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Showing posts with label D'Arcy Wentworth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label D'Arcy Wentworth. Show all posts

Friday, October 16, 2026

The Wentworth Family of Vaucluse – Vaucluse House, the Wentworth Mausoleum and a Full Family Tree

If you've ever wandered the lawns at Vaucluse House or walked up Chapel Road to the little stone chapel behind the iron palisade, you've been standing in the middle of the Wentworth family story. It starts with an Irish surgeon who was tried for highway robbery at the Old Bailey and a Staffordshire girl transported for stealing clothes. It runs through their son William Charles Wentworth, explorer, barrister, newspaperman and the man who chaired the committee that drafted New South Wales's constitution. And it ends, more or less, in a vault cut into a sandstone outcrop above Parsley Bay, where William was laid to rest in 1873 in front of a crowd that took up half of Sydney. This page covers the house, the mausoleum, and the family, with a full family tree of who married whom.

Vaucluse House front and gardens
Vaucluse House, the Wentworth family home on the harbour at Vaucluse. Cismok, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

D'Arcy Wentworth – The Surgeon with a Past

The Australian Wentworths start with D'Arcy Wentworth, born near Portadown in County Armagh, Ireland. Wikipedia gives his birthday as 14 February 1762, while the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) puts a question mark after the year. He was the son of an innkeeper, but the family was very proud of its roots. The ADB says the Irish Wentworths could trace their line back twenty generations to Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire, and they claimed kinship with the great Earl Fitzwilliam. That connection mattered. D'Arcy could lean on Fitzwilliam's influence, and borrow his money, for the rest of his life.

He trained in medicine in Ireland, went to London hoping for a post with the East India Company and then landed in serious trouble. At the Old Bailey sessions starting on 12 December 1787 he was charged three times with highway robbery. He was found not guilty twice and acquitted for lack of evidence the third time. He was back in the dock in December 1789, and again found not guilty. At the end of that case the prosecutor told the judge that Mr Wentworth had taken a passage with the fleet to Botany Bay as an assistant surgeon and wanted to be discharged straight away.

So D'Arcy didn't come out as a convict, despite the rumours that followed him (and his son) for decades. He arrived at Port Jackson in the Second Fleet transport Neptune on 28 June 1790 and sailed on 1 August in the Surprize for Norfolk Island.

Catherine Crowley

Also on the Neptune was a young convict woman named Catherine Crowley. The ADB says she was convicted at the Staffordshire Assizes in July 1788 of stealing "wearing apparell" and sentenced to seven years' transportation. She and D'Arcy began a relationship on board, and their son William Charles was born around the time they reached Norfolk Island. Wikipedia says he was born at sea on the Surprize, standing off the island in a violent storm, on 13 August 1790. The ADB says Catherine arrived at Norfolk Island "with the infant William" on 7 August. Those two dates can't both be right.

Wikipedia says a daughter, Martha, died at four months old, and two more sons followed: Dorset in 1793 and Matthew in 1795. The family returned to Sydney in 1796 and settled at Parramatta, where Catherine died in January 1800. After her death D'Arcy renamed the boys. Dorset became D'Arcy and Matthew became John.

Making His Fortune

D'Arcy did very well in the colony. He was superintendent of convicts on Norfolk Island, then an assistant surgeon, and in time principal surgeon. Under Governor Macquarie he ran the Sydney police as chief police magistrate and was treasurer of the Police Fund. With Alexander Riley and Garnham Blaxcell he built the "Rum Hospital" in Macquarie Street in exchange for a rum import monopoly. He was one of the founders of the Bank of New South Wales in 1817. The ADB says that when he died he was "probably the wealthiest man in the colony", leaving at least 22,000 acres.

His private life was colourful. After Catherine died, Maria Ainslie, an emancipist widow, kept house for him and mothered his three boys. Later he lived with Ann Lawes, a free woman who'd come out as a nanny with the Gore family. The two of them had eight children. D'Arcy died at Homebush on 7 July 1827 (per Wikipedia) and was buried at St John's Cemetery, Parramatta. His tomb reads "an honest man, the noblest work of God".

William Charles Wentworth – Explorer, Barrister, Newspaperman, Politician

Portrait of William Charles Wentworth
William Charles Wentworth, painted by James Anderson in 1872. James Anderson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

William was sent to school in England with his brother D'Arcy in 1803, according to the ADB. He came back to Sydney in 1810 without much direction, and was soon riding his father's grey gelding, Gig, to victory in the Hyde Park races. In October 1811 Macquarie made him acting provost-marshal and he was granted 1750 acres on the Nepean.

Over the Blue Mountains – 1813

In May 1813 William set off with Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson, four servants, four horses and five dogs to find a way over the Blue Mountains. After twenty-one days, not quite sure they'd crossed the range, he wrote in his journal: "we have at all events proved that they are traversable, and that, too, by cattle". He got another 1000 acres for his trouble.

Wentworth Blue Mountains journal
A page from Wentworth's journal of the 1813 Blue Mountains expedition, 11 May to 6 June 1813. Wentworth, W. C. (William Charles), 1790-1872, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Law, the Book and the Newspaper

Back in England, William entered the Middle Temple in February 1817 to prepare himself to be "the instrument of procuring a free constitution for my country". He wrote A Statistical, Historical, and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales, arguing for trial by jury, free immigration and an elected assembly. The ADB dates it to 1819, while the Vaucluse House heritage history on Wikipedia says 1818. He was called to the Bar in February 1822.

Along the way he learned something that stung. In 1819 the MP H. G. Bennet claimed in print that D'Arcy had been sent out as a convict. William's own digging showed that wasn't true, but that his father had indeed been tried for highway robbery. The ADB says this is when he threw in his lot for good with the Australian-born, the currency lads and lasses.

He came home in 1824 with another lawyer, Dr Robert Wardell, and a printing press. On 14 October 1824 the first issue of The Australian came out, without asking anyone's permission. Governor Brisbane decided to let it run. Under Governor Darling the paper and its owners were at war with Government House, and Wentworth was in the Supreme Court defending the press against seditious libel charges in 1828 and 1829.

When Darling sailed home in 1831, Wentworth threw a party at Vaucluse. The Australian reported that more than 4,000 people turned up. A bullock was roasted whole, along with twelve sheep and 4,000 loaves, and casks of gin and beer were laid on. Bonfires were lit on the highest hill, and the party went on until morning.

Politics and the Constitution

Wentworth entered the Legislative Council in 1843 at the head of the poll for Sydney. He helped set up the first proper system of state primary schools in 1848–49 and led the push for the University of Sydney in 1849–50, sitting on its first senate. In 1853 he chaired the select committee that drafted the new constitution. It proposed an upper house drawn from a hereditary colonial peerage. Sydney's press and public speakers howled the idea down, so the peerage was dropped, but the rest of the constitution went through. Wentworth sailed to England in 1854, and in July 1855 he saw the new Constitution become law.

