Barangaroo, a woman from the Cameraigal clan, was among the first aboriginal figures the British encountered when they settled Sydney in 1788. Wat-kin Tench, a marine who recorded the events, called her "fierce and unsubmissive". Barangaroo's spirit will hover over Australia's economic fortunes 228 years later. A transformation of Sydney Harbour's western shore into a financial district named after Barangaroo will take shape in 2016. The prosperity that has given Australia 25 years of unbroken growth has relied up to now on the faraway mining states of Western Australia and Queensland. But China's slowdown will bring a moment of truth. Iron ore, the main component of steel, is Australia's biggest export. But as China buys less of it, the question will be whether Australia can redirect sufficient investment from mining into finance, services, technology startups and other industries that will occupy the towers rising at Barangaroo.
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