historicalwalkingtours

COLONYCustomsHousetoMillersPoint

Cover Photo: Gary Deirmendjian collection, City of Archives

historicalwalkingtours page 1 COLONY CustomsHousetoMillersPoint The earliest European

Sydneysiders – convicts,

soldiers, whalers and sailors – all walked

this route. Later came the shipping

magnates, wharf labourers and traders.

The Rocks and Millers Point have been

Photo: Gary Deirmendjian collection, Archives overlaid by generations of change, of Sydney City Archives Photo:

but amongst the bustling modern city

streets remnants and traces of these early

times can be found. Pubs and churches,

archaeological digs and houses all evoke

memories of past lives, past ways.

Photo: Adrian Hall, City of Sydney Archives

historicalwalkingtours page 2 COLONY CustomsHousetoMillersPoint

i The Rocks

The higgledy piggledy streets and narrow laneways which still define The Rocks record the first places the convicts and ex-convicts made their own. The Wharf d vision of the convicts living in barracks weighed d onR Theatre R ks n ic down by ball-and-chain is over-stated. Many more o H s k convicts simply worked for the government during 21 c Hi 34 the day and worked for themselves the rest of the time, building houses, opening shops, running pubs and creating a new life in The Rocks. Today Hick 33 35 The Rocks is a living museum and practically s on Rd every place has a story to tell. 31 32 Towns P Not to be missed: Lower Fort St l Pottinger St 35 Campbells Store 27 Da The 36 lg Hickson Rd e

v ighway 36 ASNCo Building

ty 30 A

West t Rocks t R S d ity 37 Visitors Centre

air

an S in

mill St 29 r T im ind

layf W rQuay r radfield H 38 38 Mariners Church

P r B e e Pl M Argyl 42 39 26 40 25 28 37 Circula Photo: Gary Deirmendjian collection, Cumberland St Argyle St 39 40 The City of Sydney Archives

High St 24 41 Museum of Contemporary Art nSt 42 The Rocks Discovery Museum 20 ngto

19 ri

t 18 41 S Har

George St Millers Observatory r

e 17 t

Park s Point e

ouc

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G 23 Cahill Expressway

Kent St Alfred St 1 High St

t Loftus St Loftus

S

Essex St St Young 22 St Phillip

2 Pitt St er St

st e

Cumberland c George St George

8 St Macquarie ou 3 Macquarie Pl Gl y St Bridge St 7 13 Dalle 9 4 6

14 5 Phillip St Phillip enor St Grosv 10 i Millers Point i Bridge Street 12 11

The second half of this walk will take you through Lang St Bridge Street was named for the wooden a precinct where old nineteenth-century sandstone 15 Jamison St Bond St footbridge that crossed the . From the Spring St start, the town was both physically and socially

buildings are juxtaposed with red brick structures 16 St George created in the first decades of the twentieth divided by the Tank Stream. On the eastern side century by the Sydney Harbour Trust. Thousands were the governor’s house and the tents of the of men were employed cutting a deep swathe civil establishment. To the west were the makeshift through the sandstone to create a two tiered barracks of the military and the convicts. Many signs of this social division remain today. roadway system serving the new

wharves. The Trust then in-filled the new Elizabeth St

landscape they had created with utilitarian brick Phillip St houses, shops and pubs. After that, building practically ceased. The small scale village atmosphere of Millers Point is a surprise find for many visitors fresh from the towering commercial buildings of the surrounding city.

Photo: City of Sydney Archives

historicalwalkingtours page 3 COLONY CustomsHousetoMillersPoint

Please allow approximately 1-2 hours to do the tour.

Start at Customs House 1 . Retrace your steps to Macquarie Place 3 .

ht:City of Sydney Archives Photo: 3 Macquarie Place

Originally swampy mangrove land on the banks of the Tank Stream, the colony’s first water supply, this small piece of land is awash with historic relics.

The Obelisk marks City of Sydney Archives collection, Deirmendjian Gary Photo: the point from which distances to all places in the colony were measured. This sandstone monument was designed by Francis Greenway, who was sent to the colony for forgery and became Sydney’s first colonial architect. His legacy is visible in many of Sydney’s best-loved convict buildings.

The imposing statue of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (whose 1 Customs House many achievements are listed on the plinth) looks out over Bridge Street, the premier financial street. Customs House was where shipping was cleared

and goods passing through the port of Sydney were City of Sydney Archives collection, Deirmendjian Gary Photos: taxed and cleared for sale or export.

When the port was busy the House was crowded and noisy, the scene of raised tempers, delays and disputed dealings. Customs House was surrounded by public houses, shipping companies and general maritime activities.

