Earthquakes near Sydney through history

The strongest was a magnitude 5.6 on May 21, 1961 (New South Wales). The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.3 on March 9, 1973 (Wollongong, Sydney). NOAA’s record here begins on January 27, 1871 with a tsunami (Sydney Harbor). NOAA lists 5 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Sydney, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 4.3 m, on May 22, 1960. The deadliest here came on February 6, 1938 from Bondi Beach, Sydney: NOAA’s runup records count 5 deaths within 100 km of Sydney.

• March 9, 1973Earthquake · M 5.3Wollongong, SydneyNOAA NCEI
• May 21, 1961Earthquake · M 5.6New South WalesNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• May 22, 1960Tsunami · 4.3 m hereSouthern ChileNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• February 6, 1938TsunamiBondi Beach, Sydney · 5 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• January 27, 1871Tsunami · 0.12 m highSydney HarborNOAA NCEI

• An event counts for Sydney when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
• USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
• NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
• Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
• A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
• Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history