South Head – The Macquarie Lighthouse

South Head And The Macquarie Lighthouse 

Stand on Old South Head Road at Vaucluse and you are on Australia’s longest continuously used navigational-beacon site. A flagstaff and fire/beacon signalled shipping from the early 1790s; Australia’s first purpose-built lighthouse followed when Governor Lachlan Macquarie laid the foundation stone in 1816. Convict architect Francis Greenway designed the Palladian-inspired tower, lit in 1818. Macquarie famously rewarded Greenway with a conditional pardon after calling the work “noble and magnificent.”

Local sandstone proved soft; within decades the tower needed iron banding, and by the 1870s the lantern room could not take modern optics. Colonial Architect James Barnet designed a replacement that deliberately echoed Greenway’s form. The new electric light (among the earliest electrically powered lighthouses) commenced in 1883 a few metres from the old tower; the Greenway lighthouse was demolished in 1887. Hornby Light, the separate Lower Light at the tip of South Head (1858), had already been added after wrecks including the Dunbar (1857) showed the need for a clearer harbour-entrance mark.

The present Barnet tower, keepers’ quarters and archaeological remains of the Greenway lightstation are managed by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, with the working light under AMSA arrangements. Photographs here show the Macquarie Lighthouse and South Head setting.

Governor Macquarie Laid The Foundation Stone Of The Tower In July 1816, & Had Expected The Job To Be Finished  In Nine Months. 

Francis Greenway Didn’t Like Using The Samdstonw Quarried On Site As It Was Too Soft, And He Knew It Wouldn’t Last. 

Within 50 Years The Tower Had To Be Reinforced With Iron. By 1883 The Whole Elegant Structure Had Been Condemned. 

I. December 1817 Governor Macquarie Made Up A Breakfast Party To Drive Out And Inspect The Work. He was So Delighted With The “Noble & Magnificent Ediface” - That He Gave Francis Greenway His Conditional Pardon. 

When The Lamps In The Original Lighthouse Were First Lit They “Astonished A Mariner When He Beheld Them From 38 Miles Out At Sea. 

The Second Light, Can, Officially Be Seen 25 Miles Off shore. 

MY COUNTRY - Dorathea McKeller - Poem

The Love Of Field & Coppice, 

Of Green Shaded Lanes 

Of Ordered Woods And Gardens

Is Running Through Your Veins 

Strong Love Of Blue Grey Distance

Brown Streams & Soft Dim Skies

I Know But Cannot Share It

My Love's Otherwise 

I Love A Sunburnt Country

A Land Of Sweeping Plains

Of Ragged Mountain Ranges 

Of Droughts And Flooding Rains

I Love Her Far Horizons

I Love The Jewel Sea

Her Beauty And Her Terror

St Jude’s Cemetery – Avoca Street – Randwick

Tucked behind St Jude’s Anglican Church on Avoca Street, Randwick, the churchyard is one of those rare Sydney cemeteries that still feels like an English parish close — figs, freesias gone wild from old grave plantings, iron surrounds, and a quiet that the traffic on Avoca never quite ruins. Burials here run from 1858 (the first recorded is infant Edwin David Daintrey, September 1858) — before the present sandstone church was finished — through the late Victorian boom years when Randwicks well-heeled preferred to be buried next to their own church rather than shipped out to the general necropolis.

The roll-call is a who’s who of colonial Sydney if you walk it with a list in hand. Simeon Pearce, “father of Randwick” and first mayor; Archibald Mosman, who gave his name to the north-shore suburb; Sir Alfred Stephen, chief justice and lieutenant-governor; colonial secretary Sir Edward Deas Thomson; retail matriarch Ann Hordern; William Busby of Busbys Bore; Henry Mort and kin; Obed West, the old Sydney chronicler — the church’s own cemetery notes name them, and Randwick Council’s local-history pages agree on the big markers. The precinct (church, cemetery, rectory, verger’s residence) is on the State Heritage Register; the ground is small, about a hectare, and still readable as a Victorian Anglican burial ground rather than a lawn cemetery.

Spell it cemetery in the prose. The URL’s “cemetary” is a live typo we leave in the slug.

The Sydney Mint – Macquarie Street – Sydney – New South Wales

The Sydney Mint 

Macquarie Street 

How many McQuarrie‘s critics never cease to winning out that he had virtually paid in rum for Sydneys second general hospital.

