1.
Sydney
–
Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
2.
Darlinghurst, New South Wales
–
Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district and Hyde Park, Darlinghurst is a densely populated suburb with the majority of residents living in apartments or terraced houses. Once a slum and red-light district, Darlinghurst has undergone urban renewal since the 1980s to become an area composed of many unique precincts. Places such as Victoria Street, Stanley Street and Crown Street are known as culturally rich destinations and these high street areas are connected by a network of lane-ways and street corners replete with small bars, cafes and boutique indie retail. Demographically, Darlinghurst is home to the highest percentage of generation X and Y in Australia, Darlinghurst is also home to large number of off-street creative industries. This business mix coupled with the history of inclusion and acceptance give Darlinghurst an eclectic. Darlinghursts main street is Oxford Street and this major Sydney road runs east from the south-eastern corner of Hyde Park through Darlinghurst and Paddington and terminates at Bondi Junction. Oxford Street is one of Sydneys most famous shopping and dining strips and it is home to a number of prominent gay venues and businesses, while more broadly Darlinghurst is a centre of Sydneys burgeoning small bar scene. As a result of the influx of revellers, crime rates increased in the area around 2007, particularly for assaults. This reported increase should be understood in terms of a low background crime rate in East Sydney in general. There are a number of named localities in and around Darlinghurst including Taylor Square, Three Saints Square, Kings Cross and confusingly also East Sydney. This is because from 1900 to 1969 the entire area to the east of Sydneys CBD, already in 1820 the entire ridge line running from Potts Point to Surry Hills was known as Eastern Hill. East Sydney hosts numerous restaurants that consistently garner local and international media attention, Sydneys Eastern Suburbs cover all the land from the east of Darlinghurst up to the Pacific Ocean. The suburb was known as Eastern Hill and then Henrietta Town, after Governor Lachlan Macquaries wife. The loyalties changed with the change of governors and the suburb became Darlinghurst in honour of Elizabeth Darling, the suffix hurst is derived from the Old English word hyrst, meaning wooded area. Darlinghurst has two of Sydneys museums, the Australian Museum and the Sydney Jewish Museum, the suburb also features St Vincents Hospital, and is associated with the Sacred Heart Hospice on Darlinghurst Road, and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Darlinghurst Gaol, the large sandstone penal complex in the middle of Darlinghurst was built between 1836 and 1840, the large sandstone walls still bear convict markings, and the complex features six wings surrounding a circular chapel. Australian poet Henry Lawson spent time incarcerated here during some of the turbulent years of his life, the last hanging at the gaol was in 1907
3.
Potts Point, New South Wales
–
Potts Point is a small, densely populated suburb of inner-city Sydney, Australia. Potts Point is located 3 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the government area of the City of Sydney. Potts Point sits on a ridge immediately east of Woolloomooloo, west of Elizabeth Bay and Rushcutters Bay, the suburb has a roughly trapezoidal shape, and at its greatest extent is no more than 1 kilometre long by 200 metres wide. Potts Points eastern boundary is Macleay Street, the suburbs other boundaries include Darlinghurst Road to the southeast, William Street to the south, Brougham Street and part of Cowper Road to the west. Kings Cross is not a designated suburb of Sydney, but rather a locality encompassed entirely by the suburbs of Potts Point. Kings Cross is an area that is dominated by bars, restaurants, nightclubs, strip clubs. Kings Cross railway station is situated beneath Darlinghurst Road and the Garden Island facility of the Royal Australian Navy sits on the end of Potts Point. Potts Point is named for Joseph Hyde Potts, who was employed by the Bank of New South Wales and he purchased six-and-a-half acres of harbourside land in an area then known as Woolloomooloo Hill – which he renamed Potts Point. NSW Judge Advocate, John Wylde was another 19th-century public servant who owned land in the area, the area was further subdivided after Macleays time, and a number of grand Georgian mansions were built along the high point of the suburbs ridge line. Several of these survive, including Rockwall House and Tusculum, Rockwall House, located in Rockwall Crescent, is a two-storey sandstone villa with five bays and a verandah that encircles the house. It was one of the homes designed by architect John Verge and was built from 1831 to 1837. It is the one of these which has a garden and is in private ownership. The building is now listed on the Register of the National Estate, Tusculum, located in Manning Street, is a two-storey Regency mansion that was also designed by John Verge. His client was the merchant A. B, spark, for whom the house was built in 1831–35. It was a twin to Rockwell House and was enlarged in the 1870s by the addition of verandahs on three sides, the first tenant was Bishop Broughton. Tusculum now serves as the headquarters for the NSW chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, like Rockwall House, it is listed on the Register of the National Estate. Kenilworth, was built on land that was part of the 1831 grant to Thomas Barker and was once a neighbour Barkers house. The Roslyn Hall estate was subdivided into seven lots in 1860, around 1869, Kenilworth was built for Henry Williams
4.
