The Rocks is the historic neighbourhood on the western side of Sydney Cove. It was named The Rocks by convicts who made homes there from 1788 but has a much older name, Tallawoladah, given by the first owners of this country, the Cadigal people. One of the interesting things about The Rocks is the name. It is very evocative of the place - if you've ever tried to walk across or around through The Rocks - you might even have gone through the Argyle Cut - it's all about the topography. Tallawoladah, the rocky headland of Warrane (Sydney Cove), had massive outcrops of rugged sandstone and was covered with a forest of pink-trunked angophora, blackbutt, red bloodwood and Sydney peppermint. Archaeological evidence shows that the Cadigal lit cooking fires high on the slopes and shared meals of barbecued fish and shellfish. Perhaps they used the highest places for ceremonies and rituals. Down below, Cadigal women fished the waters of Warrane in bark canoes. After the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Tallawoladah became the convict side of the town. While the Governor and civil personnel lived on the more orderly eastern slopes of the Tank Stream, convict women and men appropriated land on the west. Over the nineteenth century, the area was home to people of widely divergent classes  – from the rich in their impressive houses on the ridges, through ship captains and shopkeepers, to labourers and the drifting poor. But after the 1870s, this profile began to change as the wealthy increasingly abandoned city neighbourhoods for homes in the new suburbs. As a place, The Rocks and Millers Point embody and reflect the history of Sydney's development as a city and the many pressures placed on communities by urban development. The Rocks has undergone many social and physical upheavals: gangs and 'pushes', the plague and resumption and more recently, redevelopment for high rise (which resulted in the green bans), and gentrification. The battle for the Rocks and Millers Point is on again with the latest sell off of public housing at Millers Point. While we all think we know the story of the Rocks and its physical embodiment of our convict past, the archaeological record has been rewriting the history of the Rocks. Archaeological digs at The Rocks have allowed a rare window into the living conditions of the people who lived there – coal lumpers, sailors, dressmakers, housewives, small shopkeepers, labourers, tradesmen and tradeswomen, and lots of children. Archaeologists have recovered tea sets and dinner sets, silver-plated cutlery, washbasins and ewers, jewellery and watch pieces, buttons, beads and buckles, children's toys, figurines and thousands of other things. Together they speak not of a filthy slum but of people who were of modest means, or poor, striving under often difficult circumstances for domestic comfort, a measure of cleanliness, personal care and appearance and the education and care of children. We all see the city with different eyes and we all experience it in different ways. There is a remarkable opportunity to rediscover the Rocks and Millers Point with an immersive video soundscape called The City of Forking Paths, which takes you on a journey through someone else's experience of the Rocks. It's an artwork in the Biennale by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller that has been acquired by the City of Sydney Council so you will be able to experience this piece beyond June. The City of Forking Paths will be permanently available through Customs House Library. The artwork is an unusual experiential piece where you become immersed in the video on the iPod Touch as you are guided around the laneways and byways of The Rocks, Dawes Point and Millers Point. Janet Cardiff experienced The Rocks at the same time of day but encountered different people. The soundscape is particularly effective. You take it in the evening, at dusk , and the combination of the light and video opens your eyes to the textures and heritage details to be found in this early part of Sydney. Call into Customs House at Circular Quay one evening and experience the sound and sights of the city in a new way. It's a free event and I highly recommend it. You can catch up on Lisa's segment with Mitch this morning here.