Queens Square - Macquarie Street
Queens Square is a small Section at the end of Macquarie Street that was originally intended to be the Civic Square of the City Of Sydney.
Over the years, the City Of Sydney has outgrown its Civic Square, but the story of this little corner of Colonial Sydney really tells the story of Sydney itself from a Colonial Convict Prison Settlement to a leading City Of The Colonial Era.
Governor Lachlan Macquarie's arrival in Sydney in 1820 was a real turning point for Sydney. It began to leave behind its Penal Colony past, & look towards the future as a world city.
Governor Macquarie had a clear vision for Sydney's future & wasted no time in making it a reality.
Macquarie began by renaming all the streets, which we nothing but a maze of dirt paths when he arrived, but clearly laid out with a degree of order when he left the colony in 1821.
in 1788, there was just over 1,100 people living in Sydney Cove, And Governor Arthur Phillip Believed at the time that one street back from the harbour was appropriate for the centre of town. By the time Governor Macquarie arrived 22 years later, the population was estimated to be 11,773, and only a small amount of townsfolk lived around the harbour
Macquarie quickly realised that the town he believed Sydney would become needed a civic centre like all the great cities of Britain and Europe had. Not forgetting that Sydney had its roots on the shores of Sydney Cove, Macquarie acknowledged this by making the site of Governor Phillip's administrative headquarters (today's Macquarie Place) the point from which all distances within the colony of New South Wales - and ultimately the whole of Australia - would be measured. But being the forward thinker he was, Macquarie was not content to re-position the centre of Sydney to where it was when he arrived. He looked further south, to what then were the southern fringes of the settlement, and established it there. Today, in spite of two centuries of growth, the centre of Sydney is still considered to be where Macquarie placed it, and that is what we now call Queens Square. It never became the impressive town square he had envisaged, but it did become - and remains - the heart of the City of Sydney.
Following the British pattern of town planning, he established a town common (Hyde Park), with all the key civic elements placed around it. By the end of his tenure, his town centre was in place, though not all the elements were finished. He had laid the foundation stone for an Anglican cathedral opposite the common (the site was later used for St Mary's Cathedral); the Rum Hospital was built on Macquarie Street (part of it later became the seat of Government for New South Wales, something he would have been pleased about); the town school was finished, though the powers-that-be changed it mid-way through construction into a church; the courthouse was in the process of being built behind it, and across the road on a common axis with them both was the barracks that housed the colony's convict workforce, Hyde Park Barracks. Government House, still to be constructed, was allocated a site further along Macquarie Street that was close enough to be considered close, but not too close that it dominated the town, or robbed the Governors of his little privacy and a little aloofness.
n spite of all the elements in Macquarie's dream for a town square - or circus as Macquarie would have called it - being in place, why does Queens Square fall well short of Macquarie's dream for it? For starters, someone built a semi circular road around the northern perimeter of Hyde Park, which detracts from the notion that the centre of its arc is the centre of town. Also, after Macquarie left, no one stuck with his vision for the place to ensure it all followed the plan and came to pass. Some, like Governor Ralph Darling, tried to undo all the good work Macquarie did by attempting to drag Sydney back into being a colonial prison, rather than an emerging city. During the post-Darling era, New South Wales experienced the heady days of the goldrush and post-goldrush eras when thre was money to burn and private enterprise practically built what it wanted where it wanted, and it was at that time that Kings Square - renamed Queens Square, when Queen Victoria came to the throne - began to take on the form it takes today.
Its proximity to the Supreme Court in King Street has made the area around Queens Square the legal centre of Sydney. In years gone by Macquarie street was lined with the high class homes of Sydney's professions, predominant among them being the lawyers who worked in the law courts of King Street, and the doctors who place of employment was the Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street. Today most barristers keep chambers in Phillip Street and around the Law Courts
Its proximity to the Supreme Court in King Street has made the area around Queens Square the legal centre of Sydney. In years gone by Macquarie street was lined with the high class homes of Sydney's professions, predominant among them being the lawyers who worked in the law courts of King Street, and the doctors who place of employment was the Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street. Today most barristers keep chambers in Phillip Street and around the Law Courts
he statue of the beloved Queen Victoria that gave the square its present name was unveiled by the Governor's wife Lady Carrington on 24th January 1888. It stood right where the people of her day would have wanted it to be, right in the middle of the circle. But within six years, trams were introduced to Macquarie Street and the statue was circled by tram tracks laid for the new Darling Harbour to Edgecliff service. Later, covered waiting sheds were being built in a semi-circle around Queen Victoria for the electric trams which took over in 1905. The tram tracks (and the statue of Queen Victoria) stayed until 1960 when buses replaced trams and the tracks were pulled up. With the tram circle gone and motor traffic increasing year by year, suddenly Queen Victoria was in the way.
The completion of the new Law Courts in 1977 was just the excuse the authorities needed to move the statue out of the way. She and her pedestal were moved to a spot outside the new Law Courts building. Ten years later, the council dug up the pavement again and placed Queen Victoria back where she was previously. Unfortunately the road had been narrowed considerably, and where she was previously was now kerbside. The statue of her beloved consort, Prince Albert, still looks across the square towards her from the opposite corner. Sadly, Queens Square is today just another intersection in the central business district, with most who drive through it oblivious to its historical significance.
The work of British sculptor JEH Boehm, this statue, which is one of two of Queen Victoria in Sydney, stood in the centre of Queens Square when it was unveiled but six years later the statue ended up in the middle of a tram loop and stayed there until 1977 when the Law Courts were built. The bronze statue is mounted on a plinth of Moruya granite.
The work of British sculptor JEH Boehm, this statue, which is one of two of Queen Victoria in Sydney, stood in the centre of Queens Square when it was unveiled but six years later the statue ended up in the middle of a tram loop and stayed there until 1977 when the Law Courts were built. The bronze statue is mounted on a plinth of Moruya granite.
