What is the name of the point where the Sydney Opera House stands?

The point where the Sydney Opera House stands is Bennelong Point. This harbour-side promontory occupies a striking position between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, beside the Royal Botanic Garden and near the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The site was not an accidental choice. Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, argued in the 1950s that Sydney needed a purpose-built venue for opera and orchestral music. New South Wales Premier Joseph Cahill supported the project, and Goossens insisted on Bennelong Point despite alternative suggestions closer to the central business district.

Before the Opera House, the point was associated with Fort Macquarie, a military fort built in 1817 and later demolished. It was named for Woollarawarre Bennelong, an Aboriginal man of the Eora nation who interacted with the first colonial settlement and served as an intermediary between Indigenous Australians and British colonists.

A common mix-up is confusing Bennelong Point with Circular Quay, the nearby transport and waterfront precinct. Circular Quay surrounds the harbour area, but Bennelong Point is the specific peninsula occupied by the Opera House.