Kings Cross, New South Wales
–
Kings Cross is an inner-city locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and it is bounded by the suburbs of Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay, Rushcutters Bay and Darlinghurst. Colloquially known as The Cross, the area is known as Sydneys red-light district, once known for its music halls and grand theatres, it was rapidly transformed after World War II by the influx of troops returning and visiting from the nearby Garden Island naval base. Today, it is a mixed locality offering both services to residents and entertainment venues including bars, restaurants, nightclubs, brothels. The intersection of William Street, Darlinghurst Road and Victoria Street at the localitys southernmost limit was named Queens Cross to celebrate Queen Victorias diamond jubilee in 1897. Confusion with Queens Square in King Street in the city prompted its renaming as Kings Cross, after King Edward VII, during the early 19th century the Darlinghurst area, which extended to include current day Kings Cross, was one of Sydneys most prestigious locations. Being far enough to escape the noise and smell of the central city, an additional attraction was the commanding harbour views to the east and north and views to the west as far as the Blue Mountains. They built a series of grandiose mansions with sprawling gardens of up to ten acres, the remnants of these gardens helped give the area its leafy character, and many of the mansions are commemorated through street names such as Roslyn, Orwell and Kellett. Most of the estates were ultimately subdivided with all but a handful of the great houses demolished. One of the homes, located nearby in the suburb of Elizabeth Bay, is Elizabeth Bay House. Others, now used for other purposes, include Tusculum in Manning Street, a prominent past resident of this era was David Scott Mitchell. The Kings Cross district was Sydneys bohemian heartland from the decades of the 20th century. The illegal trading of alcohol, known as sly grog, was notorious in the area up until mid-century, led by rival owners, Tilly Devine. Anthony, actors including Peter Finch and Chips Rafferty, and painter Sir William Dobell, from the 1960s onwards Kings Cross also came to serve as both the citys main tourist accommodation and entertainment mecca, as well as its red-light district. It thereby achieved a level of notoriety out of all proportion to its limited geographical extent. Hundreds of American servicemen on R & R leave flocked to the area each week in search of entertainment, much of this activity can be related with Abe Saffron, commonly known as Mr Sin or the boss of the Cross. A positive influence in the area during that time was The Wayside Chapel and his church was open most of the time, providing a drop in centre and counselling services to many of the itinerants who were drawn to the area. The Ted Noff Foundation, established in 1971, continues his work supporting young people and their families who are experiencing drug and alcohol problems and related trauma
5.
