Francis Greenway – Convict Architect – From a Bristol Death Sentence to Macquarie's Civil Architect, Every Building He Designed, and an Unmarked Grave at East Maitland – 1777 to 1837

For twenty-seven years Australians carried Francis Greenway around in their wallets. His face was on the first decimal ten-dollar note, issued in 1966 and in use until 1993, and his buildings were printed behind him. Many people at the time didn't know that the man on the tenner had been sentenced to hang for forgery. He came to Sydney in chains, became the colony's first government architect, gave Governor Macquarie the buildings he wanted for his town, fell out with nearly everyone, and died broke on a swampy farm in the Hunter. Nobody knows exactly where he's buried. Here's his story, and the story of every building I could trace to him.

Francis Howard Greenway, pencil portrait by an unknown artist, drawn sometime between 1814 and 1837. Image: unknown artist, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

A Family of Builders in the West Country

The Australian Dictionary of Biography says Francis Greenway was born at Mangotsfield, near Bristol, in 1777, son of Francis Greenway and Ann, née Webb. "The Greenways had been stonemasons, builders and architects in the west country for generations." Wikipedia gives his birthday as 20 November 1777. Museums of History NSW, drawing on James Broadbent and Joy Hughes' 1997 book Francis Greenway Architect, says he went into business with his brothers in Bristol in 1805. Their best-known job, and the only Greenway work still standing in England, was the Clifton Hotel and Assembly Rooms, now the Clifton Club. Only the front is his, because the family firm went bankrupt in April 1809, part-way through building it.

The Clifton Club in Bristol, built as the Clifton Hotel and Assembly Rooms. The facade is Greenway's only surviving work in England. Image: Whitewig24, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Forgery, a Death Sentence and Newgate

With the business gone, Greenway did something desperate. Museums of History NSW suggests he did it "perhaps in an attempt to restore the family business". He was tried at the Bristol Sessions on 23 March 1812 and found guilty of forging a document, which the same source says was a contract. Forgery was a hanging offence. The sentence was commuted to fourteen years' transportation to New South Wales. The ADB says he "was found guilty"; Wikipedia says he "pleaded guilty". I couldn't settle which is right from the sources I could open.

While he waited in Bristol's Newgate prison, he painted the life around him. One of those pictures, The Mock Trial, showing prisoners staging a pretend court, is now in the State Library of NSW.

"The Mock Trial", painted by Greenway himself inside Newgate Prison, Bristol, in 1812 while he waited to be transported. Image: Francis Greenway, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

The General Hewitt, 1814

He arrived in Sydney on the convict transport General Hewitt on 7 February 1814. Museums of History NSW has read his convict indent, which records him as 34, with hazel eyes and light brown hair, 5 feet 6¾ inches tall. A month later, on 7 March 1814, he had a ticket of leave, and the clerk wrote that he was "good looking". His wife Mary and their three children followed him out in July on the Broxbornebury, the ADB says. The ADB gives two different dates for the marriage: one version says 27 April 1809 at St Michael's, Bristol, the other "about 1804".

His first private client was Dr John Harris, the surgeon on the General Hewitt, who had him enlarge his house on the Ultimo estate (Wikipedia, citing Broadbent and Hughes).

Lecturing the Governor

Then came the famous meeting with Lachlan Macquarie. The State Library tells it this way. Macquarie asked the new convict to copy a courthouse design out of a pattern book. Greenway answered by lecturing the governor on his taste. Museums of History NSW quotes his letter of 27 July 1814: it was "rather painful to my mind as a professional man to copy a Building that has no claim to classical proportions or character". He copied it anyway, but Macquarie had noticed him. In 1815 Greenway was advising on public works now and then. On 30 March 1816 he was appointed Civil Architect and Assistant Engineer, on 3 shillings a day, with quarters for his family and a horse and forage, according to the ADB. It was the beginning of the office of NSW Government Architect, which still exists.

Greenway lived in a house the government gave him with the job. I've written about the site in Francis Greenway's Residence – George Street, cnr Argyle Street.

Macquarie's Architect, 1816–1822

Over six years Greenway designed, altered or oversaw a remarkable run of buildings. The State Library sums up the range: "from lighthouses to obelisks; churches to stables; barracks and prisons to private dwellings". Macquarie told London in 1819 that Greenway's buildings were "not only Strong, durable and substantial, but also Elegant and good models of Architecture". The lighthouse earned him a conditional pardon on 16 December 1817, and the Barracks an absolute pardon in 1819. Museums of History NSW dates that pardon to 4 June 1819 and says Macquarie handed it over himself. The ADB connects it with the Barracks opening on 20 May.

Here's the list, building by building. I've marked where the credit is shared, disputed or only "attributed".

1. Macquarie Lighthouse, South Head (1816–18) – demolished, replaced by a replica

This was his first government job, according to the ADB. The stonework was finished in December 1817 and Macquarie was so pleased he gave Greenway his conditional emancipation on the spot. The light was lit in November 1818. The soft sandstone weathered badly, and James Barnet built a near-copy beside it. The ADB says the replica was built in 1880; Wikipedia and the Heritage Register put Barnet's tower at 1878–83. Greenway's tower was then pulled down. What stands at Vaucluse today is Barnet's, modelled on Greenway's.

The two Macquarie Lighthouses side by side, about 1883: Greenway's original on the left and James Barnet's replacement on the right. Photograph by Charles Bayliss. Image: Charles Bayliss, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

The Macquarie Lighthouse today, Barnet's 1880s copy of Greenway's design. Image: Dietmar Rabich, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

2. Government House Stables (1817–21) – now the Sydney Conservatorium of Music

Macquarie wanted a grand new Government House and left the design to Greenway. The ADB says he "promptly designed a castle and began a stable block so grand that it was often mistaken for Government House itself". London refused to pay for the castle, and Commissioner Bigge called the stables a piece of "useless magnificence", as quoted on Wikipedia. The Heritage Register says they were built 1817–1820 as a "castellated fort" in Gothick style. The courtyard was roofed over in 1913–15 to make the hall for the Conservatorium, and it's still there.

