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Detail of plan of the Rocks showing the morgue, the Sailors Home and the Mariner's Church on north George Street 1880

By
H Percy Dove
Contributed By
City of Sydney Archives
[Plans of Sydney (Doves), 1880: Map 16 - Blocks 38, 39, 40 (01/01/1880 - 31/12/1880), [A-00880115] (detail)]
(CSA058395)

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Dove, H Percy

City of Sydney Archives

Maps

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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Sailors' Home

Four storey residential and office building currently used as a restaurant and gallery complex.

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Circular Quay

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Quay built between 1837 and 1855 and originally known as Semi-circular Quay, because of the shape of the stoneworks built with convict labour to stabilise the new shoreline reclaimed from mudflats.

Mariners' Church

Church constructed in two periods, Victorian and Federation, to administer to the welfare of seamen. Modified several times, it is now a commercial display space.

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The Rocks

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Suburb located north of the central business district on the western shore of Sydney Cove. Characterised by a precinct of restored nineteenth-century buildings which are a major tourist attraction, it was recognised as a separate suburb in 1993.