SYDNEY AREA BY AREA - Sydney - page 106

The Mint w
10 Macquarie St. Map 1 C5.
Tel [phone]. @ Sydney Explorer,
Elizabeth St routes. # 9am-5pm
Mon-Fri. ¢ Good Fri, 25 Dec.
- 6 7 ground floor only
www .hht.net.au/museums

no longer competitive with
the Melbourne and Perth
Mints. The Georgian building
went into its own decline
after it was converted into
government offices. In the
1950s, the front courtyard was
even used as a car park. In
1982, it opened as a branch
of the Powerhouse Museum
(see pp100-101) , but the
collection moved to the main
museum in Harris Street.
This building is now the
head office of the Historic
Houses Trust of NSW and you
can wander through the front
of the building, or view the
small historical display near
the entrance.

The gold rushes of the mid-
19th century transformed
colonial Australia. The Sydney
Mint opened in the 1816 Rum
Hospital's south wing in 1854
to turn recently discovered
gold into bullion and currency.
It was the first branch of the
Royal Mint to be established
outside London. The Mint
was closed in 1927 as it was

Replica convict hammocks on the
third floor of Hyde Park Barracks

FRANCIS GREENWAY, CONVICT ARCHITECT
Until recently, Australian $10 notes bore
the portrait of the early colonial architect
Francis Greenway, the only currency in
the world to pay tribute to a convicted
forger. Greenway was transported to
Sydney in 1814 to serve 14 years for
his crime. Under the patronage of
Governor Macquarie, who appointed him
Civil Architect in 1816, Greenway
designed more than 40 buildings,
of which only 11 remain today.
He received a full pardon in 1819,
but soon fell out of favour as he
persisted in charging large fees
while still on a government salary.
Greenway died in poverty in 1837.

Hyde Park Barracks
Museum e
Queens Square, Macquarie St. Map
1 C5. Tel [phone]. St James,

Martin Place. # 9:30am-5pm daily.

¢ Good Fri, 25 Dec. & 6 - 7

level one only. on request.

www .hht.net.au/museums

8

Described by Governor
Macquarie as “spacious” and
“well-aired”, the beautifully
proportioned barracks are the
work of Francis Greenway and
are considered his masterpiece.
They were completed in 1819

Francis Greenway
(1777-1837)

MACQUARIE STREET
Fine examples of Francis Greenway's Georgian
style are within an easy walk of one another at
the Hyde Park end of Macquarie Street. The
brick and sandstone of Hyde Park Barracks, St
James Church and the Old Supreme Court
Building form a harmonious group on the site
the governor envisaged as the city's civic centre.

The Mint ,
like its twin, Parliament
House, has an unusual
double-colonnaded,
two-storeyed veranda.

The roof of The Mint
has now been com-
pletely restored to
replicate the original
wooden shingles in
casuarina (she-oak).

The stone wall,
of Hyde Park Barracks' north-
west pavilion still bears the
marks of the convicts' chisels.

Hyde Park
Barracks Café

THE MINT (1816)