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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
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Macquarie Street, from 'Handbook to the City of...

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Macquarie Street, from 'Handbook to the City of Sydney' 1879

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National Library of Australia

[JAFp BIBLIO F11540]

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Bridge Street Macquarie Street Royal Botanic Gardens

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Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room Hyde Park Barracks Old St James parsonage Parliament House The Mint Treasury Buildings

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International Exhibition 1879

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Macquarie Street

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Street at the eastern edge of Sydney's central business district that extends from Circular Quay to Hyde Park, designed as a ceremonial thoroughfare by Lachlan Macquarie and containing many of Sydney's public buildings. It was first gazetted in October 1810 and described as 'The easternmost street in the town, and extending in a southerly direction from the Government Domain to Hyde Park'. It was later the best address in the colony, and became a prestigious medical precinct in the twentieth century.

Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room

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Building on the corner of Bent and Macquarie Streets constructed in 1845 to house the Australian Subscription Library. The subscription library ran into financial difficulties and was taken over by the state government to became the Sydney Free Public Library in 1869. An addition to the building was made in the 1880s as the collection and number of readers grew. In 1895 the name changed again to the Public Library of New South Wales. The Public Library collection and staff moved to the new extension of the Mitchell Library building in June 1942. The building on Bent Street was demolished in 1969.

Old St James parsonage

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Two storey stone house built in about 1819 on land at the corner of Macquarie and King Streets, now the corner of Macquarie Street and Queens Square and the site of the Law Courts building. The site had been owned by former convict Thomas Clarkson, and the house may have been built by him before the land passed D'arcy Wentworth in about 1819. Possibly occupied by Wentworth for a short period before being leased, and subsequently purchased, by the government in 1820 to be used as the residence for the Surveyor General, John Oxley. King George IV's monogram G.R. was carved in stone over the entrance. The land was acquired by St James Anglican church in 1838 and was used as a parsonage until it fell into disrepair in the late 1880s and was demolished in 1889. The site was then leased by the church to raise funds for its maintenance and St James Chambers was built.

The Australian Museum was also briefly accommodated in a room in the parsonage for a period in the early 1840s.

Sydney Hospital

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Hospital founded by Lachlan Macquarie and housed in a number of buildings in Macquarie Street.

Parliament House

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Building housing the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, built as the northern wing of Sydney Hospital, and much added to over nearly 200 years.

Royal Botanic Gardens

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Harbourside gardens that combine scientific research with recreation for Sydneysiders.

The Mint

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Building on Macquarie Street, originally part of Sydney Hospital and subsequently used as a mint.

Hyde Park Barracks

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Georgian brick building at the southern end of Macquarie Street. Designed by colonial architect Francis Greenway to house male convicts, it subsequently became an immigration depot, government asylum, law courts and museum.

Moore Steps

Stairs constructed at East Circular Quay to service the adjacent wool stores. The bas reliefs of two faces in the pedestals at the foot of the stairs were carved at some time between 1973 and 1978 by sculptor Saul Munro. His son Thorin has said that his father told him he had carved the faces at night, and when approached by police or security, he would (untruthfully) tell them he had received a commission to do them but had a day job as well.

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Bridge Street

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Street in the centre of the city that runs from Macquarie to George Streets that was named for the bridge across the Tank Stream. The town was both physically and socially divided by the stream. On the eastern side was the Governor's house and tents of the civil establishment and to the west, the makeshift barracks of the military and convicts. The timber log bridge built in October 1788 was replaced by a stone bridge in 1803.

International Exhibition 1879

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Exhibition of world industries and arts held in the Garden Palace built in the Domain. A million people attended over seven months.

Colonial Secretary's Office

Office of secretary to the Governor responsible for record keeping of all aspects of administration in the infant colony.

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Treasury Buildings

Sandstone office blocks in the Italian Palazzo style built on the site of the first Government House garden. It was occupied by a series of government departments before the conversion to an hotel in 1985.

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