Western Sydney

In recent decades the Western half of Sydney has grown into a second metropolis in its own right, numbering in excess of 1.5 million people and covering something like 300 square kilometres. The region is strikingly diverse, ranging from farming land in the outer north and south-west to sprawling suburbs between and within. Some of the most, as well as some of the least, multi-ethnic neighbourhoods are found within it. Its unity derives mostly from its perceived separation from the eastern half of the metropolis, on grounds of both geography and culture. In recent years, it has also become politically significant as a marker or shorthand for the growing attitudinal separation of the inner and outer suburbs of our major cities.