Sarah Cox – The Blacksmith's Daughter

Portrait of Sarah Wentworth
Sarah Wentworth (née Cox), portrait by William Nicholas. William Nicholas, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sarah Cox was born in Sydney on 1 January 1805. Her parents were Francis Cox, a blacksmith, and Frances Morton, both ex-convicts who had finished their sentences. They never married, because Cox had a family back in England. Sarah was working as an apprentice milliner when, in 1825, she sued a ship's captain named Payne for breach of promise. It was the first case of its kind in Australia, and she won. Her barrister was William Charles Wentworth.

By then the two were already together. Their first daughter, Thomasine, was named after Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane and born about six months after the court case. William and Sarah married at St Philip's Church, Sydney, on 26 October 1829. Three days earlier he had printed a love poem to her in his own paper, The Australian.

Society wasn't kind to Sarah. The heritage history of the mausoleum notes that she was shut out socially because two of her children had been born before the wedding. William's own illegitimacy, convict mother and his father's highway robbery trials were common knowledge too. And William didn't make it easy. In 1830 he fathered a son, Henry, with Jemima Eagar, the estranged wife of Edward Eagar. The ADB says, with some understatement, that his way of life became "spacious even to the point of lapses from his marriage vows".

Bust of Sarah Wentworth
A bust of Sarah Wentworth, on show at Vaucluse House. Will Thorpe, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vaucluse House – Building on Sir Henry's Cottage

The Vaucluse estate began as land grants to Thomas Laycock (1793), Robert Cardell (1795) and Francis MacGlynn. In August 1803 the Irish convict knight Sir Henry Browne Hayes bought Laycock's and Cardell's grants and built a stone cottage. It was L-shaped, with a terrace on its east side, and the house itself actually stood on part of MacGlynn's land. He named the place Vaucluse, probably after Fontaine-de-Vaucluse in the south of France, the spring made famous by the poet Petrarch. The remains of his cottage are still at the heart of Vaucluse House today. There's some support for the old story that he ringed the place with Irish turf to keep the snakes out.

Fontaine de Vaucluse spring
The spring at Fontaine-de-Vaucluse in France, the place Hayes is thought to have named his estate after. Joel Takv, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Hayes was pardoned and left in 1812. Captain John Piper rented the place for a year in 1814 and acquired it in 1822. Then William Charles Wentworth bought it from Piper. The Vaucluse House heritage history (as given on Wikipedia) puts the purchase on 27 August 1827, and the ADB's Wentworth entry also says 1827. The ADB's entry on Hayes, though, says the estate passed to Wentworth in 1829. With an extra grant of 370 acres, the estate grew to 515 acres (208 hectares).

The family moved in during 1828, and Wentworth spent the next twenty-five years building. George Cookney designed the sandstone stables in 1829. Extensions of about 1834–42 are attributed to James Hume, and a drawing room of 1844–47 to Mortimer Lewis. Wentworth went for the Gothic Revival style of Government House, with turrets and battlements facing the harbour. The heritage history suggests the old-world Gothic look was meant to hint at his ancient family line. There was a big kitchen wing and convict barracks too. In 1830 someone reported that "in this garden there grows the most delicious fruit in the colony".

Vaucluse House exterior
Vaucluse House, with the Gothic Revival battlements Wentworth chose to face the harbour. Edgars Pudans, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Inside, the drawing room was meant as a place for suitors to meet the Wentworth daughters, since Sarah was so cut off socially. By 1853 it held Brazilian rosewood furniture upholstered in crimson damask. Upstairs, the big upper hall was partitioned off with cupboards to make a bedroom for the second son, Fitzwilliam. The house was never really finished in the 1840s.

Daughters' Houses on the Estate

Two of the daughters got a slice of the estate. Wentworth gave part of it to Thomasine and her husband, Thomas Fisher. They never built on it and went back to England, and the land later became the site of Carrara, now Strickland House. In 1850 Fanny's husband, John Reeve, bought 14 acres fronting Shark Bay from his father-in-law. There he built Greycliffe, a Rustic Gothic villa by John Frederick Hilly, finished in 1851. It still stands in Nielsen Park.

Greycliffe House Nielsen Park
Greycliffe House in Nielsen Park, built for Fanny Wentworth and her husband John Reeve in 1851. Sardaka at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Years in England

In March 1853 the family sold most of the contents of Vaucluse House at auction and headed for Europe. In December the house and 163 acres inside the fences were leased to John Hosking for three years. The family was overseas by 1854. Fanny and John Reeve sailed with Wentworth when he left Sydney that year.

Wentworth leaving Sydney 1854
William Charles Wentworth leaving Sydney in 1854 with his daughter Fanny and her husband John Reeve (published 1857). Unknown artist, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Apart from a short trip home in 1861–62, when he agreed to be President of the Legislative Council during a crisis, Wentworth spent the rest of his life in England. The family's return in 1861–62 brought the cast-iron Gothic Revival verandah you see today, a fountain in the pleasure garden and a first-floor bathroom. In England he lived at Merly House near Wimborne in Dorset, and he died there on 20 March 1872. He left his wife Sarah, five of their seven daughters and two of their three sons. His probate was sworn at £96,000 in Sydney and £70,000 in London.

The Funeral – Sydney Turns Out, 6 May 1873

Wentworth had long wanted to be buried at Vaucluse. As early as 1831, after Sarah's father Francis Cox died, he planned to consecrate land there for a family vault. He told the family he wanted to lie near a rocky outcrop on the hill above Parsley Bay, a spot you could see from the front verandah that looked over the harbour and the estate.

His body was brought home. Sarah accepted the government's offer of a public funeral, and the service was held at St Andrew's Cathedral on 6 May 1873. Two thousand people crowded in, and the only women allowed were the women of the family. The whole interior, floor included, was draped in black. On the cedar coffin lay "two wreaths of immortelles and other plants mostly indigenous to Vaucluse".

The day was declared a public holiday. The procession out to Vaucluse was so long that "when the first portion had reached ... Rushcutters Bay, the last of the carriages had not left George Street". The heritage history says 60,000 to 70,000 people lined the route. The ADB calls it a "state funeral", while the heritage listing and the Vaucluse House history call it a public funeral. Either way, the government paid the honours and Sydney turned out.

Engraving of Wentworth funeral
"The Funeral of the Late Mr. W. C. Wentworth at Sydney", a wood engraving published on 17 June 1873. Unknown artist, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

At the vault, Bishop Frederic Barker consecrated the ground. Sir James Martin gave a long speech. He said there was "no Westminster Abbey in which to place the bones of our illustrious dead", but that here, "under the blue Australian sky, and by the shores of the broad and blue Pacific", they would lay Wentworth's remains.

