Ecology of Sydney

[13] Most of the North Shore and inland areas featured sclerophyll forests and woodlands filled with eucalypts of many different species, ranging in different heights, and growing at immensely contrasting densities.

[13] First Fleet surgeon George Worgan described the environment of Sydney, particularly its terrain:[13] ...We meet with, in many parts, a fine black soil; luxuriantly covered with grass, & the Trees at 30 or 40 yards [27–37 m] distant from each other, so as to resemble Meadow land, yet these spots are frequently interrupt[ed] in their Extent by either a rocky, or a sandy, or a swampy surface, crowded with large trees, and almost impenetrable from Brushwood which being the case will necessarily require much Time and Labour to cultivate any considerable space of land together.In 1819, British settler William Wentworth described Sydney's vegetation and landform in great detail: The colony of New South Wales possesses every variety of soil, from the sandy heath, and the cold hungry clay, to the fertile loam and the deep vegetable mould.

An endless variety of hill and dale, clothed in the most luxuriant herbage, and covered with bleating flocks and lowing herds, at length indicate that you are in regions fit to be inhabited by civilized man.

A rich loam resting on a substratum of fat red clay, several feet in depth, is found even on the tops of the highest hills, which in general do not yield in fertility to the valleys.

[15] In 1787, Arthur Bowes Smyth from the First Fleet described the landscape in a favourable manner:[13] ...fresh terraced, lawns and grottos with distinct plantations of the tallest and most stately trees I ever saw in any nobleman's grounds in England, cannot excel in beauty those whose nature now presented to our view.

The singing of the various birds among the trees, the flight of the numerous parraquets, lorrequets, cockatoos and macaws, made all around appear like an enchantment; the stupendous rocks from the summit of the hills and down to the very water's edge hang'g over in a most awful way from above, and form’g the most commodious quays by the water, beggard all description.Captain John Hunter, who criticised Sydney for having "poor, sterile soil, full of stones", had a more positive view of Rosehill's and Parramatta's landscape, which are further west, for having arable lands, stating:[13] ...But near, and at the head of the harbour, there is a very considerable extent of tolerable land, and which may be cultivated without waiting for its being cleared of wood; for the trees stand very wide of each other, and have no underwood: in short, the woods on the spot I am speaking of resemble a deer park… but the soil appears to me to be rather sandy and shallow, and will require much manure to improve it… however, there are people… who think it good land… The grass upon it is about 3 feet [nearly a metre] high, very close and thick; probably farther back there may be very extensive tracts of this kind of country…Another First Fleet surgeon, Arthur Bowes Smyth, also acknowledged the beauty of scenery:[13] The general face of the country is certainly pleasing, being diversified with gentle scents, and little winding vallies, covered for the most part with large spreading trees, which afford a succession of leaves in all seasons.

In those places where trees are scarce, a variety of flowering shrubs abound, most of them entirely new to an European and surpassing in beauty, and number, all I ever saw in an uncultivated state.In 1827, Peter Cunningham described the western plains of Sydney as "a fine timbered country, perfectly clear of bush...through which you might, generally speaking, drive a gig in all directions, without any impediment in the shape of rocks, scrub or close forest.".

Arthur Phillips writes:[13] The appearance of the place is picturesque and pleasing...but something more essential than beauty of appearance...must be sought in a place where the permanent residence of multitudes is to be established.Regarding Phillips' statement, Australian environmentalist Tim Flannery wrote: "The vegetation the early Europeans found growing on the Sydney sandstone both delighted and appalled them...the hungry settlers realized in despair that this magnificent vegetation offered little sustenance".

[13] Upon arriving in Port Jackson, First Fleet lieutenant David Blackburn wrote that Sydney Harbour was "either Immense Barren Rocks, tumbled together in Large Ridges which are almost Inaccessible to Goats, or A Dry Sandy Soil and A General Want of Water".

[59][60] Moreover, possums, bandicoots, rabbits, feral cats, lizards, snakes and frogs may also be present in the urban environment, albeit seldom in city centers.