Walk down Loftus Street alongside the House. A flag flies permanently on the site where the first British flag was raised. For some Australians, this is the site of invasion. In the little lane behind Customs House you can still see the old Hinchcliff’s Woolstore with its loft pullies. On Bridge Street 4 the impressive sandstone Lands Now cross over Loftus Street and head for Department 5 is directly opposite Macquarie Place. Macquarie Place. Opposite the park, through an Other government buildings to the east include the archway, is Bulletin Place 2 . Education Department6 , the Museum of Sydney set back on the site of the first Government House 7 2 Bulletin Place and the Colonial Secretary’s building 8 .

This rare historic streetscape provides a glimpse Turn right and head for George Street. On your way you of some of the early warehousing which used to will pass the ASX/Australian Stock Exchange 9 the dominate this precinct. Bulletin Place was where old 10 the headquarters of Burns J.F. Archibald’s famous weekly The Bulletin was published from 1880. This area, as a haunt for Philp 11 which was once one of the major shipping journalists and newspaper men, is regularly featured companies in the Pacific, and the Metropolitan Hotel 12 in late nineteenth-century literature about Sydney. on the corner.

historicalwalkingtours page 4 COLONY CustomsHousetoMillersPoint

13 Grosvenor Place 18

Before you leave the Metropolitan Hotel corner, These little houses and the corner shop notice its architectural similarity to the buildings (58-64 Gloucester Street) date from the 1840s. diagonally across George Street. The old red-brick They are now a museum where authentic interiors, Johnson’s Corner and Brooklyn Hotel were designed including outhouses and basement kitchens, allow c.1910 by Walter L. Vernon. visitors to imagine typical mid nineteenth-century working class life. Grosvenor Place towers behind these old buildings. A condition for building this tower (designed by Harry Seidler and constructed between 1982 and 1987) was that Johnson’s and The Brooklyn be retained.

Head to Grosvenor Place 13 .Walk up Grosvenor Street past some fine old late nineteenth-century facades to St Patrick’s Church. Photo: Ray Joyce, courtesy Historic Houses Trust of NSW 14 St Patrick’s Church Directly opposite Susannah Place 18 is the site of an archaeological dig which exposed remains and This simple Gothic sandstone church was designed by J.F. Hilly and built in the 1840s on land donated by foundations of houses, shops and hotels all crammed William Davis, a convict, who took part in the Irish into this small site. From Susannah Place make your Rebellion in 1798. The church has been the traditional way up the hill to the 19 . heartland of Sydney’s Irish working class Roman Catholics. Many inner city children were educated at St 19 The Australian Hotel Patrick’s school. A visit to this recently restored church and associated buildings is a worthwhile detour. This is a typical early twentieth-century hotel, built in 1914. It retains its original pressed metal ceilings This area was dedicated by Governor Hunter as a and etched glass fittings. The split level bar follows church precinct and is still known as Church Hill. the rugged lie of the land. The odd shape of the land After convicts burnt down the first church near is a result of street re-alignments for the building of , St Phillp’s Anglican Church was built the Harbour Bridge. here in 1798-1807. The current St Phillp’s 15 which you can see dates from 1848. The former Scots Presbyterian Church 16 was built to replace A short distance north along Cumberland Street, an older one demolished to make way for the take the subway under the Harbour Bridge Stairs. approaches to the Harbour Bridge. The hill in front of you is Observatory Park 20 .

Continue walking for a while down Harrington Street, 20 Observatory Park pass under the Cahill Expressway and take the old worn steps on your left up to Cumberland Place 17 This is the site of Sydney’s first windmill. Also known as Fort Phillip and Flagstaff Hill, it eventually became and Susannah Place 18 . known as Observatory Hill after the building of the sandstone observatory in 1858. While the colony’s 17 Cumberland Place astronomers were making scientific observations from this building, local Sydneysiders knew it best for its Early maps show a lane on the alignment of timekeeping. Every day at 1pm the ball on top of the the Cumberland Place steps as early as 1807. tower dropped to signal the correct time. The entrance They lead into Gloucester Street. You are now in to the Observatory is up the hill. It is open daily, and a network of streets and laneways that form the its gardens provide wonderful views of the harbour heartland of old residential Sydney. and wharves below 21 .

Photo: State Records NSW Photo: Gary Deirmendjian collection, City of Sydney Archives

historicalwalkingtours page 5 COLONY CustomsHousetoMillersPoint

21 Walsh Bay Wharves 25 Lord Nelson Hotel

These huge two storey timber wharves were part of Originally built in 1836 by former plasterer William the massive reconstruction generated by the Sydney Wellls as his residence, the Lord Nelson obtained its Harbour Trust (later the Maritime Services Board), set liquor licence in 1841, one year before the town of up by the government in 1901 to ‘modernise’ Sydney was proclaimed a city. This makes it one of Sydney’s chaotic and inefficient waterfront. The the oldest pubs in Sydney. wharves were intended to be built in concrete, but due to shortages of materials after World War 1 timber was used. The wharves and their associated From here head right along Argyle Place. Or you may shore sheds form a rare group of industrial buildings take a detour left, past the village shops built by the and were built over a number of years after 1910. Harbour Trust to the red brick Pallisade Hotel 26 . Then track past the hotel and into Merriman Street, down to the little reserve 27 at the end, and back along the walkway in front of the fine old townhouses perched high on the rocks – perfect for watching the horizon for expected ships – back to the Lord Nelson 25 .Walk along Argyle Place past the village green to the Garrison Church 28 .