The Wentworth Mausoleum, Chapel Road

Wentworth Mausoleum exterior
The Wentworth Mausoleum at 5 Chapel Road, Vaucluse, inside its stone and iron palisade. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The mausoleum is Sarah's work as much as anyone's. After William died she sent her son-in-law Thomas Fisher a sketch of the spot and instructions that the vault be cut into a big single rock but "left in its natural state outside". She said she'd go to Brussels herself to order the marble and would bring iron gates and railings back with her.

The newspapers described the finished vault as cut out of the solid rock, built of brick and cemented inside, 28 feet long, 13 feet wide and 7 feet high, with slate shelves all round. The builder was Alexander Dean. Sarah then commissioned the architects Mansfield Brothers to design a Gothic Revival chapel over the vault, to match the house. It went up slowly. In November 1873 one letter complained that the "men are working, but as Miss W said they are drunk and away oftener than at work". The stone and iron palisade fence was finished by early March 1874.

Wentworth Mausoleum chapel
The Gothic Revival chapel designed by Mansfield Brothers over the Wentworth vault. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Old postcard of Wentworth's Tomb
"Wentworth's Tomb, Vaucluse", an early 1900s postcard by William Henry Broadhurst. Broadhurst, William Henry, 1855-1927, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Who Lies There

  • William Charles Wentworth (1790–1872), buried 6 May 1873.
  • Three of his children, whose remains were brought back from Europe and reburied in the vault: William Charles (1827–1859), Sarah Eleanor (1835–1857) and Isabella Christiana (1840–1856).
  • Fitzwilliam Wentworth, the second son, who died in Sydney on 8 August 1915. He was buried there after a service at St Michael's, Vaucluse, and the vault was then sealed for good.

The family had hoped for more. Their daughter Eliza wrote that "it was Papa's wish to have my grandfather, my Uncle & Willie & Bell & poor Nellie & we should all like to be there when our time comes". Sarah wanted them to "all rest together in our native place". But she died at Eastbourne in England on 14 July 1880 and was buried in Ocklynge Cemetery there. A brass plaque in the mausoleum to Sarah Eleanor seems to be behind the long-held belief that Sarah herself lies in the vault. She doesn't. On 15 December 2015 a plaque in her own memory was put up inside.

Plaque to Sarah Wentworth
The plaque to Sarah Wentworth placed inside the mausoleum in December 2015. She is actually buried at Eastbourne in England. Trahelliven, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wentworth Mausoleum side view
Another view of the mausoleum, now hemmed in by Vaucluse houses. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On 14 October 1927 the Church of England Property Trust took on the care of the mausoleum by deed. In 1997, with the family's approval, the Historic Houses Trust (now Museums of History NSW) leased it for 99 years. The bush and rocks on Parsley Hill that once framed it have long since given way to houses, so you can't see it from Vaucluse House any more, but the grounds are open to visitors. It was added to the State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

Wentworth Mausoleum
The mausoleum on Chapel Road. Sardaka, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From Family Home to Museum

From the late 1870s the house was lived in by family, friends or caretakers. The unmarried daughter Eliza kept up a strong interest in the place until she died in 1898. In 1900 the contents were auctioned, and the house sat empty.

From the 1890s there was pressure to win back harbour foreshore for the public. On 6 July 1910 the government took control of 9.3 hectares of the Vaucluse estate, which became Nielsen Park. The Vaucluse House history on Wikipedia, drawn from the heritage listing, says the government's 1910 resumption of about 4 hectares secured the house. The same history also mentions some 11 hectares, house and garden included, being resumed after the house had stood empty until 1911. The ADB's Hayes entry says simply that the government bought it in 1910 as a memorial to Wentworth and to responsible government.

The Nielsen Park–Vaucluse Trust opened the house on weekends and holidays, though it was nearly empty. It also pulled down the ruins of the convict barracks and workers' cottages, and in 1917 added two towers to the eastern front to make the place look finished. Today Vaucluse House is a museum run by Museums of History NSW, with the mausoleum on Chapel Road managed as part of it.

Vaucluse House 1930s
Vaucluse House in the 1930s, from the Royal Australian Historical Society's Osborne Collection. Royal Australian Historical Society, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Vaucluse House 1932
Vaucluse House photographed by Sam Hood in November 1932, in a picture labelled "Cinesound". Sam Hood, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Vaucluse House 1979
Vaucluse House in 1979. wilford peloquin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Vaucluse House garden
The pleasure garden at Vaucluse House. Sardaka at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Greycliffe House and Nielsen Park
Greycliffe House and Nielsen Park, once part of the Wentworth estate. Edgars Pudans, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wentworth statue Great Hall
Wentworth's marble statue in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney, the university he helped found. Sumple, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wentworth Mausoleum
The Wentworth Mausoleum today. Collywolly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wentworth Family Tree

Here's the family laid out generation by generation, with husbands and wives where the sources name them. Where I couldn't find a marriage or a date in a source, I've said so rather than guess. Where sources give different years, I've shown both.

PersonDatesSpouse / partnerNotes
Generation 1
D'Arcy Wentworth1762 (ADB "1762?") – 7 July 1827Partners (never married): Catherine Crowley (c.1772–1800); Maria Ainslie (1774–1841); Ann Lawes (1791–1849)Surgeon, police magistrate. Buried at St John's, Parramatta.
Generation 2: D'Arcy's children with Catherine Crowley
  William Charles Wentworth13 Aug 1790 (Wikipedia; the ADB implies a few days earlier) – 20 Mar 1872Sarah Cox (1 Jan 1805 – 14 July 1880), married 26 Oct 1829, St Philip's, SydneyBuried in the Wentworth Mausoleum. Also fathered a son, Henry (b. 1830), with Jemima Eagar.
  Martha WentworthDied at four months old (dates not found)nonePer Wikipedia
  D'Arcy Wentworth junior (born Dorset Crowley)23 June 1793 – 21 July 1861Elizabeth Macpherson, married 27 Apr 1826, St Cuthbert's, EdinburghArmy captain, police magistrate, MLC 1843–45. No children. Buried at St John's, Parramatta.
  John Wentworth (born Matthew)1795 – 1820Not found in my sourcesThe ADB says he died at sea as a petty officer in 1820.
Generation 2: D'Arcy's children with Ann Lawes (dates from Wikipedia; spouses not given in my sources)
  George Wentworth1810 – 1851Unknown
  Martha Wentworth1813 – 1847Unknown
  Sophia Wentworth1816 – 1878Unknown
  Robert Charles Wentworth1818UnknownOnly one year given
  Charles John Wentworth1819 – 1854Unknown
  Mary-Ann Wentworth1820 – 1870Unknown
  Katherine Wentworth1825 – 1898Unknown
  D'Arcy Charles Wentworth1828 – 1866UnknownBorn after his father's death
Generation 3: the children of William Charles and Sarah Wentworth (seven daughters and three sons)
    Thomasine Wentworth1825 – 1913Thomas Fisher (marriage date not found)Named after Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane. Given land on the estate (later the Strickland House site).
    William Charles Wentworth1827 – 1859Not found in my sourcesReburied in the mausoleum
    Fanny Katherine Wentworth1829 – 1893John Reeve, married 1847Built Greycliffe, 1851
    Fitzwilliam Wentworth1833 (Wikipedia) or 1832 (SMH obituary title) – 8 Aug 1915Mary Jane Hill, daughter of George Hill (Mayor of Sydney 1850)Last person buried in the mausoleum, 1915
    Sarah Eleanor Wentworth1835 – 1857None recordedReburied in the mausoleum
    Eliza Sophia Wentworth1838 – 1898UnmarriedThe last surviving unmarried daughter
    Isabella Christiana (Christina) Wentworth1840 – 1856None recordedReburied in the mausoleum
    Laura Wentworth1842 – 1887Henry William Keays-Young, married 1872
    Edith Wentworth1845 – 1891Rev. Sir Charles Gordon-Cumming-Dunbar, 9th Baronet, married 1872
    D'Arcy Bland Wentworth1848 – 1922Not found in my sources
    Henry (son with Jemima Eagar)b. 1830UnknownBorn outside the marriage
Generation 4 onward: the line through Fitzwilliam (the only grandchildren my sources name)
      William Charles Wentworth III1871 – 1949Florence Denise Griffiths, daughter of George Neville Griffiths MLASon of Fitzwilliam and Mary Jane
        William Charles "Bill" Wentworth IV1907 – 2003Not covered in my sourcesLiberal MP 1949–77, first Minister in charge of Aboriginal Affairs. Great-grandson of W. C. Wentworth.
        Diana WentworthDates not givenMungo Ballardie MacCallum (1913–1999)Listed in the same generation as Bill
          Mungo Wentworth MacCallum1941 – 2020Not covered hereSon of Diana and Mungo

