (FC or MFC for magnetic) or a fake rock (FR).
The hint will indicate the type of container used and will be very specific to help you find the cache easily. If you want a challenge to find this cache and don't wish to know exactly where it's hidden, do not look at the hint.
At each location you’ll be given some information about the site you are visiting.
Enjoy!
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The redeveloped Darling Harbour
Image: Dictionary of Sydney
For more than 7,000 years the Darling Harbour precinct was a frontier; a boundary between the Wangal and Gadigal clans of the coastal Eora people who used the harbour for food and transport up the Parramatta River. The Eora people called Darling Harbour ‘Tumbalong’, meaning a place where seafood is found. The shores were littered with the remnants of oyster shells and other shellfish remains accumulated over thousands of years; and it is this that led the Europeans to call the area Cockle Bay. In 1826 the area was renamed to Darling Harbour when Governor Ralph Darling enshrined his own name in Sydney’s history.
As Sydney grew, this area became the hub of commercial activity with a myriad of wharves, shipyards, warehouses and factories located here. For much of the nineteenth century, wheat, wool, coal and timber were the principal cargoes to pass across the wharves. In 1855, a railway line was built to Central Station and was part of the first railway lines in New South Wales. A major railway goods yard was established on the Ultimo side of the harbour in the 1870s. In 1874, the world's first full iron wharf was built where Tumbalong Park now stands. The Iron Wharf was considered one of the great engineering feats of the time and was the largest steel structure in the world until the construction of the Eiffel Tower.
Railway Goods Yard
Image: darlingharbour.com
In 1984 the premier of NSW, Neville Wran, announced the Government's decision to redevelop Darling Harbour and "return it to the people of Sydney" in time for Australia’s 1988 bicentennial celebrations. Queen Elizabeth II formally opened Darling Harbour on 4 May 1988. Sydney Aquarium was the first attraction to open and was soon followed by a host of museums, shops, restaurants, hotels and bars, as the precinct became a different kind of heartbeat for Sydney.
Darling Harbour and Pyrmont Bridge early 1900s
Image: Flickr
Information source: NSW Government Darling Harbour