Oxford Street, Sydney
–
Close to the CBD in particular, the street is lined with numerous shops, bars and nightclubs. In recent years, Oxford Street has garnered a reputation as Sydneys primary nightclub strip, in May 1909 the Sydney Council resolved to widen Oxford Street from 66 feet to 100 feet by resuming the entire north side of the street between Liverpool and Bourke Streets. The project was carried out in five stages between 1910 and 1914, the result was a new boulevard and the creation of a Federation streetscape which remains today largely intact. Trams to Bondi and Bronte beaches travelled down Oxford Street until the line was closed in 1960, in 2006 work began to restore and reuse the space of the then derelict Paddington Reservoir. The facility reopened in 2008 as a sunken garden known as the Paddington Reservoir Gardens or Walter Read Reserve, with a rooftop reserve located above the preserved eastern chamber. Victoria Barracks, located in Oxford Street, houses the Headquarters Forces Command, as well as the Army Museum of NSW which is housed in the original District Military Prison, the barracks was constructed of Hawkesbury sandstone by way of convict labour between 1841 and 1846. The Barracks were originally occupied by regiments of the British Army who vacated the site in 1870, the Barracks was the premier military training site in Australia until 1901. The 16 organisations that were part of this programme were, DIY rainbow crossing Media related to Oxford Street, Sydney at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Woolloomooloo
–
Woolloomooloo is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Woolloomooloo is 1.5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and it is in a low-lying, former docklands area at the head of Woolloomooloo Bay, on Sydney Harbour. The Domain sits to the west, the locality of East Sydney is near the south-west corner of the suburb, Potts Point is immediately to the east. Long a poorer district of Sydney, it has changed only recently with gentrification of the inner city areas of Sydney. The redevelopment of the waterfront, particularly the construction of the development on the Finger Wharf, has caused major change. Areas of public housing still exist in the suburb, the current spelling of Woolloomooloo is derived from the name of the first homestead in the area, Wolloomooloo House, built by the first landowner John Palmer. There is debate as to how Palmer came up with the name with different Aboriginal words being suggested, in 1852, the traveller Col. G. C. Mundy wrote that the name came from Wala-mala, meaning an Aboriginal burial ground, after the First Fleets arrival in Sydney, the area was initially called Garden Cove or Garden Island Cove after the nearby small wooded Garden Island, off the shore. The first land grant was given to John Palmer in 1793 to allow him to run cattle for the fledgling colony, in the 1840s the farm land was subdivided into what is now Woolloomooloo, Darlinghurst and parts of Surry Hills. Originally the area saw affluent residents building houses, many with spectacular gardens, attracted by the bay and close proximity to the city. The area slowly started to change after expensive houses were built in Elizabeth Bay and further east and it was for this reason that William Street was built, dividing the land for the first time. The Woolloomooloo tram line opened in stages between 1915 and 1918 and this line branched off from Park Street and ran north along Haig Avenue, St John Young Crescent and Lincoln Crescent to Browns Wharf at Woolloomooloo. Through service ran from Circular Quay via Elizabeth and Park Streets, the line was an early closure, in 1935, being replaced by a bus service from Pyrmont. Woolloomooloo is home to the Finger Wharf, known for its remarkable size and it is 400 metres long and 63 m wide and stands on 3,600 piles. The Sydney Harbour Trust built the Finger Wharf, or Woolloomooloo Wharf, the wharf became the largest wooden structure in the world. The areas commerce was dominated by shipping at the wharf and by the influx of sailors and officers from the Garden Island base of the Royal Australian Navy. The wharfs influence diminished for Woolloomooloo during the 1970s when other more modern wharves were preferred, by the 1980s the wharf lay derelict and empty and in 1987, the state government decided to demolish the Wharf. A new complex was approved to replace the wharf in Woolloomooloo Bay, unions imposed a Green ban which stopped demolition crews from undertaking work
7.
