33.8678° S, 151.2100° E
SYDNEY
Most Famous People Born in Sydney, Australia
- Notable people
- 4,402
- Peak decade
- 1980s
- Median birth year
- 1962
- Most distinctive
- Rugby 25.1×
A harbour city that exports athletes by the boatload. Almost a fifth of Sydney's notable births are professional players of one code or another — rugby league, rugby union, cricket, swimming, rowing — at concentrations no other Australian city quite matches. The non-sport half is dominated by actors and an unusually deep bench of the professional class of a city that has always been the New South Wales capital first and a global one second.
Standouts
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 720 notable births.
What Sydney Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Player is Sydney's biggest profession — 19% of all notables (815).
Sydney over-indexes on rugby — 25.1× the global rate.
Sydney under-produces painter — only 0.5× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Sydney's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Politics & Law
- Writing
- Music
- Science
- Other
- Filtered to 1910s Clear ×
John Cornforth
1917 - 2013
J. L. Mackie
1917 - 1981
John Kerr (governor-general)
1914 - 1991
Ron Randell
1918 - 2005
Thelma Coyne Long
1918 - 2015
Constance Worth
1911 - 1963
Ann Richards (actress)
1917 - 2006
Olive Cotton
1911 - 2003
Roden Cutler
1916 - 2002
James Gleeson
1915 - 2008
Brian Campbell Vickery
1918 - 2009
Arthur Birch (organic chemist)
1915 - 1995
Joan Hartigan
1912 - 2000
Jeannie Ebner
1918 - 2004
John Wilton (general)
1910 - 1981
Bernard Smith (art historian)
1916 - 2011
P. A. P. Moran
1917 - 1988
Sumner Locke Elliott
1917 - 1991
Trevor Swan
1918 - 1989
Laurie Aarons
1917 - 2005
Kenneth Kennedy (speed skater)
1913 - 1985
Eileen Wearne
1912 - 2007
John Passmore
1914 - 2004
Jim Ferrier
1915 - 1986
David P. Craig
1919 - 2015
David Brown (rugby league)
1913 - 1974
Alan Osbiston
1914 - 1971
Kylie Tennant
1912 - 1988
James Plimsoll
1917 - 1987
Arthur Ernest Bishop
1917 - 2006
Margaret Johnston
1914 - 2002
Richard Hillary
1919 - 1943
Reg Lye
1912 - 1988
Raymond Hanson (composer)
1913 - 1976
Dulcie Holland
1913 - 2000
Eric Porter (filmmaker)
1911 - 1983
John Carrick (Australian politician)
1918 - 2018
Judy Kelly
1913 - 1991
Amy Witting
1918 - 2001
Ron Middleton
1916 - 1942
Freda Brown
1919 - 2009
Harry Gibbs
1917 - 2005
Elizabeth Kata
1912 - 1998
Richard Lane (writer)
1918 - 2008
Alan Walker (theologian)
1911 - 2003
Philip Edgcumbe Hughes
1915 - 1990
John Stacy
1914 - 1988
Buddy Williams (country musician)
1918 - 1986
John Lloyd Waddy
1916 - 1987
Mona Brand
1915 - 2007
Mavis Villiers
1911 - 1976
Nancy Phelan
1913 - 2008
Nancy O'Neil
1911 - 1995
Alfred Strom
1916 - 1973
Frank Hodgkinson
1919 - 2001
Max Day
1915 - 2017
Freda Robertshaw
1916 - 1997
Harold Thornton
1915 - 2004
Hugh Hastings
1917 - 2004
