| Historical notes: | STATEMENT OF COUNTRY
The Man O'War Steps are situated at Tubowgule on Gadigal country (AIATSIS, Sydney Opera House). Tubowgule was a small island characterised by rocky shoals and abundant with large shell middens, attesting to its use as a traditional gathering place. At the eastern point of Warrane (Sydney Cove), Tubowgule is at the centre of Australia's colonial and imperial past and continues to hold cultural significance to Aboriginal peoples throughout Australia today.
Tubowgule is known today as Bennelong Point after Wangal man Bennelong, who was abducted in 1789 by Governor Phillip and resided in a brick hut at the point. Bennelong became an interpreter and travelled to England with his friend Yemmerrawanne, before returning to Gadigal Country where he married Barangaroo.
Contemporary Aboriginal connections remain central to Bennelong/Tubowgule through art, theatre, dance, and protest and resistance at the site of colonisation. As the Opera House was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973, its sails were climbed by Ben Blakeney, a descendant of Bennelong, in protest.
TUBOWGULE & BENNELONG POINT
As the First Fleet arrived at Warrane in 1788, Tubowgule was a rocky island covered in middens. The disorderly and unplanned colony comprised convict tents and small huts extending along the foreshore and Tank Stream (Karskens 2010). As the colony grew around Warrane and Farm Cove, over the next decade, Bennelong Point would feature a redoubt (fort), tent observatory, lime burning area, saltworks and a quarry (GML n.d.; GML 2019). These activities saw the demolition of Bennelong's hut and the removal of many of the shell middens that previously dotted the coast.
FORT MACQUARIE
Upon Governor Macquarie's arrival in 1810, he focused on transitioning New South Wales from penal to prosperous colony, along with improving its defence (McLachlan 1967; NMA n.d.). As foreign fleets sailed the Pacific, searching for new territories and strategically located harbours to fulfill their colonial and economic ambitions, the threat of invasion increased, along with the fear that Sydney was poorly defended (Boyce 2008; Artefact 2018).
In 1817 architect Francis Greenway designed Fort Macquarie at Bennelong Point to prevent ships (including those carrying escaping convicts) from leaving Sydney Harbour unpermitted and for the colonies defence (GML n.d.). Greenway's design changed the landscape through land reclamation, quarrying, and construction of sea walls, to accommodate the sandstone gothic fort (GML 2019). Private landing steps for the Governor's use were also built. These were often assumed to be the Man O' War Steps, however, cartographic evidence as early as 1822 shows the private landing on the west side of Bennelong Point (SLNSW 1822), and the two landings co-existing in 1843 (SLNSW 1843).
MAN O'WAR STEPS - FOUNDATIONS
An exact construction date of the Man O'War Steps is difficult to ascertain. They are typically associated with the construction of Fort Macquarie, often dated c.1810s-1820, likely used as a landing for boats carrying supplies to the Fort or stopping at Farm Cove for supplies and water. However, maps from the 1820s-1830s do not show a structure in this area. The Man O'War Steps first appears on a map in1843 (SLNSW 1843). This map shows the dog-legged structure adjacent to Fort Macquarie, likely quarried from local stone. The site of new Government House was chosen in 1837, using the "advantage of private access by water from the steps at Fort Macquarie", however it is unclear if this is referring to the Governor's private landing place or the Man O' War Steps (Purcell 2019). A small drive also led from Mrs Macquarie's Road along Farm Cove to the Man O'War Steps (GML CMP RBG). At the time the Man O'War Steps were also referred to on admiralty charts as "Watering Place", suggesting a key function was for vessels to anchor in Farm Cove to obtain water supplies.