See my posts Sydney Conservatorium of Music – The Old Government House Horse Stables, Government House – Royal Botanic Gardens and Government House – Macquarie Street / Conservatorium Road.

Greenway's castellated Government House stables in 1872, photographed by Charles Percy Pickering. Image: Charles Percy Pickering, NSW Government Printer, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

The old stables today as the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Image: sv1ambo, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

3. The Obelisk, Macquarie Place (1818) – still standing

This is the sandstone obelisk from which all road distances in the colony were measured. Wikipedia lists Greenway as architect, citing the Heritage Register. It's still in Macquarie Place. I covered it in The Roads Obelisk – Macquarie Place and Macquarie Place.

Greenway's 1818 obelisk in Macquarie Place, the starting point for the colony's road distances. Image: Sardaka at en.wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

4. Fort Macquarie, Bennelong Point (1817–21) – demolished 1901 (credit disputed)

This was a castellated fort on the tip of Bennelong Point. Its foundation stone was laid on 17 December 1817 and it fired its first salute in February 1821. The Dictionary of Sydney names Greenway as architect. Macquarie University's Journeys in Time project isn't so sure. It says Greenway promised completion in November 1820, but that "the engineer and draftsman responsible for the design is unknown", and that Lieutenant John Cliffe Watts was "quite likely" the main designer. It was demolished in 1901 for the Fort Macquarie tram depot, which was itself cleared in 1958–59 for the Opera House. See Fort Macquarie – Bennelong Point and The Sydney Opera House – From Cattle Point and Bennelong Point to Fort Macquarie.

Fort Macquarie on Bennelong Point, painted by Conrad Martens, 1836. Image: Conrad Martens, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

Fort Macquarie's tower and guns, photographed by William Hetzer about 1858–59. Image: William Hetzer, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

5. Dawes Point Battery improvements (1819) – mostly demolished for the Harbour Bridge

Engineers Australia's heritage record says that in 1819 Macquarie ordered Greenway to improve the old Dawes Point fort, adding "a semicircular battery supported by a new decorative castellated guardhouse". The battery was strengthened again in the 1850s, and most of it was demolished in 1925 for the Harbour Bridge. Remnants survive under the southern approaches.

Dawes Point Battery as it looked in 1821, after Greenway's improvements, engraved after James Wallis. Image: Wallis, James, 1785?-1858, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

6. Hyde Park Barracks (1817–19) – a World Heritage-listed museum

This was built for convict men on Macquarie Street. The ADB says Macquarie opened it on 20 May 1819 "with great ceremony and a special feast for the prisoners". It was later used for immigrant women, courts and offices, was restored in the 1990s as a museum, and is now part of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage listing. The ADB regrets "the wanton ruin" of the great compound, his "one example of planning in the grand manner". See Hyde Park Barracks and Queens Square.

Hyde Park Barracks, Greenway's convict barracks of 1817–19, on Macquarie Street. Image: Kgbo, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Convict hammocks rehung inside Hyde Park Barracks, now a museum. Image: Sputniktilt, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

7. Female Factory, Parramatta (designed by 1818–19) – part survives

The ADB says that "by 1819 he had designed a large female factory at Parramatta", a combined prison, workhouse and barracks for convict women. It later became part of a mental asylum, and parts of it survive in the North Parramatta heritage precinct. Museums of History NSW also lists it among his works. I wrote about it in Parramatta Female Factory – Fleet Street, North Parramatta.

The Female Factory at Parramatta, about 1826, by Augustus Earle. Image: Augustus Earle (1793-1838), via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

8. St Matthew's Church, Windsor (from 1817) – still in use

The ADB calls it "probably his masterpiece". The Heritage Register explains that a first church by builder Henry Kitchen was so badly built that Greenway condemned it and started again. It was consecrated by Samuel Marsden on 8 December 1822 and is still a working Anglican church above the Hawkesbury. The ADB says it later suffered "depressing alterations".

St Matthew's Church, Windsor, in 1906 (Royal Australian Historical Society). Image: Royal Australian Historical Society, via Wikimedia Commons (no known copyright restrictions).

St Matthew's, Windsor, in 2021. Image: Collywolly, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Inside St Matthew's, Windsor. Image: Neil Paton aka Sardaka at en.wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

9. St Luke's Church, Liverpool (from 1818) – still in use

The ADB says St Luke's was begun in 1818. The first builder, Nathaniel Lucas, died after the foundations went in and James Smith finished it. Greenway "tactlessly quarrelled with each builder". The church was later "grossly mutilated", but it's still the Anglican parish church of Liverpool.

St Luke's Church, Liverpool, 2023. Image: Chris.sherlock2, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The entrance to St Luke's, Liverpool. Image: Sardaka, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).

10. St James' Church, King Street (1819–24) – still in use

This was begun as a courthouse and turned into a church when Bigge objected. The ADB calls it "his most classical design", ranking "among the finer Georgian buildings of its date". It was altered a good deal later, but it's still the city's oldest church in use. My full post is St James' Church, King Street – Greenway's Courthouse That Became a Church (older version: St James Church – 173 King Street).

St James' Church in 1836, drawn by John Gardner Austin. Image: John Gardner Austin, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

St James' Church today, under the towers of the modern city. Image: Kgbo, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

11. The Rum Hospital – repairs and alterations, not the design

The General Hospital on Macquarie Street was finished in 1816 and wasn't his design. Museums of History NSW says that in 1816 Greenway sat on a committee that found it riddled with faults, writing that "the Cap is set wrong upon the Column" and that "the future safety of the building requires an early attention". In September 1820 he drew up a scheme to strengthen the roofs. The two surviving wings are Parliament House and the Mint. Wikipedia's opening paragraph credits him with designing it; that's wrong, and his part was the repairs. See Sydney Hospital – The Rum Hospital.

12. The Supreme Court, King Street (from 1820) – much altered, still a court

The ADB lists it among his designs under Governor Brisbane. Wikipedia says he was dismissed before it was finished in 1828, and that James Barnet added to it later. It stands on the corner of King and Elizabeth Streets.

King Street in 1843 by Frederick Garling, looking up towards St James' Church and the courthouse area. Image: Frederick Garling (1806-1873), via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

13. Windsor Court House (1821–22) – still standing

Museums of History NSW lists "the Courthouse at Windsor" among his works. Heritage NSW search extracts give the design as 1821 and the building as 1821–22, and say it was restored in 1961. It's one of the best-preserved colonial courthouses in the state.

14. Liverpool Hospital (designed c.1820–22, built c.1825–30) – now TAFE (attributed)

The ADB names "a version of Liverpool Hospital (now the Technical College)" among his last designs. Museums of History NSW says building wasn't finished until 1830. The Heritage Register is more careful: the design was "initiated by Governor Macquarie and attributed to Francis Greenway". It's now TAFE NSW's Liverpool campus.

The former Liverpool Hospital, attributed to Greenway, now part of TAFE NSW Liverpool. Image: Sardaka, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).

15. Smaller works and lost buildings

• Extensions to First Government House, Bridge Street. Listed by Wikipedia from the Heritage Register; demolished in 1846. See Governor Phillip's Garden.
• Stores at Parramatta and a police office in York Street, both demolished (ADB).
• The timber portico at Old Government House, Parramatta (Wikipedia).
• Cadmans Cottage, The Rocks. Wikipedia, quoting Haskell, says he supervised its construction in 1815–16.
• A design for St Mary's Catholic chapel, rejected as not grand enough (Wikipedia, citing Sternbeck, 2022).
• Clyde Bank, a private house of 1823, listed by the ADB.

16. Attributed, but not proven

• Cleveland House, Surry Hills (c.1823–24, built for Daniel Cooper). Heritage NSW says it "is believed to be the work of Francis Greenway"; the National Trust says "attributed". See my post Cleveland House – 146–164 Chalmers Street.
• Burdekin House, Macquarie Street. This one was built in 1842 (Dictionary of Sydney), five years after Greenway died, so he can't have designed it. An ANU thesis notes it "was attributed to Greenway" by 1920s enthusiasts for colonial architecture. It was demolished in 1933. See Burdekin House – 197 Macquarie Street.
• Hobartville, Richmond, and the Judge's House, Kent Street. Wikipedia lists both as uncertain; the Judge's House is also attributed to W. Harper.

Cleveland House, Surry Hills, which Heritage NSW believes to be Greenway's work. Image: Sardaka, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).

Bigge, Brisbane and the Sack

Commissioner John Thomas Bigge arrived in 1819 to look into Macquarie's spending. The State Library says he "interfered in many of Greenway's architectural projects" and went around Macquarie to deal with him directly, which spoiled the old friendship between architect and governor. Macquarie left in 1821. The ADB says Governor Brisbane kept Greenway on but restricted him. Greenway kept pressing "his curious claim for fees", and Museums of History NSW calls one bill "ridiculously large". Builders began changing his designs without telling him, "the ultimate insult to any architect". He was dismissed on 15 November 1822.

Even then he wouldn't leave his government house. The ADB says he produced a document "since thought to be a forgery" claiming title to it, and the government only got the property back after his death, by going to court in London.

Poverty and a Grave Nobody Can Find

The last fifteen years were hard. In January 1835 he advertised in the Sydney Gazette that "arising from circumstances of a singular nature" he was "induced again to solicit the patronage of his friends and the public". He wrote reminiscences for the Australian Almanac of 1835, and in 1836 tried to float a company to build quays at Sydney Cove, which went nowhere. He farmed a grant on the Hunter River, land the ADB calls "marshy and poor".

He died there in 1837. The ADB says he "was buried in a small cemetery in a lonely paddock outside East Maitland. There is no tombstone or marker over his grave." The State Library agrees he lies in an unmarked grave near East Maitland. Wikipedia adds, citing Maitland City Council, that he probably died of typhoid, and that he is "believed to have been buried in the Glebe burial ground at East Maitland on 25 September 1837". The exact date of his death isn't known. He was about 59.

The Man on the Tenner

A hundred and thirty years later he was on the money. The first decimal $10 note of 1966 carried his portrait, with his buildings behind him. It's said to be the only banknote in the world to honour a convicted forger. His name is also on a federal electorate, a Canberra suburb, a Hunter high school, and, with what I like to think is a bit of a joke, a correctional complex near Windsor.

He was arrogant, quarrelsome and probably a forger twice over. He was also the man who gave Macquarie's Sydney its finest buildings. Next time you walk up Macquarie Street past the Barracks and St James', or stand under the Con's battlements, you're looking at his work.

References

• Morton Herman, "Greenway, Francis (1777–1837)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 1, 1966.
• Museums of History NSW, "Francis Greenway, Architect & Engineer" (2021), and "Francis Greenway: the 'future safety' of the Rum Hospital buildings"; "Visions on the future".
• State Library of NSW, "Francis Greenway: convict architect".
• Heritage NSW, State Heritage Inventory: Conservatorium of Music; St Matthew's Anglican Church, Windsor; Liverpool TAFE College (former Liverpool Hospital); Windsor Court House; Cleveland House.
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Fort Macquarie" and "Burdekin House".
• Macquarie University, Journeys in Time, "Fort Macquarie".
• Engineers Australia, Engineering Heritage, "Dawes Battery Remains".
• National Trust (NSW), "The history and heritage of Cleveland House".
• Wikipedia, "Francis Greenway" (for the birth date, typhoid, burial date, the tenner and the minor-works list).

Billy Blue – The Old Commodore of Blues Point – Convict, Ferryman and Macquarie's Harbour Watchman – c.1767 to 1834

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this page contains the names of people who have died.

Stand at the bottom of Blues Point Road on a summer evening, with the Bridge to your left and the city lit up across the water, and you are standing on Billy Blue's farm. He was a convict, a waterman, a harbour watchman, a smuggler when it suited him, and for thirty-odd years one of the best-known faces in Sydney. Governor Macquarie liked him so much he gave him this headland. The town called him "the Old Commodore". Nearly two hundred years after he died, the point, the road, a pub and a few other things still carry his name.

Billy Blue, painted by J. B. East in 1834. The Dictionary of Sydney says the painting shows him down at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, and it went on show soon after he died. The State Library thinks it is the portrait a Mr J. E. Blue of North Sydney gave the Library in 1933. J. B. East, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Where Did Billy Blue Come From?

Nobody is quite sure, and that is half the fun of him. His convict record called him "a Jamaican Negro sailor", aged 29 in 1796. Margaret Park, who wrote his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, thinks he was "born possibly in Jamaica, New York City", the old Jamaica district of Queens, rather than the island. He later claimed he had served with the British army in the American War of Independence, so he may have been a freed African-American slave from colonial New York.

The Dictionary of Sydney's Lisa Murray says the same: he was probably born in the suburb of Jamaica in New York City and may have been an ex-slave, and his army service "would explain how he got to the UK". When Blue petitioned Governor Brisbane in 1823, he gave his birthplace as New York.

He told some big stories about his army days. The Find a Grave memorial for him quotes his claims that he fought with the British at Quebec in 1759, was "at Little York in Virginia with Lord Cornwallis as a spy or guide for his army", was "twice wounded" and was "a considerable time a Serjeant of Marines". If even half of that is true, he was a lot older than 29 in 1796.

Chocolate, Sugar and the Thames

By 1796 he was living at Deptford, on the Thames in London, working as a chocolate-maker and as a lumper, a labourer unloading ships. The 2022 heritage interpretation plan for Blues Point, written by Margaret Betteridge for Sydney Metro, explains that lumpers were badly paid and were quietly allowed a bit of "spillage" from the cargo, up to about two per cent. Taking more than that was theft. Chocolate in those days was a drink, made from cocoa, sugar and spices, so a chocolate-maker had good reason to want sugar.

On 4 October 1796, at Maidstone in Kent, Blue was convicted of stealing raw sugar and sentenced to seven years' transportation. The Betteridge report says he faced four counts of stealing 20 pounds of raw sugar on one day in September 1796.

Deptford Dockyard on the Thames, painted by Joseph Farington in the 1700s. Billy Blue was living and working at Deptford when he was caught with the sugar in 1796. Joseph Farington, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Hulks and the Minorca

He then spent more than four years in the convict hulks, the old ships moored in the Thames that were used as floating prisons. The Betteridge report has him on the indent of the hulk Prudentia at Woolwich from October 1797 to 1801. Then he was put aboard the convict ship Minorca, which reached Sydney on 14 December 1801. By then he had less than two years of his sentence left to serve.

The Justitia hulk at Woolwich, with convicts at work on the shore, from the New Newgate Calendar. Blue spent more than four years on hulks like this before he was shipped to Sydney. Page, after Dodd, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A Waterman at The Rocks

By July 1804 Blue was living at The Rocks with Elizabeth Williams, a 30-year-old English convict who had arrived from Hampshire the month before. They married at St Philip's Church of England on 27 April 1805 and had six children. Billy worked as a waterman and gathered and sold oysters. Catherine Warne's local history, as quoted on Wikipedia, describes him in the language of the day as "a very Hercules in proportion" with "a bright eye and a jocular wit". The ADB says he won over officials and ordinary people alike "with his whimsical style and banter".

A waterman rowed people around the harbour for a fare. Lisa Murray compares it to a water-taxi, taking passengers across the harbour and up rivers like the Parramatta. Wikipedia, citing Catherine Warne's Pictorial History, Lower North Shore, says that in 1807 Blue was the only person licensed to ply a ferry across the harbour.

Sydney Cove from the fort at Dawes Point, from a Joseph Lycett watercolour of 1817–18. This was Billy Blue's working harbour, and Dawes Point was the southern end of his crossing. Joseph Lycett, State Library of NSW, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Macquarie's Man

In 1808 Blue's name was on the list of citizens who backed the arrest of Governor Bligh. When Lachlan Macquarie arrived, Blue did even better. In 1811 Macquarie made him harbour watchman and constable. The job came with a house overlooking the harbour that became a local landmark, "Billy Blue's Cottage".

The sources describe the cottage a little differently. Lisa Murray calls it "a little octagonal building" in what we now think of as East Circular Quay. The Betteridge report calls it a stone hexagonal (six-sided) watch house on the eastern side of Circular Quay, and a caption in the same report puts it on Bennelong Point, in the grounds of the Governor's Domain. The Dictionary of Sydney's ferries entry says he watched boat traffic on Port Jackson "from a special tower where he also lived".

The Sydney Cove punchbowl, made in China before 1820 and now in the Mitchell Library. Lisa Murray points out that Billy Blue's watch house home at Sydney Cove is part of the panorama painted around the bowl. State Library of New South Wales, CC BY-SA 3.0 AU, via Wikimedia Commons

Governor Lachlan Macquarie, in a portrait attributed to John Opie. Macquarie made Blue harbour watchman in 1811 and gave him his North Shore farm in 1817. Attributed to John Opie, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Macquarie used Blue's boats himself. In 1817 he wrote in his diary that his wife and son had been taken up the river to Parramatta in Blue's boat. The Betteridge report adds that Blue rowed soldiers from Dawes Point across to the north shore to cut grass for their horses.

Northampton, His 80 Acres on the North Shore

In 1817 Macquarie granted Blue a farm of 80 acres (32.4 hectares) at the southern tip of the north shore of Port Jackson. Blue called it Northampton. The Betteridge report says the grant was conditional on cultivation, which can't have been easy, as some of it was steep cliffs running down to sandy foreshore. The headland soon became known as Billy Blue's Point. The report's timeline says it was called that from at least 1823, and sometimes "Blue's Bay".

Owning land on the far side gave him a reason to run boats there, and the ADB says he quickly built up a "fleet of ferries". Wikipedia, again citing Warne, puts it at 11 vessels. A track from his wharf up to St Leonards became Blues Point Road. The Betteridge report calls his ferry "the first and major transport link that helped open up the north shore for settlers".

Sydney from the North Shore about 1840, attributed to Conrad Martens. This was the view from Billy Blue's side of the harbour a few years after he died. Attributed to Conrad Martens, State Library of NSW, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Old Commodore

According to the ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney, Macquarie jokingly dubbed him "Commodore", and Blue became known as "The Old Commodore". Wikipedia says he ran his ferry wearing a blue naval officer's coat and a top hat.

The Betteridge report has a different story about where the nickname came from. It says Blue had also worked for the Navy Board back in Deptford, where press gangs grabbed men for the navy and handed them over to a receiving ship, HMS Enterprise. The man in charge of a gang was called the "Commodore", and the report says that is where Billy picked up the name. The Find a Grave memorial quotes Blue himself claiming he was "Commodore" in the Enterprise.

Rum, Rivals and the Courts

Living on the water had its temptations. In October 1818 Blue was arrested with two casks of rum. He said he had found them floating and lashed them to his boat to bring them ashore. Deputy Judge-Advocate Wylde urged him to plead guilty and name his mates. He refused, lost his job as harbour watchman and constable, and was locked up for a year. The Betteridge report notes that he kept his ferry, though.

Once Macquarie left in 1822, Blue had fewer friends at the top. In 1823 two big north shore landholders, Edward Wollstonecraft and William Gore, tried to push him off his land and out of the ferry trade. They said he was a law-breaker who smuggled goods and hid escaped prisoners. Blue petitioned Governor Brisbane, asking that after his long service he be allowed "in his old age the peaceable enjoyment of his premises and ferry". Brisbane agreed and let him keep "the Use and Occupation of his ferry, which he formerly occupied between his farm in Northampton and Sydney". The Betteridge report tells it a little differently: his rivals managed to shut the ferry down for a while, and he only got the right back in 1825.

A North Shore steam ferry in 1856, from S. T. Gill's Scenery in and around Sydney. By the 1850s steam ferries were working the run that Blue had once rowed. Samuel Thomas Gill, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Boy and the Stone

Elizabeth died in 1824, by the ADB's account. That same year a boy named Thomas Cox died after being hit by a stone. The ADB says Blue threw it at a boy who was tormenting him, and that he was found guilty of manslaughter but stayed out of prison. Its list of newspaper reports includes the Sydney Gazette of 27 May 1824 on the inquest and an editorial of 10 June 1824 retracting the claim that Blue threw the stone.

The "Old Chum" columns in Truth, which I have transcribed on this blog, tell it another way again. Old Chum says the inquest found that Thomas Cox, the son of a Princes Street chairmaker, was killed by a stone thrown by a son of Billy Blue, and that the Gazette then said it was all a mistake and Blue's boy was not even there. Old Chum knew John Blue personally. He wrote that John was born at Circular Quay in 1815 and was nine at the time, "and, I think, not given to stone-throwing".

A Sydney Sight

In his last ten years Billy became one of the sights of the town. In the 1828 census he gave his age as 80. Sir James Dowling called him "an eccentric, loquacious character". He wore what the ADB calls "a travesty of a naval uniform, with a top hat", and he would board ships as soon as they berthed to welcome the officers to Sydney as "commodore". The Betteridge report says he carried a cane, hung about George Street, and abused people who would not call him "the Commodore".

The newspapers listed in the ADB give the flavour. In 1829 the Australian put him on a walking tour of Sydney's sights. The same year the Sydney Monitor reported a John Piman paying his fine for harbouring a prisoner, and in 1830 the Gazette reported him fined again for harbouring a prisoner in his house. In 1830 an officer threatened to have him arrested if he spoke to him in the street again, and in 1833 someone wrote to the Gazette complaining about him haranguing passers-by. By 1833 he and his family were keeping a ferryboat and growing fruit and vegetables for the Sydney market.

Mrs Macquarie's Chair today. East's 1834 portrait shows Billy Blue standing here, in front of the inscription. Mitch Ames, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Old Commodore Dies

Billy Blue died at his home on the north shore in May 1834. The ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney give the date as 7 May. The Find a Grave memorial says he died on 5 May and was buried on 7 May, with the burial recorded in the register of St James' Church. It quotes the Sydney Herald of Thursday 8 May 1834:

"On Monday last, at his residence Blue Point, Billy Blue, (better known in Sydney as "The Commodore,") aged 95 years. Billy will long be remembered by Australians for his eccentric though inoffensive disposition. He has left a family of 5 children, who, by his Will, have become the inheritors of an estate on the North Shore."

That "Monday last" was 5 May. The Betteridge report says the Sydney Gazette notice the same day gave his age as 97, and that the obituaries praised his humour and said "We may never look upon his like again". His will, signed with a mark because he could not write, left his property to his three surviving sons, including William junior, and his two daughters.

He is remembered at St Thomas' Rest Park in Crows Nest, the old north shore cemetery, where there is a plaque for him and his family.

