Dr Sarah Hill

Caitlin Morrissey

So, Sarah, what is the DNA of Sydney?

Sarah Hill

Well, let me say there's a number of components that make up the DNA of our great city, Greater Sydney. The first really critical one very much is its climate and its landscape. And indeed, Greater Sydney has this incredible array of climates from the surf, really, to the snow, from the surf of our eastern coast to the Blue Mountains that are quite literally blue in colour owing to the eucalyptus oil from the trees but also covered in snow during the wintertime. So a real diversity.

For me, its landscape and its climate are best explained by the sort of hot summer afternoons. And quite often, on a Friday afternoon, you get what we call a southerly change come through to cool the whole city down and a southerly buster, in Sydney language, which is a big wind that comes through and cools the city down by a couple of degrees. But very much it's a city in its landscape, and that's a lot of the things we try to embrace in our planning for it, and its incredible sandstone walls around it and how it very much looks to our waterways, our harbours and rivers. So I'd say the first component of Sydney's DNA is its landscape and its climate.

A second component is really its scale. It's a big city and certainly, to drive across it east to west is a good hour-plus in travel time, likewise north to south. And so very much reflecting a whole array of different communities that live across the city in some very different microclimates and some very different groups and very different sort of cultural groups which make it an incredibly rich and exciting place to be.

I'd say the third element is its history, and we have one of the or the oldest group of humans and communities in the world. And its indigenous history is incredibly rich whether it's the Eora people of the coast of Sydney and the Dharug people who lived within the inland areas of Parramatta and the Blue Mountains. And it's kind of beautifully described by some of the elders as the saltwater country around the ocean and the Eastern Shore, the muddy river country which is our Central River City as we now refer to it around Parramatta, and then the running clear water around the mountains. And so, again, this landscape and water story evolving for our city.

The next and the fourth component is back to that cultural mix I just referred to and its racial harmony today. Indeed, over 40% of Australians were actually born overseas, and about two-thirds of us have one or both parents who were born overseas. So we really are a culturally rich city and one that really embraces that in a very harmonious and happy way.

And I'd say the last thing is we're a pretty stable, democratic city, one that is very organized, and sort of how we've addressed our current challenges of COVID probably really testify to the strength of our government and its focus on city governance.

Caitlin Morrissey

Those are fascinating reflections that lead me onto the question, how many Sydney's are there? And also, what makes Sydney, Sydney, and how would Sydneysiders describe themselves?

Sarah Hill

Yeah, I think there's lots of Sydney's and far from the international view of us being focused around the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and the barbecue. We're far more diverse than that, you know, whether it's from your Greek souvlaki through to your Vietnamese noodles. We are very much a group of people that-- we're pretty tough, we're pretty non-fussed, we love our food, we love our coffee, we love our travel, so there's a lot of commonality across all of us in those positives.

We're also a bit of a nanny state. We like our rules and our regulations here in Sydney, and we certainly have what we call the tall poppy syndrome: don't get too big for your boots in Sydney, or you'll certainly be brought down. So whilst there's a diverse array of us and lots of fascinating communities and groups, there's a lot of commonalities within the DNA of Sydney.

From a city planning point of view, we definitely think that there is a strong Three Cities focus around our Eastern Harbour City and that world-renowned icon of the Opera House and our Harbour Bridge that I referred to. But we're certainly a pretty tough and evolving group within our urban Central River City and indeed our emerging and developing Western Parklands City, which we hope will be as recognised in time as other parts of Greater Sydney.

Caitlin Morrissey

And where do you think Sydney gets its toughness from?

Sarah Hill

There's no doubt our early colonials, our Indigenous people have learnt to evolve, have learnt to survive in a pretty tough climate whether it's learning to work with our environment and using fire in the landscape to survive and to replenish it and to hunt through, to be frank, learning how to grow wheat and crops within the city in the early days of colonials being here just in order to survive. That's definitely within the grit of Sydneysiders: to be tough and to be doers, to be creators, to get on with things and to be non-fussed. And I think that those sort of early lessons come through our generations. But more recently, many of our immigrants to Sydney-- Sydney's a gateway city to the world, and indeed, many of our immigrants come into Sydney as their first point of call and bring with them a lot of the lessons and a lot of the experiences that they have had in other cities, and they bring that resilience, I think, to our communities too.

Caitlin Morrissey

Would you say that this kind of get-up-and-go attitude has led Sydney to become quite an inventive city? And if so, are there any inventions that stand out to you as being really proudly Sydney-made?

Sarah Hill

Yeah, well, there's many. And there's many in a Sydney context that we can talk about, and there's many in a broader Australian context. There's sort of the classics of the Hills Hoist, which for those who don't know what that is, it's a clothesline that has become synonymous with our cities and with Australia. But indeed, Sydney has grown up in many respects and embraced its creativeness and embraced its survival instinct to evolve and be inventive.