Walter Liberty Vernon
–
Walter Liberty Vernon was an English architect who migrated to Australia and pursued his career as an architect in Sydney, New South Wales. He is noted for designing multiple government buildings which are still standing, Vernon was born 11 August 1846 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, the son of a bankers clerk, Robert Vernon and Margaret Liberty. He was articled in 1862 to a London architect, W. G. Habershon, after completing his studies, he pursued a practice as an architect in London and married Margaret Anne Jones in 1870 at Newport, Wales. His London practice was successful, but he suffered from asthma and received medical advice to leave England. Thus, he migrated to Australia. Vernon established a practice in Sydney but later joined the Government Architects Branch in 1890 as Government Architect. The activities of this office were boosted in 1894 when extra funding was committed as a way of creating relief work during the Depression, as an architect practising in Australia, Vernon favoured what were later known as Federation styles such as Federation Arts and Crafts and Federation Free Style. Examples of the former were his fire station in St Johns Road, Glebe, Jenolan Caves House in the Blue Mountains, examples of the latter were his fire stations in The Avenue, Randwick, Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, and Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont. The last two are on the Register of the National Estate, another example of Federation Free Style is the former police station, Taylor Square, Darlinghurst, also on the National Estate. In a stylistic departure, he designed the station in Bourke Street, Surry Hills, in the Romanesque style. For more substantial buildings, Vernon continued the tradition whereby such buildings were designed in a Classical style. Notable examples were the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Mitchell Library, Central railway station and Newcastle Court House, the Art Gallery has been described as masterly symmetry featuring Ionic colonnades. Central Station has been described as the grandest railway station in Australia and his office was also responsible for the public decorations during the Federation celebrations of 1901. He retired as New South Wales Government Architect in 1911 and returned to private practice, the latter, also born in England, was a practitioner of the Federation Arts and Crafts and Federation Bungalow styles. One of the buildings designed by Vernon and Joseland was the Paterson Reid and Bruce building, York Street, Sydney, in 1911, Vernon judged the competition entries for Parliament House in Wellington, New Zealand, after the original buildings were destroyed in a 1907 fire. Vernon had a career as an architect, with approximately fifty of his buildings being on the Register of the National Estate. He is known as a key practitioner of various Federation styles, Vernon Circle in Canberra is named after him, as is the Vernon Pavilion in Sydneys Centennial Park. Vernon died on 17 January 1914 and his funeral at St James Church, Sydney on 19 January was attended by a large. The following Vernon buildings are on the Register of the National Estate
8.
St John's Anglican Church, Darlinghurst
–
St Johns Anglican Church is in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst. It is located at 120 Darlinghurst Road and is listed on the Register of the National Estate as well as having a New South Wales state heritage listing, St Johns is a large sandstone structure designed in the Gothic Revival style and built in the 19th century. It features a tower, pinnacled spire, slate roof. The architects, Goold and Hilling, were responsible for the original design, in 1871 Edmund Blacket, noted for his work with Anglican churches, designed the transepts and spire. The rectory, located next to the church, is a building in the Italianate style. As was common practice in the Victorian period, the building is composed predominantly of rendered brick, the rectory is state heritage-listed along with the church. It operated consistently until 1994, when it had to close because St Peters Church was closed down, the clergy from St Johns searched for a place that was suitable for a new drop-in centre and decided to utilise the basement of the parish hall in Victoria Street. A new centre called Rough Edges was opened in 1996, fronting directly onto Victoria Street and it operated under full-time managers, supplemented by volunteers, until 2010, since then it has been staffed entirely by volunteers. It opens four nights of the week depending on the availability of volunteers, drinks are sold and food is given away for free after having been donated by Oz Harvest and Govindas Restaurant in Victoria Street
9.
