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SHEARSBY'S WALLPAPER
A famous road cutting site 1 km south of the abandonned Taemas bridge on the old Taemas Road which has long been of concern that over-collecting might destroy it. The "wallpaper" consists of closely packed small brachiopods (Spinella yassensis) exposed on bedding planes of the early Devonian Taemas Limestone. The brachiopods have been easily taken in great numbers from the site by generations of collectors. Most have taken loose ones that lie in the roadway gutters etc., however the ever-present danger has been of destructive removal from the "wallpaper" exposure itself. There is also the danger that the "wallpaper" will fall and disintegrate by natural weathering. "Imperative" preservation measures (weatherproofing, fencing, etc.) have been recommended for decades; current status unknown.
SCHOFIELDS
Townson Road. Bringelly Shale quarry. PGH Industries. Extracted 145,567 tonnes is 1990/91 and reserve was then 4.5 Mt.
SOMERSBY
Northwest of Gosford there is an irregular N-S elongate area of the Somersby Plateau, about 10 km by 20 km, through Narara, via Somersby, Peats Ridge and extending further north, which has extensive reserves of deeply weathered friable Hawkesbury Sandstone. This phenomenon is very similar to what is seen at Newnes Plateau, plus it has areas of ferruginous weathering similar to what is seen developed at likely Tertiary surfaces south of Sydney. Three quarrying operations were early started to extract sand from the weathered sandstone profile - Calga Sands, Calga and Pioneer Pty Ltd (Pioneer Sand Quarry), and Somersby Sands, and additional sites to these may also have commenced extraction in recent times.
ST ALBANS - CENTRAL McDONALD
At St. Albans and Central McDonald on the McDonald River two creek valley enter from the east (Wellums Creek near St. Albans and Wrights Creek near Central McDonald) which have been extensively alluviated, seemingly a feature along much of the McDonald River catchment. A lake, Wellum Lake, also occurs in the final stretch of Wellum Creek. Mining lease applications (MLAs 32-43 of Sydney Division) were lodged over portions of these valley for sand extraction, and reserves of 40 Mt estimated to be present there. Exploratory drilling also found moderate quality peat to be present, beneath several metres of sand and clay and underland by further alluvial sand.
ST IVES
Two pits extracting clay/shale at lenses within the Hawkesbury Sandstone existed north and south of Mona Vale Road near St. Ives Showground. The northern area was a lease to Industrial Brick Co. Ltd. It had a face to 5m high and was on a 2-3m thick shale lens. The southern lease was worked by C.B. Greenwood Pty. Ltd. and the shale there was up to 6m thick. Greenwood produced from the area from at least the 70s and into the 90s (e.g. an amount of 799 tonnes was extracted in 1990/91). Greenwood began crushing the sandstone overburden to manufacture sand from it, for which there was an increasing market.
ST LEONARDS
Frederick Street and Reserve Road - In 1873 E R Lanceley took over the Oswin Brickworks. In 1892 Lanceley formed a partnership with brickmakers John B Magney and O W Weynton, who leased the Gore Hill Brickworks later purchasing them in 1901. The Gore Hill Brickworks, the No 1 Yard, and the Oswin Brickworks, the No 2 Yard, were connected by a tramway to transport bricks. The name changed to the North Sydney Brick and Tile Company, which quickly expanded to cover seventy acres. In 1958 to 1959 the brickworks at Gore Hill closed and the land was subdivided and sold. The North Sydney Brick and Tile Company moved to Baulkham Hills in the late 1950s and closed in 2002.
ST MARYS
St Marys is the type area of the St Marys Formation which comprises Tertiary sediments filling small channels cut into the Wianamatta Group shales. The formation is now preserved at many isolated localities in the valleys of Mulgoa Creek, South Creek and Eastern Creek. The type section is the railway cutting 500m east of St Marys railway station on the Great Western Line. The gravels of the St Marys Formation consist mostly of quartz and angular shale and sandstone fragments (most likely Triassic sediments), but have some interesting components such as occasional silicified wood, and cobbles or boulders of subangular silcrete. Some of these channelways may have been of very protracted existence, spanning episode(s) of lateritisation.. Layers of concentrated or transported rounded ironstone pisolites have been reported in the formation at some localities. Val Smith, who perhaps examined more of this formation than anyone else, was of the opinion that the pisolites in places (including at the type section) had been transported. Further complicating matters is the belief that the formation has also been lateritised subsequent to its deposition. The St Marys Formation could be broadly of the same age as the Rickabys Creek Gravel, but the distinction is that no rock types derived from the rocks beneath or beyond the Sydney Basin (Lachlan Fold Belt) have been found in the St Marys Formation. Further reasoning about the age of the St Marys Formation has been engaged in but in the absence of direct evidence is highly speculative. Some of this reasoning/theory runs thus: oldest (Eocene?) sands of the main river (early Nepean-Hawkebury) is Maroota Sand; the different Rickabys Creek Gravel may be post-Eocene; so too might be the similarly consolidated/ferruginised St Marys Creek Formation, deposited between two periods of duricrust development which Smith suggested may have been in the Oligocene and late Miocene (Smith endeavoured to relate this to falls in sea level). Thus a late Oligocene age is favoured by Smith's mode of reasoning. Subsequent work on relating Sydney geomorphology to sea level change is not known of.
ST PETERS
The St Peters area that was formerly the largest brickmaking site in Australia is centred on a small remnant of a plateau about 20m above sealevel. The remnant area is about one square kilometer in extent. A nearby likely 'outlier' of the same surface is at St Stephens church hillock in Newtown where Tertiary sediment of uncertain but small thickness are present. The weathering profile of the former plateau is about 6m thick and from the relationships at Newtown can be assumed to be of Tertiary age. The profile has hard ferruginous mottling and these is an associated maghemite lag gravel in places. The Ashfield Shale is almost horizontal but estimated to be dipping south at 2 degrees. The St Peters area had various brickpits (now all over-filled and the area converted into undulating open space known as Sydney Park), and various fossils of different ages. About 18 brickyards were in operation by the 1880s (Gemmell, 1986), and up to twenty different pit entities may have existed in the intensely quarried one square kilometer. In all, about 20 Mt was excavated from the area - initially with hand methods, later with blasting and the use of motorised excavators/loaders. The industry ran for more than a hundred years, winding down in the 1980s, with the pits being progressively filled with domestic garbage covered by sand and sandstone waste and finally soil planted into parkland.
Excavation of dugong remains at Shea's Creek. Australian Museum Curator and palaeontologist Robert Etheridge (Junior) stands at centre left in his top hat, with W.S. Dun the Palaeontologist of the government Geological Survey of NSW on his left, And an umbrella in case of rain, 1896.
