Beauty in the eye of the beholder

I’m reading NSW Treasurer’s Dominic Perrottet’s observation that Sydney Harbour’s beauty is holding us back over a cappuccino down at scenic Balmoral Beach. In the background, beautiful people step out of the water as million-dollar boats sail idly by. Expensive cars are parked on the street, driven by expensively groomed people. There are no trackie dacks in sight – only snug-fitting activewear. Even the waitresses are gorgeous. There is beauty as far as the eye can see.

If, as Keats once said, “truth is beauty and beauty truth”, then Perrottet has also hit on a pleasant truth: Sydney, not just its harbour, is indeed beautiful. Sydney is the Zoolander of cities. It is really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking.

Sydney Harbour’s natural beauty is holding the city back, Mr Perrottet says.Credit: James Alcock

Being naturally beautiful is actually a good problem to have. Better to be sexy Sydney than depressing Prague. Better to be stunning than functional like Canberra or stately like Melbourne. And Sydney has the best of both worlds: character and beauty.

Every Sydneysider has a special way of accessing that beauty. Maybe you’re part of the lycra brigade and fancy a scenic ride at 6am. Maybe grabbing some waves at Coogee is more your speed. Maybe you like dining in The Domain or at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Maybe exploring The Rocks or grabbing a coffee at Paddington is your bag. You can choose your own adventure every day in Sydney.

And, yes, the harbour is probably the most beautiful in the world. See Sydney Harbour and die? Perhaps. Whether you’re enjoying it on a ferry – take it from me, the early morning Mosman to Circular Quay ferry ride is breathtaking – or seeing it by foot, train or car, our harbour is truly magical.

And why should we be ashamed of that? The land, the sea, the sky, even the air – that confluence of conditions centred around our harbour is almost unrivalled in the rest of the world. You would have trouble matching it even with a grand plan of Parisian boulevards or a series of New York-style neighbourhoods.

What’s wrong with being naturally beautiful? Sydney is not a plumped-up reality TV contestant in need of a boob job. I agree with Perrottet that we need to diversify Sydney’s beauty and spread it out. Maybe the Cahill Expressway is an eyesore (how exactly do you make roads beautiful?). Maybe the White Bay precinct needs a rethink. Maybe we could use the treasures in our midst better.

Yet Sydney is still beautiful just the way it is. And the rest of the world seems to agree.

Charles Purcell is a Sydney writer.