The lucky country - Eleven cities

Fire, air and water ... these are the elements of Sydney, the fire of the sun, the freedom of the air, the challenges and diversions of twenty-five beaches on the Pacific and the waters of Port Hacking. Those who see only miles of suburban streets leading away from ocean, bay or river see the form of Sydney but not the way it sees itself. Sydney dreams of surfing, fishing, sailing, swimming in calm bays, lying stretched out in the sun, absorbing heat into the marrow. And it is now at long last taking on some of the feeling of a great city, the first city in Australia to do so. After London, Paris and Berlin, Sydney is now as big as any city in Western Europe and bigger than Madrid, Rome, or Vienna. In American terms, it is about the same size as Pittsburg. Its peculiar flavour is of anarchic difference. Its two and a quarter million people have broken their guidelines. There are no accepted forms in Sydney; it is anonymous; just people following their pursuits, indifferent to others. Sydney does not acknowledge a 'Society'; there are merely claimants to position, who can, if they wish, achieve positions by self acclamation. There are no standards. For a quarter of a century politics in New South Wales have proceeded with a Tammany lack of policy, a mater of deals and pressure groups unadorned by rhetoric and of little interest except to the participants. Sydney's indifference to what others do has achieved tolerance without ideology. In Sydney you see more Asians than in any other Australian city but people seem to take no notice one way or the other. It is Melbourne that speaks up for conscience. But it is also in Melbourne that there can be scare campaigns against migrants. Sydney has dozens of migrant communities where English, at most, is only a second language; but there is no public criticism of migrants and there are no scare campaigns. No one cares. Sydney is indifferent to itself, and to the other capital cities. The other capitals are self-conscious and always aware of Sydney. To people in Sydney this is surprising.