Sydney early settlement

Sydney Cove area

1789 -1799 (1st decade)

Sydney Cove, Port Jackson: the position of the encampment & buildings as they stood March 1788 surveyed by Capt. Hunter (State Library NSW)

1788:Map of Sydney Cove and Convict Ships of the First Fleet.

Detail of map of the settlement at Sydney Cove Port Jackson April 1788 (3mths after landing)

Bricks made by convicts c1789

Sydney Cove 1788

Built in 1788, First Government House was the first major building to be constructed on the Australian mainland.

Pictured right: First Government House foundation plate. Laid by Governor Arthur Phillip 1788, uncovered by Robert McCann telegraph line worker 1899. Sydney Living Museums collection. https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/first_government_house

West view of Sydney Cove taken from the Rocks, at the rear of the General Hospital 1789

House built for Woollarawarre Bennelong by Governor Phillip on Bennelong Point 1789

Governor's House at Sydney, Port Jackson drawn around 1791 by William Bradley's and included in drawings from his journal `A Voyage to New South Wales', 1802+. State Library of NSW

View in Port Jackson 1789

Aboriginal people, British soldier and others in picture 'Governor's House, Port Jackson' 1791

Portrait of Bennelong


North-West View taken from the Rocks above Sydney in New-South-Wales, for John White, Esqr 1793-95

Brickfield Hill and village c1797 (located between current location of Town Hall and Central Station)

The first government windmill 1797. The colony's first windmill, built on Observatory Hill between May 1796 and February 1797 from parts brought to Sydney by Governor Hunter in 1795. It quickly fell into disrepair and by 1810 only the stone tower remained. History: Windmills of Sydney

A direct north general view of Sydney Cove 1794

View of Sydney Cove 1794-96

The Brickfield Hill or High road to Parramatta, August 11, 1796

Captain Waterhouse's house, Sidney [sic], the Vineyard, about 1798

‘North view of Sydney Cove’, taken from the flagstaff opposite the observatory by a Port Jackson painter, circa 1793–1795

1800 - 1809

Sydney - Capital New South Wales c1800

Map showing Sydney Cove in the Early 1800s.

View of Sydney Cove, NSW, from an original picture in the possession of Isaac Clementson Esqr. Edward Dayes, 1802

Sydney Port Jackson, New South Wales, taken from the Rocks on the western side of the Cove, c 1803

Walloomoolloo, 1803, by John Bolger.Image courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW

St Phillips Church, Sydney. c1809

A view of Sydney Cove. Artist unknown probably copied by Watling. C1793. The hospital complex from the south showing the gardens and other buildings. The long ones at the rear may be the orderlies barracks.

Sydney c1804

First Government House, Sydney by John Eyre, c1807. State Library of NSW. More information on the building... https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/firm-foundations

https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/first_government_house

Government_House_Sydney_1809

SYDNEY, FROM ST. PHILLIP'S CHURCH IN 1813.

http://www.oldgeorgestreet.com/Grosvenor-Street.html

1810 - 1821 Governor Macquarie

View of Part of Sydney, taken from Dawes's Point. Published Nov. 30th. 1812

1810 - Macquaries Wall, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

St Phillips Church, Sydney. c1817

View of Ultimo, near Sydney, in New South Wales. Published Feb. 1st - 1813

Ultimo House was one of Sydney's grand residences. Built for surgeon John Harris in 1804 using convict labour, the stately two-storey country residence stood on a rise overlooking Blackwattle Creek and Cockle Bay, close to the Parramatta road.

Cadman's Cottage was built in 1816 is the oldest surviving residential building in Sydney and originally stood on a rocky shore with a small sandy beach. Picture: Pip Blackwood.

An undated photo of Cadman's Cottage, the oldest remaining dwelling in Sydney, before its restoration. Picture: Tim Collis-Bird.

Botanic Gardens c1816 Library of NSW collection.

View of Sidney [i.e. Sydney] in New South Wales. / (Taken from Bell-mount) / Published 12th. April, 1814

Detail from 'Sydney in All Its Glory', a view of Sydney Cove from Dawes Point, c1817

Sydney Cove from Dawes point ca 1817-1818

An unknown artist's painting of Sydney Convict Barracks, later Hyde Park Barracks, circa 1820. Picture: State Library of NSW

In 1817 Macquarie ordered the construction of a barracks to control male convicts in the heart of the NSW colony.

https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/hyde_park_barracks

St James Church in Hyde Park from the book “The Australian Colonial House: Architecture And Society In NSW 1788-1842” by James Broadbent. Picture: Supplied. Convict labourers worked on the church from 1820 to 1824.



1820 J W Lewin Antique Print Early View of Sydney Covehttps://www.classicalimages.com/products/1820-j-w-lewin-antique-print-early-view-of-sydney-cove

GEORGE STREET, LOOKING NORTH PROM GROSVENOR STREET, IN DECEMBER, 1826.

On the left is the main guard-house. The white wall further down the street is the front wall of the gaol on the corner of Essex street. The buildings on the right stand on the giant of James Underwood, and were known as "Underwood's buildings."http://www.oldgeorgestreet.com/images/George-Street-1826.gif

Known as the Rum Hospital, work began in 1811 and the three wings were completed in 1816.This 1850s sketch shows The Rum Hospital ... officially called the Sydney Infirmary it was later known as the Sydney Hospital. Pictured is the original centre wing (later demolished) along with the north wing, now State Parliament, and the south wing, now the Sydney Mint building. Picture: Sydney Hospital.

The Macquarie Place obelisk, Government House and windmills in the Domain c1821

Macquarie Place obelisk: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/structure/macquarie_place_obelisk#ref-uuid=4e77d289-6d70-cdf2-07a9-e7b8cb28e8cf

Macquarie Place Obelisk Built 1818

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/sydneys-history/people-and-places/park-histories/macquarie-place-park

Artist Major James Taylor's painting “Panoramic Views of Port Jackson” circa 1821 offers a 360 degree view of Sydney from Observatory Hill with Millitary Hospital (1815) in foreground. Picture: State Library of Nsw

Gang of convicts working in a quarry around Millers Point c1821 Picture courtesy of NSW State Library

1822 -1840

Vaucluse House Original cottage built by Irish convict Henry Browne Hayes in 1805 and greatly expanded by William Charles Wentworth after he purchased the estate in 1827. It became a large Gothic-style residence surrounded by a nineteenth-century garden and outhouses, and is now a house museum run by the Historic Houses Trust.

Above painted by Conrad Martens [c1841]

Recent photo of Vaucluse House. Courtesy of Sydney Living Museums.


Old Sydney Tank Stream, Picture courtesy of NSW State Library John Skinner Prout c1842