Barangaroo's story spans 7,000 years, but the transformation you see today begins much earlier in Sydney's colonial story. This headland was once part of the spectacular ring of bluffs that encircled Sydney Harbour — a natural fortress of sandstone cliffs rising dramatically from the water. The Gadigal people of the Eora Nation knew this land intimately for millennia before European arrival. But everything changed in the 19th century. By the mid-1800s, the headland began to disappear — quite literally carved away to make room for wharves and maritime infrastructure. The Millers Point Gasworks arrived, bringing the first gas lighting to Sydney. Then came the docks. By the 1960s, this entire site had been flattened into a vast, featureless concrete container terminal, one of the world's largest shipping hubs. The headland — that magnificent natural feature — was gone. For decades it remained a dead zone: an industrial wasteland, unwelcoming and disconnected from the city. But in the early 2000s, Sydney's vision shifted. The New South Wales Government committed to reimagining Barangaroo as something entirely different. Not just erasing the past, but honoring it while creating something new. The reserve opened to the public in 2015 — a remarkable achievement that took years of environmental remediation and careful planning. Today, 75,000 native trees and shrubs grow where concrete once stretched endlessly. The place has been reborn, reconnecting Sydney's people with their harbour and their history. It's one of the most significant urban renewal projects in the city's recent memory.