Sydney Cove is a small bay on the southern shore of Port Jackson (commonly but incorrectly called Sydney Harbour), on the coast of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney Australia Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney Australia For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Named after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, it was the site chosen by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788 (now commemorated as Australia Day) for the British penal settlement which is now the city of Sydney. The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office Thomas Townshend 1st Viscount Sydney ( 24 February 1732 - 30 June 1800) was a British politician who held several important Cabinet posts in Admiral Arthur Phillip RN (11 October 1738 &ndash 31 August 1814 was a British naval Admiraland colonial administrator Events 1340 - King Edward III of England is declared King of France. Year 1788 ( MDCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4

Phillip's instructions were to establish the settlement at Botany Bay, a large bay further down the coast. Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. Botany Bay had been discovered by Captain James Cook during his voyage of discovery in 1770, and was recommended by the eminent scientist Sir Joseph Banks, who had accompanied Cook, as a suitable site for a settlement. Captain James Cook FRS RN ( – 14 February 1779) was an English Explorer, Navigator and Sir Joseph Banks 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS (13 February 1743 &ndash 19 June 1820 was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of But Phillip discovered that Botany Bay offered neither a secure anchorage nor a reliable source of fresh water. Sydney Cove offered both of these, being serviced by a fresh water creek which was soon to be known as Tank Stream. The Tank Stream is a fresh water course which empties into Sydney Cove in New South Wales, Australia.

Port Jackson at sunrise, 2007. Sydney Cove in the foreground.

The Australian writers Flora Eldershaw and Marjorie Barnard (writing under their joint nom de plume M Barnard Eldershaw) wrote in Phillip of Australia (Angus and Robertson, 1938):

"It must have been like entering paradise on that summer afternoon when the sea-won convoy passed through the dun and barren headlands into the untouched harbour - the water brilliantly blue, the shores high and wooded without being precipitous, a scattering of islands, sandy beaches, the trees shimmering under the sun. Flora Sydney Patricia Eldershaw ( 16 March 1897 - 20 September 1956) was an Australian novelist critic and historian Marjorie Faith Barnard AO ( 16 August 1897 - 8 May 1987) was an Australian novelist and short story writer critic . .

"The site of the settlement was Sydney Cove. . . It was one of the smaller inlets, chosen because it had fresh water and good anchorage for ships close into the land. The Governor's working party had cleared a camping ground beside the creek, which stole silently along through a very thick wood, the stillness of which had then for the first time since the Creation, been interrupted by the rude sound of the labourer's axe. . . "

Today both the creek and the wood have disappeared beneath the streets of the central business district of Sydney. The head of the cove is occupied by the Circular Quay ferry terminal. Sydneyferries4JPG|right|thumb| Ferries moored at Circular Quay]]Circular Quay1 On Bennelong Point at the northern end of the eastern shore of the cove stands the Sydney Opera House. Bennelong Point is the location of the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia ( The Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney New South Wales, Australia On the western shore is the historic district known as The Rocks. The Rocks is an inner-city Suburb, Tourist precinct and historic area of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.