| Historical notes: | Aboriginal history:
The "Eora people" was the name given to the coastal Aborigines around Sydney. Central Sydney is therefore often referred to as "Eora Country". Within the City of Sydney local government area, the traditional owners are the Cadigal and Wangal bands of the Eora. There is no written record of the name of the language spoken and currently there are debates as whether the coastal peoples spoke a separate language "Eora" or whether this was actually a dialect of the Dharug language. Remnant bushland in places like Blackwattle Bay retain elements of traditional plant, bird and animal life, including fish and rock oysters. With the invasion of the Sydney region, the Cadigal and Wangal people were decimated but there are descendants still living in Sydney today. All cities include many immigrants in their population. Aboriginal people from across the state have been attracted to suburbs such as Pyrmont, Balmain, Rozelle, Glebe and Redfern since the 1930s. Changes in government legislation in the 1960s provided freedom of movement enabling more Aboriginal people to choose to live in Sydney (Anita Heiss, "Aboriginal People and Place", Barani: Indigenous History of Sydney City http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/barani).
Hyde Park Barracks
Governor Macquarie, after his arrival in Sydney, had become increasingly disturbed by the male convicts behaviour in the streets after work. Convicts had been allowed to find their own lodgings, however, Macquarie thought that barracks accommodation would improve the moral character of the men and increase their productivity. To this end Macquarie requested convict architect Francis Greenway design barracks for 600 men. Constructed by convicts, the foundation stone was laid by Macquarie on 6 April 1817 and the barracks were completed in 1819. Macquarie was so impressed by Greenway's design that he granted him a full pardon shortly after its completion. Macquarie described the work as 'the new elegant barrack' in his journal after its opening (Betteridge, 1984, 10).
At the centre of the Barracks' tympanum (triangular pediment on the front of the main building) is Australia's oldest surviving public clock. Set in a finely carved stone cartouche, or ornate panel, surmounted by a crown and inscribed along its base 'L.Macquarie Esq. Governor 1817'. The clock was originally assembled in 1819 by James Oatley, convict clock maker. It was only the second public clock in colonial Sydney, the first had been installed on a tower on Church Hill in 1798. This Barracks clock played a crucial role in the daily life of colonial Sydney and the supervision and contorl of convicts, managing their workday and symbolising the rigid new regime imposed by the compound (Ellis & Brandon, 2020, 20).
Internally, the four rooms on each floor were hung with two rows of hammocks, with a 0.9 metre (three feet) passage. The room allowed for each hammock was 2.1 by 0.6 metres (seven by two feet). In this way the long eastern rooms could sleep 70 men each, while 35 men slept in the smaller western rooms.
Macquarie was happy to note that since the confinement of the male convicts to the Barracks at night "not a tenth part of the former Night Robberies and Burglaries" occurred (Cumberland County Council 1962:6). Commissioner Bigge, however, complained that the congregation of such a large number of "depraved and desperate characters" in one area had just condensed the problem (Cumberland County Council 1962:6). Stealing was rife within the Barracks, items being passed over the walls to waiting accomplices for disposal. In an attempt to curb the thefts convicts were searched at the gates and broad arrows were painted on items of clothing and bedding.
The accommodation soon proved inadequate and up to 1400 men were housed in the Barracks at any one time. It has been estimated that perhaps 30,000 men and boys passed through the Barracks between 1819 and 1848 (Collins 1994:19). The convict response to the Barracks was somewhat mixed: those that were able to pay for lodgings by working on Saturday were not happy about the confinement; others were happy to have a roof over their heads. In 1820, in order to ease the pressure on the crowded Barracks the reward of being allowed to live outside the Barracks was extended. Convicts found gambling, drunk, engaged in street violence, or other unseemly behaviour had this freedom revoked and were sent to live in the Barracks - it had become a form of punishment. Loitering or idling on a Saturday was also punishable by confinement to the Barracks. Convicts had a peculiar mix of detention and freedom, convicts had to work for the Government during the week, but were allowed to work for their own benefits on Saturdays. This was a privilege Governor Macquarie did not like to see abused.
From 1830 convicts were brought to the site for sentencing and punishment by the Court of General Sessions sitting in northern perimeter buildings. Punishments handed down included floggings, which were carried out onsite, or terms on the treadmill or chain gangs. While one of the first agencies to encroach on the Barracks, they were not the last - the Board for the Assignment of Servants operating from the Barracks between 1831 and 1841.