(Photo: Australian Museum)
Submerged forest and shoreline - An ancient shoreline dated at about 5,700 BP runs along under the eastern side of the Sydney Park area and west of Alexandra Canal. The shoreline originally may have been against the foot of a 10-15m sloping erosional escarpment in weathered Ashfield Shale. This was first exposed by excavation of Alexandra Canal (Sheas Creek) during the 1890s. Findings along this strandline included shell heaps, three peat layers (one containing many stumps and termed a submerged forest), and remains of a dugong apparently cut up by Aborigines, and three stone axe heads. The preserved beds cover the time range of terminal Pleistocene to early Holocene. The old shoreline was further traced out by David Branagan (Branagan, D.F., 1985. The geology of the St Peters brickpit. Unpublished report to Sydney City Council, May 1985. 13pp.). Branagan's report noted it as "shell band" along the southeast side of the Ralford pit, with one sample of wood from there dated at 5,700 BP. The sand that the dated wood sample is from was regarded by Branagan as beach sand. The shell band exposed along the edge of the quarry is similar to the prominent shell bed which Etheridge et al. (1896) were able to trace for 800m in the very nearby Alexandra Canal excavation. That bed was noted it to be at approximately at Low Water Mark along the Canal, or based at -0.75m AHD. Along the quarry edge a shell band was traced for about 300m and Branagan (1985) noted it to be at -1 to -2m AHD. The two shelly layers might not be the same. The quarry edge one appears to be lower and Branagan described the shells as "embedded in a well sorted lenticular quartzose sand". The shell bed ("Upper Shell Bed") that Etheridge et al. (1896) traced for 800m was based at -0.75m and the shells were described as embedded in "sandy clay" rather than well sorted quartzose sand. Nevertheless, Branagan did think that the quarry edge shell band is "almost certainly equivalent to the Upper Shell Bed (Unit (c))" of Etheridge et al. (1896). Branagan reported that along the quarry edge the sand overlying the shell bed is crossbedded towards the base. Similarly, the sand above the Upper Shell Bed exposed in Alexandra Canal was recorded as windblown sand by Etheridge et al. (1896). This plus the rapid rise of bedrock elevation to the west strengthens the impression of an ancient shoreline. The sequence at this shoreline suggests rising sealevel. Some believe it may have kept rising to somewhat above present level. Haworth et al., (2004) review the significance of the St Peters shoreline and also discuss other work from southern New South Wales describing both warm-water marine species (which is what the dugong is) and the evidence of possible higher sea levels of the 'recent' past (last few thousand years).
Alexandra Canal - The Alexandra Canal was hand excavated in the 1890s depression a relief work project for the unemployed. It was promoted as a useful navigation canal but in fact never much used for that purpose and essentially served as only another stormwater drain. During its construction the sequence exposed was logged and documented by Etheridge et al. (1896) and provides important evidence of rising sea level near the end of the Last Glacial period. There was found the bones of a dugong (Dugong dugon) at about -3m AHD, which had apparently been cut up by man (bones well preserved and scarred with deep cuts); three stone axes, and numerous stumps (at about -5m AHD) which the authors (Etheridge, David and Grimshaw) interpreted as the remains of a forest submerged to a little below present sealevel. The described finds were sited along the canal northeast of the Ricketty St (Canal Rd) bridge. The conclusion on the dugong is that it was part eaten by Aborigines when the sealevel was about 1.5m lower than at present. This happened presumably about the time of the 5,700 BP date from wood at the southeastern side of Ralford pit. Researchers at the University of New England later dated the dugong remains more directly (Haworth et al., 2004). The bones gave a conventional 14C age of 5520±70 years BP, which is consistent with three older 14C dates for buried trees of the submerged forest (references in Haworth et al., 2004).
Stone axe heads, Alexandra Canal - Three 'stone tomahawks' were found (Etheridge et al.,1896) at about -2.5m AHD. They may have been deposited in the Australian Museum (to be checked).
Brickpits in Mitchell-Barwon-Campbell-Euston Rd block - This block contained the Bedford, Carrington, Warren, Bakewell, City, Carrington, St Peters and Vulcan brickpits. Kiln and works demolition began at the Bedford company ground in the late 1980s, and bricks at the site were conserved with view to this site being proposed as a museum or memorial to the brick industry of St Peters.
Brickpits between Campbell Rd and Canal Rd - This area eventually became one large pit, know as the Ralford pit, which came to be operated by Austral Brick who ran kilns onsite along the Princes Highway side of the pit.
Lime making - Lime burning was possibly carried on somewhere at St Peters between 1846 and 1886. The Registers of St Peters Church (at Cooks River) record lime burners named Chappelow and Malley at St Peters, and a shell gatherer named Lorsman at St Peters.
STRATHFIELD
Strathfield Council Chambers
Marked tree near council chambers - Royal Australian Historical Society's Journal and Proceedings, Volume VIII, 1923 - supplement on the recollections of C.A. Henderson 'Sydney to Homebush' 1855: "On the Redmire Estate was a leaning tree with native bear tracks upon it. It stood about one hundred yards from the present Strathfield Council Chambers" - This is presumably a reference to an Aboriginal scarred tree bearing markings that the diarist took to be representative of koala tracks. Some believe that trees bearing designs were often meant as burial markers. Enquiries now at the Council Chambers (2008) found nobody who had ever heard of this tree.
Stone axe - From eastern side of Powells Creek, in North Strathfield.
Ethnology collection item E57784 in the Australian Museum. Inscription records "Found in post hole
Homebush Bay, Parramatta River 1927. (Photo: Taken Dec 2003, Aus. Museum; passed on
courtesy of Paul Irish and Tessa Corkill)
This object was first learned of for 'geo-sites' information compiling via something on it, with photo, seen at the Strathfield Libary. It was indicated to be in the Australian Museum but as it began to be tracked down some disparity in the mentions/records on it became apparent.
Mr Paul Irish (then at paul.irish "at" bigpond.au) , consulting archaeologist to an "Aboriginal History & Connections Program" and surveying for sites along the Parramatta River made a file note on it for his project in February 2004. He noted, similar as in the pamphlet seen at the Library, that a casual conversation between Mr David Grant (an official at Homebush Bay Olympics Park area) and Mr Allan Morgan (who had been a former local resident) brought up a mention by Mr Morgan that a stone axe had been found in the rear yard of 18 Conway Avenue, Concord West in the 1950s, immediately adjacent to Powells Creek. The axe was handed to the Australian Museum. This story was told in the pamphlet seen in the Library, which mentioned the axe might have come from a shell midden deposit, and which showed the above photo of it (i.e. E57784). From the pamphlet the reader would think this was the axe Mr Morgan saw but it is not quite that straight forward, as the Museum register information for E57784 does not immediately tally with that perfectly. The Australian Museum apparently holds only one stone axe from the area (which is E57784). So if Mr Morgan says the find was given to the Australian Museum then this indeed ought to be it - one would think. The Museum register entry for E057784 is "Found in posthole, Homebush Bay, Parramatta River 1927". The items was registered in 1955 which would well accord with Mr Morgan's memory of it. However it may have been found before Mr Morgan was born - and there must be a certain amount of heresay or within-family record/memories associated with it ranging over decades before it was donated to the Museum. The Morgan name is not found in the Museum's record of it. If in fact at least two stone axes have been found at Homebush Bay then the whereabouts of the axe stated to have been donated by Allan Morgan may be unknown? Paul Irish (pers. comm.) thought it also seems likely that all records may refer to the same axe, which also may have been in part mis-labelled(?). Paul (unpubl., pers.comm.) also considered that in any case is it significant, as proof that stone axes were in use in the Homebush Bay area - as appears to be suggested by historical evidence known of to Paul.
Registered item E57784 is 28cm (11 inches) long. Museum record is that it was donated in 1955 by Mr Malcolm S. Stanley (not Morgan - a current Morgan home is at 15 Warsaw St, backing onto Powells Creek land at the head of Homebush Bay).
Michael Guilder in 1988 wrote an article "Aboriginal history of Strathfield Municipality" but he clearly didn't know about this axe when he wrote, although it had been in the Australian Museum since 1955. The Morgan family appears to be or have been associated with two streets (Conway Avenue and Warsaw Street) and both of these are in Strathfield Municipality. However, prior to Mr Morgan's revelation which has since been made widely known, and no doubt postdates 1988, there would have been nothing to associate stone axe/s with Strathfield Municipality.
