Sydney Harbor, also known as Port Jackson, is located on Australia's south-east coast along the Tasman Sea. Sydney Harbor, is the largest natural harbor in the world, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the East, the Blue Mountains to the West, the Hawkesbury River to the North and the Royal National Park to the South. The port area has a moderate climate, with warm summers and mild winters due to its proximity to the ocean. The city is built on hills surrounding the harbor.

The indigenous inhabitants are the Cadigal people, a group of Aboriginal Australians, whose land once stretched from south of Port Jackson to Petersham. In 1788, the British established a colony at Sydney, and by the 1850s this port had many people arriving from around the world.

Whaling brought profit to the shores of Sydney as the ships came in to refit. The American whalers provided a market for buying food, water, timber, and anything else there might be for sale, including sovereigns to make themselves earrings. In 1791 Captain Melville was near Botany Bay, and reported seeing more whales around his ship than in all of his fishing around the coast of Brazil.