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The Dictionary of Sydney
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First government house 1797

First government house 1797

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National Library of Australia

[PIC Solander Box A28 #R286 (detail)]

(Detail of 'Eastern view of Sydney' )

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

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Colonial architecture

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First Government House

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Dayes, Edward

National Library of Australia

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.

Colonial architecture

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.