Teh eleven inches long cobble 'axe' E57784 also seems rather reminescent of a find make when Sydney University was being built (recorded by chemist amd geologist-mineralogist Liversidge). Such big axe stones do seem rather cumbersome, and it is a little difficult to imagine such as having been been carried all the way from the Nepean River. For both Sydney University and Homebush bay, local source might have been possible. Unlike the big axe of Sydney Uni, which went missing or was never placed in any collection, the Powells Creek axe is valuable as having been preserved and available for examination.
SUMMER HILL
Fyle's Brickworks. Fyle's Brickworks was located along the western bank of Long Cove Creek between Canterbury Road and the railway viaduct. More precisely it may have been just west of where the N-S goods line now crosses the creek line. All this land was aquired by Mugo Scott Flour Mill. A sketch of the area by H.G. Lloyd in 1864 also shows some open-topped updraught kilns on the western side of the creek at the same place. A pair of two storey semi-attached houses at 41-43 Norton are believed to have been built almost certainly from Fyle's bricks. Fyle's brickworks ceased operating in 1882.
Meads' brickpit. Between 1880 and 1886 Charles and Joseph Mead were listed in the Sands directory as being at the bottom of Grosvenor Crescent near the creek, between the Long Cove viaduct and Parramatta Road. They operated brick pit here, close to the creek (Long Cove Creek). The exact site is not known. An old photo (ca. 1880) of land between the Battle Bridge over Parramatta Road and the viaduct appears to show spoil heaps on the western side of the creek about half way between Parramatta Road and the viaduct (or possibly closer to the viaduct than that). The area was later wild or derelict land (Summer Hill 'wilderness') and is now a reserve. Hearsay is that is that some people used to dig in it for old bottles, and if so the brick pit may have been filled with rubbish, which later proved the source of the old bottle finds(?). The present reserve here was named Cadigal Reserve in 1994. Unknown if any archaeological studies were done. Joseph Mead's cottage still survives, at No. 6 Grosvenor Crescent.
S
URRY HILLS
Goodlet and Riley Streets. Goodlet street, running north or and parallel to Clevland Street, was first known as John Street and then as Marshall Street. The name was altered to Goodlet Street in 1875. The Goodlet and Smith pottery is recorded to have fronted this street. Other references say it was at Riley Street, so it may have stood at the corner of Goodlet and Riley Streets. Just to confuse things there was at one time another Goodlet Street nearby. This ran south from Devonshire Street into the clay pits and this street disappeared when the Devonshire St. public housing scheme was constructed in the 1950s (part of this street also for a time was known as O'Sullivan Street).
Goodlet and Smith pottery at Riley Street, Surry Hills in 1871.
Looks like about twenty men and boys at the works.
(Source: NSW Government Printer)
The Goodlet and Smith pottery and brickworks was built about 1868. Drain and sewerage pipes, and chimney pots were also manufactured here.
The history of the Surry Hills site is not yet known but Goodlet and Smith land ownership must have continued in some form till beyond 1902 when the above photo was taken of No. 106 (shop on left with "Mrs Smith" above window) John Street (later Goodlet Street). The shop is believed to have been a retail outlet for the nearby pottery which was still operating. Belvoir Street was extended east through the pottery site in 1916, so work there likely terminated some time before then. Following the 1950s public housing scheme there the Department of Housing maintained an office called "The Pottery", at 31 Belvoir Street.
Also of note are mentioned in a study about the former Department of Main Roads head office at 309 Castlereagh Street (on western side between Goulburn and Campbell Streets) [Ref: Casey, M., 1999. Local pottery and dairying at the DMR site, Brickfields, Sydney, New South Wales. Australasian Historical Archaeology. 17, pp. 3-37.]. There is reference to an 1814 plan authorised by the Surveyor General Meehan on which 'brickfields' is marked immediately west of Foster Street. A little further to the southeast, between Campbell Street and the western end of Reservoir Street there is also an irregular equant area that was drawn on an 1843 plan (both sides of a former stream) and labelled "Brick Kilns". This is probably between the present Hand Lane and Mary Street. This stream was probably an upper branch of the creek which ran along Hay Street. Historian Christopher Keating has also mentioned brick kilns being on Samuel Forster's lots north of Albion Street, possibly in the 1820s.
S
WANSEA
Mining and exploration. A considerable amount of mining information not yet listed. (Dawes Development Corp. Pty Ltd, 1978-1981, MR04425; Swansea Quarry Operations, MR06155; Burwood Colliery exploration in Newcastle-Swansea area, A266, CR/- 0745,0750,1970,2016,2132,2135,2136, 2137,2138,2139, 2304,2575,2795,3491,3054; John Darling Colliery, exploration in Newcastle-Swansea area, A265, CR/- 0876,0877,1689,1690,1691,1693,2248, 2257,2793,3047,3048; Stockton Borehole Colliery A271/386 areas exploration CR/- 0708,0709,0710, 0878,1687,1688,1775,1852,1931,2655,2708, 2757,2758, 2759,3221,3574,3642,3840,3925; Lambton Colliery A264, CR/- 0721,0753,0754,1642,1789, 1932,2096; Wallarah Colliery A177, CR/- 0927; Wallarah Colliery A340/330 areas exploration CR/- 1922, 2655,2824, 3084,3400,3915; Wallamaine Colliery Holding, A277, CR/- 2310,2311; Chain Valley Colliery A330/340 areas exploration CR/- 1792,2178,2376,2468,2469,2470,2652,2825,3214,3401,3914, Newvale Colliery, A245, CR/- 1069.
Tuff, Swansea Heads. The tuffaceous rocks, Reids Mistake Formation, have been considered as potential zeolite source. (GS 1986/122, 1987/035).
Heavy minerals mining. Some heavy minerals mining has occurred in the Belmont-Swansea area (GS 1963/192).
Breakwater rock. Record of Swansea breakwater rip rap sourcing (GS 1978/028).
Stone women. Two women turned to stone, about nine feet tall, at Swansea Heads bluff. As told to the missionary Lancelot Trelkeld. These are no longer there and were presumably been vandalised. Another (later?) version says they stood guard at the entrance of Lake Macquarie and would turn back to human form to sound the alarm should any threatening sea monsters approach the entrance. The stone women were possibly petrified trees.
SYDNEY
Angel Place - Tank Stream - In 1997, excavations at Angel Place along the margins of the former Tank Stream yielded 54 Aboriginal artefacts from remnant topsoils immediately below the earliest historical levels. The range of artefact types (core reduction, small flakes and heat effected debitage), and raw materials (silcrete, indurated mudstone and chert), suggests the site was originally a continuous complex occupation site along the margins of the stream.
REF: Steele, D and Barton, H., 1998. Angel Place, Sydney. Archaeological Salvage of Site #45-6-2581, Angel Place, Sydney. Report prepared for AMP Investments Pty Ltd.
THE BRICK FIELDS; Brickfield Hill (see also SURRY HILLS re further nearby clay pits) - And the first colonial brickmaking. ( ... Information gathering by Tony Carr and John Byrnes )
Brickmaking was established likely from the very first months of settlement. When the First Fleet reached Sydney Cove in January 1788, the transport vessel Scarborough was carrying 5,000 bricks and 12 wooden moulds for making bricks. This small number of bricks could not have built much of a settlement anywhere, but could have helped build initial small structures or temporary kilns for firing local clay and to establish the industry. This could explain how quickly brickmaking got underway in infant Sydney colony. The colony's Judge-Avocate and Colonial Secretary, David Collins well diarised aspects of the beginnings of the new English colony (This is available as: "An account of the English Colony in New South Wales" http://www.fullbooks.com/An-Account-of-the-English-Colony-in-New2.htm).