The cessation of convict transportation in 1840 saw a dwindling number of convicts to house. By 1848 the numbers remaining did not warrant the use of such a large premise and the remaining convicts were removed to Cockatoo Island. The Barracks became instead the Female Immigration Depot. Occupying the first two floors, the Depot had the purpose of giving temporary shelter to newly arrived single females while they were found positions. Depending on the arrival of ships, the Depot could be overcrowded or almost vacant. Single women were encouraged to immigrate to address labour shortages, particularly for maids and servants, and the gender imbalance evident in the Colony. Women from Ireland, devastated by the Famine, were particularly targeted for immigration, coaxed to leave their homeland by the promise of a better employment prospects and life. Additionally, the Barracks also housed the Orphan Institution until 1852, though which many more Irish famine victims passed. The perimeter buildings were taken over by a variety of government agencies including, but not limited to, the Government Printing Office (1848-1856), Stamp Office (1856), Department of the Chief Inspector of Distilleries (1856-1860) and the Vaccine Institute (1857-1886).
The Asylum for Infirm and Destitute Women used the top floor, between 1862 and 1886, to provide accommodation and care to 150 women with terminal illnesses who could not afford medical treatment, the senile, insane, and generally destitute women. Both the Asylum and the Immigration Depot were managed by Matron Lucy Applewhaite-Hicks, who lived on the second floor with her family. Overcrowding was a constant problem, and the Barracks ceased to provide accommodation in 1886 when the women were moved to new purpose-built facilities at Newington (Crook & Murray 2006:19)
The Courts continued to expand their use of the former Barracks buildings and by the early 19th century had almost exclusive use of the site. Courts were shuffled between buildings on the site and moved elsewhere in the city as more appropriate facilities were found or as pressures on space requirements grew or shrank. The new social policies of the 1880s saw the creation of a raft of legally specialised courts, which, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary Queen Victoria's accession to the throne (1887) and 100 years of settlement in Sydney (1888), were consolidated in the Hyde Park Barracks (Collins 1994:24). The facility became known as Chancery Square, later the Queen's Square Courts. Extensive modifications were undertaken to accommodate the courts, including the addition of fibro buildings in the courtyard and internal divisions to the Principle Dormitory to convert it into courts.
The courts occupying the site represent "all facets of the new phases of state intervention in personal and property relations" (Collins 2006:24), a sample of which includes: the Court of Requests (1856-1859), the Sydney District Court (1858-1978), the City Coroner (1864-1907), Supreme Court Judges (1887-1970), Bankruptcy Court (1888-1914), Clerk of the Peace (1888-1903, 1915-1961), Curator of Intestate Estates (1888-1913), Probate Court and Offices (1893-1915), Court of Review (1901-1938), Court of Marine Enquiry (1901-1979), NSW Registrar & Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court (1908-1914), Industrial Court (1911-1914), Industrial Arbitration Court (1912-1927), Legal Aid Office (1919-1944), Profiteering Prevention Court (1921-1922), Land and Valuation Court (1922-1956, 1976-1979), Court Reporting Branch (1944-1964) (Collins 1994:7).
During the early 20th century industrial relations dominated proceedings at Queen's Square. Two landmark decisions were handed down by the Courts while in the buildings: in 1927 the basic living wage was approved; in 1921 a case for equal pay for women was presented and rejected, to be granted only in 1973 (Collins 1994:24).
In 1975 the Department of Public Works began extensive conservation works on the buildings. During these works, one of the first Permanent Conservation Orders, under the 1977 Heritage Act, was given to the Barracks in 1981. The conservation works were completed in 1984 and the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences opened a museum of Sydney. This museum operated until 1990, when ownership was transferred to the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. The museum underwent refurbishment and further conservation works were undertaken, becoming a museum of the site, dedicated to interpreting how the site has developed, been used by multiply occupants and the physical evidence of their presence.
A reconstruction of the convict-era interior of 1820 and displays relating to life in Sydney during Macquarie's term of office complement the interpretation of the history of the building underneath the spectacular ironbark beams on the top floor. A grant of $6500 was made under the federal government's National Estate program to restore the Barracks turret clock, reputedly the oldest clock still functioning in New South Wales, and a well-known landmark at the top of King Street (Betteridge, 1984, 10).
The Friends of the Historic Houses Trust have been responsible for fundraising through interpretive tours and events to acquire the Neville Locker collection of convict artefacts for Hyde Park Barracks (Watts, 2014). The Historic Houses Trust is now Sydney Living Museums.
The Mint
Governor Macquarie signed an agreement with Garnham Blaxcell, Alexander Riley and D'Arcy Wentworth to build a new convict hospital in November 1810. In return, the three gentlemen received the monopoly on the purchase of spirits for three years. As a result, the building became known as the Rum Hospital.
