Wynyard – From Gadigal Country and the Military Barracks to Wynyard Square, Wynyard Park and Wynyard Station – Sydney – NSW

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this page contains historical images that may show people who have died.

If you've ever cut through Wynyard Park on the way to a train, or waited for a bus on Carrington Street, you've been standing on what was once the parade ground of Sydney's first proper military barracks. Very little of the old place survives above ground, but the shape of the park, the name of Barrack Street and the name Wynyard itself all go back to the soldiers. This page brings together my two earlier Wynyard posts into one story, from Gadigal country through the barracks years, the square, the 1932 station and the trams, up to the Wynyard of today.

Sydney Cove in 1792, the year the barracks were begun on the western ridge, painted by the unnamed artist known as the Port Jackson Painter. Port Jackson Painter, fl. 1788-1792., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Gadigal Country

Long before there was a barracks or a railway, this ridge above the western side of Sydney Cove was Gadigal land. The Gadigal (also written Cadigal and Caddiegal) are the Aboriginal people whose traditional lands, Gadi, lie on Eora country where the city of Sydney now stands. Since colonisation most Gadigal people have been pushed off those lands (Wikipedia, Gadigal). The City of Sydney's archives also note that George Street, which runs along the eastern edge of the old barracks, was possibly the first street in Australia and may have followed Aboriginal tracks (City of Sydney Archives, George Street).

Sydney Cove in 1788, watercolour by William Bradley of the First Fleet. The western shore and ridge, where the barracks would go, is the side on the left of the cove as you look up the harbour. William Bradley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Military Barracks, 1792 to 1848

Building the barracks

When the First Fleet came in 1788 the marines camped in tents on the western side of the cove. They were relieved by the New South Wales Corps, a regiment raised in England in 1789 for the job (Wikipedia, New South Wales Corps). According to the Dictionary of Sydney, barracks were put up between 1792 and 1818 on the eastern, southern and western sides of what is now Wynyard Park, leaving a big open square in the middle (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney). That square was known as Barracks Square or the Parade Ground.

It was a much bigger reserve than the park we know. Wikipedia's Wynyard Park article says the George Street barracks ran from Barrack Street in the south to almost Jamison Street in the north, and west to Clarence Street. A heritage study for the One Carrington Street development says the barracks took the prime ridge-top position above the settlement that had first been set aside for a permanent Government House, and that under Governor Macquarie a high stone wall was built along the western side of George Street, shutting the soldiers off from the town (GML Heritage, One Carrington Street Heritage Impact Statement, 2014). The same report says the main gate, with a guardhouse, was on George Street close to today's Wynyard station ramp. A wide gravel path ran from the gate up to the main buildings between green lawns, and Francis Greenway built a columned circular fountain in the middle of the parade ground. From then on the parade ground was called Barrack Square (GML Heritage, 2014).

The French plan of Sydney drawn from the 1802 Baudin expedition survey by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur. The military reserve west of the High Street (later George Street) shows up as a large block on the ridge. Péron, François, 1775-1810 Lesueur, Charles Alexandre, 1778-1846 Aubert, L. Milbert, Jacques Gérard,, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Rum Corps and the march on Bligh

The Corps became notorious for its trade in rum and for mutinous behaviour (Wikipedia, New South Wales Corps). On 26 January 1808, 400 soldiers marched on Government House and arrested Governor William Bligh, in what became known as the Rum Rebellion (Wikipedia, Rum Rebellion). Wikipedia's Wynyard Park article says it was from this parade ground that the Corps marched out to do it. I've written up the whole affair in my post on the arrest of Governor Bligh (link below).

The parade ground had a lighter side too. The same article records that in July 1829 soldiers from British regiments were noted playing football on the parade ground, though nobody knows under what rules (Wikipedia, Wynyard Park, Sydney).

Barracks Square and Barrack Street

The barracks shaped the streets around them. Barrack Street, the short street off George Street, marks the old southern edge of the reserve. The Macquarie-era wall ran from just north of Margaret Street down to Barrack Street. When the land was later subdivided, the plan laid out a framework of connecting streets, York, Carrington, Barrack, Wynyard and Margaret, with rear lanes behind them (GML Heritage, 2014). The Dictionary of Sydney gives York, Carrington, Margaret and Barrack streets as the bounds of Wynyard Park (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney). By 1900 the corner of George and Barrack Streets was taken by one of the city's best-known shops, David Jones.

David Jones on the corner of George and Barrack Streets with a tram to Dulwich Hill, about 1900 to 1910 (State Library of NSW, PXE 711/369). author unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Barrack Street, Sydney, about 1900, from the Powerhouse Museum collection. Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Move to Victoria Barracks, 1848

By the 1840s a barracks in the middle of a growing commercial town made little sense. Victoria Barracks was built on Paddington Hill, on land inside the Sydney Common, to move the garrison out of Barracks Square. The Board of Ordnance took possession of the site in 1841, the Regency-style main building went up in Hawkesbury sandstone between 1841 and 1846, and the main barrack block, completed in 1846, was designed for 650 soldiers (Wikipedia, Victoria Barracks, Sydney). The Dictionary of Sydney says the old barracks and parade ground were used until the new Victoria Barracks were completed in 1848 (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney).

