Susannah Place Museum, The Rocks

During the week I had a fascinating trip back in time to Susannah Place in The Rocks.

Susannah Place was one of the original homes in the area that has now been preserved for historical purposes thanks to luck and timing. 

The original owners were obviously decent landlords who maintained the terraces over a long period time, including adding appropriate modern sanitation and lighting, which saved them from demolition during the bubonic plague of 1900, when hundreds of other homes around them (without proper sanitation) were pulled down to prevent the spread of the disease. 

They escaped the clearing that then occurred in the 1920's to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And they also escaped the NSW Governments plans to completely redevelop The Rocks in the 1970's thanks to one long-standing tenant who stayed on until 1990. By then, Sydney-siders had learnt to be proud their colonial, convict history and The Rocks had become a Sydney icon. The governments wholesale development plans met with lots of opposition which allowed for the preservation of small pockets of old Sydney.

From the website, we learn that Susannah Place is a

terrace of four houses built by Irish immigrants in 1844. For nearly 150 years these small houses with tiny backyards, basement kitchens and outside wash houses were home to more than 100 families. Against a backdrop of the working harbour and growing city, their everyday lives played out. Remarkably, Susannah Place survived largely unchanged through the slum clearances and redevelopments of the past century, and today tells the stories of the people and families who called this place and this neighbourhood home.

I highly recommend you visit the website, to read and listen to more of the stories about the families who lived here. And if you're ever in Sydney, especially if you stay at the nearby Youth Hostel, then plan to visit Susannah Place, as it is right behind The Big Dig...which is another story, for another day.

The one hour tour begins in the shop, where the old corner store once operated.

Grant was the entertaining, knowledgeable guide who led my small group.

For anyone who grew up watching The Sullivans (like I did), you would know that the corner shop was the hub of every small community. It's were the neighbours gathered to gossip, catch up on news and socialise...as well as to buy their flour, tea and soap.

Unfortunately due to the decaying state of the internal wallpaper and walls, no photography is allowed inside any of the terraces. For now, the state of disrepair is part of the fascinating story of these homes. At some point though, a more active renovation will need to be considered, as the disrepair moves from being an interesting, documented historical record to unsafe for humans to walk through.

All the rooms have been refurnished differently to reflect the different eras and different families that lived there. I loved all the stories that our guide had to tell. It was a step back in time that also connected me to many of the stories that my mum and nan told me over the years about their early lives. Although they were in rural NSW, their homes and daily experiences were very similar to many of the ones I heard in Susannah Place.

As you can see, I loved the old buildings - their textures, colours and angles. I also loved the juxtaposition of the newer, modern buildings around them.

Naturally, this is but a very brief history of this pocket of land. 

Indigenous history goes back thousands of generations and it will always be a shame that these oral stories are now mostly lost to us all.

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot.

Sydney Observatory

From my Top 10 Sydney Eyewitness Guide:

"The 1858 Italiante building was converted into a museum of astronomy in 1988. The Tower's time-ball still drops daily at 1pm, while a cannon is fired simultaneously from Fort Denison."

"Lieutenant Willam Dawes established Australia's first observatory on the point that now bears his name. In 1790 he earned Governor Philip's displeasure when he refused to join a reprisal attack against Aborigines. His refrusal sprand from a relationship with an Eora woman, Patyegarang. Dawes' journals detail his converstaions with Patyegarang and document the vocabulary and grammer of the Eora. Dawes was shipped out in 1791 and spent years campaigning against slavery in the west Indies."

I've always thought it was such a shame that men of cultural sensitivity like Dawes were not encouraged to stay in the colony during the early years. Our troubled history with the Aborigines may have proceeded quite differently if men like dawes were in charge, or had a say.

In 1797 a windmill was built on the hill above the first settlement. This was the highest point of land in the early colony consisting of a rocky, steep ridge. The windmill deteriorated quickly - the canvas sails were stolen, a storm damaged the machinery and by 1800 the foundations were crumbling. The area was named Windmill Hill, but now the surrounding Millers Point is the only reminder of this earlier history.

View from atop the Observatory looking towards Balmain.

In 1803 the name of the hill changed to Fort Philip. Governor Hunter built a fort to defend the new settlement against a possible attack by the French and also from rebellious convicts.

The fort was never required. The eastern wall of the fort was converted to a signal station in 1825. Flags were used to send messages to ships in the harbour and to the signal station on the South Head of the harbour.

(wikipedia)

By the 1830's the sandstone cliffs at the bottom of Observatory Hill were being cut into to make way for the shipping industry developing in Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour.

Mortimer Lewis (colonial arcitect 1835 - 1849) began building a proper signal station on the site in 1848.

A few years later, Governor Denison agreed to build a full observatory next to the signal station.

The first official astronomer was William Scott, appointed in 1856.

His new observatory, was designed by William Weaver (during his time as colonial architect 1854-56) but built by his successor Alexander Dawson (1856 - 62). 

It was completed in 1858.

The southern dome contains an equatorial refracting telescope, installed in 1874 to observe the Transit of Venus. The dome is made from a Muntz metal - a copper-zinc alloy and sits atop an octagonal tower.

 The time-ball was the new Observatory's most important feature.

The only change to the ball since it's first use on the 5th June 1858, is the motor that now mechanises the raising of the ball in preparation for the 1pm drop.

I took a brief video of the time-ball dropping but, I can't seem to make it work here.

Inside the south dome

The north dome was added in 1878 to allow for a view of the eastern sky.

It now houses a modern computer controlled 40cm reflecting mirror telescope.

"Observatory Park: Given its location beside the southern approach to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, this small park below the Observatory is surprisingly peaceful. It offers great views of the working harbour. Near the bandstand is a memorial to the Australians who served in the South African War (1899-1902)."

The Museum of Applied Arts and Science website is here.

The Gadigal peoples were the original inhabitants of the area around Observatory Hill, Millers Point and Dawes Point. They co-existed with the European invaders in this area, that became known as the Rocks, until about 1840.

In 1788, it was estimated that about 1500 Aborigines lived in the area, but more than half probably died after the 1789 smallpox epidemic.

View of the Parramatta River from Observatory Hill in 1789 (image courtesy Australian National Maritime Museum)

View of Sydney from North Sydney by Conrad Martens 1841 (courtesy State Library NSW)

View of Millers Point and Darling Harbour c. 1870 (image courtesy of State Library NSW)

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot