Sydney Sandstone - Museum of Sydney

While the Museum of Sydney is not one of the original sandstone buildings along Bridge Street it is of significance because it is on the site of the First Government House and still has some of the original sandstone foundations on display.

I have also included it because the façade of the museum shows the evolution of the way sandstone was used in buildings in Sydney. From the rough hewn original blocks at the bottom of the photo, progressing to the more refined squarer blocks  further up and then through to the smooth finish in top of the photo.

Sydney sandstone known as Yellowblock was quarried in and around Sydney predominantly around Pyrmont where there were approximately 50 quarries. The main public buildings built in Sydney from the 1850's until the 20th century were built using this stone.

 

 

 

The Museum of Sydney is well worth a visit as it interprets the archaeological remains of first Government House and also looks at the stories of Sydney both past and present through interesting stories and interactive displays.

Sandstone Explorers Part 3 - Celebrating 200 years of The Crossing of the Blue Mountains - Gregory Blaxland

Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth are three names synonymous with Australian exploration. They are credited with being the first Europeans to cross the impassable Blue Mountains and open up the fertile plains to the west of Sydney.

While this has always been the historical version of the opening up of the inland, by the time Gregory Blaxland had received approval from Governor Macquarie to mount an expedition to find a way over the Blue Mountains, a great deal of information had already been gathered from others who had tried and failed.

                                                                 Gregory Blaxland

Blaxland emigrated in 1805 with the promise of free passage, land and convict servants upon arrival. People like the Blaxlands were encouraged to emigrate because the government wanted 'settlers of responsibility and capital'.

Upon arrival Blaxland sold the provisions he had brought with him for a tidy profit and bought cattle which he grazed on land he located. He also bought land from D'Arcy Wentworth at Brush Farm near Eastwood.

Like a lot of the free settlers they did very well in the colony but always thought they should be entitled to more. And in 1808 Blaxland with his brother John signed the petition to arrest and overthrow Governor Bligh.

After further grants of land by Lieutenant-Governor William Paterson which were confirmed and added to by Governor Macquarie, Blaxland realised that this was still not enough for his ever expanding sheep and cattle flocks.

In 1810 this lead to Blaxland exploring the Nepean River and realising that the way to obtain new land was to explore the interior west of Sydney. He petitioned Governor Macquarie to form an expedition to cross the Blue Mountains and on 11th May 1813 he set out with William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth.

They made their way over the mountains following the ridges rather than looking for a way through the valleys and completed the crossing in 21 days.

In later years Blaxland tried to persuade Governor Macquarie to allow a scheme to utilise the interior for grazing his own flocks but Macquarie would not allow it.

Blaxland then experimented with a number of different crops including viticulture for which he won a silver medal for wine in 1822.

After the death of his wife in 1826 he returned to England taking with him a petition with support for trial by jury and some form of representative government. He also took another sample of wine for which he won another medal.

After returning to the colony he pursued his agricultural and viticultural interests until his suicide in January 1853.

Sandstone buildings - Chief Secretary's Building

One thing synonymous with Sydney are the beautiful sandstone buildings we have all over the city. Bridge Street from Macquarie Street running down to George Street is one of the streets with a number of these buildings. These buildings are mostly government departments built from the early 1870's until the 1890's.

A number of the buildings in this period were designed by colonial architect James Barnet, being in that position from 1862 - 1890.

One of these is the Chief Secretary's Building originally the Colonial Secretary's Building. This building faces Macquarie Street and stands on the city block bounded by Bridge, Phillip and Loftus Street.

                                        
                                     View looking from the corner of Macquarie and Bridge Street.

It features 9 life size statues, 6 on the outside (3 of which you can see in the photo above and below) and 3 on the inside. These external statues were sculpted by Achille Simonetti who also worked on the Governor Phillip Fountain.
 A fifth floor and dome were added in the 1890s by Barnet’s successor Walter Liberty Vernon, as well as an extension south at 50 Phillip Street.

                                        View looking from the corner of Phillip and Bridge Street

One of the statues on the corner of Phillip and Bridge Street.

 

 

Another of the statues on the corner of Phillip and Bridge Street.

 

Another of the statues on the corner of Phillip and Bridge Street.

 

This view faces Bridge Street

 

This view faces Macquarie Street. 

 

The building houses The Industrial Relations Commission of NSW offices.

Interesting fact - the dome was originally covered in aluminium which was one of the first uses of the material.

Again seem to be having trouble uploading photos so will have to work through the problem over the couple of days.

Not sure whether it is the new Microsoft edition but can't seem to pin point what the problem is!


But will keep trying and hope to be back soon. Wish I had a techie in the family.