By March of that very first year of the English colony, 1788, Collins recorded that: "a gang of convicts was employed, under the direction of a person who understood the business, in making bricks at a spot about a mile from the settlement, at the head of Long Cove ...".
There is another diary record of this, by George Bouchier Worgan who was the surgeon on the Sirius. Worgan's diary from 20 January to 11 July 1788 is preserved. He recorded in his diary on 13 May 1788: “ ... walked out today as far as the brick grounds. It is a pleasant road through the woods about a mile or two from the village, for from the number of little huts and cots that appear now, just above the ground, it has a villatick appearance. I see they have made between 20 and 30 000 bricks and they are employed in digging out a kiln for the burning of them”.
Historical Records of NSW, Series 1, Volume 2 (p. 691 and p. 745) contains other mentions from 1788 "At somewhat less than a league from the camp (Sydney Cove) there is plenty of good clay, and capital brick-kilns are here established and this tho' a scanty village, is, I assure you, a much frequented and pleasant walk" and "His excellency the Governor has set on foot a brick manufactory, which succeeds to his wishes, having already burnt several thousands for his own house". In one of the earliest cases of murder at Sydney, a body was found dumped in one of the clay pits in August 1799 and a trial of blood led back to a nearby house. Early government action against serious wrong-doers included the erection of temporary gallows and the public burning down of houses or hovells. Sites are not clearly identifiable however - but the 'Brickfield Hill' may have been a favoured place for executions, the condemned transported out to there from town, by cart(?). When three attempts to kill one man failed (a Jew, Joseph Samuel), after the rope slipped once and snapped twice, it was taken as a Sign from God and he was let live.
Brickmaking was soon under the instruction of convict James Bloodsworth who was a bricklayer and also had a knowledge of brick-making. He was placed in charge of the construction gang erecting the first brick huts built by May 1788, and in 1791 he was appointed Superintendant of brickmakers and bricklayers in the colony. Bloodsworth may have had overall control with another convict in charge more regularly at the Brickfield, Samuel Wheeler. The Waktin Tench account of Sydney's early years records that Wheeler was "tasked to make 40,000 bricks and tiles monthly, (as many of each sort as may be) having 22 men and two boys to assist him". Another snippet (as yet unsourced and undated) is that the kiln measured 22 feet long and 18 feet high and fired bricks in batches of 24,000; and that a typical convict bricklayer gang consisted or between five and ten men, who were expected to lay 4,500 bricks each week. Often it is suspected that the earliest brickmaking might have been in inconsequential and temporary firing arrangements, just thrown up near wherever the clay was dug, of the bricks fired in dug pits. However if mention of a 22 feet long by 18 feet high construction is correct this does suggest that a more permanent fixed site of operations may have soon developed.
In the early developing years of Sydney town there no doubt developed a number of centres of brickmaking from time to time, called brickfields or bricklands. The main one usually meant when "the" brickfield was referred to was at the southern end of town. It developed as a separated village but before long the growing town and later city of Sydney fully merged, embraced, surrounded and over-built it. The great changes, and the lack of detailed records so far located, means that the brickfield would once have been a very obvious and known place is now uncertain as to just exactly where and what it was. As far as known there has been little or no physical evidence (archaeological) found of it. The addresses of owners and manufactories associated with the brickfield, at least in its latter years, are known of from directories but actual sites like pits and kilns are not known.
Although many, or most, people today may think "Brickfield Hill" is the area between the Town Hall and the 'Haymarket valley' (popularised by the former Anthony Horden's department store which always gave its George Street address there as "Brickfield Hill"). However earliest records indicate not this as Brickfield Hill but rather the rise on the southern side of the Haymarket valley, towards modern 'Central' (e.g. Colonial Secretary's Papers on behalf of the Governor to Reverent Samuel Marsden re the 'consecration of the burial ground at Brickfield Hill'. Reel 6049; 4/1744, pp. 108-109; and also in Government Gazette, 22 January 1820). Likewise an 1831 map also sites 'Brickfield Hill' at George Street, near the later Central station.
By contrast, Gemmell, following Pavlou, regarded Brickfield Hill as being on the northern side of the Haymarket valley. He identified it (Gemmell 1986, p. 4) as having been north of Hay Street and between Castlereagh and Pitt Streets - but that the hill had its top cut off in 1837 and dumped by convict labour in the valley below (this matter is further discussed below).
The principal investigator of this history has been Olga Pavlou. Olga in 1976 completed a thesis "The History of Bricks and Brickmaking in New South Wales from 1788 to 1914", Batchelor of Architecture thesis, University of New South Wales. A lot of what Pavlou compiled is also made available in the 1986 book "And So We Graft from Six to Six" by Warwick Gemmell. The following are some extracts from Pavlou's thesis:
"By the turn of the century, the Sydney settlement was lapping against the brickgrounds which in turn spread outwards when the old clay pits became too deep to be practical. In Maquarie's plan for the settlement, an open space was called for, named Hyde Park, which was to be located adjoining the brickgrounds and so he gazetted the following General Order in October, 1810: The Governor being desirous to prevent any Encroachment from being made on the Park by Brickmakers, and the Acting Surveyor having been directed to mark out for this purpose a Boundary Line, dividing Hyde Park from the Brickfield ... His Excellency commands and directs that none of those persons who have obtained permission to make Bricks, shall in future, on any pretence whatever, presume to cut up any ground for that purpose beyond the Line fixed upon as the Boundary for the Brickfields..." (General Order, Sydney Gazette, Oct 6 1810, p1.). This shows that some form of government licencing of brickmakers was in existence prior to 1810.
Pavlou refers to an 1804 description of the Brickfield village by Peron: "containing over forty houses, and numerous manufactories for tiles, earthenware, crockery as well as bricks". She also mentions an 1822 map by Roe showing "the brickfields to the south of the present Liverpool Street, Hyde Park, and they appear to have extended westwards ...". The brickmaking in that area, south of Hyde Park, is separate to Brickfield hill/village and there is virtually nothing else known about it yet.
Gemmell (1986, p. 4) wrote that the main Sydney brickfield ('Brickfield Hill') remained the focus of the industry until 1841, and he refers to its "closure" in 1841 - "Its closure in 1841 caused considerable dislocation in the brickmaking industry. Evicted brickmakers moved into the adjacent suburbs of Glebe, Newtown, Redfern, Marrickville, Camperdown and Waterloo where good clays and timber for firing the kilns existed". What precise historic events may have Gemmell his impression of a 'closure' of the area, and 'eviction' or brickmakers is unclear.
Was there some distinct governmental decision or action with 'closed' the main brickfield and evicted the area's brickmakers? Or was the decline of this brickfield, giving way to other landuse and general development more an economic thing - due to it being struck by the 1840s depression and never able to recover? Pavlou's thesis, similar as Gemmel, describes a gradual move of the brickmakers out of the Sydney brickfields to the "outer suburbs". However, she noted that in 1845 there were still some brickmakers in the Haymarket. Citing the General Post Office Directory of 1844-5 she wrote that there were 33 brickmakers in Sydney "with a noticeable decline in the number of brickmakers working in the Brickfield Hill area". We are not aware of any directory published between the 1844-5 GPO one and the first Sands directory in 1858 but if any did exist then it should be possible to get a clearer picture of the end of brickmaking at the Brickfields.
