Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Customs House
u
31 Alfred St, Circular Quay.
Map
1 B3.
Tel
9242 8595.
@
Circular Quay
routes.
8am-7pm Mon-Fri,
10am-4pm Sat, noon-4pm Sun.
#
¢
25 Dec, Good Fri.
6
-
0
7
Colonial architect James
Barnet designed this 1885
sandstone Classical Revival
building on the site of an ear-
lier Customs House. It recalls
the days when trading ships
loaded and unloaded their
goods at the quay. Features
include columns in polished
granite, a sculpted coat of
arms and a clock face, added
in 1897, bearing a pair of
tridents and dolphins.
Customs House
reopened in 2005 after
major refurbishment.
Facilities include a
City Library with a
reading room and
exhibition space, and
an open lounge area
with an international
newspaper and maga-
zine salon, internet
access and bar. On the roof,
Café Sydney offers great views.
Strolling along a section of the Writers' Walk at Circular Quay
Sydney Opera
House
r
See pp74-7.
Station, designed by Alexander
Dawson in 1858; and Police
Court designed by
James Barnet in
1885. Here the
rough-and-tumble
underworld of
quayside crime,
from the petty to
the violent, was
dealt swift and, at
times, harsh justice.
The museum exhibits
bear vivid testimony
to that turbulent period, as
they document and re-create
legal and criminal history.
Late-Victorian legal proceed-
ings can be easily imagined in
the fully restored courtroom.
Menacing implements from
knuckledusters to bludgeons
are displayed as the macabre
relics of violent and notorious
crimes. Other aspects of
policing and justice are high-
lighted in regularly changing
exhibitions. The bushranger
exhibit, prison artefacts, and
forensic display powerfully
evoke the realities of the
justice system in Australia.
Writers' Walk
t
Circular Quay.
Map
1 C2.
@
Circular Quay routes.
Detail from
Customs House
This series of plaques is set
in the pavement at regular
intervals between East and
West Circular Quay. It gives the
visitor the chance to ponder
the observations of famous
Australian writers, both past
and present, on their home
country, as well as the musings
of some noted literary visitors.
Each plaque is dedicated to
a particular writer, with a quo-
tation and a brief biographical
note. Australian writers include
novelists Miles Franklin and
Peter Carey, poets Oodgeroo
Noonuccal and Judith Wright,
humorists Barry Humphries
and Clive James, and the influ-
ential feminist writer Germaine
Greer. Among visiting writers
are Charles Darwin, Joseph
Conrad and Mark Twain.
Macquarie Place
i
Map
1 B3.
@
Circular Quay routes.
In 1810, governor Lachlan
Macquarie created this park
on what was once part of the
vegetable garden of the first
Government House. The
sandstone obelisk, designed
by convict architect Francis
Greenway
(see p114),
was
erected in 1818 to mark the
starting point for all roads in
the colony. The gas lamps
recall the fact that this was
also the site of Sydney's first
street lamp, installed in 1826.
Also in this little triangle of
history are the remains of the
bow anchor and cannon from
HMS
Sirius
, flagship of the First
Fleet. There is also a statue of
Thomas Mort, a 19th-century
industrialist whose vast busi-
ness interests embraced gold,
coal and copper mining, dairy
and cotton farming, wool auc-
tioning and ship repair. These
days his statue is a marshalling
place for the city's somewhat
kamikaze bicycle couriers.
Justice and Police
Museum
y
Cnr Albert & Phillip sts.
Map
1 C3.
Tel
9252 1144.
@
Circular Quay
routes.
10am-5pm Sat-Sun (daily
Jan & NSW school hols).
#
¢
Good Fri,
25 Dec.
&
8
6
7
restricted.
The museum's buildings were
originally the Water Police
Court, designed by Edmund
Blacket in 1856; Water Police
Montage of criminal “mug shots”,
Justice and Police Museum
