Parliament House, Sydney: The Oldest Public building in the City of Sydney

Parliament House, Sydney:  The Oldest Public building in the City of Sydney. 

In December 1792, Governor Phillip proclaimed the open space which became the Botanic Gardens, Domain, Hyde Park and Macquarie Street for government use.

The oldest part of Parliament House was built first as the north wing of Governor Macquarie's "Rum Hospital".

Macquarie Street was proclaimed in 1810 by Governor Macquarie.

The “Rum Hospital” is within the walls of NSW Parliament House, opened in 1816. 

Governor Lachlan Macquarie was determined to build a town, but without funds, he allowed the building contractors to import and sell 60,000 gallons of rum to fund the project.

The NSW Legislative Council had been without a permanent seat since its formation in 1824, and this situation would remain until 1856 when the Council moved into the incomplete building.

Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate (NSW : 1910 - 1954), Saturday 30 August 1924,

The Iron Church mentioned above was one of a pair completed by Roberston and Lister of Glasgow in 1854 and shipped to Australia. 

The church sat next to Parliament House for 50 years until another church was built in Phillip Street. The church was then used as a clothing factory and afterwards, the Free Public Library in 1881.

In 1868, the Nightingale Wing was completed. Henry Parkes ("the Father of Federation") had been in correspondence with Florence Nightingale, and the then Government decided to build the Nightingale Wing at the Sydney Hospital on plans approved by Miss Nightingale.

Nightingale Wing at the Sydney Infirmary on Macquarie St, Sydney in the early 1870s. Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW

In 1890 the Free Public Library moved to the Queen Victoria Markets and the church was he grounds of the Lidcombe State Hospital. later, the church was either demolished or moved elsewhere.

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 3 November 1906

The original hospital had a large central building and two smaller wings. The central building was demolished and replaced in 1894 by the Sydney Hospital, but the two smaller wings remain. 

A new chamber was added to the north of the building after 1843, but when a fire broke in 1933, curious markings of letters and figures were found on the boards, which were thought to be piano packing cases used with a lot of other junk in the erection of the room. (1.)

There have been many additions and extensions to the Parliament buildings. And also, various redesign, proposals and plans to demolish and remove the building. 

The colour used in the Chamber follows the British tradition of green for the Lower House, and red for the Upper House.

Balcony, Parliament House, Sydney, NSW, 1871, SLNSW

The Speaker's Chair was hand carved by a Member of the Assembly, Ninian Melville, in 1886.

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, SYDNEY.Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 5 October 1895

Group on Bowling Green, Parliament House, Sydney.Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 1 February 1902 (see here)

Mitchell Library and Macquarie St from Public Library, Sydney NSW, 1919, Museums of History NSW - State Archives Collection

Macquarie Street Sydney, NSW, circa 1900-1919, Sydney City Council

Opening of tiie N.S.W. Parliament on June 36. Arrival of the Governor, Sir Harry Rawson, at Parliament House. Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 4 July 1906

N.S.W. PARLIAMENT. New South Wales srato Parliament was opened on September 9 by His Excellency the Governor, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 19 October 1907

Soldiers ride along Macquarie Street during peace celebrations, Sydney, 19 July 1919,  Fairfax archive

Macquarie Street with Sydney Hospital, Parliament House and Burdekin House in view, Sydney, ca. 1925 , NLAUST

1, AS FAR BACK AS 1909 this plan was prepared of a building which would adequately fit
the importance of a home for the State Parliament. Eighteen years have elapsed, and still
nothing has been done to replace the existing eyesore in Macquarie Street. 2. THE PILE WHICH IS CALLED PARLIAMENT.— For years this ugly block of buildings' has served New South Wales, the principal State in the Commonwealth, for a House of Parliament. Just now' there is a recurrence of the clamor for a structure more befitting the purpose of the institution.Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Monday 11 July 1927

"Terraced housing opposite Sydney Hospital, Macquarie Street, Sydney, 1933 (City of Sydney Archives, A-00006473)"

Wore "Slacks" to Parliament Miss Sylvia Kellaway, the first woman to wear slacks" in the State Parliament House, Sydney, arriving at the House,Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Tuesday 28 November 1933

DH 88 Comet "Grosvenor House" G-ACSS moved into Martin Place to a spot near the Sun-Telegraph Building, Elizabeth Street, for public display (adults 1s, children 3d), 1934, State Library of New South Wales

Parliament House from Macquarie Street, Sydney, 1952, SLNSW

THE I'lRST TIME IN HISTORY, the Queen yesterday opened an Australian Parliament. She is shown here in the New South Wales Legislative Council Chamber for the opening of the State Parliament . The Duke of Edinburgh is on the. ' right.Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Friday 5 February 1954