We've got world-leading scientists here, whether it's in health and in, certainly, the incredible work that has been done in relation to cervical cancer vaccines, in relation to babies and the support of frozen embryos and ensuring that fertility treatments are improved and supporting that. Our astronomers, incredible inventions and certainly, innovation in astronomy through to quantum computing. And indeed, our Australian of the Year, two years ago, was a world-leading scientist and is really paving the way in quantum computing. And the first quantum bit was discovered in Sydney, and that's really going to pave the way for the future. So really proud of that. And I understand that in February, a team of scientists at one of our most important hospitals in the Southern Hemisphere at Westmead in our Central City were the first in the world to, indeed, successfully grow the live COVID-19 virus from patients. So we're continuing to push the boundaries.

And lastly, I'll say I'm very excited that the CSIRO, our world-leading scientists here in Sydney are really embracing our Western City and just announced that they will be setting up an incredible innovation and science hub there to build on this great invention and great thinking and certainly hope to discover more world-leading ways to support our communities, to support our climate and to progress our thinking.

Caitlin Morrissey

I was wondering if you could reflect on what Sydney does for Australia and what Sydney means for Australia and what Australia sees in Sydney?

Sarah Hill

Yeah, it's a really important question, and particularly given the economic situation we're in at the moment as a country and globally. Sydney is the economic powerhouse of Australia. So a substantial portion, 20% to 30% of the country's GDP is generated in Sydney, so really critical from an economic point of view.

From a cultural point of view, we are a gateway city. So people, their first point of call-- the vast majority come to Sydney when they move to Australia, and indeed, they come here, they get a job, they work for a few years, and then they may then move on to other states, but Sydney is their first experience of Australia. And with that, they bring the richness of their culture and their experience and their skills. So Sydney is really critical in that sense.

Sydney is also a key tourist destination and very much an icon of Australia, very clearly so around its harbour and its Opera House and its Harbour Bridge, but really importantly, its Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, blue in colour because of the eucalyptus oil in the trees. But increasingly so, Australia is seen as and really recognises that rich multicultural community and an example of how we can all live and work and play together in a harmonious way. So really an example for the country in that way.

Caitlin Morrissey

Over time, are you able to kind of identify leaders that have really influenced the way that Sydney has shaped or evolved or managed crises at different points in its history or its more recent evolution?

Sarah Hill

So many, and as all great cities do. And so many visionaries. One that we point to often, and rightly so, is J. J. Bradfield who very much mapped out our city in terms of its transport system and responded to a need at the time for a structure in this city and some pretty forward-thinking infrastructure. So, for example, the Harbour Bridge at the time was designed for a capacity of 10,000 cars a day. It does almost 10 times that in its capacity and its opportunity, so really thinking ahead in terms of the needs of our city, the rail lines and the structure to them. In saying that, we have just secured funding for the first rail line in Sydney that wasn't designed by J.J. Bradfield over a hundred years ago, and that's in our Western Parkland City. So Bradfield's plans really were so forward-looking that we've been able to live off them for such a great period of time.

Looking forward, though, and very much in the present, I think there's some great leadership at the moment in our city as we are dealing with one of the biggest challenges all of our cities are dealing with, with COVID. Our Premier, who has been incredibly resilient over the last 12 months. We've dealt with the most significant drought we've ever had. We've had substantial bushfires, incredible impacts to our air quality and our well-being, as a consequence, then followed by COVID-19. And certainly, the leadership in this city over the last 12 months has been extraordinary to not only get through those incredible shocks and stresses to our city system but to thrive. And we are certainly experiencing incredible resilience by our communities, but incredible international interest in investing in our city because of its stability and its ability to survive and thrive as a consequence of these challenges.

Caitlin Morrissey

Just picking back up on J. J. Bradfield's transport inventions and evolutions, how did the introduction of a transport infrastructure system change the shape of Sydney?

Sarah Hill

So Sydney was traditionally focussed around its harbour because of the water supply. So many of our cities evolve in that way. The broader transport network, of course, allowed people to move out of the city and to live in areas which were better for their health and allowed them to continue to work in the cities, but to live in larger homes out of the slums, out of the poverty-stricken areas, in more healthy environments with green space. And that's something many people still aspire to. And ironically, now we may see a movement back in that direction as people are looking for bigger homes and the backyard and the green space in light of the current health situation. Interestingly, there was then a shift back to people moving back to the CBDs.

But there is no doubt that the rail network was modelled off the Copenhagen Finger Plan whereby you had sort of a series of radial-- in fact, sort of a series of rail lines that extended out of the CBD. Our plan now for the city is to complete that and to actually put a loop around the city from a rail point of view so that we can better connect the north-south connections of the Western City and really give the same transport opportunities for the citizens of our Western City. So that's the next evolution in the thinking of greater Sydney: really building on those strong bones and foundations of our forefathers.