Gemmell's statement that evicted brickmakers moved into the adjacent suburbs of "Glebe, Newtown, Redfern, Marrickville, Camperdown and Waterloo" is similar as Pavlou who described the shift as being to "Newtown, Camperdown, Alexandria and St Peters". Rather than a sudden change or eviction, Pavlou gives the impression of shift begin more gradual as she noted that other small companies were already operating at the localities the Sydney Brickfield operators moved to. In this matter she cited this reference: Holden, E. A., 1935. The History of the Brick, Tile and Clay Products Industries in Australia (Extract from the Mangrovite Belting Ltd. Calendar for 1935).
Gemmell's date of 1841 for 'closure' of the Brickfields probably means cessation of government brickmaking there, note of which comes from Pavlou. Pavlou wrote "Eventually, in 1841, the Government ceased operations on the Brickfield Hill which meant that private businesses, also, were forced to remove their works to a new location". If so, a cessation of government brickmaking in 1841 ought to be noted somewhere in government business records(?). Pavlou's words "were forced to remove their works" may be what inspired Gemmell's later word "evicted". It may suggest that the clay pits themselves, wherever they were located, were on government land and private operators only held leasehold or other permissive access rights? Rather than a sudden (?prohibitive) ending of all brickmaking activities there in 1841, as Gemmell's book implies, it seems as if the Government shut up or abandonned its own activity and private brickmakers responded as best they could; but also perhaps that cessation was no more than the result of the market for bricks collapsing in the 1840s depression? The big (construction?) decline may have been in the mid 40s? In Sydney in 1839 there were 26 brickmakers known, 33 by 1844 [not a decline overall but an increase] but only 5 by 1855 [clearly the industry did 'crash' - but exactly when?] (figures from Pavlou and Gemmell).
Southern end of Sydney in 1842, from a book about the Devonshire Street cemetery. The
book version was copied by A.E. Stephen in October 1943 from an 1842 map
by P. L. Bemi, Surveyor. (.. via Tony Carr)
A number of references have been consulted for historical clues to the Brickfields, including a compilation of old maps by Aston and Waterson (2000). Further enquiry, to Sydney Council in 2007 in search of any listing of archaeological studies, revealed that "the most recent archaeological on Brickfield Hill" was done in 2005 in connection with a site in Cunningham Street, directed by Justin McCarthy of Austral Archaeology. Cunningham is an irregularly shaped street between Goulburn and Campbell Streets, west of the old DMR site which was formerly thought to perhaps be on the brick yards. This work has not yet been consulted.
THE CARTERS BARRACKS' CONNECTION
An interesting connection to brickmaking is in the Sydney City Archives (Item 26/9/148, Container 43482) which is a letter from a C. Simmons to Council, explaining the samples ("specimens") of bricks he had left for consideration no doubt of possible purchase by the Council. They are stated to have been made at the south end of Sydney and were "from the premises of Captain & Mrs Cleary at Carters Barracks. It would seem that Mr Simmons was hoping to be able to produce and sell more bricks from there(?). Alternatively these might have been some sort of old stock still at the Barracks area(?). It may mean there were still clay pits open there as late as 1854 or else that there was some stockyard there(?). Is it possible that Simmons was only trying to dispose of old stock or even of recycled bricks(?). The archive item has not yet been perused, only the reference noted.
The Carters' Barracks precinct was located fronting along present day Pitt St., extending south from the present corner with Eddy Avenue. The barracks were constructed circa 1819 to house convict gangs working on the brick fields as carters and brickmakers. They accomodated about 180 male convicts working as carters. Their working horses, bullocks and carts were all housed here. The Carters' Barracks were constructed according to plans devised by the overseer of the bricklayers, Francis Lawliss.
Carters’ Barracks is included in a despatch by Macquarie dated 27 July 1822, HRA, Series 1, vol.X, p.686 [Not seen].
On Friday 29 July 1825, Hyacinthe de Bougainville, commander of the French frigate Thetis, visited the Tread-Mill (which we know was located at Carters' Barracks) and then went on to view what would have been probably the 'Government' pottery leased by Moreton. He recorded in his diary: "Upon leaving the Tread-Mill, we went to visit a new pottery; the whole workforce is made up of members of one family, the father and two or three of his children. The father had previously worked for a considerable amount of time in the workshop of one of the most famous artists in London and seemed most skilful and most experienced to me. .... He employs two types of clay which are very fine and which are in his view most attractive, and I would tend to agree with him; one of them is grey and the other reddish and most common. The grey clay is dug out near his workshop. His products are a little dear." A published account is similar: "...we went to visit a new pottery near Sydney set up by the former apprentice of a skilful London potter. In only a few minutes he had designed and turned several vases decorated with fine embossed figures and which were then fired. He brought them to me the next day, and I did not haggle over the price which anywhere else but here would have seemed excessive."
This area became know as the Brickfields establishment or government base, and training centre for about 100 convict boys was also set up there in a separate building, complete with a treadmill to 'assist in the boys training'. (Gorton, Kerin Joy, 2002. Carters' Barracks and Point Puer: the confinement experience of convict boys in Colonial Australia, 1820-1850. University of Newcastle, School of Liberal Arts, Ph.D. thesis. 346 pp.)
One 1839 description reads: " The Carters' Barracks - This building is situated on a rising eminence at the extremity of the old Brickfields, and commands a picturesque view of the town. It was erected in Gov. Macquarie's time, for the accommodation of the convicts carters, brickmakers. &c.; a portion of it, however, has of late been converted into a Debtor's prison - it has recently been partially destroyed by fire. Adjoining this building is the tread-mill - a very useful piece of machinery for the purpose of correcting the tarnished morals of Botany Bay" (Picture of Sydney and Strangers' Guide in N.S.W. for 1839).
Carter's Barracks later housed a womens' refuge. In 1857 Archbishop John Bede Polding (a Benedictine monk from Downside Abbey in England) gathered together five women and formed a new religious congregation named the congregation the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict. The Sisters were allowed to begin at the Carters' Barracks, by then considered an old and little wanted building. To fund their existence and work they commenced there an institutional or industrial laundry.
This was the first religious institute of women in Australia. Until 1866 the sisters were called Good Shepherd Sisters but the title was changed to avoid confusion with an older Order of the same name. The Catholic Church obtained permission to use the building in 1848 and it was first staffed by the Irish Sisters of Charity before the 1857 creation of a new religious own foundation. The first five sisters of the new insitution were one English and four Irish.
Their womens' refuge shifted from there to St Magdalene's Retreat at Tempe House, Tempe, in 1887. They closed shop (as an institutional laundry) at Tempe almost 100 years later in 1983 [present site of high rise residential development named "Discovery Point"]. Even after the move to Tempe the Church still retained Carters' Barracks until 1901 when plans for the building of Central Railway Station were finalised and the Sisters were given notice to leave as the buildings were to be demolished. (Good Samaritan Sisters moved from there to Toxteth House, 2 Avenue Road, Glebe Point).
The area of the Burial Grounds and Carters' Barracks - now overlain by Sydney's Central Railway Station.