Looking back, it seems a brilliant street by the government to have acquired a huge public building for nothing, whatever that means employed.

The first General Hospital was in what is now lower George Street. By McQuarrie‘s time it was a filthy house of death. The governor then let the contract for a new one in McQuarrie Street to 3 men who had never built anything-

 

The governor then let the contract for a new one in McQuarrie Street to 3 men who had never built anything-

Darcy went Worth

-random black cell

– Alexander Riley

In return they were permitted to import 45,000 gallons of rum in three years.

This was almost a monopoly, but the three speculators do not seem to have made much profit on it.

The hospital, the first part of which was opened in 1916, was in three sections.

The present Sydney hospital stands on the side of the large central block, which was pulled down in 1879. To the north and the south of the main block with separate -surgeons quarters. The wing in the north still stands, as Parliament house.

It is a quite a mess of additions, tacked on to save space to cramped legislators. It’s twin the Southern building, which first housed the assistant surgeons, has escaped uglification. It stands at the top of Macquarie Street, it’s pillared facade admired as a fine relic of colonial design.

From 1885 to 1926 a branch of the Royal Mint worked there, producing the first New South Wales sovereign Beloved by collectors.

It now houses government departments, including ironically, the state housing commission.

The Mint in Sydney, also known as the Sydney Mint or the Rum Hospital, has a fascinating history deeply intertwined with the city's colonial past, economic development, and architectural heritage. Here's an overview of its history:

Background and Construction:

• The Mint was originally established in response to the need for a reliable currency in the early colony of New South Wales, which suffered from a shortage of official coinage.
• The building that would become the Mint was originally intended to be the Rum Hospital, constructed using funds generated from the importation of rum.

Architectural Significance:

• The Rum Hospital (future Mint) was designed by convict architect Francis Greenway, who was renowned for his neoclassical designs.
• The building's design was influenced by the classical architectural principles of symmetry, proportion, and grandeur.

Conversion to the Mint:

• The Rum Hospital was not used as a medical facility for long. In the 1850s, it was repurposed as the Sydney Mint to address the shortage of local coinage.
• The Mint was equipped with machinery to produce gold sovereigns and silver coins. It played a crucial role in providing a stable and official currency for the colony.

Coin Production:

• From 1855 to 1926, the Sydney Mint produced gold sovereigns, half-sovereigns, and other denominations of silver coins.
• The coins minted here had a significant impact on the local economy and trade, as well as contributing to the establishment of the Australian currency system.

Architectural Features:

• The building features a distinctive colonnaded facade with Doric columns and ornate detailing.
• The exterior of the building reflects the neoclassical style that Greenway favored in his designs.

Modern Uses:

• The Mint ceased its coin production operations in 1926, and the building went through various uses and renovations.
• In the 21st century, the Mint has been repurposed as a museum, showcasing its historical significance, the history of coin production, and the economic development of Australia.

Heritage Status:

• The Sydney Mint is a heritage-listed building, recognized for its architectural and historical significance.

The Sydney Mint's history reflects the evolution of colonial Sydney, from its early struggles for currency to its establishment as a reliable mint and its subsequent transformation into a museum that preserves the legacy of coin production and its impact on Australian society and economy.

Moore Park Trust Legislation

THE CENTENNIAL PARK AND MOORE PARK TRUST 1983

The Orginial Deed Was Written And Given To The People Of New South Wales, On November 13th 1813, By  None Other Than Governor Lachlan Macquarie. 

In That Original Deed Governor Macquarie Set Out The Second SYDNEY COMMON. 

Later Sir Henry Parkes Put A The Centennial Celebrations Act 1887 To The New South Wales Legislative Council in Honour Of The Silver Jubilee Of Queen Victoria In1888.  Which Cemented The 2nd Sydney Common For The People Of New South Wales. 

There Were 3 MountAins Which Surrounded The Common Before It Was Officially Called Moore Park After Sir Charles Moore, Who Was The Head BotAnist Of The Royal BotAnic Gardens. 

Sir Charles Moore propagated up To 4,500 of The Sydney Fig Trees That We All Take for Granted Today,  To Make Tree Lined Avenues Starting From Government House,

PART 2 

SECTION 10

Subject to Section 20(2) The Trust Shall Not Sell, Mortgage Or Demise Or Otherwise Dispose of Any Of The Original Land As Set Out By Governor Macqaurie In The Original Trust Deed For The 2nd "SYDNEY COMMON".

