The Dictionary of Sydney
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Water police

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Water police

Subject

Water Rats

Dead House, Circular Quay

Justice and Police Museum building

Water Police Court

Water Police Station

Water Police

Bowden, Frederick Leopold

No You Don't! Water police repel American sailors attempting to break into Biloela 1871

Water Police Court and Phillip Street police station

Water Police Court, Phillip Street, Sydney, 1870

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Water police

Water Rats

Television drama filmed and set on Goat Island 1995-2001

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Dead House, Circular Quay

Also known as the North Sydney Morgue, the Dead House at Circular Quay was a morgue and coroner's court on George Street North near Cadman's Cottage and the Waterman's Stairs in the Rocks. The first formalised coroner’s court and morgue in Sydney, it was suggested by Sydney City Coroner John Ryan Brenan in 1853, on land being used by the Water Police. Designed by Colonial Architect William Weaver and built by Thomas Coghlan it opened for use in 1855. The courtroom could hold two bodies, with other cadavers laid on the floor. The stench from the decomposing bodies at the North Sydney Morgue often forced coroner’s inquests out of the building and into nearby taverns at The Rocks.

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Justice and Police Museum building

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Building on the corner of Phillip and Albert streets at Circular Quay comprising two 19th century courthouses and a former police station. Originally built in the 1850s to house the Water Police Court and Water Police Station, the complex has variously been used by several branches of the police service before conversion in the 1980s to the Police and Justice Museum, operated by Sydney Living Museums.

Water Police Court

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Courthouse on Phillip Street designed by Colonial Architect Edmund Blacket in 1856 for hearing cases brought by the Water Police. A police station was built next door in 1857, and another court building added to the complex in 1886. In 1990 the buildings were adapted for use as the Police and Justice Museum.

Water Police Station

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Described as a 'very useful building' when it opened in Feburary 1858, the ground floor consisted of a guard room on one side and an office on the other with cells for the prisoners at the read. On the first floor there was a barrack room and three rooms for the inspectors. The water police occupied the building until 1913 when a new headquarters was built at Dawes Point and it became known as Philip Street Police Station. In 1990 it became part of the Police and Justice Museum managed by Sydney Living Museums.

Water Police

Established by legislation in 1840 it has retained the original objective of the 'Row Boat Guard' of 1789 of the prevention of smuggling, to which had been added the protection of wharf cargoes, pleasure craft, and effecting rescue operations, not only in the waters of Port Jackson, but along the entire coastline.

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