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1606
|
Crew
of the Dutch ship Durfken, exploring the western coast of Cape
York Peninsula, make the first European contact with Australian
aborigines in March.
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1770
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Lt
Zachary Hicks, on board Captain Cook’s Endeavour, sights the
south-eastern tip of Australia, 20 April.
Cook subsequently drops anchor in Botany Bay on 29 April and
passes Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) on 6 May.
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1788
|
British colony established in Australia
following the arrival of the First Fleet, led by Governor Arthur
Phillip. A flag is raised at Sydney Cove on 26 January.
Disembarkation takes place on Cattle Point or Limeburners Point, now
Bennelong Point. The formal
proclamation of the colony takes place at a parade in Sydney Cover,
February 7.
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1789
|
First
theatre performance in Australia on 4 June, when convicts perform George
Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer in a makeshift hut.
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|
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Governor
Phillip captures 2 aborigines – Bennelong and Colebee. Bennelong
becomes an important intermediary between the settlers and aborigines.
In 1791 a hut for Bennelong is built on the site where the Sydney Opera
House now stands.
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1798
|
Governor
Philip Gidley King establishes a battery on Bennelong Point as a
military fortification.
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1821
|
Governor
Lachlan Macquarie completes construction of Fort Macquarie, designed by Francis
Greenway, on Bennelong Point in January. Macquarie’s emancipating
reforms had threatened the interests of wealthy free settlers. Commissioner JT Bigge was sent to the colony to report on
the Macquarie administration in 1819 and his reports, partly based on
conversations with grudge mongers, were critical of Macquarie.
Macquarie returns to England in 1821 and dies, a disillusioned man, on 1
July 1824.
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1830
|
First
recorded performance under canvas in Australia,
when officers of Her Majesty’s ships Crocodile and Zebra
perform Agnes, or the Bleeding Nun and The Miller and His Men
in a tent theatre at Fort Macquarie, where the Sydney Opera House now
stands, on 8 January.
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1832
|
First permanent theatre
established in Australia, when Barnett Levey opens the Theatre
Royal in George Street, Sydney with performance of Black Eyed Susan
and Monsieur Tonson, 26
December.
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1834
|
Henry
Bishop’s Clari, Maid of Milan, performed at the Theatre
Royal, Sydney, 31 October and is widely credited as being as the first
operatic production in Australia.
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1879 |
Sydney Opera House, a theatre for
comic opera and vaudeville, opens in a warehouse on the corner of King
and York Streets. The theatre undergoes a series of renovations and
reconstructions and is condemned in 1900.
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1902
|
Fort
Macquarie is demolished on Bennelong Point and replaced by a
militaristic looking tram shed.
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1918
|
Jørn Oberg Utzon is born in Copenhagen on 9 April.
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1937
|
The Musical Association of NSW announces in its annual report that it is preparing a proposal on the establishment of a national
house for opera and drama for submission to the Council of Associated
Arts. Daily Telegraph 12 July]
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1940
|
National Theatre Movement of Australia adopts a recommendation by Mr Stuart-Layner that Bennelong Point be made
available as the site for a National Theatre.
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1941
|
WJ McKell, leader of the state
opposition Labor Party, in a policy speech 21 April, urges that
everything be done “to foster a native culture which will express, in
all the arts, not the feelings of other nations, but the aspirations and
ideals of Australian peoples”. He
commits the Labor Party, “when it is in power, to implement the plans
it has formulated for the advancement of New South Wales, of our art,
our literature and our music”, JJ
Cahill, as Labor Premier of NSW in 1954, alludes to McKell’s
“comprehensive scheme for a new Macquarie Street”, involving an
opera house on the corner of Martin Place and Macquarie Street.
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1943
|
The Hon D Clyne, MLA, on 6 January,
suggests to Premier McKell that land in Martin Place, between Macquarie
Street and Phillip Street, be pegged with the view of erecting a
suitable Civic Centre. Consideration of the proposal is deferred until
the post-war period.
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1944
|
The State Public Buildings Advisory
Committee, on 30 March, recommends to Premier McKell the erection of
either a Civic or State Opera House on the King Street end of Macquarie
Street.
