Customs House to Central - 11th July 2019
The group met outside Customs House at 9.30am.
Participants - Ron, Chris, Richard, Helen, Peter, Yvonne, Colin and Natalie.
It was a sunny day, although cool and breezy at times in some of the shaded streets. We could reference some of these buildings with old photographs in the book that Colin brought along. There were many photographs on the hoarding of buildings being built, depicting Sydney in times gone by.
Along the Way:
Time Taken: 4.5 hours with morning tea and lunch breaks.
Distance: 7km on Natalie’s phone app.
The group met outside Customs House at 9.30am.
Participants - Ron, Chris, Richard, Helen, Peter, Yvonne, Colin and Natalie.
It was a sunny day, although cool and breezy at times in some of the shaded streets. We could reference some of these buildings with old photographs in the book that Colin brought along. There were many photographs on the hoarding of buildings being built, depicting Sydney in times gone by.
Along the Way:
- Customs House-Built 1845, presumed to be the spot of first landing, we enjoyed the display under the glass floor depicting the streetscape of the city.
- Lands Building-built 1876 to 1892, interesting display of artifacts along the corridor.
- Dept of Education-commenced in 1876, now being developed most likely as a hotel.
- Courtyard of Sydney Museum - on the site of the original Government House, with the footprint of the original building outlined by the pavers.
- Police Museum-built 1854-1886, formerly the Water Police Court. Fantastic people “statues” and their stories were displayed on the pavements.
- Treasury (Intercontinental Hotel) - commenced in 1849
- Coffee at café in Macquarie Street - a nice spot out of the wind and very friendly service
- Mitchell Library is the oldest library in Australia (1826), Mitchell Building commenced in 1905
- Parliament House; originally north wing of the Rum Hospital (1815)
- Sydney Hospital; Nightingale Wing (1869) had a wonderful brick pattern on the front facade.
- The Mint; originally the south wing of the Rum Hospital
- St Mary’s - greatest length of any church in Australia. Interesting story about the 2 organs from Peter.
- St James - oldest building (built 1820 to 24) extant in Sydney inner city region. Originally designed as a law court.
- GPO built in two stages; George St 1866, Pitt St end in 1887. Interesting realistic images of people going about their work on the Pitt St façade.
- QVB-constructed between 1893 and 1898 and designed as a market place. Saved from demolition in the 1960s.
- Town Hall-built on the site of the Old Burial Ground over twenty years from 1869.
- St Andrews - consecrated in 1868
- Lunch at a Brazilian café under Town Hall
- Central Station at 2.00pm - opened in 1906
Time Taken: 4.5 hours with morning tea and lunch breaks.
Distance: 7km on Natalie’s phone app.