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An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the sails.
Tubowgule, a competition-winning design and a World Heritage listing offer several ways into the story of the Sydney Opera House.
On this page
Tubowgule
The Gadigal are the traditional custodians of Tubowgule, the point where the Opera House stands. In 1790 Governor Arthur Phillip built a brick hut there for Woollarawarre Bennelong, a Wangal man, whose name the point still carries.
Fort Macquarie, completed in 1821, later stood on the point; it was demolished around 1902, and the tram depot that followed was cleared in 1958.
Utzon’s design
Jørn Utzon won the international design competition in 1957. Construction began in 1959, and after Utzon left in 1966 the interiors were completed under Peter Hall and others.
The shells are covered with 1,056,006 tiles in glossy white and matte cream, made by Höganäs AB in Sweden.
A World Heritage building
Queen Elizabeth II opened the building on 20 October 1973. It was added to the NSW State Heritage Register in 2003 and the National Heritage List in 2005, and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