Edmund Blacket
–
Edmund Thomas Blacket was an Australian architect, best known for his designs for the University of Sydney, St. Andrews Cathedral, Sydney and St. Saviours Cathedral, Goulburn. He was the most favoured architect of the Church of England in New South Wales for much of his career, Blackets architectural practice was highly influential in the development of Australian architecture. He worked with a number of architects of both Australian and international importance, James Barnet, William Wardell and John Horbury Hunt. Among his children, Arthur, Owen and Cyril followed him into the profession, the successful architect William Kemp also trained in his practice. Edmund Blacket was born on 25 August 1817 at 85 St Margarets Hill Southwark, Surrey, England and his father was a prosperous draper or slopseller of Smithfield, London. The family were Nonconformists, and Edmunds grandfather Edward Ralph, a clockmaker, had been minister of a Congregational church at Maidstone. On leaving school, Blacket went to work in his fathers office and three years later, at the age of 20, took a position in a mill in Stokesley. This mill was owned by his father in partnership with a Thomas Mease and operated by Edmunds brothers John, However, the Blackets ended the partnership with Mease in July 1837 as they were unhappy about certain financial matters, and by March 1838, the issue was in Chancery. In about 1837, although lacking formal training, Blacket began work for the Stockton and Darlington Railway as a surveyor and this was the period of rapid expansion of the railways and in railway engineering and innovation. As a railway surveyor one of Blackets jobs would have been the design of railway stations and he continued in Yorkshire until 1841, taking every possible opportunity to draw ancient buildings and their details, which included spending his 23rd birthday surveying Whitby Abbey. In June 1841, Blacket was at the home on Brixton Hill. During the same year, he worked for the Archbishop of Canterbury in London as Inspector of Schools and he spent the year in misery, being in love with Sarah Mease, the daughter of his fathers former business partner. Blackets diaries indicate that he had become a member of the Church of England and had a love for the Anglican Liturgy. His brother Henry Blackett became a high church Anglican clergyman, on 13 June 1842, Blacket and his new wife left England on the passenger vessel Eden, bound for Sydney, but with New Zealand as their intended final destination. Blacket later wrote, Neither my Father or Mother would bid me good bye, Blacket suffered from sea-sickness for the first month, although Sarah did not. After about 55 days the ship called at Bahia in Brazil and he also acquired a marmoset monkey which disturbed his sketching for the rest of the voyage. He spent the rest of the voyage carving a wooden crucifix, the Eden sailed into Sydney Harbour on 4 November 1842 with Blacket, who kept a shipboard diary, writing that he had never seen such an exquisite scene. The Blackets were also impressed by the crew of Māori oarsmen in the pilot boat
10.
St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
–
St Vincents Hospital, Sydney is located in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. Though funded and integrated into the New South Wales state public health system it is operated by St Vincents Health Australia and it is affiliated with the University of New South Wales Medical School. St Vincent’s Hospital was established in 1857 by five Irish Sisters of Charity, some of their early work included helping victims of the 1853 influenza outbreak, and families of prisoners in the nearby Darlinghurst Gaol. The hospital was founded in the suburb of Potts Point. As demand grew a new hospital with 150 beds was built on its present site in Victoria Street, the building was remodelled and enlarged after World War I and is now known as the De Lacy building after one of the founding sisters. Forming part of the St Vincents Local Hospital Network, the hospital is now a facility of St Vincents Health Australia, St Vincents Health Australia is a part of Mary Aikenhead Ministries. St Vincents is a medical, surgical and research facility. It has been at the forefront of innovation in such as heart, lung. The first heart transplant was performed on 23 October 1968 by Dr Harry Windsor on a 57-year-old, the hospital was also the first Australian hospital to implement a successful cardiac transplant programme. The head of the transplant program was Dr Windsor, but the surgeon who conducted the first successful transplant in 1982 was Dr Victor Chang, a Chinese-Australian cardiothoracic surgeon. One of the first patients to receive a new heart at St Vincents was 14-year-old Fiona Coote who, on 7 April 1984, cardiothoracic surgeons performed the first heart/lung transplant. The hospital was one of the first health care facilities in Australia to begin treating AIDS patients when the epidemic reached Sydney in the early 1980s. The first patient to be diagnosed with AIDS in Australia was at St Vincents in October,1982. As the AIDS epidemic grew in Sydney, the led the way in the compassionate treatment of the sick. This early exposure to the implications of a possible pandemic was responsible for St Vincents becoming one of the leading centres of immunology research. These patients will in future, be admitted onto an oncology ward of the hospital, in 1996, St Vincents joined the Sisters of Charity Health Service, which already encompassed 17 other health care facilities, and which is now, Australias largest not-for-profit health care provider. The hospital was upgraded in 2001. The hospital is a teaching facility, and offers a wide array of clinical experience to students studying medicine
11.
