3.6 Reclamation and Land Consolidation 1825 to 1870S

277 3.6 Reclamation and Land Consolidation 1825 to 1870s 3.6.1 Introduction Between the 19th and mid-20th century the foreshore of Sydney Harbour was transformed from its natural state by successive phases of waterfront development. Shipping was the primary mode of transport for people and goods for much of the 19th century. Despite the development of better roadways and rail networks, local, intercolonial and international trade was reliant on the connection to the harbours and waterways. Suitable and adequate port facilities were crucial for the city’s economic development and growth. As a main area for early industry and trade activity, the Darling Harbour foreshore was radically altered by numerous land reclamations, initially for maritime infrastructural and later railway development projects. Reclamation can be broadly defined as the process of turning submerged or unusable land into land suitable for a variety of purposes. Reclamation has a long history around the world. In a global context, reclamation prior to industrialisation was primarily undertaken to create and secure land for agriculture. In urban environments, reclamation was undertaken to consolidate city waterfronts, improve defences and turn obsolete landfill sites into habitable land. From the 18th century onwards, the transition to mechanised manufacture and production processes led to extraordinary urban expansion, population growth, and industrial development. During the 19th century reclamation became more associated with the industrialisation and commercial development of urban waterfronts. In Sydney, as with other towns and cities in the industrialised world, it became an integral component of wharf construction. Reclamation also became a necessary process within broader waterway management systems, as wharf construction, reclamation and pollution from the expanding urban centre changed and adversely affected the natural depositional patterns and environment of the harbour and rivers feeding it. The phases of reclamation and changes to the foreshore at the Darling Quarter site can be traced through 19th-century maps and other historical sources. Reclamation of the site began in the mid 1820s when, as part of their mill development Cooper & Levey reclaimed a relatively small area of foreshore to create a wharf with a timber jetty projecting into the harbour. In the 1830s, Thomas Barker undertook large-scale reclamation as a speculative development venture. Not only did this project create sought-after large waterfront properties with wharf facilities, it also created a large area for residential development. Around the same time, Richard Brooks’ land to the south began to be reclaimed and would eventually become ‘Murphy’s Wharf’. Through the 1840s to the 1870s, other companies such as Brodie & Craig and the PN Russell & Co Engineering Works undertook further small-scale reclamation and wharf redevelopments to suit their business needs. The reclamation of the Darling Quarter site was an on-going process and was not limited to expansion westward into the harbour. The newly created land was subject to almost continuous ground consolidation and re-levelling during the 19th and 20th century. The new ground surfaces needed to be maintained and consolidated as the bulk fills below the high tide level settled and shifted. The levelling process was also related to changes in maritime technology. Vessels became bigger as steam replaced sail, requiring the raising of wharf and associated yard spaces. The process of consolidating and levelling reclaimed land also became the means of disposal for waste products and materials from surrounding industries, urban redevelopments and even municipal rubbish. The excavation of the Darling Quarter site provided the opportunity to investigate the archaeological remains of its reclamation and continued consolidation. The evidence of reclamation consisted of extensive deposits of bulk fills, which as a whole contained relatively few artefacts. Reclamation fills were encountered throughout all excavation areas mostly as Phase 5 (Areas 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Mill Yard, 9 Mill Pond and in the Public Domain Areas – 4 and 6). The strategy for _________________________________________________________________________________________ Casey & Lowe Archaeological Investigation 2008-2010 Darling Quarter, Darling Harbour 278 investigating the reclamation process and fills for the most part consisted of mechanically excavating large test trenches and recording the sections. This allowed for examination of the individual fill constituents and the relationships between the natural landscape and phases of reclamation. It also provided for graphic illustrations (photographs and scaled section drawings) of the original landform transformed by the reclamation process. Many, but not all, of the fills were assigned context numbers and some were sampled for archival purposes and potential future analysis.1 Though both part of the same general process, there was a distinction made during this excavation between ‘reclamation’ and ‘levelling’ fills. Reclamation fills were defined as being the main thick bulk fills that raised the ground level above the high tide level. These were mostly recorded as part of Phases 5 (late 1830s/early 1840s) as the main phase of reclamation, though they were also recorded in earlier and later phases. Levelling fills were defined as the thin, horizontal or level, and compacted bands of material that overlay the bulk reclamation fills and were used to consolidate, prepare for development and raise the initial reclaimed ground level. These fills were recorded through Phases 6 (1840s to 1860s) and 7 (1860s to 1900), with Phase 8 (1900 to 1920) examples also noted. 