The University of Sydney was founded in 1850 as a public institution of higher education. The University has a vast history covering many aspects of intellectual, scientific and socio-political life in Australia. Below are pathways to explore our history. The University was founded on two main principles — religious tolerance and the admission of students on academic merit. The first principle ensured students were admitted regardless of religious belief. The second, that students ‘matriculated’ to university by passing an academic examination. Both ideas were new ways of thinking about universities in the mid-nineteenth century and challenged traditional university models. They emerged out of serious conversations in Britain and Europe about the purpose of universities and were adapted by our founders to create a university to suit the colonial circumstances of New South Wales.