View south from near Hunter Street along Macquarie Street towards Martin Place and Hyde Park showing the Parliament House buildings, Sydney Hospital, parked vehicles and pedestrians. 1957. Sydney City Council

Around NSW Parliament House

The Parliament House in Sydney, NSW, is a heritage-listed complex of buildings

The Legislative Council has met within the parliamentary precinct since 1828 and the current Chamber has been in use since 1856. The Legislative Assembly chamber is green, which follows the British tradition for lower houses

The Legislative Council chamber is furnished in red, which follows the British tradition for the upper house. Parliament NSW. The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales

Parliament House, Sydney:  The Oldest Public building in the City of Sydney

The Jubilee Library opened in 1906 and was named in commemoration of 50 years of responsible government, Parliament NSW. Designed by Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon

Parliament House, Sydney:  The Oldest Public building in the City of Sydney

Parliament House, Sydney, NSW, 2022

Places To Go

Parliament House is open weekdays to allow people to see the workings of government in the beautiful heritage chambers.

Parliament House, Sydney, Public Tours

Lucy Osburn-nightingale museum -the history of nursing and medicine in Australia from the arrival of the first fleet in 1788.

A WALKING TOUR THROUGH MACQUARIE ST

Camperdown Cemetery, Sydney, NSW

Camperdown Cemetery near Newton, NSW, first opened in 1849 but was shown on a city in a plan, dated 1822, as "the new burying- ground". 

Camperdown succeeded the Elizabeth Street cemetery and an older cemetery in George Street that occupied the site of the present Town Hall.

Near the cemetery entrance, lays the remains of Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, surveyor and explorer, who died at Carthona, Darling Point, 4th October, 1855.

Also buried at the cemetery are Aboriginal men: Mogo who died on the 5th of October 1850, and. William Perry, who died 25th September 1849. In 1931, their graves were decorated with shells, and
the headstones were officially unveiled at the Dunbar ceremony on August 22. (1.)

The "Dunbar" grave in Camperdown cemetery remembers the victims of a tragic maritime disaster, the wreck of the Dunbar in 1857.

On the night of 20 August 1857, or early in the morning of 21 August 1857, the Dunbar was wrecked near the South Head Signal Sation. There was only one survivor, James Johnson, and about 121 people perished.

The Dunbar funeral had seven hearses, the last containing the body of Captain Steane, a retired naval officer, guarded by mounted police.

Other notable people buried here are Sir Maurice O'Connell, (d. 1848) Colonel of H.M. 80th Regiment, Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales and interestingly, Nicholas Charles Boscha, one-time harpist to Napoleon.

An 1875 Charles Bayliss photo of St. Stephen's Church in Camperdown, NSW. The cemetery was founded in 
1848.

Another musician, Lewis Henry Lavenu, A.R.A.M., is buried alongside his tutor Bochsa, and his fellow English composer Isaac Nathan. Lavenu died during the grand festival to inaugurate the new Great Hall of the University of Sydney in 1859.

Captain Sir James Everard Home, 2nd Baronet, RN CB FRS (25 October 1798 – 1 November 1853), commanding H.M.S. Calliope, was buried at the Camperdown cemetery. He was a British surgeon.and brother-in-law, of John Hunter.

Eliza Emily Donnithorne, a reclusive eccentric, who lived at 36 King Street, Newtown, is believed to be the inspiration for the character of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens' 1861 novel Great Expectations. Read here

Bathsheba Ghost, who was matron of Sydney Hospital from 1852 to 1866, died at the hospital on August 12, 1866, and was buried in Camperdown Cemetery.

Paupers were often buried in the north west corner fronting Federation Road. Read more

There are so many other well-known names in this cemetery, such as Simon Rood Pittard, the first curator of the Australian Museum, who died in August 1861. And so many more.

AN ABORIGINAL'S GRAVE IN THE CAMPERDOWN CEMETERY. In conjunction with theDunbar commemorationSydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 26 August 1931

WHILE WORKMEN were digging air-raid trenches at the old Camperdown Cemetery , they uncovered a coffin. The men were subsequently taken off the job and the council has ordered the trenches to be filled in. Pill-boxes will be built instead. Camper-down Cemetery has not been used for more than 20 years .Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955), Wednesday 22 July 1942

Tribune (Sydney, NSW : 1939 - 1991), Tuesday 25 June 1946,

Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, Sydney, NSW - 1951

 Around Camperdown Cemetery

The Cemetery Lodge/The Sextons Lodge, NSW ~ Camperdown A small cottage in the Colonial Neo-Gothic style built in 1848 and located on the grounds of Camperdown Cemetery.