Grandchildren through Thomasine, Fanny, Laura, Edith and D'Arcy Bland weren't listed in any source I could check, so they're not shown.

Timeline

  • 1762 – D'Arcy Wentworth is born near Portadown, Ireland (14 February, per Wikipedia).
  • 1787–1789 – D'Arcy is tried for highway robbery at the Old Bailey and acquitted every time.
  • July 1788 – Catherine Crowley is convicted at the Staffordshire Assizes and sentenced to seven years' transportation.
  • 28 June 1790 – D'Arcy and Catherine arrive at Port Jackson in the Neptune.
  • August 1790 – William Charles Wentworth is born at or near Norfolk Island.
  • 1793 / 1795 – Dorset (later D'Arcy junior) and Matthew (later John) are born.
  • January 1800 – Catherine Crowley dies at Parramatta.
  • 1803 – Sir Henry Browne Hayes buys the Laycock and Cardell grants and builds his Vaucluse cottage.
  • May–June 1813 – William crosses the Blue Mountains with Blaxland and Lawson.
  • 1817 – D'Arcy helps found the Bank of New South Wales, and William enters the Middle Temple.
  • 1819 – William's Description of New South Wales is published (1818 in one source).
  • 1822 – William is called to the Bar, and Captain John Piper acquires Vaucluse.
  • 14 October 1824 – The first issue of The Australian comes out.
  • 1825 – Sarah Cox wins Australia's first breach of promise case, and Thomasine is born.
  • 7 July 1827 – D'Arcy dies at Homebush.
  • 27 August 1827 – William buys Vaucluse from Piper (the ADB's Hayes entry says 1829).
  • 1828 – The family moves into Vaucluse.
  • 26 October 1829 – William marries Sarah Cox at St Philip's.
  • 1831 – More than 4,000 people celebrate Governor Darling's departure at Vaucluse.
  • 1843 – William tops the poll for Sydney and enters the Legislative Council.
  • 1847 – Fanny marries John Reeve, and Greycliffe is finished in 1851.
  • 1849–50 – William leads the founding of the University of Sydney.
  • 1853 – William chairs the constitution committee, the house contents are auctioned and the house is leased to John Hosking.
  • 1854 – The family leaves for England.
  • July 1855 – The New South Wales Constitution becomes law.
  • 1856, 1857, 1859 – Isabella, Sarah Eleanor and William junior die.
  • 1861–62 – Brief return to Sydney. William is President of the Legislative Council, and the Gothic verandah is built.
  • 20 March 1872 – William dies at Merly House, Dorset.
  • 6 May 1873 – Public funeral at St Andrew's Cathedral and burial in the vault at Vaucluse.
  • March 1874 – The mausoleum's palisade fence is finished.
  • 14 July 1880 – Sarah dies at Eastbourne and is buried at Ocklynge Cemetery.
  • 1898 – Eliza Sophia, the last unmarried daughter, dies.
  • 1900 – The house contents are auctioned.
  • 6 July 1910 – The government takes control of part of the estate, which becomes Nielsen Park, and Vaucluse House is secured.
  • 8 August 1915 – Fitzwilliam dies. He's buried in the mausoleum, and the vault is sealed.
  • 1917 – Two towers are added to the house's eastern front.
  • 14 October 1927 – The Church of England Property Trust takes on the mausoleum.
  • 1997 – The Historic Houses Trust leases the mausoleum for 99 years.
  • 2 April 1999 – Vaucluse House and the mausoleum are added to the State Heritage Register.
  • 15 December 2015 – A plaque to Sarah Wentworth is placed in the mausoleum.

Where the Sources Disagree

  • When Wentworth bought Vaucluse. The Vaucluse House heritage history (via Wikipedia) gives 27 August 1827, and the ADB entry on Wentworth also says 1827. The ADB entry on Sir Henry Browne Hayes says the estate passed to Wentworth in 1829.
  • When Piper got it. The same Vaucluse House history says Piper rented it for a year in 1814 and acquired it in 1822. It also says the estate "passed through several hands" between 1813 and 1827.
  • William's birth. Wikipedia says he was born on the Surprize off Norfolk Island on 13 August 1790. The ADB says his mother reached Norfolk Island "with the infant William" on 7 August.
  • William's schooling in England. The ADB says he was sent to England in 1803. The Wikipedia pages on D'Arcy junior and Vaucluse House say 1802, and the D'Arcy junior page adds that schooling began in October 1803.
  • The Description. The ADB dates it to 1819, while the Vaucluse House history says 1818.
  • D'Arcy junior's age at death. The ADB says he died in 1861 "aged 65". Wikipedia gives his birth as 23 June 1793, which would make him 68.
  • Fitzwilliam's birth year. Wikipedia's family list says 1833. The 1915 Sydney Morning Herald obituary, as titled by Obituaries Australia, says 1832.
  • "State" or "public" funeral. The ADB calls it a state funeral. The heritage history used for the Wentworth Mausoleum and Vaucluse House articles says Sarah accepted the government's offer of "the honours of a public funeral".
  • How much land was taken in 1910–11. The Nielsen Park history says 9.3 hectares on 6 July 1910, with 21 hectares more in 1911. The Vaucluse House history mentions both "some 11 hectares" and a 1910 resumption of about 4 hectares. The ADB's Hayes entry just says the house was "bought in 1910".
  • Is Sarah in the mausoleum? For years people believed she was. She's actually buried at Ocklynge Cemetery, Eastbourne, and the old belief probably came from the plaque to her daughter Sarah Eleanor.