Caitlin Morrissey

Now, I'd like to ask the question about myths: what are the myths that people tell about Sydney and what messages do they capture?

Sarah Hill

I think the classic myth for Sydney that we hear from our American friends is, we've got kangaroos jumping down the main street of Sydney. I can't say that's the case, but to be honest, we do have little wallabies in our bushland areas which are pretty close to our inner-city areas. And indeed, I was in a place called Lightning Ridge a few months ago in the middle of the drought, and there were kangaroos jumping down the street, so it's not as silly as you think, but I do have to debunk the myth. We don't often have them jumping down the main street or across the Harbour Bridge, except in times of extreme drought when they're looking for water.

But all jokes aside, like all cities, there's sort of an array of myths. We have myths around Japanese subs during the war that invaded in our harbour and trying to find sort of the lost Japanese subs. But probably the main myth, which in a contemporary sense, we're all trying to address and to identify and to move forward with, is the myth of terra nullius, that the land was not inhabited, was vacant when colonials arrived. And so I think that's a very important stage of this city of Australia growing up and recognising the wrongs of the past and embracing our indigenous people, supporting them and really supporting the way forward and to address the wrongs of the past.

Caitlin Morrissey

How well does the world understand Sydney, and how does it need to tell its story to the world? Or how is it telling its story to the world?

Sarah Hill

I think the world recognises that Sydney is an incredible city. So many people I talk to, when I'm travelling around the world, are so keen to come to Sydney. The next part of the conversation then relates to the distance away and the perception that it is such an incredible stretch to get here. The time on an aeroplane, 12-, 20-plus hours to get here, I think, really leads to a disconnect between the perception of the city and the ability for people to experience it.

Obviously, in time, those travel times will continue to reduce with new technology and incredible new inventions that are made. And already, we're starting to see tests being done on single flights between London and Sydney, which is pretty extraordinary and really unheralded. So I think that disconnect between what Sydney's like and the reality of experiencing it will be resolved increasingly so over time.

Caitlin Morrissey

Do you think that distance has made Sydney want to tell its story even louder to kind of really convince people that it's worth travelling that distance, putting out its image out there to the world as visibly as it can?

Sarah Hill

I think the distance of Sydney from other cities, other countries has indeed made it more exotic, in many respects, more exciting for many to think about one day getting here - and again, it's that gateway concept of coming to Sydney - and you can then explore broader Australia, which is incredibly attractive. I think it's very much recognised as an attractive environment to come and visit and an opportunity to experience the lifestyle benefits of Sydneysiders as part of that broader opportunity to see the country.

Our challenge now, though, is being more than the beach, being more than the harbour, being more than a barbecue and really enabling the city to grow up and become more sophisticated in its perception and certainly, really selling the story and telling the story of the incredible innovators, the incredible thinkers, the incredible culture we have here and its richness. And I think that's the next evolution of the city. And it's more than an Eastern Harbour City. Indeed, we have three cities. We have an incredible climate, from surf to snow, and we have incredible opportunities from a business and a culture perspective.

Caitlin Morrissey

And thinking about those traits, this brings me onto my second-last question which is, with all of those traits that you just mentioned, as well as Sydney's democratic leadership and exceptional leadership that it's demonstrating at the moment, what does the future hold for Sydney, and what traits would become extremely important as it recovers from the droughts and the bushfire and also, now, COVID-19?

Sarah Hill

I think the incredible success that Sydney has had as a city over the last 12 months and surviving its devastating droughts, bushfires and now the pandemic-- I think this success and survival needs to be something that gives the city confidence: give it confidence that it is resilient, that it is well governed, that its people are strong, are innovative, are survivors in many respects, that can go on to leverage that incredible reputation that we've rightly earned and to really leverage that as the key city in the Southern Hemisphere, somewhere where businesses want to invest, somewhere where businesses feel confident that there are strong governance structures in place and that we are a COVID-safe economy in many respects and where you can have that stability as a business to invest but also an incredible lifestyle for people to live. And our trick now is to really leverage that reputation at the same time as protecting our lifestyle, protecting the benefits of our incredible climate that we have and really keeping that rich Australian culture and Sydney strength that we have.

Caitlin Morrissey

Brilliant. And so the last question now is, is there anything you would have liked to have said if I'd have asked you the right question? Was there anything that you had in mind that you wish you could have said?

Sarah Hill

That's a good question. No, I don't think so. I was just going to talk about sort of the mix of-- when we talk about Greater Sydney, only 20% of it is urban area. The vast majority of it is rural and national parks, you know, so we are a city with a true green belt around it and a blue ocean on the other side. So we're pretty unique in that way as a city.