The Devonshire St.cemetery was consecrated on 27 January 1820 by the Rev. Samuel Marsden. It was also know as the 'Sandhills' cemetery - an indication perhaps of how far sand from Botany Bay and the coast had blown inland. About 5,000 memorials were erected here before the cemetery was destroyed in order to build the Central Railway. As shown above, each religious denomination had its own area of the cemetery (no Anglican or Church of England is shown, and would here be denoted as the "Episcopal" section). The fee for a grave digger in 1820 was 2/6d. The cemetery was presumably established on virgin gound whence that area can be ruled out as having been where the claypits were.
It is likewise assumed that the top of the hill where the Town Hall now stands, may not have been used for clay extraction because it was in early use as a burial ground. Burials had been taking place there from at least 1792 and by 1812 the cemetery covered just over 2 acres. It was when this site was considered full (in 1820 - last burials 1822) that the second 'Sandhills' or Devonshire site was selected (e.g. Colonial Secretary's Papers - To Revd. Samuel Marsden re the consecration of the burial ground at Brickfield Hill. Reel 6049; 4/1744, pp. 108-109; and Government Gazette 22 January 1820). In the Government Gazette of 22 January 1820 the Governor declared the old burial ground closed and "a new burial ground was set aside on Brickfield Hill". An 1831 map also sites 'Brickfield Hill' at George Street near Central.
Note on the above (1842) map that the residence of Captn Innes is shown.
Note also that across the road from it was "St Lawrence New Church" (a.k.a. Christ Church).
"John McLerie, Superintendent and Inspector General of Police" had his funeral at Christ Church in 1874, was presided over by Bishop Frederic Barker. This recorded at the Christ Church St Laurence web site:
http://www.ccsl.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=286&Itemid=179
It seems that Captain and Mrs Cleary later lived in the Captn Innes house. This was known as the "Police Superintendent's residence". It stood on Pitt Street, across the road from Christ Church, from at least 1842 (if not earlier) and from that date was first occupied by the Chief Commissioner of Police, Major Joseph Long Innes (and his wife Elizabeth Anne Reiby the daughter of Mary Reiby). It was then home to Captain John McLerie, Superintendent of Police from 1850 and Inspector General of Police from 1856. McLerie was succeeded by Edmund Fosbery in 1874 who occupied the house until its demolition to make way for Central Railway Station. Both McLerie and Innes were parishioners of Christ Church.
The reference to "Captain & Mrs Cleary" premises in 1852 could also mean anywhere in the house grounds perhaps? It would not mean bricks from demolition of that house as it was not demolished till much later.
OLD ULTIMO QUARRYMAN ROBBED BY THREE BUSHRANGERS;
WHICH ROGUES THEN KILLED PROMINENT CITIZEN DR ROBERT WARDELL.
MURDERER AND VICTIM HEADS WERE CAST AT BRICKFIELD HILL POTTERY.
According to a murder trial extensively covered in the press at the time three convict absconders at bush in 1834 (bushrangers) thus fell in together and during their time together roaming the bush between Parramatta and Cook's river for a short period they committed robberies and also shot and killed Dr Robert Wardell.
Dr Wardell was a prominent and wealthy citizen of the times (founder and editor of the 'free press' called the "Australian" newspaper). He was owner of the large "Petersham" estate west of Sydney town, which estate extended between Parramatta Road and the Cook's River in the south.
After some time at large the bushrangers were apprehended. One turned 'Approver' or testifier for the prosecution in return for his life being spared, and the other two young men were trialled and hung. One was by all accounts the killer who pulled the musket trigger; the other man hanged with him was a much milder man, deemed gullible and easily lead, but under the law he too had to hang as an accomplice present at the murder.
It is recorded that the heads of the killer and Dr Wardell were cast by the potter at Brickfield Hill and good likenesses of both men thereby preserved. What became of these three dimensional replicas of the mens' appearances, of what the casts were wanted for, is now not known.
The murder trial is R. v. Jenkins and Tattersdale (Supreme Court of New South Wales; Forbes C.J., Dowling and Burton J.J., 20 September 1834.
Early in the afternoon of Sunday, 7 September 1834, astride his hack, Dr Wardell left his Petersham cottage to inspect his estate. Near the Cook's River boundary at a small humpy, he spotted three strangers who, he suspected, correctly as it transpired, were convicts unlawfully at large. After a few inflamed exchanges, John Jenkins, the leader of them, shot him. His body was found next day. The three men were arrested about a week later. The youngest of them turned approver and the other two were executed.
The Sydney Gazette gave a long report of the murder case; as did the Sydney Herald (10 November 1834) and other reporters:
The Crown witness or 'approver' (Emanuel Brace. - 'I am eighteen years of age; I am a prisoner of the Crown') testified against Jenkins, relating how they, lead by Jenkins, had earlier robbed an old quarryman near Ultimo and later shot Dr Wardell, etc.
They were aware they could get some money and clothes off an old quarryman at the back of Mr. Turner's home, which was nearly opposite the Cooper's Distillery on the Ultimo side of the road [other contemporary records mention Cooper's Distillery as being on Parramatta-street towards the Black Wattle swamp)]. They proceeded to go and rob the old quarryman of various items (clothing, tea, sugar, about three pounds of powder, part of a leg of mutton, money, etc.).
Quarryman testified: Thomas Betterson, "I am a quarryman; I reside under a rock at the Ultimo Estate; I remember being robbed, it was on a Saturday evening; a man came to me and asked if there were any lime burners about? I told him he was astray, as they were on the other side of the water; he then asked me for a light of a pipe, when I pulled some strips of bark, and gave him a light; I then saw a second man ..."..."..the prisoner Tattersdale was not present; I knew him, and would have recognized him immediately if he had been there; he used to draw the stone from the quarry, he was assigned to Edward Turner, of whom I rent it; I know the articles produced, they were my property; I also lost some razors and scissors, and some blasting-powder; this bag was taken from me."
The men at large then went on somewhere else to the hut where Dr Wardell rode up upon them. According to Brace, Wadell addressed them: "You are only three poor run-aways, you had better come along with me." Brace testified that Jenkins took a musket and proceeded up to the gentleman, whose horse was prancing, presented the piece and fired, whereupon the gentleman said - Oh dear, I'm killed and his horse turned short round, and started off at full speed.
Found guilty as charged, the two absconder bushrangers were hanged on Monday, 10 November, 1834. On the day of the hanging, the Australian reported that Jenkins addressed some fellow prisoners as follows: "Good morning my lads, as I have not much time to spare I shall only just tell you that I shot the Doctor for your benefit; he was a tyrant, and if any of you shoould [sic] ever take the bush, I hope you will kill every b--y tyrant you come across". Jenkins also confessed having committed many robberies whilst in the bush, and concluded by requesting the people to pray for him. On being requested to shake hands with the co-accused Tattersdale, he at first refused (presumably resenting that Tattersdale's testimony went against him) but he subsequently consented to do so. Tattersdale appeared much affected - Jenkins desired him not to cry, saying that that in ten minutes time he would be happy enough. Before he died, John Jenkins, age 26, began apologising for his life and confessing to other crimes. He confessed to crime he could not possibly have committed, such as a robbery at the house of Mills (Jenkins must have forgotten that took place two days after he was already in custody). Jenkins' aim is thought to have been to deflect blame from a fellow bushranger.
The likenesses of Jenkins and Wardell were preserved ('cast') in clay at the Brickfield. Presumably the clay was then fired so that the 'death masks' would be made hard and solid?
The record of this is in the 8 January 1835 edition of the Sydney Gazette: "We have seen two excellent casts of the heads of the late Dr. Wardell and his murderer, Jenkins. They were executed at the pottery on Brickfield-hill, by Mr. Moreton, who has succeeded in admirably preserving correct likenesses."
