I I I I I I I :1 PYRMONT POINT PRECINCT I Archaeological and Heritage Assessment ,I Report prepared for I Property Services Group I Godden Mackay Pty Ltd I Howard Tanner and Associates Pty Ltd I I March 1993 I I I 'I ;1 ·1 :1. , ~ :1 I I I I CONTENTS Page I 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 1.1 Context of the Report 1 1.2 Objectives 1 I 1.3 Historical Context 1 1.4 Heritage Resources 2 1.5 Statutory Controls 3 I 1.6 Management Recommendations 3 2.0 INTRODUCTION 5 2.1 Background 5 I 2.2 Study Area 5 2.3 Author Identification 6 2.4 Methodology 6 I 2.5 Umitations 6 3.0 HISTORIC CONTEXT 8 I 3.1 The Development of Pyrmont 8 3.2 1788 - 1840 Early Settlement and the Macarthurs 9 3.3 Subdivision, Settlement and Community (1840 - 1910) 11 3.4 Reconstructing the Point: Port Wharfage (1910 -1970) 13 I 3.5 Derelict, Demolished, Developed (1970 - 1992) 14 I 4.0 LANDSCAPE 31 5.0 BUILT ENVIRONMENT 33 I 6.0 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES 36 6.1 Preamble 36 6.2 The Value ofArchaeological Material 37 I 6.3 Existing Information 37 6.4 Potential Historical Archaeological Sites 38 6.5 Significance 39 I 6.6 Procedures 40 I I I I I I I I I I CONTENTS Page 7.0 ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANT ITEMS 42 I 7.1 Recording Methodology 42 7.2 Basis for Assessment of Significance 42 7.3 Contribution to the Overall Significance of Pyrmont 45 I 7.4 Results 46 7.4.1 Heritage Items Recommendedfor the Retention, Conservation and Inclusion on the Heritage Schedule I ofREP 26 46 7.4.2 Items Which Contribute to the Overall Signifcance ofPyrmont 47 7.5 Review of Specific Items, with Reference to the State I Heritage Criteria 48 8.0 CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT 50 I 8.1 Context of this Report 50 8.2 Objectives 50 8.3 Existing Planning Controls 51 I 8.3.1 Sydney Regional Environmental Plan No.26 - City West (REP 26) 51 8.3.2 The Ultimo-Pyrmont Draft Urban I Development Plan 1991 51 8.3.3 Pyrmont/Ultimo Heritage Study 51 8.3.4 New South Wales Heritage Act 51 I 8.3.5 Statutory Authority Heritage Registers 52 CONTENTS Page I 8.0 CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT (cont'd) 50 8.4 Recommended Statutory Controls 52 8.4.1 Adequacy ofExisting Controls 52 I 8.4.2 Additions to Heritage Schedule ofREP 26 53 8.4.3 Ultimo-Pynnont Precinct Draft Urban Development Plan 53 I 8.4.4 Statutory Authority Section 170 Registers 53 8.5 Management Actions 54 8.5.1 Pyrmont PointPrecinct Master Plan 54 I 8.5.2 Development Consent Process 54 8.5.3 Archaeological Resources 55 8.5.4 Recording 55 I 8.6 Former Waterside Coldstores 56 8. 7 Site-specific Archaeological Investigetions 56 I I I --- I I I I I 9.0 BIBUOGRAPHY 61 I 10. APPENDICES 62 A. Study Brief B. Burra Charter ofAustralia ICOMOS C. Significance Evaluation Criteria NSW State Heritage I Inventory Project D. Heritage Items Recommended for Retention, Conservation and Inclusion on the Heritage Schedule of REP 26 I E. Items Which Contribute to the Overall Significance of Pyrmont F. Inventory ofPotential Archaeological Sites G. Historic Maps and Plans I H. Sydney Regional Environmental Plan No. 26 - City West Extract 1. Ultimo - Pyrmont Draft Urban Development Plan. Extract - Heritage and Conservation I J. Ultimo - Pyrmont Heritage Study. Extract - Policies Pertaining to Heritage Conservation. I I 'I I I' I I I II II I I I GODDEN I MACKAY I I 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 1.1 Context of the Report The New South Wales Property Services Group is in the process of transferring ownership of land identified as the "Pynnont Point Precinct" to the City West Development I Corporation. The Corporation will be responsible for the redevelopment and disposal of this land. Master planning for the precinct is in progress and, in accordance with the requirements of the City West Regional Environmental Plan, it is intended that the master I plan will illustrate and explain proposals for heritage conservation and protection of archaeological relics. The master plan for the Pynnont Point Precinct is being prepared by Philip Cox Richardson I Taylor and Partners. This Archaeological and Heritage Assessment has been prepared by Godden Mackay in association with Howard Tanner and Associates as input to the master I planning process. 