Sydney rock engravings, carvings and rock art remain visible in the Hawkesbury sandstone of the Sydney basin.[10] A Direct North General View of S

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History
Main article: History of Sydney

Radio carbon dating suggests that the Sydney region has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years.[7]

The traditional indigenous inhabitants of Sydney Cove are the Cadigal people, whose land once stretched from south of Port Jackson to Petersham.[8] While estimates of the population numbers before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 remain contentious, approximately 4,000–8,000 Aboriginal people lived in the Sydney region before contact with British settlers. The British called the indigenous people the "Eora",[9] because being asked where they came from, these people would answer: "Eora", meaning "here", or "from this place" in their language.[8] 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, inhabitants of the City of Sydney, spoke a coastal dialect of Darug), Dharawal and Guringai. Each clan had a territory, the location of each 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.[10]
A Direct North General View of Sydney Cove, painted by convict and artist Thomas Watling in 1794

In 1770, British sea captain Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. It is here that Cook made first contact with an Aboriginal community known as the Gweagal.[11] 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 north along the coast, at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. The official proclamation of the founding and naming of Sydney took place nearly two weeks later on 7 February 1788. The original name was intended to be Albion, but Phillip named the settlement after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, in recognition of Sydney's role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish the colony.[12]