British troops stayed at Paddington until 1870, when they left the colony, and the NSW Artillery took over (Wikipedia, Victoria Barracks, Sydney). So the later army history of Victoria Barracks, Federation, the World Wars and so on, belongs to Paddington and not to Wynyard.

The gate of Victoria Barracks on Oxford Street, Paddington, where the garrison went after leaving the George Street barracks. J Bar, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The 50th Regiment at Victoria Barracks, Paddington, before 1880 (State Records NSW). State Records NSW, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The Subdivision, Wynyard Square and General Wynyard

Once the soldiers were gone, the barracks land was cut up for private houses and shops, but a square was kept on the higher part of the old Barrack Square (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney). It was named Wynyard Square after Major-General Edward Buckley Wynyard. Grand four- and five-storey terraces went up around it, giving Wynyard the feel of an English residential square from the 1850s to the 1880s. Carrington Street was named on the 1850s plan, but people generally called it Wynyard Square or Wynyard Square East until the mid-1920s (GML Heritage, 2014).

Wynyard (1788–1864) was a career British Army officer, born at Kensington Palace. He served in Sicily and the Ionian Islands, spent 1816–20 on St Helena as military secretary to Sir Hudson Lowe, and in September 1847 was put in command of the troops in New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand. He sat on the Legislative Council from 1848 to 1851 and the Executive Council from 1848 to 1853, went home in 1853, and died in London in 1864. Wynyard in northern Tasmania is probably named after him too (Wikipedia, Edward Buckley Wynyard).

The square was dedicated as a recreation ground in 1875, fenced and landscaped, and at first only residents with keys to the gates could use it, as in the London squares. It was dedicated as a public park on 1 July 1887 and proclaimed Wynyard Park on 7 October that year, in the care of the City Council (GML Heritage, 2014). A bandstand went up in the middle in 1888, and Canary Island palms were planted in 1893 (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney). From 1887 it was known as Wynyard Park (Wikipedia, Wynyard Park, Sydney). By 1907 the fences had come down, following the American fashion for open parks (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney).

The Wallach Brothers store newly opened at Wynyard Square, from the Sydney Mail of 16 June 1888. Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Dr Lang and his statue

The Presbyterian minister John Dunmore Lang lived at Wynyard Square and was behind the building of Scots Church nearby. His statue by Giovanni Fontana stands at the northern end of the park (Wikipedia, Wynyard Park, Sydney; Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney). In 1912 the City built an ornate underground men's lavatory with a domed glass roof in the park, like the ones at Hyde Park, Taylor Square and Macquarie Place (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney).

The statue of John Dunmore Lang by Giovanni Fontana in Wynyard Park. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wynyard Park about 1920, before the railway works dug it up (State Records NSW). Photographic Collection from Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wynyard Station and the Harbour Bridge Railway, 1932

Wynyard's link with transport started with buses. In the 1880s a bus terminus was set up there for passengers from the southern suburbs, and a railway station was first suggested in 1881, but nothing came of it for half a century (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney). Here's the photo from my original Wynyard post, showing the proposed railway station:

Proposed Railway Station For Wynyard 

The station was built as part of John Bradfield's city underground railway, planned together with the Harbour Bridge. The bridge carried four railway tracks, and both pairs ran down ramps and tunnels into the underground Wynyard station on the city side (Wikipedia, Sydney Harbour Bridge). To build it, the park was dug out and then put back over the top (Wikipedia, Wynyard Park, Sydney). Much later, in 1996, a new station entrance was built in the middle of the park, and a restoration programme began in 1998 (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney).

Placing fill for York and Carrington Streets over the new Wynyard station, 4 November 1930 (State Records NSW). Photographic Collection from Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Erecting the escalators at Wynyard, 4 November 1930. The wooden escalators at the York Street entrance stayed in service until the 2015–18 refurbishment (State Records NSW). Photographic Collection from Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wynyard was built with six platforms. Platforms 3 and 4 took the North Shore trains across the bridge, and platforms 5 and 6 sat on a lower level. Platforms 1 and 2 were meant for a future railway to the Northern Beaches that never got built (Wikipedia, Wynyard railway station, Sydney).

The North Shore platform at Wynyard looking north, dated 27 February 1932, the eve of the opening (State Records NSW). Photographic Collection from Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Harbour Bridge was formally opened on Saturday 19 March 1932. On that day 632 people became the first fare-paying passengers to cross it by train, paying a premium of ten shillings, although two clergymen had already crossed by accident on the previous day's test train (Wikipedia, Sydney Harbour Bridge).

The first passenger train to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge, 19 March 1932. Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The departures indicator board above the entry barriers at Wynyard, 27 August 1948 (State Records NSW). Photographic Collection from Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Trams

While the Northern Beaches line waited for money, platforms 1 and 2 were handed over to the North Shore trams. Trams came in from Blue Street in North Sydney, over a steel arch bridge above the bridge roadway, across the eastern side of the Harbour Bridge and down into Wynyard. It was the only underground tram terminus in Australia (Wikipedia, Trams in Sydney). The trams ran from the bridge's opening in 1932 until the North Sydney system closed on 28 June 1958 (Wikipedia, Trams in Sydney; Wikipedia, Wynyard railway station, Sydney).