PART 5 - MISCEALANEOUS

SECTION 1 

RESUMPTION OF ORIGINAL LAND REQUIRES AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT

SUBSECTION 1 (19)

(2) NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING CONTAINED IN ANY OTHER ACT, AND SUBJECT TO THIS ACT, THE ORIGINAL LAND SHALL NOT BE APPROPRIATED OR RESUMED BY GOVERNMENT OR PRIVATE ENTERPRISE EXCEPT THROUGH AN OFFICIAL ACT OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES PARLIAMENT. 

THEREFORE THE NEW SOUTH WALES GOVERNMENT AND THE COMPANY WHO OWNS THE

The Old Toll Gate - Cnr George And Pitt Sts Railway Square

The Old Toll Gate
 - Cnr George And Pitt Sts Railway Square

  Toll roads and toll bridges are public roadways and thoroughfares which drivers must pay to use. They are believed to have existed in a variety of forms for around 2700 years, with the earliest known toll road thought to be the highway connecting Susa and Babylon. Toll roads and bridges continued to be used through the Middle Ages, in the Holy Roman Empire, as well as across Asia.  

As continents were colonised, the practice of implementing toll roads continued. When Governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived in New South Wales in 1810, he upheld high standards for the development of New South Wales from penal colony to free settlement, including improved infrastructure. Macquarie ordered the construction of roads, bridges, wharves, churches and public buildings and introduced a building code. Funds for road construction were to come from Government funds, public subscription and the establishment of toll roads. Private operators were permitted to construct roads and maintain them for ten years, under the colony's new, strict standards; in return, they collected the tolls to pay for their own costs. 

Australia’s first toll road was a newly constructed turnpike road from Sydney to Parramatta. It opened on 10 April 1811, with one toll bar positioned in George St, Haymarket and the other at the Boundary Road end in Parramatta. This was a successful arrangement, as a profit of $930 was made in 1815 alone from the tolls on the Sydney to Parramatta road

A Toll Gate Was Erected On This Spot By Governor Macquarie In 1811 And 1819 & An Elaborate Gothic Toll House  Was Erected Nearby To The Design Of Francis Greenway. Proceeds From The Toll Was Going To Pay For The Maintenance Of This 14 Mile Dirt Road To Parramatta. 

On The 6th October 1810 Governor Lachlan Macqaurie Proclaimed It Expedient

"To Give Regular & Permanant Names To All The Streets & Ways Leading Through  Town.... & To Order Posts & Finger Boards.... With The Names Of The Streets Painted On Them

To Ne Erected In Conspicuous Parts. 

For Instance - "The Principal Street In Town, & Leading Through The Middle Of It From Dawes Point To The Place Near The Brickfields, Being Upwards Of A Mile In Length, & Hitherto Known Alternately By The Names Of High Street, Spring Row, & Sergeant Majors Row Is Now Named George Street , In Honour Of  Our Revered & Gracious Sovereign" 

The First Toll Gates Were Opened On The 10th April 1811, & The Road From There To Parramatta, Fourteen Miles From Sydney, Qas Financed By A Levy Of 3 Shillings.

Monsieur Peron, The French Explorer Who Visited Sydney In 1802, After Travelling Over the Parramatta Highway Remarked........

  "This Grand Road Appears At A Distance like An Immense Avenue Of Foilage & Verdure. A Charming Freshness & An Agreeable Shade Always Prevail In This Continuous Bower, The Silence Of Which Is Interrupted Only By The Singing & Chirping Of The a richly Plumed Paroquets & Other Birds Which Inhabit It"

If Peron Could Return To Parramatta Road Again Today, He’d Get A Severe Shock

The Toll Gate Remained Until 1819, When It Was Replaced By A Greenway Designed Barricade. 

Commissioner Bigge Arrived In Sydney In September 1819 & He Described Francis Greenway’s Toll Bar As An

“Expensive Trifle, An Attempt At The Imitation Of Gothic:  Defective In Design & Execution. Whilst It Must Excite The Derision Of Everyone Acquainted With The Style In Architecture It Must Also Raise In Responsible Breasts A Strong Emotion Of Regret At The avast Disbursement On This Inelegant & Fugacoous Toy.”

