# Greater Sydney

Greater Sydney is the most populous metropolitan area in Australia and Oceania. Located in the state of New South Wales, it encompasses the Sydney city metropolis itself (the state capital) and the surrounding regions. It covers an area stretching from the Hawkesbury River to the Northern Beaches regions in the north, to the Blue Mountains in the west, and the Wollondilly, Campbelltown, and Sutherland regions in the south.
Under the NSW Greater Cities Commission (formally the Greater Sydney Commission), the Greater Sydney Region along with Newcastle, the Central Coast, and Wollongong, will constitute a Sandstone Mega-region that will make-up 70% of the NSW population and 25% of the national population.

## History

A Greater Sydney had been proposed several times prior to its eventual formation, usually curtailed by some form of national crisis. There had been a Labor Party Greater Sydney Bill before the NSW legislature, defeated because of the controversy over conscription during the Boer War. A Bill proposed by William McKell that had stalled in committee failed outright when the Lang government fell. Labor Party proposals of the 1940s fell by the wayside because of World War 2. An early 1960s proposal was opposed by moves to instead create a City of North Sydney, and was quashed outright by the Liberal Party government of Robert Askin in 1965.

## Definitions

In its broadest definition, Greater Sydney covers the city of Sydney in addition to four neighbouring regions: the Blue Mountains, the Hawkesbury, Macarthur and Wollondilly. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Greater Sydney was defined as the city of Sydney itself as well as the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Wollongong (including both the City of Wollongong in the north and the City of Shellharbour in the south).

### Greater Sydney Districts

The Greater Sydney Region Plan defines the five districts that form the Greater Sydney metropolitan area as follows:
Greater Sydney Districts :
| Western City | Central City | Eastern City | North District | South District |
| Blue Mountains | Blacktown | Bayside | Hornsby | Georges River |
| Hawkesbury | Cumberland | Burwood | Hunters Hill | Canterbury–Bankstown |
| Penrith | Parramatta | Canada Bay | Ku–ring–gai | Sutherland |
| Camden | The Hills | Inner West | Lane Cove | |
| Campbelltown | | Randwick | Northern Beaches | |
| Fairfield | | Strathfield | Mosman | |
| Liverpool | | Woollahra | Willoughby | |
| Wollondilly | | Waverley | Ryde | |
| | | City of Sydney | North Sydney | |

### Sydney Greater Capital City Statistical Area

The Sydney Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA) is the definition of Greater Sydney used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). It covers the following level-four statistical areas:
* Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury
* Blacktown
* Central Coast
* City and Inner South
* Eastern Suburbs
* Inner South West
* Inner West
* Northern Beaches
* North Sydney and Hornsby
* Outer South West
* Outer West and Blue Mountains
* Parramatta
* Ryde
* South West
* Sutherland
Therefore, the Sydney GCCSA covers all of Sydney in addition to the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, the Hawkesbury and Macarthur. However, it does not include the Illawarra.

## Gallery

* Greater Sydney Regions and Suburbs