After the trams went, the tracks were lifted and the tram platforms walled off. Part of the space became a car park for the Menzies Hotel, reached by a ramp from Wynyard Lane, and that car park closed in October 2016 for the Wynyard Place development. On the bridge, the old tram tracks became two extra road lanes, now part of the Cahill Expressway, and you can still see the old tunnel mouths from the eastern footpath (Wikipedia, Wynyard railway station, Sydney; Wikipedia, Sydney Harbour Bridge). That's also why Wynyard's platforms are still numbered 3 to 6. Platforms 1 and 2 were the tram platforms, and nobody ever renumbered the rest (Wikipedia, Trams in Sydney).

A Wynyard-bound tram on the Harbour Bridge in the 1930s, on the tracks that are now the Cahill Expressway lanes. Photograph by Ted Hood (State Library of NSW). Ted Hood, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

A coupled set of trams at the Argyle Street stop on the bridge approach in January 1957, the year before the North Shore trams finished. lindsaybridge from Sydney, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Park Through the Twentieth Century

With the station underneath it, the park became the place where city workers ate lunch and waited for buses to the northern suburbs, and also a spot for public meetings and protests. Wikipedia describes it as one of Australia's oldest parks to be continuously set aside as open space in a city (Wikipedia, Wynyard Park, Sydney). Since the station opened, bus parking has dominated the streets around the park (Whitaker, Dictionary of Sydney).

Carrington Street and Wynyard Park in the 1930s, photographed by Hall & Co. Hall & Co., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Wynyard Square from the air, July 1937, Adastra Aerial Survey (Royal Australian Historical Society). Royal Australian Historical Society, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Frank Sinatra fans listen to his records in Wynyard Park, January 1945. Photograph by Ivan Ives. Ivan Ives, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Protesters for Indonesian independence at Wynyard Square in 1947 (State Library of NSW). Pix photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Wynyard Today

Wynyard is now an urban locality in its own right, in the City of Sydney, postcode 2000, with Wynyard Park as its landmark (Wikipedia, Wynyard, New South Wales). The station got lifts in 1999, and between 2015 and 2018 it was thoroughly refurbished. Parts of the old wooden escalators were turned into a hanging artwork called Interloop at the York Street entrance (Wikipedia, Wynyard railway station, Sydney).

Wynyard Walk is a 180-metre pedestrian link from Wynyard station to Barangaroo. It's a mix of a new entrance, a tunnel, a footbridge and a plaza, designed by Woods Bagot. It opened in September 2016, with the Clarence Street entrance following in December 2016 (Wikipedia, Wynyard railway station, Sydney). Above the station, Brookfield Place now joins the old Menzies Hotel site, Thakral House, Shell House and Beneficial House into one block, with a street-level walk from George Street through to Carrington Street and the park. The George Street light rail stop outside is served by the L2 and L3 lines (Wikipedia, Wynyard railway station, Sydney).

Wynyard Park from above in 2007, the same rectangle as the old Barracks Square. Elekhh, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wynyard Park in 2023. -wuppertaler, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wynyard station entrance in the middle of Wynyard Park, built in the 1990s. J Bar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Interloop, the 2017 artwork at Wynyard made from the station's old wooden escalator treads. Wikiain, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wynyard Walk, opened in 2016, linking the station with Barangaroo. Invenio, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

My Original Notes

These are the notes from my two earlier posts, tidied up and corrected against the sources above.

Wynyard is a locality in the central business district of Sydney. The area was part of the traditional lands of the Gadigal people, who lived here for thousands of years before European settlement. After the First Fleet arrived in 1788, Sydney grew quickly, and the early town centred on the area that now includes Wynyard.

The name Wynyard comes from Major-General Edward Buckley Wynyard, who commanded the British troops in New South Wales from 1847. Wynyard Square was named after him once the barracks moved to Paddington in 1848.

Wynyard has long been a transport hub. A bus terminus started here in the 1880s, and Wynyard Station opened in 1932 with the Harbour Bridge, with the North Shore trams running into the station until 1958. Through the 20th century the area was rebuilt with new office buildings, public spaces and transport links. Wynyard Park, next to the station, has the statue of Dr John Dunmore Lang and is a popular spot for city workers. Wynyard Walk, opened in 2016, is a pedestrian link of tunnel, bridge and plaza connecting Wynyard Station with Barangaroo.

Today Wynyard remains an important transport hub, with the station a key interchange in the CBD, surrounded by office buildings, shops and restaurants.

On the barracks: the land was Gadigal country before 1788. After the colony was founded, a military garrison was set up in Sydney, and from 1792 the barracks and their parade ground took up the ridge west of George Street. The site stayed military until 1848, when the garrison moved to the new Victoria Barracks at Paddington. The barracks land was then subdivided, with part of the parade ground kept as Wynyard Square, now Wynyard Park. While the soldiers are long gone, the site's history is remembered in the park, in the name of Barrack Street and in the plaques around the area.