Bathurst Street, Sydney
–
Bathurst Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. Bathurst Street runs for 650 metres in an west-east direction with traffic flowing in this direction only and it is situated in the southern portion of the central business district. The western terminus of Bathurst Street is at Harbour Street, Darling Harbour, with the terminus at Elizabeth Street. From west to east, Bathurst Street crosses Sussex, George, Pitt, Bathurst Street was named by Governor Macquarie in honour of Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, the UK Secretary of State for War and the Colonies between 1812 and 1827. The Hyde Park Obelisk, at the end of Bathurst Street, was erected in 1857 and unveiled by the Mayor. The monument is actually a vent, and soon the joke around town was to call it Thornton’s Scent Bottle. The obelisk is an example of the Victorian Egyptian style and was based on Cleopatras Needle in London and it is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register. The Church of England St Andrews Cathedral sits on the north-west corner of Bathurst Street and it was designed by Edmund Blacket and was listed on the Register of the National Estate. The former Bank of New South Wales building sits on the south-west corner of Bathurst Street and it was designed by Varney Parkes and built in 1894 in the American Romanesque style. It is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register, the Vintage building is situated on the corner of Bathurst and Sussex Streets. It was built in the 1890s and was just one of many warehouses that sprang up in the area because of its proximity to Darling Harbour and it was used as a flour mill while owned by Aitken and Son, later owners included Mungo Scott Ltd. In 1979 it was converted to apartments, media related to Bathurst Street, Sydney at Wikimedia Commons
12.
Bridge Street, Sydney
–
Bridge Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. Bridge Street runs for 500 metres in an west-east direction with traffic flowing in both directions and it is situated in the northern portion of the central business district. The western terminus of Bridge Street is at George Street, with the terminus at Macquarie Street. From west to east, Bridge Street crosses Pitt and Phillip streets, Bridge Street was named by Governor Macquarie in 1810, derived from a small bridge located near the intersection with Pitt Street. The bridge used to cross the Tank Stream in the days of the colony. Many years before Bridge Street was named, it was the site of Sydneys first Government House and was the abode of first Governor of New South Wales, Captain Arthur Phillip. After establishing the site of the settlement, a temporary government house was located on the corner of what is now Bridge Street. It was built under the direction of James Bloodsworth, a builder responsible for the construction of most of the colonys buildings between 1788 and 1800. This building, the first permanent building in Sydney, was completed by 1789 using English bricks, native stone, after the initial completion the house was of two stories in height, contained six rooms and was the hub of the colony for 56 years. Eight successive governors complained of the conditions within, each making improvements by adding their own extension. It was here on 4 June 1789, that Governor Phillip, in 1845 the entire complex was demolished to allow access and extend the street to Macquarie Street. The foundations of the house were exposed by archaeologists in 1983, the site, on the corner with Phillip Street, is now occupied by the Museum of Sydney. In March 1899, workmen installing a telegraph tunnel discovered a copper plate wedged between two stones and it was later found that it was the foundation stone of the first Government House that was laid 15 May 1788. The plate is now displayed at the Museum of Sydney, Bridge Street has a number of significant buildings and sites. The following were listed on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate, the Department of Lands building is a sandstone building designed by the Colonial Architect, James Barnet, and built 1877-90. It is three storeys high and features a dome and a clock tower that is a distinctive feature in the area. The building is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register, the Department of Education building is a six-storey, sandstone building designed by the government architect, George McRae. It was built ca.1912 and features a structure of steel
Media related to Victoria Street, Kings Cross at Wikimedia Commons