While the architect is unknown, inspiration for the form of the buildings is thought to have come from Macquarie's time in India, especially the Madras Government House. The Hospital, however, is constructed to the standard institutional army plan of the time - as seen at Victoria Barracks. The Hospital was originally constructed with three wings, the northern wing is now part of Parliament House, the central wing has been demolished and the southern wing became the Mint.
The foundation stone was laid almost a year later, in October 1811, but the hospital was not ready for patients until March 1816. This was largely due to the constant inquiries into claims of poor quality materials and construction. Henry Kitchen wrote to Commissioner Bigge "that one would really imagine that they had been built for the very purpose of exhibiting a striking effect which such a structure would produce when in ruins" (Walker & Moore 1990v.2:10). Architect Francis Greenway also criticised the buildings, drawing up plans to strengthen the roof. Greenway's official report on the workmanship found that the joints in the structural beams were weak, the foundations poor, that corners had been cut during construction, there was rotting stonework and dry rot in the timbers. Even though Macquarie ordered the contractors to remedy these faults, many more did not come to light until the restoration works of the 1980. Despite all this it is the oldest extant building in central Sydney (Walker & Moore 1990, v.2:10).
Commissioner Bigge's main complaint, however, was regarding the size and grandeur of the buildings, rather than anything else. These may have been justified in the early years of its existence as the Hospital could not be sustained on such a large scale. As a result, other Government agencies occupied various sections - the Legislative Council moved into the Principal Surgeon's Quarters in 1829, pushing the Principal Surgeon out by 1848. This wing today forms the northern faade of Parliament House. Other rooms were given over to the Principal Supervisor of Convicts and Sydney's first museum.
This early uncertainty over tenure of the buildings effected the growth of the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary, as it was known from 1844 until 1881, when it became Sydney Hospital. The southern wing was first used for the treatment of convict patients and also housed the assistant surgeons and the medical store. From the late 1843 until 1848 the building was used by the Dispensary. The Dispensary was created in 1826, occupying a variety of buildings around the city before being given the southern wing. The purpose of the service was to treat, as outpatients, the free poor who could not afford medical care. In 1848 the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary gave up the southern wing to ensure ownership of the current site of the Sydney Hospital. Little seems to have occurred with the buildings until 1853.
The Legislative Council of New South Wales had began petitioning the British Government for the establishment of a Mint in 1851. The gold rush had brought in to circulation large amounts of unrefined gold that was threatening the official currency. The British Government finally approved the establishment of a Mint in 1853, sending equipment and twenty staff.
Captain F.C. Ward, appointed as Deputy Mint Master, designed the required buildings and stayed in England to order the equipment. C. Trickett as Superintendent of Coining, was sent to Sydney in 1853 to direct the erection of the factory buildings and machinery and to ensure adequate security. Ward, who had worked with Joseph Paxton on London's Crystal Palace, employed similar techniques in the construction of the Mint - prefabricated cast iron columns and trusses. It was Trickett who selected the site and modified Ward's plans to incorporate the southern wing of the Hospital as accommodation and offices with the remaining factory buildings forming the other three sides of a quadrangle. The short southern reach consisted of Carpenter's and Fitting Shops. To the east were the coining and rolling rooms and the Superintendent's Office. Attached to this block, further to the east, was the engine and boiler rooms. The northern block consisted of the melting house, an office and a store room. The courtyard created was geometrically landscaped around a central feature. The Factory buildings necessitated the demolition of the hospitals kitchen and outbuildings. Construction of the pre-fabricated buildings was undertaken by a contingent of trained Sappers and Miners (Royal Engineers).
The Mint began operation on 14 May 1855. Now known simply as The Mint, its official title was the Royal Mint, Sydney Branch. The first five years of operation saw exports of gold fall sharply as over one million pounds worth of gold was converted into sovereign and half sovereign coins each year. In 1868 Sydney's coins were recognised as legal tender in all British colonies, but it was not until February 1886 that they were accepted in Britain. The coins were identical to those produced in Britain, except for a small mint mark.
The Sydney Branch expanded its production in 1868 to bronze coins and again in 1879 to issue Imperial silver coinage. After federation, it was one of three mints to strike the new Commonwealth coins.
Small alterations continued to be made to the buildings throughout the occupation of the Mint. In the early 1860s a new assay office and crushing room were added. In 1870-5 a series of residences were constructed facing Hospital Road. The chimney was renewed in 1889. The Mint continued to struggle with the deterioration of the buildings and in 1909 the Royal Commission for the Improvement of the City of Sydney recommended the Mint be demolished as Macquarie Street was increasingly seen as the seat of government. Federation encouraged the consolidation of minting activities in Canberra, Melbourne and Pert, the facilities in Sydney deteriorated to such an extent that the Mint was closed in January 1927, due to aging equipment and unprofitability (Abrahams, 2016, 9).
