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The Dictionary of Sydney
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Brick from the first Government House, Sydney, ...

Brick from the first Government House, Sydney, made in 1788

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Mitchell LIbrary)

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Bricks The first Government House: building on Phillip’s ‘good foundation’

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Building Construction Public building

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First Government House

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State Library of New South Wales

Bricks

Sydney is unusual in the extent to which the urban landscape has been profoundly influenced by the basic, yet ancient, building material of bricks. Bricks made by the first convict brickmaker were used in the public buildings of the new colony, and the presence of brickyards influenced a succession of localities, from the inner city to the outer suburbs.

The first Government House: building on Phillip’s ‘good foundation’

The first Government House was not a simple singular structure but a complex with a yard, outbuildings, guardhouse, garden and greater domain. It was a home, an office and a venue for public and private entertaining, but also a symbol of British authority, with all that that meant to different people, both then and now.

Building

Public building

Construction

First Government House

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Residence for the first nine Governors of NSW, which was the first major building in the colony. The first permanent building in the colony, it had two storeys built of bricks and stone comprising six rooms, two cellars and a rear staircase. In front of the house was a garden where many imported plant species were grown and the first orchard planted. The Museum of Sydney, on the corner of Bridge and Phillip Streets, was built on its site.