Photo: City of Sydney Archives 28 Garrison Church (Holy Trinity)

This was the first official military church in and serviced the military garrison at Dawes Point. Imagine the spectacle of the redcoats marching up Lower Fort Street from the artillery barracks to attend morning prayer. Although the church was officially called Photo: Patrick Bingham-Hall/City of Sydney the Holy Trinity Church, it continues to be known as the Garrison Church. Military flags Photo: Gary Deirmendjian collection, City of Sydney Archives Around the hill from the Observatory is the National still adorn the church’s interior and the little Trust Centre 22 . If you are short of time you may museum next door contains military memorabilia. omit this section, walk down the hill and rejoin the tour

at the Garrison Church 28 . City of Sydney Archives Hall, Adrian Photo:

22 The National Trust Centre

The oldest building in this complex is the two storey former 1815 military hospital, now facing the expressway. This later became the famous Fort Street School, the first school to provide for teacher training in the colony. The National Trust Centre includes the S.H. Ervin Gallery, café and shop.

Photo: City of Sydney Archives Backtrack down the Agar Steps on your left 23 to a little row of terrace houses and then to Kent Make your way down Lower Fort Street to the Hero Street. Opposite the Agar Steps along High Street of Waterloo 29 on the corner of Windmill Street. are early twentieth-century houses built by the Sydney Harbour Trust. 29 Hero of Waterloo

Turn right and head down Kent St to Argyle Place. The rough-cut sandstone walls and heavy timber Just before the corner, on your right, is the little beams of the interior of the Hero of Waterloo evoke an atmosphere of the rough mariners’ life. This hotel St Brigid’s Church School, 24 Australia’s oldest Roman was built by George Paton, a stonemason, in 1843. Catholic building constructed 1834-35. On the corner is The Hero of Waterloo is the source of many local the post office. Diagonally opposite is the Lord Nelson stories of concealed trap doors, shanghai-ed sailors Hotel, 25 one of the oldest pubs in Sydney. and rum smuggling.

historicalwalkingtours page 6 COLONY CustomsHousetoMillersPoint

Cross Windmill Street to Ferry Lane 30 . On the opposite side of the road is Dawes Point/Tarra 34 . 30 Ferry Lane and The Paddock This flagstone laneway once led to the waterfront. 34 Dawes Point/Tarra The history of the area is told in the plaques and signage contained within the lane and in the reserve Tarra is the name the Indigenous people gave to below, called The Paddock. this point. Lieutenant William Dawes, an astronomer sent by the British Board of Longitude to establish an observatory, was also a linguist Leaving The Paddock, head along the lane on the left whose friendship with Patyegarang has resulted in half-way up Ferry Lane that runs along the rear of the one of the earliest dictionaries of Indigenous words fine Georgian houses on Lower Fort Street.You will reach which is now archived in London. The first gun was this street if you take the steps on the right. On the placed here in 1788, but ongoing commitment to fortifications was half-hearted. According to corner is the private museum Clyde Bank 31 . Almost Governor Bligh in 1808, most of the gun 32 directly opposite you is the Harbour View Hotel , emplacements were of more danger to the user which was built by the Sydney Harbour Trust. than to the target and many of the gun carriages had been eaten out by termites. Head down into George Street (North) back towards The Rocks passing the Cast Iron Urinal 33 . The archaeological excavation and interpretation of 33 Cast Iron Urinal this reserve is clearly signposted. If you have time it is well worth a visit. Otherwise continue down along This is the last George Street (North).You are now returning to remaining cast iron urinal in the city. The Rocks. Public conveniences and urinals (or pissoirs) You may wish to end your tour here and leave were common exploring The Rocks until another time. The Sydney streetscape elements in Visitor’s Centre 37 offers information and early twentieth-century brochures, while nearby in Kendall Lane The Rocks Sydney. Discovery Museum 42 tells the history and ■ Photo: City of Sydney Archives archaeology of The Rocks

historicalwalkingtours

Discover more of historic Sydney

with the other walking tour

brochures in this series.

More information can be

found at the City’s website:

www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/history or call the City of Sydney on 9265 9333 or TTY: 9265 9276

This brochure was prepared by the History Program at the City of Sydney. 4th ed., November 2005.

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