My Earlier Posts

Sources

  • Michael Persse, "Wentworth, William Charles (1790–1872)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol 2, 1967 – https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wentworth-william-charles-2782
  • J. J. Auchmuty, "Wentworth, D'Arcy (1762–1827)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol 2, 1967 – https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wentworth-darcy-1545
  • "Hayes, Sir Henry Browne (1762–1832)", Australian Dictionary of Biography – https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hayes-sir-henry-browne-2172
  • Wikipedia, "Wentworth Mausoleum" (based on the NSW State Heritage Register listing) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wentworth_Mausoleum
  • Wikipedia, "Vaucluse House" (based on the NSW State Heritage Register listing) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaucluse_House
  • Wikipedia, "William Wentworth" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wentworth
  • Wikipedia, "D'Arcy Wentworth" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Arcy_Wentworth
  • Wikipedia, "D'Arcy Wentworth Jr." – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Arcy_Wentworth_Jr.
  • Wikipedia, "Sarah Wentworth" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Wentworth
  • Wikipedia, "William Charles Wentworth IV" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Charles_Wentworth_IV
  • Wikipedia, "Political families of Australia" (Wentworth/Hill/Griffiths section) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_families_of_Australia
  • Wikipedia, "Nielsen Park" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_Park
  • Wikipedia, "Strickland House, Vaucluse" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strickland_House,_Vaucluse
  • Pictures: Wikimedia Commons, with individual credits under each image.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Sydney Hospital – The Rum Hospital – Macquarie Street, Sydney – From Macquarie's Rum Deal to the Nightingale Wing and Il Porcellino

Sydney Hospital – The Rum Hospital – Macquarie Street, Sydney

If you've ever walked up Macquarie Street from the Quay you'll know the stretch. Parliament House with its long verandahs, the sandstone hospital in the middle, the Mint next door, and out the front a bronze boar with a nose rubbed gold by about fifty years of Sydney hands. It looks like three or four separate buildings from different centuries, and that's exactly what it is. But they all started life as one job: a hospital paid for with rum.

I've written about Sydney Hospital a few times over the years and taken a fair few photos in and around it, so I've pulled all those pages together into this one. The story's first, then all my photos and notes from each visit, oldest first.

The old central block of the Rum Hospital on Macquarie Street, about 1875, a few years before it came down
The old central block of the Rum Hospital on Macquarie Street, about 1875, a few years before it came down. Unknown photographer, c. 1875, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Before Macquarie Street: the tents at The Rocks

Sydney's first hospital wasn't on Macquarie Street at all. Wikipedia's history of the hospital says many of the convicts who came out on the First Fleet arrived sick with dysentery, smallpox, scurvy and typhoid, and Governor Phillip and Surgeon-General John White put up a tent hospital along what's now George Street in The Rocks. The Dictionary of Sydney says the first proper general hospital, on the western side of Sydney Cove, was a prefabricated building that came out from Britain on the Second Fleet in 1790. By the early 1800s it was falling apart and far too small for the town.

Macquarie's rum deal

When Lachlan Macquarie took over as governor in 1810 he wanted a real hospital, and he wanted it up on the ridge at the eastern edge of town. The Dictionary of Sydney says the site ran along most of the eastern side of what became Macquarie Street, between the governor's Domain and Hyde Park. The catch was money. London wouldn't pay for it, according to Wikipedia, so Macquarie went to three of Sydney's businessmen instead: Garnham Blaxcell, Alexander Riley and D'Arcy Wentworth.

Governor Lachlan Macquarie, painted by Arthur Levett Jackson in 1874
Governor Lachlan Macquarie, painted by Arthur Levett Jackson in 1874. Arthur Levett Jackson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The deal went like this. The Australian Dictionary of Biography's entry on Wentworth says the government's direct cost was about £4,200, made up of 80 oxen for slaughter, 20 convicts for three years and 20 draught oxen on loan. In return the three men got permission to import first 45,000 and then 65,000 gallons of rum (rum being the catch-all word for spirits back then). For four years, other private imports were restricted. The contractors still had to pay a duty of three shillings a gallon, and for that they promised a hospital big enough for more than 200 sick.

Wikipedia puts the contract signing at 6 November 1810. Blaxcell's ADB entry calls it the right to import 45,000 gallons over three years. Either way, it was a monopoly in all but name, and that's why Sydney has called it the Rum Hospital ever since.

Were they rorting it? The ADB says Macquarie saw it as a tremendous bargain, while his critics saw an undeserved monopoly. London didn't cancel the contract, but it criticised it hard. The contractors reckoned they lost money on it, and their enemies said they made at least £10,000 each. The ADB thinks the contractors were probably right. Blaxcell certainly didn't get rich. His ADB entry says he was buried in debt by 1817, slipped off to England on the Kangaroo in April that year, and died at Batavia in October.

Wentworth was the money in the deal. The ADB says he was far wealthier than the other two and the scheme couldn't have happened without him. He was also the colony's principal surgeon, and Wikipedia says he became the first surgeon to live in the hospital's surgeons' quarters. His son William Charles Wentworth went on to help shape the colony's parliament, which ends up sitting in that very same building.

Built by convicts, and built badly

The Dictionary of Sydney says the hospital went up between 1811 and 1816 with convict labour: three colonnaded wings, each two storeys high. Nobody's quite sure who designed it. The Dictionary of Sydney says the architect is unknown but there's speculation the Macquaries had a hand in it. Wikipedia names John O'Hearen as the stronger contender, because he defended how it was built and signed himself as 'Architect' in letters about it.

It wasn't built well. Wikipedia says the convict architect Francis Greenway was asked to report on it in 1815, as it neared completion, and he said it 'must soon fall into ruin'. He found weak joints in the beams, rotting stone, feeble foundations and dry rot. By 1820 part of the south wing was said to have collapsed and had to be rebuilt. The Dictionary of Sydney says Greenway was then put in charge of big repairs to all three wings in the 1820s.

Francis Greenway, the convict architect who said the new hospital would 'soon fall into ruin'
Francis Greenway, the convict architect who said the new hospital would 'soon fall into ruin'. Unknown artist, pencil, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Convict patients moved into the new hospital in 1816, according to Wikipedia. The Dictionary of Sydney says the central wing was used for convicts first, and that buildings on that central site have been used as hospital wards ever since.