The plaque for William "Billy" Blue and his family at St Thomas' Rest Park, Crows Nest. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Headstones and monuments in St Thomas' Rest Park, the first cemetery on the north shore. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Portraits of Billy Blue

Sydney thought enough of him to have him drawn and painted. The Mitchell Library holds an etching by Charles Rodius, a lithograph of "The Old Commodore" by John Carmichael and the oil painting by J. B. East. The Australian of 9 May 1834 reported East's portrait on show at Cumming's Old Hotel in Macquarie Place, and the Sydney Gazette of 26 July 1834 praised the Rodius: "the likeness altogether is most remarkable."

The Blue Family

Billy and Elizabeth had six children, five of them christened at St Philip's, according to Wikipedia. A few of them are easy to follow:

• John Blue, born at Circular Quay on 4 July 1815, ran the Old Commodore Inn until he died on 21 August 1891 (Time Gents). Old Chum called him "my old friend John Blue, to whose memory I raise my hat".
• Susannah Blue married George Lavender, the officer in charge of the convict hulk Phoenix moored in the bay that now carries his name (Dictionary of Sydney). The Betteridge report says she owned the Billy Blue Inn near Blues Point.
• Mary Blue married Robert Tiffen, an early settler at Balgowlah (Dictionary of Sydney).
• William Blue junior was one of the three sons named in the will (ADB).

John Arthur Barry, in the history I have transcribed on this blog, says the daughter who married Lavender was given "that part of the original grant now known as Lavender Bay" by her father. A 1921 Sydney Mail piece, quoted by Time Gents, says one of Billy's daughters first married a waterman named Moxham who plied from Hulk Bay, and after he died she married Lavender.

Lavender Bay in the early 1900s. Billy Blue's daughter Susannah married George Lavender, whose name stuck to the old Hulk Bay. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Lavender Bay and North Sydney from Balmain. Blues Point is the headland on the western side of the bay. Adam.J.W.C., CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Blues Point, the Place

Blues Point is the southern tip of the peninsula that also takes in McMahons Point. Long before Billy, it was Cammeraygal Country. The Dictionary of Sydney's McMahons Point entry gives other Aboriginal names for the peninsula as Warung or Warrungarea, and says the big early land grants, Blue's among them, pushed the Cammeraygal off their land. Wikipedia notes that since 2005, under the dual naming policy, Blues Point has also been known by its Aboriginal name, Warungareeyuh.

The family held on to much of the land until the 1850s, and then it was cut up and sold. The Betteridge report says that within five years of Billy's death his son was already advertising waterfront lots for boatbuilders, shipwrights, coopers and timber merchants. A public wharf opened at Blue's Point in 1839. In 1867 a shipwright, John Stevens, bought part of the Blue estate, and his cottages and wharf stood on the foreshore for decades.

Blues Point about 1880. By then the Blue estate had been cut up into lots for houses, boatsheds and wharves. Unknown photographer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Punts and the Horse Ferry

Billy's crossing outlived him by a century. The Sydney Harbour Panorama booklet I transcribed says that in 1845 the Gerrard brothers replaced the waterman's boat between Blue's Point and Windmill Street, Millers Point, with the Fairy Queen, "towing a punt on either side for the conveyance of vehicles". In 1897 the Minister for Public Works approved a proper "horse ferry" for carts and carriages between Blues Point and Dawes Point, and it was running by 1902. During the building of the Harbour Bridge from 1924 to 1932, Blues Point was the main cross-harbour terminal on the north side. When the Bridge opened, the vehicle ferry finished.

The Fairy Queen at Blues Point, possibly in 1844. The Gerrard brothers used her to tow vehicle punts across to Millers Point. Unknown artist, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The North Shore horse ferry about 1900, from the Tyrrell collection at the Powerhouse Museum. Powerhouse Museum, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The Dawes Point vehicle ferry docks in April 1932, a month after the Bridge opened. This was the southern end of the old Blues Point crossing. NSW State Archives, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What is left of the old vehicle ferry approach at Blues Point, photographed in June 2025. TrimmerinWiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The plaque at Blues Point about the old vehicle ferry. TrimmerinWiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

After the Bridge, the waterfront from Blues Point round to the McMahons Point ferry wharf became a parking spot for Sydney Ferries' idle boats. The Betteridge report says that by 1934 it had been used that way "for some years".

Blues Point Tower

You can't talk about Blues Point without the tower. In 1957 the County of Cumberland planners wanted the whole peninsula zoned industrial. Locals and North Sydney Council fought it, and the McMahons Point and Lavender Bay Progress Association asked Harry Seidler and a team of volunteer architects for help. Their answer, the McMahons Point Redevelopment Scheme, was to knock most of the old suburb down and fill it with apartment blocks, all with harbour views. The industrial zoning was beaten.

As the Dictionary of Sydney's McMahons Point entry puts it, after another round of resident action the big demolitions never happened, and "the only building approved for construction at that time was the Blues Point Tower". Dick Dusseldorp's Civil & Civic commissioned Seidler in 1958. Work started in 1960, and the first residents moved in in 1962. It is 83 metres tall with 144 apartments, and it was Australia's tallest residential building until 1970. It went up on the site of an 1870s villa, Bellvue. As I wrote in my Demolished Sydney post, the loss of that house helped spark the founding of the North Shore Historical Society.

Blues Point Tower, finished in 1962. Hpeterswald, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Plenty of Sydneysiders have called it the ugliest building in the city, and some have called for it to come down. Seidler never budged: "I've always thought Blues Point Tower is one of my best buildings and I stand by that. Anybody who can't see anything in it ought to go back to school." North Sydney Council put it on its local heritage register in 1993.

Blues Point Tower from a ferry in September 2012. Nick-D, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Blues Point, the tower and the Bridge seen from the west. Paulscf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Blues Point Reserve and Henry Lawson Reserve

The end of the point is now parkland, Blues Point Reserve, with Henry Lawson Reserve on its eastern side, named after the poet, who lived around North Sydney. That land came under North Sydney Council's care in 1971. On New Year's Eve the reserve is one of the most popular places in Sydney to watch the fireworks.