MATTHEW FLINDERS..........

Famed Adventurer Died A Pauper After Years At Sea.........

  Explorer Matthew Flinders Paid The Ultimate Price For His Historic Voyages.......

In Constant Pain From Kidney Stones And Bladder Inflammation, Probably AS  A Consequence Of Constant Repeated Dehydration &Scurvy During His Years At Sea, Matthew Flinders Was Also Plagued By Financial As He Proofed Complex Navigation Charts For Books Chronicling His Voyages Around Terra Australis. 

Nine Days Before His Death, The Invalid Explorer Made His Final Diary Entry, Noting He Did Not Rise Before Two. Weeks Earlier His a wife Ann Wrote  to Friends That "So Dreadfully Was He Altered, He Looked Cull 70 Years Of Age & Was Worn To A Skeleton."

The Navigator, Hydrographer And Scientist Died On July 19, 1814, At His Rented Home At 14 London Street, Fitzroy Square In London, Where He Settled With His Wife & Two Year Ild Daughter Ann Five Months Earlier, Weeks Before His 40th Bitthday. 

Despite His Success As A Navigator And Cartographer, Established In Charting Tasmania, The NSW Coat And Circumnavigating Australia, Flinders Reaped Limited Financial Reward.

He Was Born At Donnington In Lincolnshire On March 16, 1774, The Eldest Som Of Surgeon Matthew Flinders, And His Wife Sussanah, Who Doed In 1783 After The Birth Of Their Youngest Son Sanuel. Educated at A Free Parosh School &From 12 As A Grammar School Boarder, Flinders Resisted His Fathers Plans For Him To Train As A Surgeon. 

Growing Up Near The English Channel, Flinders Witnessed Ships Arrive And Depart From The Napoleonic Wars And America, And Enjoyed Stories Told By Cousin John Franklin, A Royal Navy Midshipman. Flinder's  Later Explanation Was "Induced To Go To Sea Against The Awuahes  Of Frends From Reading Robinson Cruesoe."

On The  Advice Of His Cousin, Flinder's Studied Geometry, Trigonometry & Navigation To Improve His Pospects For Promotion In The Navy. franklin Also Had Him Illegally Recruited As An Officer's Servant On The HMAS Alert, Then In The West Indies, In October 1789, Although Finder's Did not Board A Ship Until May 1790. 

He Sailed On The HMAS Scipio As A MidShipMan Under a the Command Of A Family Acquaintance Thomas Pasley, Soon Moving With Pasley As An Able Bodied Seaman Patrolling Seas Around England K. HMAS Bellerophon.

The Centennial Park Eel

The Centennial Park Eel 

THE CENTENNIAL PARK EEL

In the Ponds Of Centennial Park Lives The Eastern (???? ) Eel. And To The Normal Park Goer They Look Like An Ugly Animal Swimming Around In The Murky Waters Of The Parklands. 

But The Centennial Park Eels Hold A Remarkable Story For Those In The Know. 

Male Eels Mature Around 10- 30 years and Female Eels Mature Around 8 Years. When They Reach Adult Stage & Feel The Need Spawn & AmazingThing Happens.

The eels Hop From Pond To Pond and then crawl Through a drain Underneath Alison Road and into Randwick Racecourse. They then follow the Natural Watercourse Through To The Moore Park Golf Course and then Follow it Through To Botany Bay Coming Out Where The Third Sydney Runway Comes Out at Kingsford Smith Airport.  

While Making This Journey some Amazing Changes Happen To Their Bodies...... 

- their Dorsal Fin Becomes bigger  So They Are Able To Swim Better In Ocean Currents. 

- their  stomach shrinks

- Their Eyes Also Change SizeThat They Can See In The Seawater

- their anus Restricts and Any Orifice To Reduce Water Loss

- Their Gills 

 From Freshwater To Saltwater. They Can Also Out In Fresh Air, And If There Is No Watercourse For Them To Make It To Botany Bay They Can travel Across Land for short distances. 

The Eels Then Make A 3,500 Mile Journey through The Ocean To Somewhere Near New Caledonia, where They Spawn Their Young & Die. 

These Young Eels Then Male Their Way The 3,500 Miles Back To Centennial Park Where They Live In The Ponds Until They Mature