Barangaroo - Maritime - Coastal - Inner Sydney

Barangaroo occupies the old East Darling Harbour stevedoring foreshore between Millers Point / Walsh Bay and Darling Harbour — Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation. The modern precinct takes its name from Barangaroo, a Cammeraygal woman and leader at British colonisation, remembered in early colonial records as fiercely protective of her culture and as the second wife of Bennelong. Shell middens and other evidence point to long Aboriginal use of these shores for fishing, gathering and ceremony.

From the 1820s the western foreshore grew into a working port timber and marine products, then wool warehouses and wharves. Mid-nineteenth-century industry included the Millers Point gasworks. After the 1900 plague clearances, the Sydney Harbour Trust cut Hickson Road into the headland and lined East Darling Harbour with long finger wharves and sheds (Walsh Bay still shows that pattern). In the Depression years Hickson Road was the “Hungry Mile,” where casual wharf labourers hunted a day’s work.

Containerisation and the shift of heavy freight to Port Botany ended the site’s life as a modern stevedoring port. In 2003 the NSW Government announced urban renewal of the East Darling Harbour wharves; the named precinct Barangaroo followed, with Barangaroo Reserve restoring a headland park of native planting beside commercial towers and public foreshore walks. Official heritage interpretation leans on both First Nations stories and the maritime working history of Millers Point and Walsh Bay.

Barangaroo History Brought Woman To Tears

Windmill Street Quarry - Millers Point

Windmill Street was so named because it led to the windmill on Cockle Bay Point at its western end. Part of Windmill Street was a sandstone quarry site around the turn of the 19th century, which explains why it dips in the middle and is not as elevated as Argyle Place. Quarrying would have taken place all the way along the line of Windmill Street, and it is likely that the street itself was created out of abandoned quarries. There were numerous quarry sites in and around Millers Point, the major ones being in the vicinity of Windmill Street. Sandstone for buildings would have been quarried here from as early as 1790 until such time as the major buildings in the area had been completed, which would have been a 30 to 40 year period. Few of the buildings from this era survive. 

BUILDINGS MADE FROM

ITS STONE

Hero of Waterloo Hotel, 81 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point (1844): It is known that this hotel was built mainly from stone quarried in what is now referred to as the Kent Street quarry, however it is likely that stone from Windmill Street was used, given that it was probably built on an early quarry site. One of 14 hotels scattered throughout the Millers Point section of The Rocks, the Hero of Waterloo Hotel was a favourite drinking place of the military garrison stationed nearby. Built from sandstone excavated from the Argyle Cut, legend has it that the hotel was used by sea captains to recruit crew members - unsuspecting patrons who had drunk themselves into a stupor are said to have been pushed through a trap door and carried away through underground tunnels to waiting ships in nearby Walsh Bay. 

Former Shipwrights Arms, 75 Windmill Street, Millers Point (1840): Though no records exist to verify the exact year of its construction, this two storey brick house dates from the Macquarie period as it was built as a residence for a free settler who arrived in the colony in 1815. Some of the sandstone used would have come from the nearby Kent Street Quarry which was a major source of sandstone for building constructed in the western end of Sydney during the Macquarie era, however a lot would have been sourced on-site as it was built on a quarry site. Its identity as one of five pubs in The Rocks to be called Shipwrights Arms had been lost until its restoration in 1968 when countless layers of paint were removed to reveal its former use. John Clarke its first licensee, operated the pub between 1833 and 1837.

The Argyle Cut - Argyle Street-Millers Point

THE ARGYLE CUT - THE ROCKS 

Do you go cut is a striking example of conflict public works. It was a colonial effort to overcome a challenging landscape, providing a more level crossing between the rocks and Millers point.

In 1843, convict labour was deployed to cut the roadway through the rocky peninsula. It was completed in 1959 with the use of explosives and council labour. Bridges over the cup were completed later.

The Uncle cup was also taken in the 1920s with the construction of the approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Argyle Cut is A striking example of convict Public works. It was a Colonial effort to overcome a challenging Landscape, providing a more level crossing between The Rocks & Millers Point,

In 1843, convict labour was deployed to cut the roadway through the rocky peninsula. It was completed in 1859 with the use of explosives

Whenever I Happen To Pass The ARGYLE CUT I Always Think What An Amazing Piece Of Work It Is. Can You Imagine The Hundreds Of Comvicts All Chained Together In Chain Gangs. With Nothing More Than Blunt Picks Hitting The Sandstone. 

Walking Through The Cut You Just Can't Imagine Gravity Of Human Labour to Cut This Straight Out Of The Rock. 

Also Hard To Imagine The Bits Of Broken Sandstone Being Either Carried By Hand Or Using A Wheelbarrow Style Tool... 

Down To The Coastal Estuary Called Circular Quay And Tipped Into The Tidal Flat. The Reclaimed Land Has Added About 50 Metres To The Quay, And the Semi Circular Walls Were Built. 

When You See The Sandstone Sea Wall That Goes Right Around The Working Harbour From Millers Point, Dawes Point To Circular Quay And What Would Have Been Fort Macqaurie. 

"This Square Forms A Part Of An Area Of Old Sydney Called The Rocks, Once Famous As A Residential District And A Notorius Haunt Of Sailors. Argyle Street Was Named By governor Macquarie In 1810 After His Native Country. 

In The Cut Itself - High On The Wall There Is ThisNotice 

" Chas Moore -Mayor- 1867 - 1868

Above This Spot A Bridge Known AsThe  Princes Street Bridge Spanned The Original  Argyle Cut. As A Memorial Of The Bridge, The Above Stone, Which Formed Part Of It, Is Placed Where The Shadow Of The Bridge 

The Palisade Hotel Millers Point Sydney NSW

The "Pallisade Hotel" - Millers Point - NSW

I Happened To Stumble Upon The "Palisade Hotel" Sitting There At What Seems The Top Of Millers Point. All Alone There, Almost Like A Shag On A Rock. I Was Had Meandered My away Through The Rocks, The Backlanes, Pathways, Old Houses And Some Historical Sites.
The Hotel Itself Is Closed Down And Looks To Be Abandoned, Except For The Motorbike That Was Sitting Right At The end Of The Verandah. It Was A Very Sad Site..... In My Eyes Anyway, And I Really Hope No One ((The Ruthless, Money Hungry, Developers which I Have Started To See These People As)) Knocks It Down And Builds Some Cheap And Nasty Jail Cell Apartments with A Balcony With A View.... Because It's Happening All Around The Surrounds Of The Hotel With The BARANGAROO Development Of The New Casino... (Like 1 Casino Isn't Enough)