Aileen Britton
1916 - 1986
Wilfred Arthur
1919 - 2000
Kenneth Jacobs
1917 - 2015
Kenneth Harrison (POW)
1918 - 1982
Pat Hills
1917 - 1992
Beril Jents
1918 - 2013
Doug Waterhouse
1916 - 2000
John Overall (architect)
1913 - 2001
Arthur George
1915 - 2013
John Manning Ward
1919 - 1990
Rae Else-Mitchell
1914 - 2006
Alec Hill
1916 - 2008
John Tate (actor)
1915 - 1979
Charles Read (RAAF officer)
1918 - 2014
William Aston
1916 - 1997
Al Hake
1916 - 1944
Ken Clift
1916 - 2009
George Blaikie
1915 - 1995
Anita Aarons
1912 - 2000
Les Dixon
1910 - 2002
Alister Williamson
1918 - 1999
Fred Krahe
1919 - 1981
Glen Alyn
1913 - 1984
Alick William Dockrill
1915 - 2011
George Selwyn English
1912 - 1980
Harold Geller
1916 - 2005
Ron Vivian
1914 - 1973
Roger Dean (Australian politician)
1913 - 1998
Colin Strang (footballer)
1910 - 1946
William Paton Cleland
1912 - 2005
Hugh Gilchrist
1916 - 2010
George Watt (rugby league)
1917 - 2010
Clive Selwyn Davis
1916 - 2009
John England (politician)
1911 - 1985
Sir Rupert Clarke, 3rd Baronet
1919 - 2005
Bill Arthur
1918 - 1997
Gordon Stone (rugby union)
1914 - 2015
Gordon Grimsley King
1918 - 2009
Albert Terken
1919 - 1992
Bob Hynes
1912 - 1977
John Meredith Rockingham
1911 - 1987
Albert Cheetham
1915 - 1997
Bill Dixon (rower)
Born 1912
Vincent Collins
1917 - 1989
Esme Tombleson
1917 - 2010
Frank Hurley (rugby league)
1915 - 1992
Mick Roper
1917 - 1972
Allan Cooper
1916 - 1970
Richard Nutt
1911 - 1985
George Powell (cricketer)
1918 - 1994
Wendell Bill
1910 - 1988
Martanda Sydney Tondaiman
1916 - 1984
Thomas Parsonage
1910 - 1951
Bede McCauley
1911 - 1994
Gordon Horsfield
1913 - 1982
Norman Cush
1911 - 1983
Les Fallowfield
1914 - 1999
Frederick Johnston (cricketer)
1915 - 1977
Jimmy Kelso
Born 1910
Winston Ide
1914 - 1944
Norman Ella
1910 - 1987
Bill Graham (Australian politician)
1919 - 1995
Henry Oliver Lancaster
1913 - 2001
Colin Anderson (sport shooter)
Born 1912
Reginald Marr
1917 - 1999
Alan Quinlivan
1915 - 1965
Syd Christensen
1910 - 1942
Douglas Trathen
1916 - 1998
Norman Scott-Young
1917 - 1996
Jack Gray-Spence
1910 - 1992
Tom Nevin
1916 - 1972
Jim Millner
1919 - 2007
Vallancey Brown
1912 - 1987
Jack Gilbert (rugby league)
1918 - 1998
Jim Houghton (politician)
1911 - 1985
Noel Beadle
1914 - 1998
Ray Whittorn
1911 - 1995
Alexander Armstrong (politician)
1916 - 1985
Alfred Ashley-Brown
1915 - 1993
Allan Viney
1919 - 2008
Fred May
1917 - 1945
Edwin Lusher
1916 - 2000
Gordon McLennan (rugby league)
1915 - 1966
Alf Quill
Born 1910
Tom McLachlan
1912 - 1986
Merv Denton
1919 - 1980
Ken Tomkins
1917 - 1990
Billy Bischoff
1912 - 1988
William Archibald
1912 - 2001
Bill McRitchie
1917 - 1990
John Yeomans
1916 - 1995
Bernard Martin (rugby league)
1910 - 1991
Laurie Tully
1917 - 1981
Max Nixon
1911 - 1992
Ruthven Blackburn
1913 - 2016
Stan Robinson (rugby league)
1911 - 1995
Wilbur Sampson
1914 - 1958