. |
|
|
At the request of McKell,
Mr A Max Allen,
the Director of Reconstruction and Development, on 25 October, submits
three sketches prepared by the Government Architect for a National
Theatre adjacent to the State Library of NSW.
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1945
|
At the request of McKell, a joint committee
of the Public Buildings Advisory Committee and the Municipal Council of
Sydney, on 18 [January, consider three plans: drawing 1, which provides
for a National Theatre next to the State Library of NSW; drawing 2,
which provides for s similar building on the Domain, and
drawing 3, which places a National Theatre at the King Street End
of Martin Place. The Committee endorses drawing 1.
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1947
|
McKell becomes Governor-General of
Australia in February 1947 and is replaced as NSW Premier by James
McGirr.
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|
|
Eugene
Goossens, newly
appointed chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, on 2 tells reporters that Sydney should have “a fine
concert hall for the orchestra, with perfect acoustics and seating for
3,500 people, a home for an opera company and a small hall for chamber
music.”
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1948
|
Eugene
Goossens,
on 20 October, twenty five years to the day before the official opening
of the Sydney Opera House, again urges: “We must have an opera house
within five years. Sydney is taking its place among the world’s major
symphonic groups. A fine hall is essential if the public is to hear the
orchestra at its best.. If my plan succeeds Sydney will have, with the
co-operation of those in authority, a great opera house. There is
substantial support for the [Bennelong Point] site and we intend to
follow it up”.
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1951
|
The
NSW National Opera Company, founded by Erik Langker and Clarice Lorenz,
presents its first season of opera.
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1952
|
JJ
Cahill becomes Premier of NSW on 1 April following the resignation of McGirr
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1954
|
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Sep
|
Australian
Elizabethan Theatre Trust is established to develop drama, opera and ballet under the guidance
of HC Coombs (Governor of the Commonwealth Bank), Charles Moses (General
Manager of the Australian Broadcasting Commission) and John Douglas
Pringle (Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald).
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Nov 3
|
Mr
PD Hills, MLA, in
question time of the NSW Legislative Assembly asks the Premier whether
there is a need in the city of Sydney for the establishment of an opera
house. He asks that consideration be given to setting up a trust,
representing the state government, city council and other interests
within the state, to establish, control and operate an opera house. He
also asks the Premier to consider convening a meeting to discuss sites,
finance and other matters. In
reply, Mr Cahill says that has already examined the issues raised. He
reminds that House that provision had been made some years previously
for an opera house to be built. but the war intervened and little
progress had been made. He concurs with a suggestion by Mr HC Coombs (Chairman of
the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust) that the AETT lease a theatre
as the first step towards the establishment of an opera house. The
Premier agrees to Mr Hill’s suggestion that a conference be called.
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Nov 5
|
Mr
Hills,
in his capacity as Lord Mayor of Sydney, proposes Bennelong Point as a
site for a National Opera House. The Council had previously suggested a
site on the corner of College and Liverpool streets.
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Nov 8
|
The
NSW Cabinet
approves the Premier’s submission regarding financial assistance to
the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust for structural alterations and
rental of the Palladium Theatre, convening of a convention to discuss
selection of a site and construction of an opera house, and financial
assistance to the National Opera Company of Australia and its use of the
Palladium Theatre by that company for its season in 1955.
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Nov 29
|
The
Premier
approves appointment of an opera house working party comprising
S. Haviland (Chairman), R. Hendy, Eugene Goossens, Charles Moses
and Professor H. Ingham Ashworth.
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Nov 30
|
Opera
House conference held
in the Lecture Room, Public Library, Sydney, and supports the proposal
for an opera house in Sydney.
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1955
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|
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May 17
|
Cabinet
approves Bennelong Point site.
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Dec
6
|
International
architectural competition announced and architects invited to register
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1956
|
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May 26
|
Sir
Eugene Goossens leaves Australia after being prosecuted and fined for importing
‘1,100 indecent items’ on a 9 March flight back from Europe where he
had been investigating the opera houses of Hamburg and Vienna.
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Dec 3
|
Closing
date for International Opera House Design Competition
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