During the operation of the Mint it formed the unofficial headquarters of the Philosophical Society of New South Wales. The majority of senior staff at the Mint were founding members. With the blessing of the Society's president, Sir William Denison, also Governor of New South Wales, the Mint building and equipment was used for a number of experiments and became the heart of the scientific community in Sydney. Experiments included the investigation of the strength and elasticity of native timbers and on the combustibility of coal from Tasmania and Bellambi. The Philosophical Society also fostered other important research into weather and seismic patterns.
On the departure of the Mint a series of government departments sought office space in the buildings. Similar to the Barracks next door, with no security of tenure there was little incentive to maintain the buildings and, instead fibro buildings filled all available spaces to meet the requirements of the Family Endowment Department (1927-1940), State Headquarters of National Emergency Service (1940-1950s), Housing Commission of NSW (mid 1940s) and the Land Tax Office (mid 1940s). The Court Reporting Branch, District Courts and Parliamentary Library moved in during the 1950s. Fibro-lined courtrooms were created within the former Coining Factory for use by them.
In the 1930s with increasing use of the motor car, and demand for parking spaces, the Mint's Macquarie Street gates were removed, a common fate for the gates of public buildings at the time. They were eventually acquired by Barker College at Hornsby in 1937 following the efforst of its Council Chairman, Sir John Butters. This was not the first time a school had acquired significant city gates: St. Joseph's College at Hunters Hill had bought the Sydney Town Hall gates and fencing when they became redundant with construction of Town Hall Railway Station (Abrahams, 2016, 9).
Construction of a new District Court in 1956 had the greatest impact on the Factory buildings. Offices replaced the residences on Hospital Road, the Assay office and stores, as well as the eastern perimeter wall. In 1968 the quartz crushing room and associated shed, melting room and rolling room were also demolished to create a car park.
Restoration of the buildings, announced in 1975, were undertaken in 1977-79, with the intended purpose of utilising at least the Mint as a Museum. In 1982 the Mint opened as a branch of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.
In the 1980s an attempt was made to purchase the original gates back from Barker College, but they were by now firmly part of the College's history. Instead, copies of the gates were cast in iron for reinstatement at the Mint. This reconstruction came more than 40 years following their initial removal. It inspired restoration of similar entry gates at Trickett's cottage, 'Banksia' in Double Bay, to introduce a new entrance and gates sympathetic to the house's style. Joseph Trickett worked as an engineer at the Sydney Royal Mint in 1855 and 'Banksia' was built at the same time as the Sydney Mint building. The moulds used in the 1980s to reconstruct decorative parts of the gates of the Mint in Macquarie Street were located, and re-used to cast decorative parts of 'Banksia's new gates, not only stylistically appropriate, but one which the original owner Trickett himself would have participated in (Abrahams, 2016, 9).
In 1998 ownership of the site was transferred to the Historic Houses Trust, who continued to operate a small museum, plus a cafe. In 2004 restoration and construction was undertaken to enable the HHT to use the site as a Head Office. The former Coining Factory was sympathetically remodelled into offices and the Superintendent's Office to hold the Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection. A new theatrette and foyer were also added. The work was overseen by architect Richard Francis-Jones, of FJMT Architects; Clive Lucas Stapleton and Partners as conservation architects and Godden Mackay Logan as archaeologists.
In July 2016 the Mint celebrated its 200th anniversary of continuous civic function with a symposium 'A future for the past' as part of a programme of events (Liebermann, 2016, 6-7).
In January 2019 Hyde Park Barracks closed for an $18 million transformation into "a rich new, immersive visitor experience like no other in Australia" (Tim Barlass, SMH, 10/1/19).
In 2019-20 the second oldest surviving public clock in Australia, on the Barracks' front, saw conservation and cleaning works done on its mechanism, 35 years after the last major restoration to the clock, by horologist Dennis Eccles in 1984. A grant of $120k from the federal government and additional state funds allowed essential conservation works to be undertaken in late 2019. Master clockmaker Andrew Markerink completely disassembled the mechanism, thoroughly cleaning it of grit and dust. The two yellow brass pinions showing wear, were re-used by rotating the pinion alignment 180 degrees to adjust the contact area with the great wheels. This will ensure a further 200 years of use before they need resurfacing or replacement. The sandstone cartouche and masonry elements around the dial were conserved - cleaning, lime mortar injections and fillet repairs, and hand-painting the inscription to Governor Macquarie. Stonework was cleaned by hand. The clock dial was re-finished and gilt numerals reapplied. The bell hammer was conserved and returned to its correct position to strike the bell with a clear chime (Ellis & Brandon, 2020, 21). |