What cultural etiquette should I know for Sydney?

Friday arvo at any inner-west pub: the clink of schooner glasses on timber, someone's dog asleep under a stool, conversation at full volume. No ceremony. Sydneysiders operate on a kind of aggressive informality that catches visitors from more formal cultures off guard. "G'day" or just "hi" covers almost every social interaction — from your barista pulling shots at Campos Coffee in Newtown to the security guard at the Art Gallery of NSW. Handshakes are fine for business; hugs happen faster than you'd expect among acquaintances. The social ritual that trips up visitors most is "shouting" rounds at the pub. If someone slides a cold schooner of lager across the sticky bar top at the Marlborough Hotel in Newtown or the Fortune of War down at The Rocks, you're expected to buy the next round for the group. Skipping your shout is remembered. It sounds minor, but Australians read it as a character signal — generosity and reciprocity sit at the core of how people here gauge whether you're good company. If you can't drink that much, say so early and buy a round of soft drinks instead.

Tipping barely exists here, and that's one of the real reliefs of eating out in Sydney. Wait staff earn a living wage — around A$24–28 an hour for casual hospitality workers — so there's no guilt math at the end of a meal. If the charred lamb shoulder at Ester in Chippendale or the slow-cooked asado at Porteno in Surry Hills was good, leaving 10% feels generous. Skip the overpriced tourist-trap seafood restaurants lining Darling Harbour — locals head to the Fish Market in Pyrmont or neighbourhood spots in Surry Hills for the real thing. Most people round up to the nearest dollar on a flat white or don't tip at all. Taxi drivers don't expect it. Hotel porters don't hover for it. The one exception tends to be fine dining: at Quay or Bennelong under the white sail-shaped roof of the Opera House, 10–15% is becoming more common, but nobody will chase you down George Street if you don't. The card machines now prompt for tips — that's a recent import from American payment software, and most Sydneysiders find it just as annoying as you do.

Pay attention to Acknowledgment of Country. Before public events, speeches, and even some corporate meetings, a speaker will acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land — in Sydney, that's the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. This isn't ritual wallpaper. The sandstone beneath Circular Quay, the damp earth paths through the Royal Botanic Gardens, the harbour shore at Barangaroo — this land carries tens of thousands of years of continuous habitation. You don't need to perform the acknowledgment yourself as a visitor, but talking over one or visibly scrolling your phone during it reads as disrespectful. At the Australian Museum on William Street or the Art Gallery of NSW, the Indigenous galleries deserve the same quiet attention you'd give any major cultural collection — more so, given the depth of what you're looking at.

Sydney is a beach city that happens to have an office district. The dress code reflects this. Thongs — that's flip-flops, and learning this vocabulary before you cause confusion is itself an etiquette lesson — are fine almost everywhere outside of fine dining restaurants and some rooftop bars like Ivy Pool Club or O Bar. At the beach, swim between the red-and-yellow flags. This is not a suggestion. Bondi lifeguards pull tourists out of rips south of the flagged zone regularly, and the salt-crusted sand between those flags is the only stretch they're actively watching. Topless sunbathing is legal at most Sydney beaches but uncommon outside of a few spots like Lady Bay near South Head. Board shorts and a rashie are standard surf gear; nobody at Bronte or Coogee is sizing up your body. The winter water — currently sitting around 18°C through June — is cold enough that a wetsuit makes the difference between a proper surf session and a numb retreat to the car park.