3.6.2 Reclamation in 19th-Century Sydney Reclamation of Sydney’s harbours and waterways began quite soon after British settlement and continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. It was undertaken by both private individuals and as government projects. Reclamation was initially linked to the development and improvement of port facilities located on the various harbours and rivers around Sydney. The natural harbour was modified through reclamation to provide wharfage and to respond to increased sedimentation. As Sydney urbanised, and commercial trade and the economy grew, so too did the rate of reclamation. Birch et al. calculated that just 3.3 ha of the Sydney Harbour estuary was reclaimed by 1835, increasing to 33.39 ha by 1854, and quadrupling to 124.51 ha by 1889.2 While the growth of the port can account for most reclamation until the mid 19th century, the construction of the railways and a boom in development of residential, industrial and recreational spaces were also reasons for many major reclamation projects in the latter half of the 19th century (Figure 3.6.1).3 The reclamation of mudflats at the mouth of the Tank Stream at Sydney Cove may have begun as early as 1805 when two property owners advertised in the Sydney Gazette in October of that year for stonemasons to build substantial walls, likely seawalls.4 Meehan’s 1807 survey indicates that by this time, several allotments had been extended into the intertidal flats at the stream mouth.5 As the earliest land grants in Sydney Cove generally extended into the intertidal zone, it would seem that the government administration encouraged reclamation by the early grant holders.6 Birch et al. states that reclamation prior to 1835 was limited to the improvement of wharfage surrounding the shores of Sydney Cove and Woolloomooloo Bay.7 However, reclamation was also undertaken for the same purposes on the eastern foreshore of Darling Harbour prior to 1835. Reclamation was 1 See Soil Sample List, Vol 5, Appendix 5.1.2. 2 Birch et al. 2009: 353. 3 Birch et al. 2009: 354, GML 1991. 4 McLoughlin 2000: 187. 5 McLoughlin 2000: 187. McLoughlin states that four properties had been illustrated as extending into the intertidal mudflat at the mouth of the Tank Stream, however Meehan illustrated six allotments as encroaching into the intertidal zone. 6 Birch et al. 2009: 348; Appin 1988. 7 Birch et al. 2009: 354. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Casey & Lowe Archaeological Investigation 2008-2010 Darling Quarter, Darling Harbour 279 undertaken as part of the construction of the Market Wharf in 1810.8 At the Darling Quarter site, Cooper & Levey reclaimed part of the foreshore to construct a jetty in 1825. Further north, reclamation to create berthing facilities at Henry Bass’ shipyard and Francis Girard’s flour mill was completed by the early 1830s.9 Figure 3.6.1: Map of reclamation in central Sydney estuary between 1788 and 1889 with the Darling Quarter site indicated by the red circle and arrow. Large amounts of land for residential, industrial and recreational use was reclaimed at the heads of the main harbours between 1854 and 1889 (black). Birch et al. 2009: 358. The amount of reclaimed land created to develop port facilities around the Sydney Harbour estuary in the 20 years after 1835 increased substantially (Figure 3.6.2).10 Between the 1830s and 1850s, an array of ad hoc privately commissioned reclamation and wharf developments, such as Thomas Barker’s, peppered the eastern foreshore of Darling Harbour. At the same time, a major government-funded reclamation project was undertaken at Sydney Cove. Commencing in 1837 under the supervision of the Colonial Engineer, George Barney, construction of Semi-Circular Quay was completed by 1844.11 This involved large-scale reclamation, considered the biggest such project in the world at the time,12 and resulted in the creation of 4.05 ha of new land.13 Large numbers of convicts were used to complete the project.14 8 Casey & Lowe 2013: 11, 29. Analysis for the archaeological assessment of the proposed redevelopment of the Four Point by Sheraton Hotel at 161 Sussex Street, Sydney, which is located partly on the site of the Market Wharf, concluded that reclamation was undertaken to construct the wharf in c.1810. 9 Archaeological remains of these two reclaimed properties were recorded during the archaeological excavation by Casey & Lowe for Lend Lease at Barangaroo South between 2010-2012.

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