Timeline

• Before 1788: Gadigal country, on Eora land
• 1788: First Fleet marines camp on the western side of Sydney Cove
• 1789: New South Wales Corps raised in England to relieve the marines
• 1792 to 1818: Barracks built around Barracks Square, the parade ground
• 26 January 1808: The Corps marches on Government House and arrests Governor Bligh
• July 1829: Soldiers recorded playing football on the parade ground
• 1841: Board of Ordnance takes the Paddington site for Victoria Barracks
• 1846: Main barrack block at Victoria Barracks completed
• September 1847: Major-General Edward Buckley Wynyard takes command of the troops in NSW
• 1848: Garrison leaves for Victoria Barracks, and the old barracks land is subdivided
• 1810 to 1821: Under Macquarie, a stone wall built along George Street, and Greenway's fountain on Barrack Square
• 1875: Wynyard Square dedicated as a recreation ground, fenced and locked
• 1880s: Bus terminus set up for the southern suburbs
• 1881: A railway station at Wynyard first suggested
• 1 July and 7 October 1887: Dedicated as a public park, then proclaimed Wynyard Park
• 1888: Bandstand built
• 1890 or 1891: Statue of Dr John Dunmore Lang (sources differ)
• 1893: Canary Island palms planted
• 1912: Underground men's lavatory built
• 1925 or 1927: Park dug up for the underground railway (sources differ)
• 28 February 1932: Wynyard station opens (Wikipedia)
• 19 March 1932: Harbour Bridge opens, and the first fare-paying trains cross
• 1932 to 1958: North Shore trams run into Wynyard
• 22 January 1956: Lower platforms extended to Circular Quay on the City Circle
• 28 June 1958: North Sydney trams close
• 1996: New station entrance built in the middle of the park
• 1999: Lifts added to the station
• 2016: Wynyard Walk opens, and the Wynyard Lane car park closes
• 2015 to 2018: Station refurbished, and Interloop installed

Where the Sources Disagree

• How long the barracks lasted. The Dictionary of Sydney says the barracks were built between 1792 and 1818 and used until Victoria Barracks was completed in 1848. Wikipedia's Wynyard locality article reads as if the barracks only stood from 1792 to 1818. I've gone with 1848 for the move, which Wikipedia's Wynyard Park article also gives.
• When Victoria Barracks was finished. Wikipedia's Victoria Barracks article has the main block completed in 1846. The Dictionary of Sydney gives 1848 as the year the new barracks were completed and the old ones given up.
• Wynyard's command. Wikipedia puts General Wynyard in command from September 1847. The Dictionary of Sydney says he commanded the British forces in Australia from 1848 to 1853.
• Lang's statue. Wikipedia dates Fontana's statue to 1890. The Dictionary of Sydney says it was erected in 1891 and has a picture of the unveiling on 26 January 1891.
• Digging up the park. The Dictionary of Sydney says the park was almost completely dug up in 1925, with reconstruction starting in 1933. Wikipedia says the underground railways were built in 1927, and the Dictionary's own station entry gives construction as 1927 to 1932.
• Opening day. Wikipedia says Wynyard station opened on 28 February 1932, to coincide with the bridge. The bridge itself opened on 19 March 1932, which was also the first day fare-paying passengers crossed by train.
• When the barracks were removed. GML Heritage's report says the barracks and parade ground stayed until 1848, but one of its figure captions says Carrington and Margaret streets were not surveyed until after the removal of the Barracks in 1842.
• Wynyard Walk. Wikipedia's station article says Wynyard Walk opened in September 2016, with the Clarence Street entrance in December 2016, but the same article also says it was officially opened on 20 November 2016.

My Earlier Posts

• Pfahlert's Hotel, Corner Wynyard Square and Margaret Street
• Wynyard Lane, Laneways, Sydney
• Arrest of Governor Bligh, The Rum Rebellion, 26 January 1808
• George Street, Sydney, 1848, Joseph Fowles
• Sydney Trams, From Horse Trams to Light Rail
• The Sydney Suburban and City Underground Railway
• Bradfield, The Harbour Bridge, The Trains
• Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie Street
• The Historical Sydney Green Plaques

Sources

• Whitaker, Anne-Maree, 'Wynyard Park', Dictionary of Sydney, 2008, https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/wynyard_park
• Dictionary of Sydney, 'Wynyard Railway Station', https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/wynyard_railway_station
• Wikipedia, 'Wynyard Park, Sydney', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynyard_Park,_Sydney
• Wikipedia, 'Wynyard, New South Wales', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynyard,_New_South_Wales
• Wikipedia, 'Wynyard railway station, Sydney', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynyard_railway_station,_Sydney
• Wikipedia, 'Edward Buckley Wynyard', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Buckley_Wynyard
• Wikipedia, 'Victoria Barracks, Sydney', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Barracks,_Sydney
• Wikipedia, 'Trams in Sydney', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Sydney
• Wikipedia, 'Sydney Harbour Bridge', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge
• Wikipedia, 'Gadigal', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadigal
• Wikipedia, 'New South Wales Corps', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_Corps
• Wikipedia, 'Rum Rebellion', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_Rebellion
• City of Sydney Archives, 'George Street', https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1938846
• GML Heritage, One Carrington Street, Sydney: Heritage Impact Statement, May 2014, NSW Major Projects Planning Portal (SSD-5824), https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-5824%2120190227T045427.539+GMT
• Wikimedia Commons, for all historical and modern images credited above, https://commons.wikimedia.org/

