When you first stepped off the plane at Sydney International Airport, there was a familiar atmosphere that seemed to float around the series of rooms and corridors to reach the exit. The airport looked just like any other with the terminal, customs and baggage claim. It was when I stepped outside that I noticed an unfamiliar, yet refreshing sense of place. At first I couldn't understand it well. It might have been jet lag, or just tiredness from the long flight from America, but I definitely knew there was something different about the architecture in Australia compared to other places I had studied in America, like Chicago. The next day, I went exploring, trying to figure out what was different about Sydney. Of course everyone in the world knows the famous Opera House in the harbour, but there was something different about the commercial building around the CBD. In this essay I will discuss what I have learned about Australian architecture, a brief history and most of all, a major influence for Australian style, Harry Seidler. Australia is a country that has only existed for almost 100 years, a short time compared to other countries like America which has existed for almost 200 years. With Australia being a young country, it's easy to see that it is still discovering the Australian style. In 1890 the architect James Izett and Howard Joseland raised the question: "What, in the first place, is to guide us in the development of an Australian type (Johnson 1980, p. 2)?" Both seemed to believe that climate was the answer. Another man named James Green thought that public and urban buildings should be seen as one style and domestic architecture as another. A popular view was that the old, "conservative" Bri...... center of paper...... Government 2008, Modern Australian Architecture, viewed 21 November 2011, .Australian Government 2010, Australian Architecture, viewed 4 October 2011, .Johnson, DL 1980, Australian Architecture 1901 - 51, Sydney University Press, Sydney.Lumby, R 2006, Harry Seidler 1923 - 2006, viewed 4 October 2011, .Saunders, A 2000, Modern Australian Architecture & the Meaning of Gardens, viewed 21 November 2011, .Vulker, J 1990, Studying Australian Architecture, National Capital Printing, Canberra. Wikipedia 2011, Architecture of Australia, viewed 4 October 2011, .