Too big for the town: the wings find new jobs

The funny thing is that the hospital was too big for Sydney. The Dictionary of Sydney says the north and south wings were meant to house the surgeon and assistant surgeon, but both were soon handed over to other uses.

The north wing becomes Parliament House

Wikipedia says that under pressure from Lord Bathurst, Macquarie gave the north wing and part of the centre to Judge Jeffery Hart Bent as chambers and a temporary courthouse. Then in January 1829 Governor Darling foreshadowed taking over the north wing for the Legislative Council. The Council first met there on 21 August 1829, with the surgeons still using about a third of the space. In 1852 the legislature took over the whole building. Today the old surgeons' wing is the front of Parliament House, and Wikipedia's Parliament House page calls it the oldest public building in the City of Sydney.

The old north wing of the Rum Hospital, now the front of NSW Parliament House
The old north wing of the Rum Hospital, now the front of NSW Parliament House. Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The south wing becomes the Mint

The south wing had an even busier life. Wikipedia says it was used for the assistant surgeon and storage at first, then for military hospital wards from 1823. The Sydney Dispensary, a charity started in 1826 to treat the free poor, moved into it in 1845 and became the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary. In 1848, when the convict medical system wound up, the Infirmary gave up the south wing and moved into the whole middle block.

John Rae's 1842 watercolour of Macquarie Street, with the Dispensary that later became the Sydney Mint
John Rae's 1842 watercolour of Macquarie Street, with the Dispensary that later became the Sydney Mint. John Rae, 1842, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Then came the gold. Wikipedia says the Legislative Council asked for a mint in 1851 after Hargraves' find at Ophir, and royal assent came in 1853. To save time and money they put it in the old south wing, which officially became the Sydney branch of the Royal Mint in 1854. A coining factory, prefabricated in England, went up behind it. The Mint closed in 1926, and the building later held government offices, courts and a museum. Today Museums of History NSW looks after it as The Mint.

The Royal Mint, Sydney branch, in the old south wing of the Rum Hospital, 1870
The Royal Mint, Sydney branch, in the old south wing of the Rum Hospital, 1870. Attributed to Charles Pickering, 1870, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Mint on Macquarie Street today, still with its Rum Hospital verandahs
The Mint on Macquarie Street today, still with its Rum Hospital verandahs. J Bar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Lucy Osburn and the Nightingale nurses, 1868

By the 1860s the Infirmary was in a bad way. Wikipedia says Henry Parkes was worried enough about the state of it that he wrote to Florence Nightingale asking for trained nurses. Lucy Osburn, who trained at the Nightingale School at St Thomas' Hospital, arrived in Sydney on 5 March 1868 as Lady Superintendent, along with five other St Thomas' nurses.

Lucy Osburn in Sydney, about 1869
Lucy Osburn in Sydney, about 1869. Freeman Bros. & Prout, c. 1869, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Florence Nightingale, around 1857–58, whose school sent Lucy Osburn and her nurses to Sydney
Florence Nightingale, around 1857–58, whose school sent Lucy Osburn and her nurses to Sydney. Henry Hering, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

They hit the ground running. Within a week, according to Wikipedia, Osburn was asked to supply nurses for Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, after he was shot at Clontarf, and they nursed him at Government House, not the hospital. Wikipedia's hospital page describes the Infirmary they took on as crumbling, foul-smelling and full of vermin. The idea of gentlewomen nursing was still shocking to plenty of people, and Osburn copped hostility. She was obstructed by one surgeon, Dr Alfred Roberts, and attacked in Parliament. A Royal Commission into public charities in 1873 condemned the Infirmary's management and praised her work. Her nurses went on to become matrons around the colony. Wikipedia says that by December 1868 she'd trained 16 more nurses, and she left Sydney in 1884.

The Nightingale Wing went up in 1869 to house the nurses. The Dictionary of Sydney says it was designed by the Cornish-born architect Thomas Rowe, and it's now the oldest building on the hospital grounds. Wikipedia describes it as brick and sandstone Gothic Revival, built with input from Florence Nightingale herself.

The new Nightingale Wing, the nurses' home, about 1870
The new Nightingale Wing, the nurses' home, about 1870. Walter Chaffer, c. 1870, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Nightingale Wing today
The Nightingale Wing today. boeckli, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Nightingale Wing from the southwest
The Nightingale Wing from the southwest. Ymblanter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Sydney Infirmary in 1872, in the old central block of the Rum Hospital
The Sydney Infirmary in 1872, in the old central block of the Rum Hospital. Charles Percy Pickering, Government Printing Office, 1872, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Pulling down the Rum Hospital: Thomas Rowe's new hospital, 1879–1894

The old centre block couldn't go on forever. The Dictionary of Sydney says a competition for a new hospital was announced in 1878, Rowe's design won, and the old central wing came down the following year. Work stopped in 1884 because it was over budget and didn't start again until 1892, when Rowe was taken off the job and John Kirkpatrick took over. The new hospital was officially opened in September 1894, in sandstone, in what the Dictionary calls the Victorian Free Classical style, and it doesn't look much like Rowe's original plans.

Rowe was one of the busiest architects in the colony. The ADB says he was born in Penzance in 1829, came to Sydney in 1848, and that people said in 1890 you could walk down Pitt Street and always be opposite one of his buildings. He was also the first mayor of Manly. He lost nearly everything in the 1893 crash and died almost penniless in 1899. Wikipedia says his peers criticised him for under-quoting costs to win competitions, and that the Sydney Infirmary was the classic example. Meanwhile, in 1881, the Infirmary was renamed Sydney Hospital.

The architect Thomas Rowe, who designed the Nightingale Wing and won the competition for the new hospital
The architect Thomas Rowe, who designed the Nightingale Wing and won the competition for the new hospital. Unknown photographer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Rowe and Kirkpatrick's new Sydney Hospital on Macquarie Street in 1900
Rowe and Kirkpatrick's new Sydney Hospital on Macquarie Street in 1900. Unknown photographer, 1900, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Sydney Hospital, photographed by William Henry Broadhurst in the early 1900s
Sydney Hospital, photographed by William Henry Broadhurst in the early 1900s. William Henry Broadhurst, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A new wing for Sydney Hospital, as shown in <i>Building</i> magazine in January 1909
A new wing for Sydney Hospital, as shown in Building magazine in January 1909. Building magazine, 1909, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Soldiers marching down Macquarie Street during the First World War, with Sydney Hospital in the background
Soldiers marching down Macquarie Street during the First World War, with Sydney Hospital in the background. Australian National Maritime Museum, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
The Robert Brough fountain in the hospital courtyard
The Robert Brough fountain in the hospital courtyard. Sardaka, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The courtyard fountain with the Nightingale Wing behind it
The courtyard fountain with the Nightingale Wing behind it. Witty lama, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Il Porcellino, 1968

Now for the pig. Il Porcellino, 'the little pig', is a bronze copy of Pietro Tacca's wild boar in Florence. The City of Sydney says it was a gift from Marchesa Clarissa Torrigiani in memory of her father Thomas Fiaschi and her brother Piero Fiaschi, who were both honorary surgeons at Sydney Hospital. She gave it to help raise money for the hospital, after a replica given to a children's hospital in Kansas City in 1962 had brought in plenty of donations there. The City says the Sydney bronze was installed by 18 April 1968, and the formal presentation was held on 16 December 1969, after the Marchesa had to rush back to Italy because of illness in the family.