Frenchmans Road – Randwick – The Road Named for La Pérouse’s French Expedition

Frenchmans Road is the eastern suburbs reminder that Botany Bay had a French fortnight before Sydney had a street grid. Randwick Council names it for Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de La Pérouse, and the crews of Boussole and Astrolabe, who sat at Frenchmans Beach for six weeks from late January 1788 and sailed on 10 March into silence. The council also calls this one of the oldest European roads in Australia, “dating to 1788.” Treat that as a track claim, not a kerbed 1788 highway. The country under the bitumen is older than any of those names.

The old Frenchmans Road once included today’s Avoca Street — renamed in 1859 after Judge Callaghan’s house Avoca. Perouse Road is the southern continuation. Don’t flatten the title’s trailing “Bond” into a Bondi story; this is Randwick looking south toward La Perouse, not a beach-suburb detour.

If you walk it, youre on a name that remembers a six-week camp and a vanished expedition. That is already enough road history.

In short: Frenchmans Road runs through Randwick, and its name goes back to the French explorer La Pérouse. His two ships, Boussole and Astrolabe, sat in Botany Bay for six weeks in 1788, just as the First Fleet was moving to Sydney Cove. Randwick City Council calls it one of the oldest European roads in Australia. The old road once took in what is now Avoca Street, the spine of Randwick village with St Jude's, the Coach and Horses and the Captain Cook statue. Later came Victorian houses like Venice at number 66, the corner pub known as the DOG, and a steam tram that puffed down Frenchmans Road from 1887 until the line closed in 1954. Here is my original short piece, followed by the longer story.

My Original Post

Frenchmans Road is the eastern suburbs reminder that Botany Bay had six French weeks before Sydney had a street grid. Randwick Council names it for Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de La Pérouse, and the crews of Boussole and Astrolabe, who sat at Frenchmans Beach for six weeks from late January 1788 and sailed on 10 March into silence. The council also calls this one of the oldest European roads in Australia, “dating to 1788.” The country under the bitumen is older than any of those names.

The old Frenchmans Road once included today’s Avoca Street — renamed in 1859 after Judge Callaghan’s house Avoca. Perouse Road is the southern continuation.

If you walk it, you’re on a name that remembers a six-week camp and a vanished expedition. That is already enough road history.

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse (1741–1788), the man the road and the suburb at Botany Bay are named after. Lithograph by Delpech. François-Séraphin Delpech (lithographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The French at Botany Bay, 1788

La Pérouse left Brest in France on 1 August 1785 with two ships, Astrolabe and Boussole, on a scientific voyage around the Pacific that King Louis XVI had ordered. By the time he turned up off Botany Bay on 24 January 1788 he had been to Chile, Easter Island, Hawaii and Alaska, and had lost Fleuriot de Langle, captain of Astrolabe, and others in a clash in Samoa.

His timing was remarkable. Arthur Phillip had anchored in Botany Bay in HMS Supply only six days earlier. Phillip had already decided the bay was no good and gone to look at Port Jackson. On 26 January, while John Hunter was moving the rest of the First Fleet around to Sydney Cove, the French ships were sailing into Botany Bay. Wikipedia's La Perouse article says the meeting was polite on both sides. Each side offered the other help, and neither took it up.

The Astrolabe and Boussole at anchor, probably in Alaska in 1786, drawn during the expedition. Two years later the same ships were sitting in Botany Bay. Unknown artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The French stayed six weeks. On the peninsula that now carries La Pérouse's name they built a stockade, an observatory and a garden, built a new longboat to replace the one lost in Samoa, and took on wood and water. The expedition's chaplain and naturalist, Father Louis Receveur, had been hurt in the Samoan fight and died at Botany Bay on 17 February. He was buried on shore at Frenchmans Cove. He is counted as the second European buried on the east coast, after Forby Sutherland from Cook's ship in 1770.

On 10 March 1788 the French sailed out of Botany Bay. British lookouts at South Head watched them go, and that was the last time anyone from Europe saw them. Both ships were wrecked on the reefs of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands, probably in April or May 1788. Nobody knew what had happened for decades. It wasn't until 1826 that the Irish sea captain Peter Dillon tracked down swords and other relics that led him to the wrecks. Louis XVI is said to have asked on the morning of his execution in January 1793, "Any news of La Pérouse?"

Sunset over Botany Bay from Frenchman's Beach at La Perouse, near where the French camped in 1788. Zroota, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The French Memorials at La Perouse

The British looked after Receveur's grave. A tin plate first marked the spot, but local Aboriginal people soon took it away, and the British put up a replacement. In 1824 an officer from the French ship Coquille, Victor-Charles Lottin, carved an inscription on the tree. The next year Hyacinthe de Bougainville paid for the tombstone that is still there, designed by George Cookney. The tall Lapérouse Monument, an obelisk the French put up in 1825, stands close by. These days a crowd gathers there every Bastille Day.