Charles Windeyer Frist Mayor Of Sydney, buried at .Camperdown Cemetery, NSW.

John Leys Foreman Engineer Morts Dock Sydney, buried at Camperdown Cemetery, NSW

Camperdown Cemetery, NSW.

Camperdown Cemetery, Sydney, NSW. The grave of Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (Major Mitchell), Surveyor General.

Things To Do

Location: 189 Church St, Newtown NSW 2042.

Burials at Camperdown Cemetery

Susannah Place Museum: The Rocks

Governor Arthur Phillip in 1792 defined the boundaries of settlement: east of the Tank Stream were the residences of the Governor and civil authorities; west of the Tank Stream were the military barracks, parade ground and hospital. The convicts, however, began to occupy the sandstone ridges (The Rocks) above Sydney Cove's western foreshores.

Susannah Place Museum is a historic house museum, situated in The Rocks, Sydney. It is a block of four terrace houses built for four working-class Irish immigrants in 1844.

Edward and Mary Riley arrived from Ireland with their niece Susannah in 1838. Their house is typical to the area, of brick and sandstone houses and features a basement kitchen and backyard outhouse. 

The Rocks from Government House, NSW, circa 1858, courtesy of the City of Sydney Archives

"I have never seen such a miserable class of houses as that on The Rocks. I know two or three houses which are not larger than this room, two or three families living in one house."
– 1859 Select Committee on the Condition of the Working Classes

These four houses, now Susannah Place Museum, were home to more than 100 families over nearly 150 years.

The buildings have survived numerous demolition threats. In 1900, a Bubonic plague led to hundreds of neighbouring properties being demolished. Then, in the 1920s, a three-street-wide-section of The Rocks was cleared to make way for the Harbour Bridge approaches. 

WIPING OUT THE SLUMS. Amount The Rocks at Miller's Point, NSW,Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Friday 30 October 1908

In the 1970s, we can be thankful for the "Green bans" imposed by the Builders Labourer's Federation, which stopped may demolitions and redevelopment projects. These irreplaceable buildings would have been lost forever.

Sydney Cove is part of the lands of the Cadigal people of the Eora nation. However, the absence of an archaeological record for the Cadigal (even allowing for large-scale city development) has led Emeritus Professor Grace Karskens to believe that Sydney Cove was likely to be border country for the Eora nation, and therefore, may not have been inhabited prior to European settlement.

Around Susannah Place Museum

Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks, NSW

Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks, NSW

Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks, NSW

Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks, NSW

Things To Do

Susannah Place Museum

Address: 58/64 Gloucester St, The Rocks NSW 2000

Telephone: 0292411893

More Information here

Justice & Police Museum of Sydney

Justice & Police Museum of Sydney

The Justice & Police Museum, Sydney, was designed by the Colonial Architect Edmund Blacket and built in 1855 as the Water Police Court.

There are many historic, seedy and serious stories to learn about Sydney's police and gangsters at this museum.

The prisoner's pen at the Water Police Court. Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Thursday 4 April 1889,

There are those who feature at the museum, who made fortunes selling "sly grog" during the Roaring Twenties.

The Twenties were a golden era for Sydney’s female criminals, such as the notorious criminal Kate Leigh.

This Notorious Woman and Her Chauffer (the notorious criminal Kate Leigh). Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954), Sunday 10 February 1929,

Another 1920s story surrounds hotel cleaner "Harry Leon Crawford", who was arrested and charged with his wife’s murder in 1920. 

It was soon revealed that Harry was, in fact, Eugenia Falleni, a woman and mother who had been passing as a man since 1899.

Harry was, in fact, Eugenia Falleni, a woman and mother who had been passing as a man since 1899.

Learn about Sydney's "Aboriginal Trackers", including the legendary officer. Alexander "Alec" Riley. During his 40-year career he became the first Aboriginal man to attain the rank of Tracker Sergeant.

Sydney's "Aboriginal Trackers", including the legendary officer. Alexander "Alec" Riley. During his 40-year career he became the first Aboriginal man to attain the rank of Tracker Sergeant.Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW : 1949 - 1953), Sunday 9 July 1950

At The Justice & Police Museum of Sydney

Justice & Police Museum of Sydney

Justice & Police Museum of Sydney

Look through hatch in metal door to police holding cell at the Justice & Police MuseumJustice & Police Museum of Sydney

Places To Go

Located: Corner of Phillip Street, Albert Street, Circular Quay NSW 2000

Cost: Free entry

Accessibility: Welcomes people with access needs

More information