Thomas Fiaschi was a Florentine who, according to Wikipedia, became an honorary surgeon at Sydney Hospital in 1890 and died at Darling Point in 1927. The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that he's also remembered as a father of Australian viticulture, after he set up the Tizzana vineyard in 1882.

The legend goes that if you rub his snout you'll have good luck, and that's why his nose is polished gold. The Herald and the local health district both say the coins tossed into the fountain have raised more than $500,000 for the hospital. The Herald also tells the story of nine-year-old Tom Yates, the Marchesa's great-nephew, who threw in the first coins. One of the inscriptions on the base, as the City of Sydney records it, reads: 'Il Porcellino – When you rub my nose and make a wish your donation supports research, education and development at Sydney Hospital Australia's First Hospital.'

Il Porcellino outside Sydney Hospital, with his snout rubbed shiny
Il Porcellino outside Sydney Hospital, with his snout rubbed shiny. Greg O'Beirne, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Il Porcellino in January 2021
Il Porcellino in January 2021. Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The bronze boar facing Macquarie Street
The bronze boar facing Macquarie Street. David Stanley, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital today

Wikipedia says the Sydney Eye Hospital started at Millers Point in 1882, moved to Woolloomooloo in 1922 and joined the Sydney Hospital campus in 1996, when the new Clinical Services building opened on 30 October. The restoration of the old Rum Hospital wings was finished by 1984. The Dictionary of Sydney says it's no longer a general hospital, but Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital is still the oldest working hospital in Australia, and Wikipedia says it specialises in eye and hand surgery.

Sydney Hospital on Macquarie Street, from the State Records NSW photographic collection
Sydney Hospital on Macquarie Street, from the State Records NSW photographic collection. State Records NSW, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Macquarie Street front of Sydney Hospital
The Macquarie Street front of Sydney Hospital. sv1ambo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The back of the hospital, looking towards the Domain
The back of the hospital, looking towards the Domain. Orestes654, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline

  • 1788 – A tent hospital goes up along today's George Street, The Rocks
  • 1790 – A prefabricated hospital arrives with the Second Fleet
  • 6 November 1810 – The rum contract with Blaxcell, Riley and Wentworth is signed (Wikipedia)
  • 1811–1816 – Convicts build the General Hospital on Macquarie Street
  • 1815 – Francis Greenway condemns the work
  • 1816 – Convict patients move in
  • 1820s – Greenway oversees repairs to all three wings
  • 21 August 1829 – The Legislative Council first meets in the north wing
  • 1845 – The Sydney Dispensary moves into the south wing
  • 1848 – The Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary moves into the central block
  • 1852 – The legislature takes over the whole north wing
  • 1854 – The south wing becomes the Sydney branch of the Royal Mint
  • 5 March 1868 – Lucy Osburn and five Nightingale nurses arrive
  • 1869 – Thomas Rowe's Nightingale Wing is built
  • 1873 – A Royal Commission condemns the Infirmary's management and backs Osburn
  • 1878 – A competition is held for a new hospital, and Rowe wins
  • 1879 – The old central block is demolished
  • 1881 – The Infirmary is renamed Sydney Hospital
  • 1884 – Work stops over the budget, and Osburn leaves Sydney
  • 1892 – John Kirkpatrick takes over
  • September 1894 – The new hospital is officially opened
  • 1926 – The Mint closes
  • 18 April 1968 – Il Porcellino is installed
  • 16 December 1969 – Il Porcellino is formally presented
  • 1984 – Restoration of the Rum Hospital wings is completed
  • 30 October 1996 – The Clinical Services building opens, and the Eye Hospital joins the campus

Where the Sources Disagree

  • How much rum? Blaxcell's ADB entry says 45,000 gallons over three years. Wentworth's ADB entry says first 45,000 and then 65,000 gallons. Wikipedia says 45,000, later increased to 60,000.
  • Who designed the hospital? The Dictionary of Sydney says the architect is unknown and floats the Macquaries. Wikipedia names John O'Hearen as the stronger contender. Greenway reported on it and repaired it, but neither source says he designed it.
  • When did Rowe win? The Dictionary of Sydney says the competition was announced in 1878, with the old wing demolished the following year. Wikipedia says the centre came down in 1879 and Rowe won the competition in 1880. Rowe's ADB entry dates his Sydney Hospital to 1879, completed by Kirkpatrick 'after 1891', while the Dictionary of Sydney says Kirkpatrick came in in 1892.
  • When was the hospital founded? Wikipedia dates the hospital itself to 1788 and the Macquarie Street site to 1811. The Dictionary of Sydney dates the continuous use of the central site to 1816. One of the inscriptions on the building gives 'Founded A.D. 1814'.
  • How old is the Florence boar? The Dictionary of Sydney says it has stood in the Florence straw market since 1547. The City of Sydney says around 1633 and that Cosimo II commissioned it in 1621. The Herald and the health district say it was placed in front of the Straw Market in 1612.
  • When did Sydney's Il Porcellino arrive? The City of Sydney says it was installed by 18 April 1968, with the formal presentation on 16 December 1969. The Herald puts the first coin-throwing ceremony on a rainy day in December 1968. One Commons photo caption calls it 'a 1962 copy', a date the City of Sydney gives for the Kansas City replica.

My Photos and Notes from Sydney Hospital

Sydney Hospital – Macquarie Street (My Australian History Journey, 17 February 2015)


Sydney Hospital - The "Rum Hospital" - Macquarie Street - Sydney - NSW








Sydney Hospital And Other Government Buildings Came Around As A Result Of The Hard Work Governor Lachlan Macquarie When He Took Over As Governor In 1810.
And It's Hard To Imagine What Lachlan Macquarie And His Wife Were Sailing Into When They Came From England. Rum Ruled Everything. It Was The Currency Of New South Wales, And The Renegade Red Coats Were Probably In Control. I Don't Know Much About That Period Between Governor Bligh Hiding Under His Bed When The Red Coats Got Him And Took Over In 1808, Which Sticks In My Head From A Famous Painting Of The Scene, And The Time Governor Macquarie Arrived.