The Lapérouse Monument at Botany Bay around 1900. Glass plate negative from the Tyrrell Collection, Powerhouse Museum. Powerhouse Museum Collection, No known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Bastille Day at the Lapérouse Monument in 2013, hosted by the French Consul General and the Friends of the Laperouse Museum. Botanybay1788, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The La Perouse Museum. The building began life as the cable station for the telegraph line to New Zealand. JustineJ4C4U, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How the Road Got Its Name

Randwick City Council's list of street names says Frenchmans Road was "named for French explorer, Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de La Perouse, and his crew". The same list says the road "originally included what is now known as Avoca Street" and calls it "one of the oldest European roads in Australia, dating to 1788."

That is the council's claim, and I'd take it as a tradition rather than a proven fact. None of the sources I could get hold of explain how a track through the Randwick sandhills came to be tied to the French in 1788. Nor do they show anyone in 1788 walking along this exact line. What we can say is that the French were camped at Botany Bay and the British were at Sydney Cove. Randwick sits on the high ground between the two.

People were walking this country long before 1788. The Dictionary of Sydney records that in 1995 an Aboriginal hearth, or campsite, was found off Avoca Street on the high ridge between Sydney and the coast. It was dated to about 8,000 years ago, which made it the oldest such site in coastal Sydney at the time. The Kameygal people are recorded as the traditional owners around Botany Bay and La Perouse.

The Route, Then and Now

The old Frenchmans Road was a good deal longer than today's. According to the council, Avoca Street "changed from Frenchmans Road in 1859" and took its new name from Judge Callaghan's home, Avoca, which was named after Avoca in Ireland. Perouse Road, named for the same Frenchman, is described by the council as the southern extension of Frenchmans Road.

The local history site Lochista gives a more detailed list of former names. It says Avoca Street, from present-day Frenchmans Road to Perouse Road, was called Frenchmans Road until the 1860s. Chapel Street and the northern third of Dutruc Street also carried the name until the 1850s. And the stretch of Clovelly Road from Fraser Street to Frenchmans Road was once Thomas Street.

So if you walk the line of the old road today, you start on Frenchmans Road at the Clovelly Road corner, follow Avoca Street through the old village past St Jude's, and then head south on Perouse Road towards The Spot. It is still the high ground, with glimpses down to Coogee on one side.

A Federation-style bus shelter on Frenchmans Road, Randwick. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Simeon Pearce and the Village of Randwick

For the first half of the 1800s hardly anyone lived out here. The Dictionary of Sydney credits the village to one man, Simeon Henry Pearce, an English bounty migrant who bought land and named it Randwick after his home village in Gloucestershire. Wikipedia's St Jude's article says Simeon bought four acres from George Hooper on 21 September 1847 and built Blenheim House there. The council's street list dates the house to 1848. Simeon and his brother James then bought and sold land all over the district, with a good eye for a profit.

The Pearce family outside Blenheim House, Randwick, about 1885, photographed by J. Roarty. State Library of New South Wales. J. Roarty, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Blenheim House as it stands today. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pearce wanted Randwick to feel like an English village. The open ground near the crossroads opposite the destitute children's asylum came to be called the High Cross, just as in the English Randwick. Getting there was hard work. The village was cut off from Sydney by swamp and sandhills. John Grice ran the first horse omnibus to town from 8 March 1859, and passengers sometimes had to get out and push when the bus bogged in the sand.

The Dictionary of Sydney says the municipality was incorporated in 1859, mostly to pay for the upkeep of the road joining Randwick and Coogee, with Simeon Pearce as the first mayor. That is the same year the council gives for Frenchmans Road's main stretch becoming Avoca Street.

Landmarks Along the Old Road

St Jude's Church and Cemetery

Pearce was a devoted churchman, and the government granted him a block in Avoca Street in 1854 for a church, school and parsonage. The Dictionary of Sydney says the first temporary St Jude's Church of England and schoolhouse opened on 23 May 1858. Wikipedia instead dates the first St Jude's to 1857, on the corner of what are now Alison Road and Avoca Street.

The church you see today was a long time coming. Its foundation stone was laid on 25 May 1861, and then two court cases over where it should go held things up. Randwick and Coogee people fell out badly over it. It was finally finished on 29 June 1865. The architect is disputed: Simeon Pearce and Edmund Blacket have both been put forward, and the tower is said to be based on St John's in the English Randwick. The bells were hung in 1872, and the tower was raised in 1877 to take a chiming clock. Henry M. Robinson added the transepts in the late 1880s.

St Jude's Church on Avoca Street, the old Frenchmans Road. It was finished in 1865. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The cemetery is older than the church. It opened in 1853 as part of a larger burial ground for all denominations. The other sections closed in the 1860s over fears about Sydney's water supply, but St Jude's carried on until the last burial in 1975. Simeon Pearce is buried there, along with Archibald Mosman, Ann Hordern of the Anthony Hordern family, and Chief Justice Sir Alfred Stephen.