From 2018 to 2022 part of Henry Lawson Reserve was fenced off for Sydney Metro. A shaft 25 metres deep was sunk to lift out the tunnel boring machines after they had dug under the harbour. Before that, archaeologists dug the site and found the footings of a house built before 1857, which Sydney Metro linked to John Stevens, who bought the land from Billy Blue's estate. They also found toys, tea sets, buttons, jewellery, ink pens and copper boat nails. The reserve was handed back to the public in 2022, and the heritage plan for it included a "Blues Point/Warungareeyuh" sign telling Billy's story.

The Bridge and the Opera House from Blues Point Reserve. Cloh4153, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

McMahons Point in 2023. All of this was once part of Billy Blue's 80 acres. Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How Billy Blue Is Remembered

The Old Commodore Hotel

The best-known memorial is a pub. On the corner of Blues Point Road and Union Street, John Blue opened a two-storey sandstone inn and named it after his father. Time Gents says he was granted a new licence for it on 7 March 1854. That first pub was pulled down about 1901 and replaced with a two-storey Victorian hotel with a balcony and a squat tower. It was "modernised" in the 1930s and rebuilt in the 1970s with a tavern licence.

At some point the "Old" fell off the sign. One story passed on by Time Gents is that new owners thought "Old" meant the building, not Billy. The pub's own history says that after a renovation in October 2025 the "Old" went back on, so it is the Old Commodore again, at 206 Blues Point Road, McMahons Point.

The Commodore Hotel on Blues Point Road in 2010, before the "Old" went back on the name. Mattinbgn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Blue's Point Hotel at McMahons Point in 2023, another pub carrying his name. Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Is There a Billy Blue Statue?

I went looking for a statue of Billy Blue at Blues Point, and I couldn't find any record of one. If one has gone up, I haven't found it. What he does have is the St Thomas' Rest Park plaque, the heritage signs at Henry Lawson Reserve and a lot of names. Blues Point, Blues Point Road, Blues Point Reserve and Blue Street in North Sydney are all named after him, along with the Billy Blue College of Design.

One of Sydney's First Black Settlers

Historians now see Billy as part of a bigger story. The Dictionary of Sydney counts him among the earliest Americans in Sydney. In 2021 Santilla Chingaipe made the SBS documentary Our African Roots about people of African descent who were here from the start. When the Sydney Morning Herald wrote about it, Billy Blue and his friendship with Macquarie were among the stories it picked out.

The old sexton's cottage at St Thomas' Rest Park, now a museum. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline

• About 1767 – Born, possibly in Jamaica, New York (ADB). The Find a Grave memorial argues for about 1738.
• 4 October 1796 – Convicted at Maidstone, Kent, of stealing raw sugar. Sentenced to seven years' transportation.
• 1797–1801 – Held in the hulks, including the Prudentia at Woolwich (Betteridge).
• 14 December 1801 – Arrives in Sydney on the Minorca.
• 27 April 1805 – Marries Elizabeth Williams at St Philip's.
• 1807 – The only person licensed to ply a ferry across the harbour (Wikipedia, after Warne).
• 1808 – Signs in support of the arrest of Governor Bligh.
• 1811 – Macquarie makes him harbour watchman and constable. He moves into "Billy Blue's Cottage".
• 4 July 1815 – Son John born at Circular Quay.
• 1817 – Granted 80 acres, "Northampton", on the north shore. Macquarie notes that his wife and son went up to Parramatta in Blue's boat.
• October 1818 – Arrested with two casks of rum. Loses his posts and is jailed for a year.
• 1823 – Wollstonecraft and Gore try to oust him. Governor Brisbane rules in his favour (ADB).
• 1824 – Elizabeth dies (ADB). Thomas Cox inquest.
• 1828 – Gives his age as 80 in the census.
• 1829–30 – Fined for harbouring a prisoner.
• 5 or 7 May 1834 – Dies at Blues Point.
• 1839 – Public wharf opens at Blue's Point.
• 1845 – The Gerrard brothers' Fairy Queen starts towing vehicle punts from Blue's Point.
• 7 March 1854 – John Blue licensed for the Old Commodore inn (Time Gents).
• 1867 – Shipwright John Stevens buys part of the Blue estate.
• 1897–1902 – Horse ferry approved, then running between Blues and Dawes Points.
• 1932 – Harbour Bridge opens and the vehicle ferry ends.
• 1957–58 – Fight over industrial zoning. Seidler commissioned to design Blues Point Tower.
• 1962 – First residents move into Blues Point Tower.
• 1971 – Henry Lawson Reserve placed under North Sydney Council.
• 1993 – Blues Point Tower goes on North Sydney's heritage register.
• 2005 – Blues Point dual-named Warungareeyuh.
• 2018–2022 – Sydney Metro dig and shaft at Henry Lawson Reserve.
• October 2025 – The Commodore becomes the Old Commodore again.