Sydney Was Pretty Much Slums With a Few Muddy Tracks.
Macquarie Went On To Name The Streets And Map Them Out.
In Relation To Sydney Hospital I've Often Heard That Macquarie Paid For It From Rum Proceeds. But What An Amazing Piece Of Work It Is. The Whole Of That Part Of Macquarie Street Is Amazing. It holds
- Hyde Park Barracks
- The NSW Mint
- The NSW Parliament (which I Think Was Originally Part Of The Hospital)
- The Mitchell Wing
-  The Conservatorium Of Music (Originally The Government Horse Stables)
- Government House, Which Is Hidden Away From  View In The Botanical Gardens And  The Domain
- The Sydney Garden Palace Would've Been The Jewel In The Macquarie Street Crown If Any Part Of It Were Still There. Yet Another Piece Of History Gone up In Smoke Probably From Arson. I will be writing About How I Found Out About Its Existence In Some Rubbish.


Just To Name A Few Things
I Happened To Be At Sydney Hospital Recently And Gee..... Its Upkeep Has Really Started To Deteriorate. It Was Quite Disheartening Considering It's A Group Of Buildings That Has Really Stood The Test Of Time, & Is Still A Fully Working Hospital.
Nobody's Sure Who Designed It. The Dictionary Of Sydney Says The Architect Is Unknown And The Macquaries May Have Had A Hand In It, While Wikipedia Reckons John O'Hearen Is The Likeliest. Francis Greenway, The Convict Architect Behind A Lot Of Macquarie's Buildings Who'd Been Sent Out For Forgery, Inspected It In 1815, Said It Would Soon Fall Into Ruin, And Later Oversaw The Repairs.






























The Main Entrance To The Hospital And Up The Stairs.






























Some Of The Stonework Is Truly Amazing Once You Get Up Close To It.


















Sydney Hospital – Macquarie Street (My Australian History Journey, 4 June 2015)

Sydney Hospital on Macquarie Street still wears the nickname of the deal that paid for its ancestor: the Rum Hospital. Governor Macquarie, short of cash in 1810–11, contracted D’Arcy Wentworth, Garnham Blaxcell and Alexander Riley to raise a colonnaded hospital in return for a short monopoly on spirit imports. The foundation stone went down on 30 October 1811; shoddy work delayed opening until 1816. The north wing became Parliament House, the south wing the Mint — those verandahs are the Rum Hospital you can still touch. The central ward block was cleared from 1879 for a new hospital that opened in 1894.

So when you stand on Macquarie Street you are looking at layered time: 1816 wings in civic dress, late-Victorian wards where the original centre stood, and a working hospital (Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital) that claims continuous service on this ridge.



Sydney “Rum” Hospital - Macquarie Street 

I













Governor Macquarie On The 27th July 1822 Reported Building 
“A Large Stone Built Colonial General Hospital, Two Stories High, With Quarters For 6 Medical Officers, With Upper And Lower Verandahs Round All The Buildings .
It Could Accommodate Up To 300 Patients, And Garden Ground For Medical Officers And The Sick, And The Whole Premises Enclosed With A Nine Foot Wall. 

The Chosen Spot For Sydney Hospital Was On A Ridge, Seven Acres South Of Government House. 
Governor Macquarie Allowed 45,000 Gallons Of Bengal Rum, With A Six Month Grace Period Before They Had To Pay A Duty Of Three Shillings Per Gallon











Sydney Hospital – The Rum Hospital (Historic Sydney Mansions, 22 January 2020)

At a glance

  • Address: 8 Macquarie Street, Sydney
  • Origins: the “Rum Hospital”, built under Governor Macquarie’s contract with Garnham Blaxcell, Alexander Riley and D’Arcy Wentworth in return for a monopoly on imported rum; completed 1816
  • Survivors of the Rum Hospital: its north and south wings, now Parliament House and the Sydney Mint
  • Nightingale Wing: designed by Thomas Rowe, 1869, for Lucy Osburn and the Nightingale-trained nurses
  • Present main buildings: Thomas Rowe won the 1878 design competition; the Victorian Classical buildings were completed and opened in 1894 (inscribed “These buildings completed A.D. 1894”)
  • Status: standing, still an operating public hospital



Sydney Hospital. Sydney Hospital traces its origins to the colony’s early medical services, established soon after the First Fleet arrived in 1788. The present Macquarie Street hospital grew from the colony’s first permanent hospital, built under a contract partly paid in rum. Opened in 1816, it is Australia’s oldest continuously operating hospital.



































































































Transcription:

THESE BUILDINGS COMPLETED / A.D. 1894


Transcription:

THESE BUILDINGS COMPLETED / A.D. 1894






Transcription:

SPES

SYDNEY HOSPITAL





Transcription:

THE SYDNEY HOSPITAL / FOUNDED A.D. 1814


Transcription:

THE SYDNEY HOSPITAL / FOUNDED A.D. 1814













Sources

Sydney Hospital – Macquarie Street – August 2021 (My Australian History Journey, 10 August 2021)

Sydney Hospital August 2021









I went past Sydney Hospital again in August 2021 and took these photos. Its full name these days is Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital.


The hospital's roots go back to the tent hospital the First Fleet put up at The Rocks in 1788, but the Macquarie Street site dates from Governor Macquarie's Rum Hospital, built between 1811 and 1816. It's still the oldest working hospital in Australia. At first it looked after convicts.


It sits on Macquarie Street, right in the city, near the Royal Botanic Garden, with the State Library and NSW Parliament House close by.


It's a public hospital with an emergency department, and it's known for eye care. The Sydney Eye Hospital moved onto the campus in 1996.


The main sandstone building on Macquarie Street went up between 1879 and 1894, in the Victorian Free Classical style. The old Georgian Rum Hospital wings on either side are now Parliament House and the Mint. The hospital has been added to plenty of times over the years.


It's a heritage-listed site, and it's been a teaching hospital for University of Sydney medical students since 1909.


For a building that's been through so much, it's still doing the job it was built for.




Sydney Hospital – The Rum Hospital (My Australian History Journey, 27 March 2025)

Macquarie Street’s hospital stretch is one of those Sydney stories where the nickname outlived the building. Governor Lachlan Macquarie wanted a proper public hospital, London wouldn’t fund it, so in 1810 he contracted D’Arcy Wentworth, Garnham Blaxcell and Alexander Riley to build a big colonnaded complex in return for a short-term monopoly on importing spirits. He laid the foundation stone on 30 October 1811; shoddy work delayed opening until 1816. Sydneysiders called it the Rum Hospital — and the name stuck.


The finished group had a central ward block with two flanking wings. Those wings were soon pulled into other government jobs: the north wing became the Legislative Council (and later Parliament House), the south wing became the Sydney Mint. Francis Greenway surveyed the dodgy fabric soon after completion and later supervised reinforcing that helped the surviving wings endure. The central Rum Hospital block itself was demolished from 1879. The Infirmary was renamed Sydney Hospital in 1881, and the present building opened in 1894.


Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital remains Australia’s oldest continuously operating hospital on this Macquarie Street site — though the working wards are the late-Victorian and later buildings, not the 1816 central block.




































































































































 


My Earlier Posts

Sources