Mr Moreton (see fuller story below) had certainly been in charge of that pottery formerly, but was not known to have been back working there in 1834/35 so may have been called there just for his expertise, for this particular task.
South Head Road, glass sand - Windblown sands from Botany Bay encroached as close to Sydney as Surry Hills. Old records refer to active sand dunes there but it is not certain if this was natural or activation of sand movement due to clearing. To lesser extent there was sand deposits noted that were blown in from the eastern coast around Bondi. In 1831 James King, later a successful wine grower and merchange, called attention to white dune sand 'along the South Head Road near Sydney' which would be good for glass manufacture. King claimed to have spent 400 pounds on 'exploiting' his sand deposit (details and exact site/s unknown).
TOP: Hill crest on George Street in 1842. By this time substantial buildings had spread this far
south of Sydney Cove where settlement had begun. The Sydney Burial Ground is on the
left within the brick walled enclosure but it had already long been closed to burials and
a new cemetery commenced at Devonshire Street (at the present Central Station
area). The Sydney Town Hall was built over the old burial ground in 1868-1869.
The slope going down to the south (the direction the bullock cart is heading in)
was the former 'Brickfield', which by 1841 was closed to end dust and
other perceived nuisance, and gain the land for building over.
(J.S. Prout and J.Rae, 1842. Sydney Illustrated)
BOTTOM: Removal of paving alongside the Town Hall, on the Druitt Street side, in 2003,
revealed the old ground surface immediately below, with graves (elongated E-W).
(Photo: Dr Lisa Murray, City of Sydney historian)
The Sydney Town Hall is built over the old Burial Ground and excavations here have repeatedly exposed the burials. This one, seen during stormwater pipe repair work under the Town Hall in 1991 is a simple
but very solild brick vault containing the red cedar wood coffin of an unknown woman from the convict
period. Following recording, this structure was re-buried in sand. It has not yet been enquired if any
of the bricks were placed in museums or investigated in any way. (Photo: Sydney City Council)
Brickfield Hill pottery making - In addition to production of bricks and tiles, the clay at the brickfields was used to make pottery, commencing in 1790. The convict Johathon Leak is recorded to have been put to work there making pottery between 1819 and 1822. Leak then took two land grants near the government pottery in 1823, to commence his own pottery. By 1828 he was employing over 20 men. Two short articles in the "Australian" mention 40,000 bricks per week produced there but this might or might not refer to Leak's works. It seems possible that Leak's business may have taken over the whole government pottery and brick works. Closely related, or at least close-by, would be the Moreton Pottery.
The 'Moreton Pottery' activities (at least in part overlapping with the government pottery) commenced in ?1820 and operated until 1851 (in which year the then owner Anson Moreton died) is variously referred to as having been at Brickfield Hill or Surry Hills. It likely fronted Elizabeth Street, and may have later on amalgamated with or taken over the Government Pottery (after 1828). The 1820 date probably refers to the fact that John Moreton, an English potter transported to the penal colony for burglary, arrived in December 1819 and by 1820 had been put in charge of the Government Pottery works at Brickfield Hill.
Jonathon Leak who also arrived in 1819 may have worked under Moreton. By 1822 Moreton's wife and three sons arrived as free settlers and the sons joined him in pottery work. On Friday 29th July 1825 the commander of the visiting French frigate Thetis, Hyacinthe de Bougainville, visited the pottery and recorded in his diary: "Upon leaving the Tread-Mill, we went to visit a new pottery; the whole workforce is made up of members of the one family, the father and two or three of his children". De Bougainville recorded that the clay was dug out near his workshop. In 1826 Moreton was apparently unable to pay demands levied on him by the government, again attempted robbery to get money and was sentenced to six years hard labour and sent to a chain gang at Bathurst. His family attempted to carry on the Government Pottery but could not manage and it was re-leased in 1827 to a Mr David Hayes. After serving his six years hard labour, John Moreton returned to Sydney in 1832. No longer having control of the clay lands or works he could at first only manufacture clay smoking pipes.
A record in the 8 January 1835 edition of the Sydney Gazette states: "We have seen two excellent casts of the heads of the late Dr. Wardell and his murderer, Jenkins. They were executed at the pottery on Brickfield-hill, by Mr. Moreton, who has succeeded in admirably preserving correct likenesses." He perhaps had been called in there on account of his expertise, for this particular task. Soon after that, in 1835 he was back in a more well defined business, with his sons, at a site east of Bourke Street in Surry Hills.
Wine cooler (c. 1835), 25 cm tall, impressed 'MORETON & SONS POTTERS'.
The convict John Moreton was probably the first skilled potter to reach
Australia and was put in charge of pottery making at the government
run pottery on Brickfield Hill soon after his arrival in the Colony.
(Photo/repository: National Museum of Australian Pottery)
The infilling at "Haymarket valley" - Gemmell (1986, p.4) wrote that Brickfield Hill underwent considerable physical change: "The government decided to move the top of the hill between the present Castlereagh and Pitt streets. Convict labour was used to dump the soil and rock in the valley below. This area, formerly swamp intersected by tidal creeks, was raised to 4.8m above sea level and Brickfield Hill reduced by a corresponding figure."
This derives from Pavlou: ""Brickfield Hill, up to the middle of 1837, was not only steep, but difficult and dangerous to traverse with a loaded vehicle despite the fact that bullocks and horses, rather than convicts, now hauled the loaded carts. [Truth, 22 August, 1926, Vol. D, p.210]. In the Haymarket Valley the swamps were intersected by tidal creeks which traversed George Street, near its intersection with Hay Street, and emptied into Cockle Bay [R.A.H.S. Journal and Proceedings, Vol. 5, pp.153-156]. Records of the period show that millions of tons of rock and soil were subsequently removed from the contours of what now form Castlereagh, Pitt and the parallel streets and dumped into the valley below, eventually raising the valley 4.8 metres (16') above high water mark at Hay Street. In fact, the first colonists would have beheld a view in which the Brickfield Hill was a mass if [sic] irregular rock 4.8 metres higher than now and the Haymarket Valley 4.8 metres lower."
Turnbull (1991, "Sydney - Biography of a City") has mentioned the same thing, about the valley in the late 1830s, having been filled with material taken from the top of the hill: "It was estimated that 1 million cubic feet of debris (much of it sandstone) was moved during the levelling of Brickfield Hill".
That such a hilltop ever existed and was cut off seems dubious. But any such former hilltop would have been shale, and unlikely to have yielded fill that was 'much of it sandstone'.
Palmer Street - By 1802 there may have been other clay extraction areas besides the original Brickfields. One other brick making site was at the head of Wooloomooloo Bay in the vicinity of Palmer Street (Paul Goard, 1981, "A colonial brickmaker's family", p. 15. Mitchell Library Q929.20994/M847.1/1).
Cockatoo Island - Cockatoo Island has produced four fossil fish specimens, and a single bone of an amphibian.
Geological & Mining Museum, The Rocks - This site, adjacent to Sydney Harbour Bridge in George Street North is fairly deeply excavated and may have been the site of some excavation of sandstone for construction use prior to when built on. As far as is known it has only carried one building, which is the presently existing one. The museum ran for many years and was visited by generations of people interested in rocks, minerals and fossils. It was the museum of the Mines Department (commenced elsewhere in more meagre accomodation) and hence was first known as the Mining Museum, and later as the Geological & Mining Museum (during which years it was still colloqually or familiarly referred to just as the Mining Museum). This reflects the original "practical mining" focus. The geological part of the name was added later as the prestige of the establishment was increased by moving into dedicated and substantial new premises (a big improvement on the original premises which were recorded to have been leaky). Most of the original collection of the Department was lost in the Garden Palace fire in Sydney, after which the collection was rebuilt, appealing to mines and contacts in New South Wales and further afield to donate specimens.
