| Historical notes: | 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 (Anita Heiss, "Aboriginal People and Place", Barani: Indigenous History of Sydney City http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/barani).
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).
The site was originally part of the first hospital complex from 1788, the 1790 portable hospital was constructed here after the arrival of the Second Fleet. When the hospital moved to Macquarie St in 1816 the vacant land was set aside as a government quarry. In the general survey of the town undertaken in the 1830s, the site was classified as Lot 7 of City Section 84 and comprised an area of 1 rood 15 perches. In January 1841 the allotment was officially granted to the trustees, executrix and executors of the estate of Samuel Terry.
Terry's interest in the property dates from at least c1823 when an area of '26 rods' on the 'west side of George Street' with a description that approximates that of the George St half of Lot 7 of City Section 84 was leased by the government to Terry for 21 years. Terry was an emancipist, he arrived in Sydney in 1801 convicted of theft under a 7 year sentence. By the time of the expiration of his sentence he was established as a merchant in Parramatta and in 1809 was the owner of a farm on the Hawkesbury River. He moved to Sydney in 1810 where he opened a public house in Pitt St and married Rosetta Marsh, a woman of considerable business acumen. During Governor Macquarie's administration the Terry's business interests prospered where 'he held more than a fifth of the toal value of mortgages registered in the colony'. He became known as the 'Botany Bay Rothschild', at the time of his death in 1838 he left a personal estate of (Pounds)250 000, an annual rental income from his Sydney properties of (Pounds)10 000 and 'land property which defies description'.
On the site of 139-141 George St, Terry constructed a terrace of three buildings (today's 139-143 George St) on his allotment. They were evidently completed in the mid to late 1820s, and they appear on the Hoddle, Larmer and Mitchell 'Map of Sydney' of 1831. The few available images of the buildings suggest a substantial structure of three stories with a prominent breakout capped by a closed pediment.
The terraces were constructed for general retail outlets, as they are today. From the mid 1840s tenants of the premises are listed in street directories and council rate assessments. The first of these is for the years 1842-1845 when Isaac Moore, dealer, traded from premises with a street address of no. 663 Lower George Street. Isaac Moore, incidentally, was also the licensed publican of the adjoining Patent Slip Hotel around this time. Between 1849 and the mid 1850s the tenants were the Downes family (John and Eliza) who operated a clothing store (described as a 'slop warehouse' and 'general outfitter'). Toward the end of the 1850s, in 1857 the building was leased by Andrew Bogle who operated a boarding house. Bogle was succeeded by Mrs Ballantyne in 1858 who with John Ballantyne for the period 1859 to 1861 leased the premises as a drapery store.
The property was held by Samuel Terry's widow and principal trustee, Rosetta, until her death in 1858. For a short period after this her real property was controlled by Mrs Rebecca Fox until June 1860 when the estate was partitioned. The beneficiary of this part of the estate was William Whaley Billyard, the crown solicitor of New South Wales. Shortly after, Billyard sold the property to William Reilly for (Pounds)1,762. (Reilly also acquired title to the neighbouring Russell Hotel site at the same time). Co-incidental with the commencement of Reilly's ownership, street directory entries from 1863 for the premises ceased, but as the building was extant this may suggest it was either left vacant (as stated in a Council rate assessment return for 1863) or, conceivably, became part of the operation of the hotel on the Russell Hotel site, the Patent Slip, for a period. By 1866 the building had been demolished and from 1867 the street directories and rate assessments list the address as 'vacant land'.
In June 1877 the property was transferred back into the ownership of William Whaley
Billyard. In July 1881 the property was transferred into the ownership of Leo Ferdinand Sachs (further details on Sachs are not known). At the same time Sachs entered into the first of a number of mortgages made in the early 1880s, the last of which was discharged in 1886. These mortgages may have been used by Sachs to erect the extant building, which was under construction in 1882 and completed by the end of that year. The new premises provided a pair of shops fronting George Street with the street addresses of no.139 and 141. The first tenant was William Howes, a tailor and clothier, occupant of both no.139 and 141 in 1885. Ownership was then transferred in June 1885 to auctioneers Edmund Compton Batt and John Mitchell Purves. Batt and Purves' interest in the property was short lived and after securing two tenants in August 1886 Thomas Cripps, confectioner, for no. 141 and Thomas Selig, pawnbroker, for no. 139 (although actually tenanted by Joseph Selig, tailor and clothier)) sold the property to the Earl of Carnarvon, whose financial interests in Australia were managed by the financier and politician Sir William Patrick Manning (1845-1915). Selig continued to lease no. 139 until 1887, while Cripps' lease of no. 141 ceased during 1889. In February 1888 Thomas Stephen Small purchased the property and retained ownership until the government resumption of 1900. During these twelve years of Small's freehold ownership, no. 139 George Street was principally used as a restaurant and neighbouring no.141 had mixed uses as a chemist, butcher and confectionary. The use of the upper floors at this time would seem to have been for accommodation associated with the restaurant operations. A photograph of the neighbouring The Fortune of War Hotel of around 1906 includes a glimpse of the shopfront and awning of no. 139 George Street with advertising for rooms.
The plague outbreak in January 1900 prompted the government to resume the entire Rocks and Millers Point area. To administer the resumed area a number of government authorities were established, The Rocks was administered by the Sydney Harbour Trust and its successor the Maritime Services Board until 1970.
Initially under Government ownership the respective premises continued to function in a similar manner as to when the properties were held in freehold title. No. 139 for example continued as a restaurant although operated by a succession of different proprietors (with a short interim between 1909 and 1910 when it was leased by Isaac Levy, clothier). No. 141 continued to be leased from 1900 until 1913 by F.G. Erler, chemist. Following Erler in 1914 was F.A. Benson who initially traded as a chemist until 1923 and between 1924 and 1928 as an accountant. From 1929 up to the 1950s the premises were leased by John George Peek, chemist. During 1930s Peek also entered into a lease of the adjoining premises at no. 139, trading as an optometrist.
In November 1987, the proprietors of The Russell Hotel (Russell Hotel Pty. Ltd.) acquired the lease of the two upper floors of no. 139-141 George Street as part of a scheme to amalgamate the trading operations of the Fortune of War (no. 137 George Street) and the Russell Hotel (no. 143 George Street). The ground floor shops however of no. 139-141 George Street continued to operate under separate lease arrangements. In 1985, for example, no. 139 was leased by Rentoul Pty. Ltd. trading as the Sheepskin Shop, and no. 141 was leased by Dinallo's Fruit Shop.
Commencing in the late 1970s and continuing through the 1980s the then Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority undertook a programme of restoration and reconstruction of the premises at no. 139-141 George Street. These alterations also included the construction of the premises at the rear of 139-141 George Street, known as 30-32 Nurses Walk. Contemporary with the SCRA alterations, further alterations and additions were undertaken over the 1980s. This work was prepared for the proprietors of The Russell Hotel by Ron Vickery architect, and included in 1984 a new development at 30-32 Nurses Walk, which was completed in the mid 1980s and provided the additional rooms and connections with the neighbouring premises under the joint The Russell Hotel lease. |