1.2 Objectives I The study brief, which is reproduced as Appendix A, identifies the following objectives for the study: I (a) to assess the significance of heritage items in the study area that are already identified in the City West, REP; (b) to identify any other items of heritage significance in the study area which I contribute to the overall significance of Pyrmont; (c) to identify known or potential archaeological sites; I (d) to outline policies and procedures which should be adopted to achieve heritage conservation and protection of archaeological relics, having regard to the overall intention of the City West REP and the master plan being developed for the study I area. 1.3 Historical Context I The Pyrmont area developed early in the history of Sydney's growth. In December 1806 The Sydney Gazette reported that guests on an aquatic excursion from Parramatta to Captain John Macarthur's estate at Cockle Bay christened the peninsula after ItBad I Pyrmontlt in Germany, an area famous for its medicinal springs. The Pynnont Point area was initially granted to Thomas Jones, a soldier in the 102nd regiment, after whom Jones Bay is named. However in 1797 the land was purchased by John Macarthur and remained I in the Macarthur family until subdivision by Edward Macarthur in 1839 and 1840. With the expansion of colonial Sydney, Pyrmont attracted various commercial, industrial and residential activities. By 1850 there were 103 commercial enterprises including a I shipyard and quarries. It was these industrial activities, combined with flour milling and I 1 I I I GODDEN MACKAY I I other like industries and the general development of mercantile wharfage that were mainly responsible for the high population density. Pyrmont Point itself was slower to develop I than adjacent areas to the south, but by the mid 1870s the precinct appears to be densely settled. It was the 1870s that saw a range of important initiatives including the opening of I! pyrmont public baths and commencement of the construction of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company co!llplex. Modem development commenced around the 1890s with the building of coal jetties along I the shore of the peninsula. By the turn of the century Pyrmont was fully developed with the Maitland Brewing Company, The Wallarah Coal Company and the William Grant Engineers and Iron Shipbuilders works occupying the foreshores. In 1910 The Sydney I Harbour Trust resumed land to enable construction of additional finger wharves, which were built between 1911 and 1919. At the time of their construction the wharves and the associated railway and cargo handling facilities were considered to be revolutionary and to I represent state of the art technologies for cargo handling. From the turn of the century until the present there has been minimal residential building within the precinct, apart from the notable exception of Leslie Wilkinson's Ways Terrace I constructed between 1923 and 1925. The later part of the Twentieth century has seen a variety of proposals put forward for the I redevelopment of Pyrmont, demolition of more than half the residential buildings and gradual cessation ofvarious industrial enterprises. I 1.4 Heritage Resources The Pyrmont Point precinct contains an array of buildings, structures, landscape elements I and archaeological sites that provide physical evidence of the history of the area from the mid nineteenth century until the present. I Major built elements include substantial structures such as the harbourside finger wharves, and associated coldstores. There are two hotels, now presented with federation details but originally constructed as Victorian buildings and one former hotel now adapted as a residence. Qearly the most architecturally significant of the remaining residential buildings I is the Ways Terrace. A complex of small cottages in the Harris/Scott/Cross Street precinct also forms part of the built environment of the area. I Landscape items include a solitary phoenix palm, sandstone and trachyte kerbing, palisade fencing, and a suite of cuttings, tunnels, bridges and other features associated with the railway. I In addition to the standing and evident elements, the precinct may contain some sub-surface archaeological features that provide evidence of the former structures and the material I culture of residents and workers in the precinct during its colourful history. I 2 I I I I GODDEN I MACKAY I I 1.5 Statutory Controls The major statutory controls which affect the heritage and archaeological resources of I Pyrmont Point precinct are . Regional Environmental Plan No.26 - City West (REP 26) I The UltimolPyrmont precinct Draft Urban Development Plan I The New South Wales Heritage Act, 1977. REP 26 identifies nine heritage items within the Pyrmont Point area and includes provisions relating to their conservation and management and the development consent process. The I Draft Urban Development Plan provides additional objectives and principles relating to heritage and conservation. REP 26 specifies that the impact of development on archaeological material must be I assessed for potential historical archaeological sites within the precinct; a process that is consistent with the recommendations of the Draft Urban Development Plan. The latter plan specifies an extensive area within the precinct as being "potential historical archaeological I sites".