The Museum existed as a storage, research, display and teaching centre for almost 90 years at this site.
The building was run for with the Department of Mines Chemical Laboratory (and also a live-in caretakers' quarters) on its top floor, and an Art School, the Julian Ashton Art School on the floor between the Chemical Laboratory and the display floors. The Chemical Laboratory left when a very much bigger special building was purpose built for it at Lidcombe.
Site description and establishment: The building is of Federation Warehouse style, designed by architect, Walter Liberty Vernon, the first NSW Government Architect. The base of the building is excavated into the sandstone almost to flush with George Street North frontage. It is not certain if it was purpose excavated or if there was any former quarrying on this site simply for sandstone excavation, but it likely was a quarry of some extent to start with. There were, from time to time, plans (or 'dreams'/vision) about feasibility of excavating an underground 'mine' below the site purely for display purposes. The Museum for a long time had a small 'fake' mine constructed on one of the floors, blackened out inside and with artificial lighting and models, which was always popular with school children.
The building has a tall chimney stack which is still a landmark in Sydney. The tall chimney is because the building was originally designed, but only partially constructed, as a DC power station. Plans changed before it was completed and it was then redesigned and completed to become a Museum and Chemical Laboratory.
The change during the course of building construction was associated with a decision to generally change from direct current (DC) supply to alternating current (AC) power supply in NSW. (Tropman 1996: 15)
Some chronology for the "Mining Museum" site:
- 1700s - Late 18th century maps and plans do not indicate anything at the site.
- 1807 - Meehan's map shows the area leased to Robert Campbell Esquire (Campbell's substantial old storehouses, next to the Museum on the opposite side of Hickson Road are now tourist shops or eateries).
- 1840s - The land may have been within the Cunnyngeham's shipyard (cf. later Water Police area).
- 1901 - Plan of Sydney in Fitzgerald's Royal Commission indicates the site as intended for a power station.
- 1902 - In 1902 (or before?) possibly became the site of an old quarry, operator not yet known. The excavation at George Street North would have stood approximately three storeys above Hickson Road. There was either some independent quarrying phase of else the first excavations were all along part of the planned power station construction? The 1902 plans drawn by Government Architect Walter Vernon for an Electric Light Station and Workshop show provision for a six level structure facing George Street and a similar structure facing Hickson Rd., with an octagonal chimney stack on the northern side, and an attic level behind Romanesque style parapets and gabled roofs. In 1903 revision to the plans drawn by Vernon for the Electric Light Station and Workshop showed a two level structure facing George Street and a three levels high structure facing Hickson Rd., with an octagonal chimney stack 60 metres in height on the northern side, and simple gabled roofs.
- 1902/04 - Construction underway for a power station and workshops. Uncertainty and hiatus seems to have happened, probably in 1904. The lower part of the building was constructed for a power station and workshops but work ceased and it stood unfinished and roofless for some time. No generating equipment was ever installed.
- 1908 - Abandonned for power generation purposes and the site given to the Mines Department for a museum (likely considerably interdepartmental correspondence might be preserved leading up to this?). [State Archives records have NOT been searched.]
- 1908/09 - The upper levels of the building modified from origin planning, to now better suit changed purpose for a mining museum and chemical laboratories and a new entrance onto George Street was constructed.
- 1909 - The building opened as the Mining Museum in August 1909.
- 1930 - The Julian Ashton's Art School was given tenacy of the first floor in the building.
- 1972 - A Museum shop was established.
- 1973/74 - The Julian Ashton's Art School moved out of the building and the floor it had occupied was used for museum display expansion. The Museum greatly expanded its role in schools education in the subject of geology and appointed qualified teachers as Education Officers in this regard.
- 1987/89 - The museum's management was changed to a managerialist model and commercialisation measures began to be introduced, culminating in part divestment of responsibility for the museum by government with the establishment of a Trust. It was hoped that the mining and exploration industry would part take over the funding of the museum. In 1989 the building was transferred to the Geological and Mining Museum Trust, and the name of the Museum was changed to "The Earth Exchange".
- 1991 - The museum was closed for a long period for refurbishment works and its internal character very largely changed. It reopened as The Earth Exchange in March 1991.
- 1996/2007 - The hopes for the mining and exploration industry helping greatly to maintain the museum, and for various other changed-direction plans (including mining industry and energy promotions - an Energy Information Centre was established in the building) were not successful and the museum closed permanently after the State government ceased its majority funding contribution. The highest quality "show" specimens in the Museum, many collected by Albert Chapman from Broken Hill and other places, were all transferred to the Australian Museum where they continue to be on display. Other collections were transferred to the Chemical Laboratory at Lidcombe, and later on when that building too was closed they were moved to the Department's core storage facility in Londonderry. A number of specialist earth science staff moved with the collections, which continue to be well cared for, and can be visited by researchers on arrangement.
- 1997 - The building was first indicated as 'promised' for an Aboriginal art centre but this did not eventuate. Since 1996 it was re-fitted for close office space but for some years remained unoccupied, still under the control of the Ministry for the Arts, to which it had been transferred after the dissolution of the Trust. [?Current occupants].
Dykes - The Great Sydney dyke. Intersected in the 1.4 km long Energy Australia Cable Tunnel which was driven to carry 132 kV electricity cables for the CBD and Inner Suburbs Electricity Supply Augmentation Project. Construction was by Downer Construction (Australia) Pty Ltd and geotech by Coffey Geosciences Pty Ltd. The tunnel and two new shafts (at City South and Surry Hills) runs along the southern perimeter of the CBD (Ultimo Road, Hay Street and Smith Street). The tunnel, at an average depth of 20m is mostly within the Hawkesbury Sandstone but at one place traverses Ashfield Shale. The City South shaft is in Campbell Street and the Surry Hills shaft is within Wade Place. Where it intersected the Great Sydney Dyke water was encountered and grouting was necessary. (Information from D. Lees, posted on 19 Feb. 2006 to AUCTA Historical Projects, http://www.ats.org.au )
Saunders Quarries, Harris Street. The shale underlying the 40 ft thick quarried bed of sandstone contain fossil plants. A basalt dyke (altered to clay) was also cut in the quarry.
Wooloomooloo Bay. Close to the steps leading down from Victoria Street North. Excavated shale yielded fossil plants and fish.
Some references consulted re early Sydney:
Aston, P. and Waterson, D., 2000. Sydney takes shape. A history in maps. Hema Maps Pty Ltd., Brisbane. 78 pp.
Turnbull, L.H., 1991. Sydney - Biography of a City. Random House Australia, Milsons Point. 534 pp.
Watkin Tench, "A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay" and "A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson", reprinted as Sydney's First Years. Australian Royal Historical Society. Angus and Robertson, 1961.
SYDNEY (Middle Harbour)
First archaeology. Perhaps the first archaeology in the new colony was conducted here, when John Hunter and William Bradley landed on a point in Middle Harbour on 21 April 1788 and dug up a suspected grave they found. They found the deceased had been cremated and there was just ash and some fragments of bone present. They concluded (although it was not generally the case) that this was the manner in which the natives typically disposed of their dead.
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