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Inner City Areas: Sydney Cove and The Rocks | Central | Southern | Darling Harbour
The Rocks
Of all the locations around Sydney Harbour, few have as fascinating a past as The Rocks, a small district near the heart of Sydney on the hillside above the western shore of Sydney Cove and Circular Quay. The name is derived from the descriptive title given by the first European settlers in Australia to the peninsula to the west of Sydney Cove.It is here that Sydney's first permanent dwellings were built, a cluster of humble wattle and daub huts perched precariously amid the rocky inclines that gave the location its name.
The Rocks is Sydney's authentic historic maritime village, the place where the early colonial settlers called home. Today The Rocks is a popular tourist precinct which retains much of the character and charm of its colourful past. It is populated with gift shops, cafes, markets, entertainment and heritage buildings.
The old buildings of The Rocks are home to an array of tourist shops, galleries, museums, cafes, pubs and restaurants. The streets of The Rocks come alive on weekends when they are taken over by The Rocks Weekend Market. Sydney s most authentic Farmers Market operates in Jack Mundey Place on Fridays and Saturdays. Customers can shop for farm fresh produce, chat to the farmers and producers about their philosophy towards organic sustainability, check the food miles at every stall, and walk away with a Parisian style Rocks Farmers Market hessian bag laden with taste and goodness. A Designers Market operates in Playfair Street every Saturday and Sunday. Everything in this Market is made by a designer with a creative approach to fashion, jewellery, gifts, homewares and beauty.
Visitors to The Rocks can enjoy a varied program of entertainment every week, including concerts, exhibitions and shows at the many conveniently located venues in The Rocks.
The Rocks is central to a number of Sydney's popular attractions. Bridgeclimb, which operates walking tours over the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, is a short distance away. Access to the footpath across the bridge (and the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout) is from Argyle Steps in The Rocks. Sydney Opera House is on the other side of Circular Quay to The Rocks.
Sydney Obsevatory is situated at the top of the rise behind The Rocks on the western side of the Harbour Bridge southern approaches via the Argyle Cut. Here visitors can see the southern sky and magnificent views over Sydney Harbour at Australia's oldest Observatory.
Location: The Rocks is in central Sydney, just a short stroll from the city's two most recognisable landmarks, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. It is also just around the corner from the Circular Quay transportation hub. The Rocks extends from the harbour in the north and east, to Kent Street in the west, and Grosvenor Street in the south.
How to get there: The Rocks is an easy 10-minute stroll from Sydney's CBD. The main entry point to The Rocks is via George Street. Visitors walking from Darling Harbour can also enter The Rocks via Hickson Road.
Major Sydney public transport networks of CityRail, Sydney Ferries and STA Buses connect with The Rocks. For example, take the train or ferry to Sydney's Circular Quay and you are only a short walk away.
Highlights
Before the advent of motor transport, the majority of people walked from place to place so it is not surprising that there are some 14 sets of finely crafted stone stairs in and around the inner Sydney area which give access up and over the high ridges which surround Sydney Cove.
This terrace of four houses and a corner shop are the only surviving working class dwellings of its era, and is unique in having a history of domestic occupancy froom its construction to 1990. Built for Edward and Mary Riley in 1844, the brick and sandstone houses feature basement kitchens and backyard outhouses. The buildings today house a museum on working-class history. Entry fee applies.
A plain two storey Georgian style brick shop and residence. The building has been subject to modifications since but generally in a sympathetic manner.
Phillip's Foote Restaurant Building, 101 George Street (1838).
Believed to be the longest continually occupied row of shops in Sydney and Australia, they played an integral role in the development of Sydney's first commercial area. These five buildings were originally built as shops and dwellings between 1843 and 1846. 77-85 George Street.
Atherden Place is generally acepted as being one of Australia's shortest streets. It was formed from the subdivision of a quarry owned by Robert Campbell in the 1840s. Atherden Street's name recalls one of the first landowners after the subdivision - George Atherden.
Carahers Lane is a short lane that runs between Long Lane to Cribbs Lane, between and parellel to Cambridge and Cumberland Streets. It is the location of the "Big Dig" archaeological site of the 1990s which uncovered and today protects the foundations of numerous early dwellings in The Rocks.
The Harbour Bridge's southern approaches run along the top of the ridge which divides The Rocks from Millers Point. Underneath the elevated roadway are large enclosed storage places, one of which is used by BridgeClimb. The King George V Recreational Centre sits in the shadow of the Bradfield Freeway in Cumberland Street.
A typical late Colonial Georgian corner sited three storey building, constructed of stuccoed brick walls, timber floors, roof and joinery. Originally called the Marine Hotel, the Orient was one of dozens of similar 19th century establishments in The Rocks. 87-89 George Street
A trip down memory lane into the naming of the streets of The Rocks. It is here that Sydney's first permanent dwellings were built, a cluster of humble wattle and daub huts perched precariously amid the rocky inclines that gave the location its name. Most of the names recall lords, politicians and royalty of the British aristocracy of the early, 19th century, the era in which The Rocks was being developed.