St Jude's cemetery, Randwick. Simeon Pearce, Archibald Mosman and Sir Alfred Stephen are among those buried here. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Coach and Horses

John Grice's business, first a general store with pleasure gardens called Vauxhall Gardens, became the Coach and Horses Hotel on the corner of Avoca and Albion Streets. Grice was also the village postmaster, ran the first mail service from 1859 to 1864, and ran the first omnibus to Sydney. The pub is still trading.

The Coach and Horses Hotel in Avoca Street, one of Randwick's first hotels. Sardaka, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Star and Garter and the Captain Cook Statue

Further down, at the corner of Avoca Street and Belmore Road, alderman William Ellis put up a sandstone building, in 1859 according to Wikipedia. It ran briefly as the Star and Garter Inn. Then a harbour pilot, Captain Thomas Watson, bought it, added the castellated tower for views to Botany Bay, and called it Cook's Lodge. After Watson died it became a girls' school. From 1897 to 1985 the Hannan family ran a butcher's shop there, and it is a pub again today.

The former Star and Garter Inn at sunset. Captain Thomas Watson added the tower so he could see Botany Bay. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Watson also paid sculptor Walter McGill £700 to carve a statue of Captain Cook from Pyrmont sandstone. It was unveiled on 27 October 1874 in front of his house, facing Botany Bay, and the Dictionary of Sydney says it is probably the first statue of Cook put up in Australia.

Walter McGill's statue of Captain Cook, unveiled on 27 October 1874 at the corner of Avoca Street and Belmore Road. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ventnor and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart

Ventnor is a two-storey sandstone house in Avoca Street with views to Coogee. Mayor George Kiss lived there in the 1870s. It now belongs to the Catholic church next door. Cardinal Moran opened Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church on 6 May 1888. Sheerin and Hennessy designed it, and Eaton Brothers from the North Shore built it.

Ventnor in Avoca Street, once the home of Randwick mayor George Kiss. Sardaka, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, opened by Cardinal Moran on 6 May 1888. Jason7825 (modified by Sardaka 3.7.12), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Randwick Town Hall

The first council chambers were in the little Gothic building beside St Jude's, designed by Thomas Rowe in 1862. It is now the verger's residence. The Italianate town hall further north in Avoca Street was designed by Blackman and Parkes. Wikipedia says it was built in 1881, and the Dictionary of Sydney says it opened in 1882.

Randwick Town Hall in Avoca Street, photographed in 1985. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Venice, 66 Frenchmans Road

The best-known house on today's Frenchmans Road is Venice, at number 66. It stands on land the Church of England began subdividing in 1882 as St Marks Glebe. Leases ran for 99 years, at a rent of £13 a year. The heritage history quoted on Wikipedia says solicitor Thomas Dickson took the lease. In 1884 he sold it to Stephen Gee, a Sydney builder, for £20. Gee built the house in 1884–85 and sold it in 1889 to Joseph Dakin, a Randwick builder, for £120. The jump in price is the main clue that Gee built it.

Venice at 66 Frenchmans Road, built by Stephen Gee in 1884–85. Sardaka, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Sands Directory shows a run of residents. A G.H. Holmes lived there from 1897 to 1906. By 1920 it was listed as "Venice Flats", split into four units. Dr H.M. Kalmath and his wife bought it in 1979 and set about restoring it. A Permanent Conservation Order followed in 1982, and it went onto the State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The listing calls it "a comparatively rare and distinctive example of late Victorian Gothic architecture", one that makes a notable contribution to the Frenchmans Road streetscape.

Venice, with its Tudor and Gothic touches and stained glass. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Another view of Venice, Frenchmans Road. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The DOG and the Clovelly Road Corner

Where Frenchmans Road meets Clovelly Road is the Duke of Gloucester Hotel, known to everyone as the DOG. Opposite are the corner shops at 49–55C Frenchmans Road. Randwick City Library describes them as two-storey Inter-war shops with flats above, built together around 1928, with a curved corner to Clovelly Road.

The Duke of Gloucester Hotel, the DOG, on Frenchmans Road. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Trams on Frenchmans Road

Between 1860 and 1910 the northern part of Randwick went from countryside to almost unbroken suburb, thanks to horse buses and then a big tram network built between 1880 and 1921. Frenchmans Road got its own line. The cross-country tram from Bondi Junction to Coogee branched off Bronte Road at Waverley, ran down Albion Street and Frenchmans Road, then went through Frances and Cook Streets to meet the Coogee line at Belmore Road, then called Randwick Junction.

The line was single track, with a passing loop on Frenchmans Road. Between Cowper and Frances Streets it ran through what is now the grounds of Randwick Public School. It opened as a steam tramway in 1887 and was electrified in 1902. At first it ran only from Waverley to Randwick. It was extended to Coogee in 1907, and from 1910 trams ran right through from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. The line closed in 1954 and was replaced by bus route 314.

Crowds crossing the overhead bridge to the trams at Randwick, about 1914. State Library of New South Wales. State Library of New South Wales from Australia, No known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Randwick Public School. The cross-country tram once ran through what are now its grounds, between Cowper and Frances Streets. Johnorchard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The trams were looked after at the Randwick Tramway Workshops. When the last trams ran in 1961, the workshops became the last resting place for many old trams.