Where the Sources Disagree

• Where he was born. His convict record called him "a Jamaican Negro sailor", and Barry wrote that he was "a native of the West Indies". The ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney think Jamaica, New York, is more likely, and Blue himself gave New York in his 1823 petition. The Find a Grave memorial says there is "no evidence that he was from Jamaica".
• How old he was. The 1796 record made him 29, so born about 1767. He told the 1828 census he was 80. The Sydney Herald said he was 95 when he died and the Sydney Gazette said 97. The Find a Grave memorial goes with about 1738.
• When he died. The ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney say 7 May 1834. The Herald's "Monday last", quoted on Find a Grave, points to 5 May, and Time Gents also says 5 May. The 7th may have been his burial day.
• Where "Commodore" came from. The ADB and the Dictionary of Sydney say Macquarie gave it to him as a joke. The Betteridge report says it came from his London days as head of a press gang serving HMS Enterprise.
• When the ferry started. Wikipedia (after Warne) says he was the only licensed ferryman in 1807. The Sydney Harbour Panorama booklet says the service started "in about 1790", which is before he even arrived. The ADB has him building his "fleet of ferries" after the 1817 grant.
• How big the grant was. The ADB, the Dictionary of Sydney and the Betteridge report say 80 acres. Barry says "some 90 acres".
• His watch house. Lisa Murray calls it octagonal, at East Circular Quay. The Betteridge report calls it hexagonal and puts it on Bennelong Point.
• Losing the ferry. The ADB says Governor Brisbane found for Blue in 1823. The Betteridge report says his rivals shut the ferry down for a time after 1822 and he got it back in 1825.
• When Elizabeth died. The ADB says 1824. The Betteridge report says 1827.
• Who threw the stone. The ADB says Billy threw it and was found guilty of manslaughter. Old Chum says the inquest blamed Billy's son, and the Gazette then took it back.
• How many children. The ADB says six, with five surviving to inherit (three sons and two daughters). The Herald notice said "a family of 5 children".
• When the Old Commodore opened. Time Gents gives John Blue's licence as 7 March 1854, and the pub says 1854. The Betteridge report says 1850.
• Who Lavender married. The Dictionary of Sydney says George Lavender married Susannah Blue. The 1921 Sydney Mail says she was first Mrs Moxham. Barry has Lavender given the bay land by his father-in-law.
• How tall the tower is. Wikipedia says 144 apartments over 24 levels, with 25 floors in its summary. The Dictionary of Sydney says 25 levels.

My Earlier Posts

• Hellespont – Lavender Bay – NSW (Historic Sydney Mansions, with the story of Billy Blue the poacher turned poacher-catcher)
• Hellespont – Lavender Bay – North Shore – New South Wales
• The City Of Sydney – The Story Of its Growth – John Arthur Barry (William Blue's grant and Lavender Bay)
• Sydney Past & Present – Chapter XIII – Some Early Suburbs & Islands
• Sydney Harbour Panorama Magazine (Billy Blue, "the Old Commodore")
• Sydney Showboat Harbour Panoramas
• Old Sydney – 'Old Chum' – The Truth Newspapers (Billy Blue's boy)
• Demolished Sydney (Bell'vue and Blues Point Tower)
• Sydney Trams – From Horse Trams to Light Rail
• Luna Park Sydney – Milsons Point
• "The Towers" – Lavender Bay – The Holtermann Gold Nugget
• Black Caesar – John Caesar, First Fleet Convict and Australia's First Bushranger – c.1763 to 1796
• Sydney Ferries and the Harbour – From the Rose Hill Packet to the Manly Ferry, the Greycliffe, the Rodney and the Kuttabul – 1789 to Today

Sources

• Margaret Park, "Blue, William (Billy) (c. 1767–1834)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2005 – https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/blue-william-billy-12804
• Lisa Murray, "The old Commodore, Billy Blue", Dictionary of Sydney blog, 29 March 2017 – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/blog/the_old_commodore_billy_blue
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Blue, Billy" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/person/blue_billy
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Blues Point" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/place/blues_point
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Commodore Hotel" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/commodore_hotel
• Dictionary of Sydney, "McMahons Point" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/mcmahons_point
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Ferries" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/ferries
• Dictionary of Sydney, "Americans" – https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/americans
• Margaret Betteridge (Betteridge Heritage), Heritage Interpretation Plan for Henry Lawson Reserve at Blues Point, for Sydney Metro, 12 September 2022 – https://www.sydneymetro.info/sites/default/files/2024-09/Blues-Point-HIP.pdf
• Sydney Metro, "Life in 1800s Sydney unveiled on Harbour foreshore", 14 September 2018 – https://www.sydneymetro.info/article/life-1800s-sydney-unveiled-harbour-foreshore
• State Library of NSW, "Call me 'Commodore' – or else!" (Billy Blue learning resource) – https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/learning/billy-blue/call-me-commodore-or-else
• Wikipedia, "Billy Blue" (citing Cassandra Pybus, Black Founders, 2006, and Catherine Warne, Pictorial History, Lower North Shore, 1984) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Blue
• Wikipedia, "Blues Point" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_Point
• Wikipedia, "Blues Point Tower" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_Point_Tower
• Find a Grave, "William 'Billy' Blue" (quoting the Sydney Herald, 8 May 1834) – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/189095771/william-blue
• Time Gents, "Commodore Hotel named after Billy Blue, Sydney puntman and 'first American migrant' to Australia", 6 June 2018 – https://timegents.com/2018/06/06/commodore-hotel-north-sydney/
• The Old Commodore Hotel, "Our History" – https://theoldcommodorehotel.com.au/our-history/
• Carolyn Webb, "Australia's first bushranger – he may not be who you think", Sydney Morning Herald/The Age, 24 September 2021 – https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/australia-s-first-bushranger-he-may-not-be-who-you-think-20210922-p58tzj.html
• John Arthur Barry, The City of Sydney – The Story of its Growth (transcribed on My Australian History Journey) – https://myozhistoryjourney.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-city-of-sydney-story-from-its.html
• "Old Chum", Truth (transcribed on My Australian History Journey) – https://myozhistoryjourney.blogspot.com/2026/09/old-sydney-old-chum-truth-newspapers.html
• Sydney Harbour Panorama booklet (transcribed on My Australian History Journey) – https://myozhistoryjourney.blogspot.com/2026/09/sydney-harbour-panarama-magazine.html
• My Australian History Journey, "Demolished Sydney" – https://myozhistoryjourney.blogspot.com/2026/07/demolished-sydney.html
• Images: Wikimedia Commons, with credits under each picture.