The Rocks was once riddled with laneways connecting one section and level to another. Only a few of these narrow thoroughfares remain, but they reveal many secrets about the origins, growth and development of Australia's first colonial maritime village.
Created in the early 1800s, this is one of the few lanes from the Rocks which survived the clean-up and mass demolitions after the Bubonic Plague of 1901. Believed to be thus named because of its narrowness and it being a thoroughfare between two separate sections of The Rocks.
Named by the Sydney Cove Authority in the 1970s due to the close proximity of the site of Sydney's first hospital. On early maps, it is marked as Cambridge Street. It is one of the early laneways that criss-crossed The Rocks in the 19th century.
Located at the northern end of the Government Dockyard site on Circular Quay. By 1832, this land had been divided into two by a path descending to the water. The laneway later became Bethel Street. The name honours Sydney's Bethel Union, formed in 1822, as an association of Christian seamen.
A public thoroughfare from Harrington to Cumberland Street, comprising a series of flights of steps and landings. The section of steps from Harrrington Street between Nos 55 and 57 with stone steps that are worn and uneven due to much traffic. They date from 1807. Cumberland Street, The Rocks.
In the early years of Sydney, The Rocks was a divided community separated by a rugged and steep rocky outcrop which forms the ridge of the peninsular to the east of Sydney Cove. The cut was built by hand by 19th century convict workgangs. Argyle Street, The Rocks.
A collection of sandstone bond stores, the first of which was constructed in 1826 for Captain John Piper, the last being completed in 1884. The building was confiscated and sold after Piper was arrested and convicted of embezzlement. In the 1880s, the store was used to house goods which had been confiscated for non payment of duties. These goods were periodically auctioned in the courtyard. 18 Argyle Street, The Rocks.
An excellent example of the Federation Warehouse style with distinctive Romanesque and Art Nouveau detailing. It was designed as an electrical power station by a very prominent Federation Period architect, Walter Liberty Vernon, who was the first NSW Government Architect.
The Russell Hotel is a unique example of a nineteenth century Queen Anne Style hotel in the inner city, whixch features a picturesque Scottish baronial tower. The site was once part of the original Sydney Hospital. 143-143a George Street (1887).
Built in 1864 as lodgings for visiting sailors as an alternative to the seedy inns and brothels which proliferated in the The Rocks at that time. The L-shaped wing facing George Street was added in 1926. 106 George Street (1864).
A two storey Georgian stone structure with a brick and skillion addition to the rear facade. Built for Thomas Ryan one room deep, they are amongst the earliest remaining domestic buildings in The Rocks. They were purchased in October 1830 by Irish convict and blacksmith, William Reynolds. 28-30 Harrington Street (1823-29).
One of The Rocks' best kept secrets, Foundation Park is woven among the foundations of eight 1870s terrace houses behind the Playfair Terrace shops. The site was one of the last to be developed in The Rocks because of its challenging topography. With access onto Gloucester Walk, it also leads deeper into the back lanes and alleys of The Rocks.
Letters and diaries of early settlers tell of how the hills and shores of Sydney Cove were covered in flowers around the turn of the 19th Century. Before settlers moved into the area we now call The Rocks, flannel flower and boronia covered every inch that was not bare rock, and for travellers coming ashore after 6 months or more at sea, the sight of the mass of blossoms and the scent that filled the air was quite exhilarating. As they stepped ashore, they tried to avoid treading on the masses of rock lilies, as if they were walking through a garden.
By the middle of the 19th century, gracious two and three storey homes boasting peacocks and deer in their gardens and sweeping views of the harbour dotted the higher ground, whilst below, a maze of winding streets and narrow, cobblestone lanes lined with rat-infested hovels, hotels, brothels and warehouses were home to seafarers, cut-throats, prostitutes and working families. It had a reputation of being one of the roughest and toughest ports in the world. However that all changed in 1900 when a Bubonic plague swept through Sydney. The slums that had given the area its reputation were demolished, and many of its notorious back alleys, nooks and crannies vanished into history.
More demolition took place in the 1920s. Whole streets along the crown of the ridge across the peninsular disappeared to make way for progress and the construction C of the southern approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, cutting The Rocks in two and decreasing its area considerably.
In the post-war boom of the 1960s when many of Sydney's ornate Victorian buildings were making way for multi storey office towers, the real estate value of The Rocks soared and plans for major re-development again brought much of it under threat of the demolition hammer. Supported by union action banning demolition and construction work, the cries of conservationists and residents were heard and many of its old buildings were saved. Tightly controlled re-development and conservation has seen The Rocks emerge as a unique and popular tourist precinct which retains much of the character and charm of its colourful past.