FEMALE ASSISTED MIGRATION
In the 1850s, the Steps were the likely landing place for female migrants arriving in New South Wales through assisted migration schemes. Female workers were needed to fulfill a variety of domestic service roles, and so programs such as the Earl Grey's Famine Orphan Scheme were established to promote free migration from Britain and Ireland. Hyde Park Barracks was converted to the Female Immigration Depot between 1848-1886, to accommodate newly arrived migrant women until they found work (MHNSW, n.d.). Migrants would have spent a fortnight or so at the Quarantine Station. Once cleared, they were transported to the Man O'War Steps: "these useful women were, on landing, escorted to Hyde Park Barracks, (formerly a refuge for criminals), not privately as might reasonably have been expected, but openly through the streets, exposed like criminals to the sneers and gaze of the mob" (Empire, 28 May 1852). This association with female migrants was re-asserted throughout the 20th century (The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 Feb 1901).
A PLACE TO CELEBRATE
In the 1860s, beautification works were undertaken and likely resulted in some restoration of the Man O'War Steps. By the 1880s, the steps were firmly known as the Man O'War Steps. Photographs from the 1870s depict the steps constructed of ashlar sandstone, with a tar surface, fencing, and gas lamp post at the far end to guide incoming boats. They became a frequently photographed and painted attraction, popular on tourist postcards and painted by K.L. Farran and Walter Godden, often with large ships in the background.
The military associations of the Man O'War Steps were unmistakable in the late 19th century. They drew large crowds for military and government processions, alongside community events. Crowds gathered to view the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (1892) and naval fleets and cruise liners, such as the HMS Thalia (The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 6 Nov 1886) and the Orient liner (Freeman's Journal, 29 Jun 1889) arrive and leave the Harbour. Crowds welcomed Australian and International Admirals to Sydney and flocked to the Steps to watch lightshows to celebrate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 (The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 Jun 1887). These grand events were met with much fanfare and formal processions, with guns often fired from Fort Macquarie. The Steps were a convenient landing space for politicians and officials, such as the Governors of New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, along with their wives and associates, who were greeted by cheering crowds before walking the short distance to Government House.
The Man O'War Steps was also where troops would return home from war, including troops who arrived home on the R.M.S. Victoria in 1897 (The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 30 Oct 1897). This also included funerary processions for naval officers lost in battle, who were brought home to their final resting place with funerary processions at the Man O' War Steps (The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 26 Jun 1886).
MILITARISATION AND MODIFICATIONS
In c.1900, a waterman's base building and waiting room was built at the entrance of the Steps, comprising a Federation weatherboard cottage with gable detailing and through-passage providing access. Additional improvements were proposed in 1908, creating a promenade from the Man O'War Steps all the way along the Botanic Gardens to Rose Bay (The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 May 1908). These improvements were just in time for the 1908 arrival of the American fleet, celebrated with a large turnout.
Not all improvements were for beautification, however. The outbreak of World War I saw the construction of a substantial timber pier off the northeast of the Man O'War Steps. The additional space was certainly needed, with the Steps not only accommodating Australian, but New Zealand and British troops throughout the First World War (The Farmer and Settler, 16 Jan 1917).
During peacetime, military celebrations resumed, with the Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force parades marching through the city to the Man O'War Steps. In 1920 the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII) arrived at the Man O'War Steps to meet the Premier and crowds (Daily Advertiser, 26 July 1920).
When World War II broke out in 1939, all shore leave was cancelled for naval officers in Sydney. Large numbers of officers returned to their ships, or returned home, via the Man O'War Steps throughout the war's duration (The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 Sept 1939). Visiting Allied Forces also landed here for a variety of practical and ceremonial purposes, including French fleets in 1943, before proceeding to the cenotaph at Martin Place (Le Courrier Australien, 7 May 1943). The jetties were expanded again in 1944 and 1945 to accommodate arriving British fleets, with further timber piers established.
As works commenced on the Sydney Opera House, at the site of Fort Macquarie, the buildings on the Man O'War Steps were removed and the wartime expansions were reduced to a smaller jetty suited for small commercial boats. While community use at the Steps continued into the late 20th century, it has become part of the broader Circular Quay precinct used largely for water taxis and small private craft. |