Sandstone Explorers Part 2 - James Meehan

One of the lesser known explorers and certainly not as famous as many of our others is James Meehan. He came to Australia in 1800 penalised for his part in the Irish rebellion of 1798. After arriving he was assigned as a servant to Charles Grimes, the surveyor general at the time.

While there are no great exploits attributed to his exploration he was instrumental in supporting the surveyor generals and mapping large areas of the colony.

He accompanied Grimes and Francis Barrallier exploring the Hunter River in 1801 and in 1802 -03 exploring King Island and Port Phillip.

When Charles Grimes was on leave James Meehan was the only qualified surveyor in the colony and having been pardoned, did most of the departmental duties during this time. In 1805 he surveyed the track between Prospect and Cowpastures. He also marked out 5000 acres for John Macarthur at Camden Park. At this time he was granted land in the district of Minto and after it was initially withdrawn, in 1810 Governor Macquarie granted him 1140 acres to be known as Macquarie Field.

He was very nearly appointed Surveyor General in 1812 but another one of our famous explorers John Oxley petitioned the British Government tirelessly and Oxley was eventually appointed. Governor Macquarie then appointed Meehan deputy surveyor of lands.

During the following years he measured every farm not only in New South Wales but in Van Diemen's Land also. He accompanied Governor Macquarie on most of his tours of inspection in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.

In 1818 Governor Macquarie sent him with Charles Throsby to look for a way from Sutton Forest to the coast at Jervis Bay. From this expedition he left Charles Throsby and where he went downstream, Meehan went upstream following the Shoalhaven gorge and discovered Lake Bathurst and the Goulburn plains.

He made significant contributions to the mapping of the colony, exploring, laying out and measuring Sydney, Parramatta, Bathurst and Port Macquarie and surveying the townships of Richmond, Castlereagh, Windsor, Pitt Town, Wilberforce, Liverpool and Bathurst in New South Wales, as well as Hobart Town in Van Diemen's Land.

In 2010 James Meehan was honoured with inclusion of a statue on the façade of the Department of Lands building on the Loftus Street side. Made from Appin sandstone it was carved at the NSW Public Works stone yard.


Interesting fact - being a convict there were no portraits of James therefore the statue is based on a photograph of his son Thomas, with the stonemason hoping that he looked a lot like his father.

Sandstone Explorers

It's been awhile since I last posted and in that time I haven't really expanded my historical photo library much, so I am determined to get back into blogging and photography with renewed interest.

One of my favourite things about Sydney is all of the beautiful sandstone buildings. In the following posts I am going to look at some of these buildings. The first one was  designed by James Barnet, colonial architect - The Lands Department Building in Bridge Street. And in particular the explorers and legislators which adorn the façade.

There are 23 in total, too many to post one after the other or even blog about so I am going to choose my top ten and intersperse them with other posts.

This first post is about 2 explorers whose names are synonymous with early exploration of Sydney's waterways and quite often spoken about together - Bass and Flinders

George Bass and Matthew Flinders met as young men on board the HMS Reliance in 1795 on a journey to Sydney and discovered they both shared an interest in navigation and sea exploration. As soon as arriving in the new colony they made plans to explore in a small rowboat called the Tom Thumb, which George Bass had brought with him on the journey.

 

Their first exploration took them south to Botany Bay where they explored the Georges River (named in honour of King George III) which led to establishment of  the settlement of Bankstown. Incidentally this is the area in which I live.

 

On their second journey they discovered and named Port Hacking and Lake Illawarra.

 

Both Bass and Flinders, having also explored separately were convinced there was a body of water between mainland Australia and Van Diemen's Land and in 1798 they rowed along the northern coast of Van Diemen's Land, and rowed up the Tamar River near where Launceston stands today. While there they climbed Mount Wellington which overlooks Hobart. They proved that there was water between Australia and Van Dieman's Land and it was named Bass Strait by Governor Hunter.

Both of these explorers had unusual ends to their lives.

George Bass resigned from the Royal Navy and sailed trading vessels until in 1803 he left Sydney Harbour for Chile and neither he nor his boat or crew were ever seen or heard from again.

In 1803 Matthew Flinders sailed for England as a passenger on a ship which was wrecked on a coral reef off the Queensland coast, he took control of the lifeboat and sailed it back to Sydney to get help for his fellow passengers.

He then set sail in a small schooner back to England but it proved unseaworthy and he sailed to Mauritius seeking help but unknown to him at that time England and France were at war and they arrested him as a spy and kept him  in gaol on the island for 6 years.

He eventually returned to England in 1810 and in poor health died just 4 years later in 1814

Both of these men had a great influence on the exploration of the Australian coastline as we know it today.