SYDNEY AREA BY AREA - Sydney - page 59

Mundey, imposed a con-
servation “green ban” on The
Rocks (see p31), temporarily
halting all demolition and
redevelopment work.

Sailors' Home 5
106 George St, The Rocks. Map 1
B2. Tel [phone]. Sydney

Explorer, 339, 340, 431, 432, 433,
434.

@

¢ to the public.

Built in 1864 to provide
cheap lodgings for visiting
seamen, the Sailors' Home is
now used as an art gallery.
The building's original north
wing is Romanesque Revival
in design. The L-shaped wing
that fronts onto George Street
was added in 1926.
At the time it was built,
the Sailors' Home was a
welcome alternative to the
many seedy inns and brothels
in the area, saving sailors
from the perils of “crimping”.
“Crimps” would tempt newly
arrived men into lodgings and
bars providing much-sought-
after entertainment. While
drunk, the sailors would be
sold on to departing ships,
waking miles out at sea and
returning home in debt.
Sailors used the home until
1980, when it was adapted for
use as a puppet theatre. The
house is now home to the
Billich Gallery, a privately
owned art gallery. In the
basement of the building is
the Sailor's Thai restaurant
(see p185) , one of Sydney's
top dining spots.

Old-style Australian products at the corner shop, Susannah Place

history of the The Rocks,
including displays on its
first Aboriginal inhabitants,
the Cadigal people, and
Sydney's maritime history and
traditions in the 18th and
19th centuries.
A unique collection of arch-
aeological artifacts, such as an
illegal alcohol still, and hist-
orical images
dating from the
early
establishment of
the European
colony to the
postwar era helps
visitors explore
the eventful and
colourful history of this
neighbourhood. The displays
are enhanced by interactive
high-tech touch screens and
audiovisual exhibits, bringing
the history of the area alive.

The museum now housed here
examines this working-class
domestic history, evoking the
living conditions of its inhabi-
tants. Rather than re-creating
a single period, the museum
retains the many renovations
made by successive tenants.
Built for Edward and Mary
Riley, who arrived from Ireland
with their niece
Susannah in 1838,
these solid houses
have basement
kitchens and back-
yard outhouses.
Connections to
piped water and
sewerage had
probably arrived by the mid-
1850s. The museum
surveys the houses'
development over the years,
from wood and coal to
gas and electricity, which
enables the visitor to gauge
the gradual lightening of the
burden of domestic labour.
The terrace, including a
corner grocer's shop, escaped
the wholesale demolitions that
occurred after the outbreak
of bubonic plague in 1900,
as well as later clearings of
land to make way for the
Sydney Harbour Bridge and
the Cahill Expressway. In
the 1970s, it was saved once
again when the Builders
Labourers' Federation, under
the leadership of activist Jack

Billy Tea on sale at the
Susannah Place shop

Susannah Place
Museum 4
58-64 Gloucester St, The Rocks. Map
1 B2. Tel [phone]. Circular

Quay, Wynyard. Sydney Explorer,

431, 432, 433, 434.

@

10am-5pm
Sat-Sun, daily in Jan & NSW school
hols.

#

¢ Good Fri, 25 Dec. & 6 8

This 1844 terrace of four
brick and sandstone houses has
a rare history of continuous
domestic occupancy from the
1840s right through to 1990.

Interior of the Sailors' Home,
viewed from an upper level