The electrical fitting shop at the Randwick Tramway Workshops in 1923. State Records NSW. State Records NSW, No known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Perouse Road and The Spot

At the southern end, Perouse Road carried the Coogee tram. The line came down from Randwick, then ran along Perouse Road, St Pauls Street, Carr Street and Arden Street to a loop at Coogee Beach. It opened to Coogee in 1883, went electric in 1902 and closed in 1960. Around the junction of St Pauls Street and Perouse Road was the poor fringe known as Irishtown. That area is now The Spot, home of the art deco Ritz Cinema.

A Federation cottage on Perouse Road, the southern extension of the old Frenchmans Road. Sardaka, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Ritz Cinema at The Spot, near where Perouse Road meets St Pauls Street. Sardaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline

• About 8,000 years ago: Aboriginal campsite on the ridge off present-day Avoca Street (found in 1995)
• 1 August 1785: La Pérouse leaves Brest with Astrolabe and Boussole
• 18 January 1788: Phillip anchors in Botany Bay in HMS Supply
• 24 January 1788: The French arrive off Botany Bay
• 26 January 1788: The First Fleet moves to Sydney Cove as the French sail into Botany Bay
• 17 February 1788: Father Louis Receveur dies and is buried at Frenchmans Cove
• 10 March 1788: The French sail from Botany Bay and are never seen again by Europeans
• 1824–1825: Lottin inscribes the tree, then Receveur's tombstone and the Lapérouse Monument go up
• 1826: Peter Dillon finds the evidence pointing to Vanikoro
• 1847–1848: Simeon Pearce buys land and builds Blenheim House
• 1853: St Jude's cemetery opens
• 1857 or 1858: First temporary St Jude's (the sources differ)
• 8 March 1859: Grice's first omnibus from Randwick to Sydney
• 1859: Municipality of Randwick formed, with Pearce as mayor. Frenchmans Road through the village becomes Avoca Street
• 25 May 1861: Foundation stone of the present St Jude's
• 29 June 1865: St Jude's completed
• 27 October 1874: Captain Cook statue unveiled
• 1881 or 1882: Randwick Town Hall built or opened (the sources differ)
• 1882: St Marks Glebe subdivided
• 1883: Tram reaches Coogee via Perouse Road
• 1884–1885: Venice built at 66 Frenchmans Road
• 1887: Steam tram opens along Frenchmans Road
• 6 May 1888: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart opens
• 1902: Frenchmans Road tram electrified
• 1907: Tram extended to Coogee
• 1920: Venice listed as Venice Flats
• About 1928: Corner shops at 49–55C Frenchmans Road built
• 1954: Frenchmans Road tram closes, replaced by bus 314
• 1982: Permanent Conservation Order on Venice
• 2 April 1999: Venice and St Jude's added to the State Heritage Register

Where the Sources Disagree

• Is it really from 1788? Randwick City Council says the road dates to 1788 and is named for La Pérouse and his crew. None of the sources I read explain how the name became attached, so the 1788 date is best treated as a local tradition.
• When did Frenchmans Road become Avoca Street? The council gives 1859. Lochista says the Avoca Street stretch carried the name until the 1860s, and that Chapel Street and part of Dutruc Street were also once Frenchmans Road.
• The first St Jude's: Wikipedia says 1857. The Dictionary of Sydney says the temporary church and schoolhouse opened on 23 May 1858.
• Who designed St Jude's? Both Simeon Pearce and Edmund Blacket have been credited.
• Venice's first lease: Wikipedia's Randwick article says the land was leased in 1880 to S. Holmes and J. Parsons. The heritage history on the Venice article says the glebe was subdivided in 1882, leased to Thomas Dickson and sold on to Stephen Gee in 1884.
• Ventnor: Wikipedia's Randwick article says alderman Edward Dawson built it in 1859. The Dictionary of Sydney says mayor George Kiss built it in the 1870s.
• Randwick Town Hall: built in 1881 according to Wikipedia, opened in 1882 according to the Dictionary of Sydney.
• When the French arrived: they were off Botany Bay on 24 January 1788 and anchored on 26 January. Some accounts use one date, some the other.

My Earlier Posts

• Bare Island – La Perouse – Botany Bay
• Botany Bay
• St Jude's Cemetery – Avoca Street – Randwick
• Randwick Tramway Workshops – King St – Randwick
• Sydney Trams – From Horse Trams to Light Rail
• Montepellier – Randwick
• Randwick – How Simeon Pearce's Village Began
• Mundarrah Towers – The Lost Castle of Clovelly

Sources

• Randwick City Council – Streets of the Randwick LGA (Our Story)
• Randwick City Library – 49-55C Frenchmans and Clovelly Roads, Randwick
• Lochista – Former Street and Place Names of the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney
• Dictionary of Sydney – Randwick
• Wikipedia – Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse
• Wikipedia – La Perouse, New South Wales
• Wikipedia – Randwick, New South Wales
• Wikipedia – St Jude's Church, Randwick
• Wikipedia – Venice, Randwick
• Wikipedia – Trams in Sydney
• Wikipedia – Coogee, New South Wales
• Wikimedia Commons – the pictures, as credited under each one