Historic Buildings, Sydney

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Favorite thing: When you're wandering the outer headlands of the harbour you're guaranteed to come across old military establishments designed in bygone times for the defence of the harbour.
To quote the National Parks and Wildlife: This walk explores a great section of Sydney Harbour. The walk starts with views of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and spectacular views continue as you explore bushland and the bays along the way. The walk also explores a historic section of the harbour, including the fortifications at Bradley's Head and Chowder Bay. Some sections of this walk are closed at night. There are a few places to get food along the way, and many great places to eat your own packed lunch.

Fondest memory: On this walk you'll come across more than your fair share as Middle Head was a prime location for such installations. There are remnants, many still being used as functioning buildings, of most of the installations. From gun emplacement (pic 1) to defensive walls (pics 3&4) to office buildings (pic 2) there is so much there.
Some have been converted into tea rooms and function centres, mainly for the well heeled as the pic of the interior of the Gunners Barracks indicate and the prices ($39 for morning tea and $40 for afternoon tea) indicate.
Other places en route to dine are Ripples at Chowder Bay where there's also a cheap coffee place below and Athol Hall, not far from the start of the walk, which is situated in a lovely park with views back to the CBD across the harbour.
You can also wait until you reach Balmoral where there are several places to dine.

Favorite thing: If you go down Vaucluse Road at Vaucluse you'll end up at Nielsen Park, a lovely spot worth a visit in its own right.
Whilst there you'll probably notice a lovely old mansion and think it has historic significance. It does. It's called Greycliffe House and was built around 1850, being completed in 1851. The owner was an early property developer called John Reeve and he married (1847) into a famous family by wedding Fanny Catherine Wentworth (William Charles Wentworth's daughter). The amazing thing is though, they never lived in it!

Fondest memory: Indeed, they returned to England and for the next 60 years bankers, business men and politicians took up residence here.
One of the more colourful was Lady Isabella Martin who resided here with her 14 children, obviously before television was invented! She loved it here because she could escape from the "lethal air" and "floating germs" of Sydney city.
Fitzwilliam Wentworth purchased the building in 1887, even though he was living in England at the time (though he had leased it earlier), but it wasn't until 1894 that he moved in.
Just three years later there was a devastating fire that destroyed a large collection of furniture, artworks and china that Wentworth had brought out from England.
It was rebuilt in similar vein though the roof was made out of fire resistant tiles instead of shingle this time.
Under public pressure the house was bought by the government in 1911 and became a children's hospital for treatment of gastroenteritis until 1934 when it was turned into a Mothercraft Training Centre.
The original property was a 32.4 hectare estate purchased by Thomas Laycock, quartermaster of the N.S.W. Corps. It was then purchased to Captain Bennett in 1897 but he sold it to the colourful identity Captain John Piper who was the collector not only of customs but also some extra money (12,000 pounds) for his own pocket which led to him being sacked and W.C. Wentworth took possession in 1827 and added a further 370 acres to the estate, including the site of Greycliffe House. In those days it took several hours by horse to get to Sydney and these estates were self sufficient in many ways, particularly when it came to food.

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Favorite thing: There's much to see architecturally and otherwise in Sydney, more so close to the CBD.

Fondest memory: These shots were all taken in the proximity of Central Station, indeed, the third one is of its eastern exit.
The first one shows just how much colour you can throw up with a relatively small piece of garden area. This is right next to the cab rank but, when I took this, much of the area ust out of view on the left was cordoned off with barricades so most of the public couldn't see it.
The second shot features a tall sculpture just a little further away at a main bus stop that takes you up George Street.
Picture four shows one section of tracks leading into Central while the last shot, of an unusually shaped triangular building, was taken near the eastern exit.

Favorite thing: Actually, that's not true. You used to be able to bank on it or, more correctly, under it. This was once the entrance to the Bank of Australasia - Southern Branch. Situated on the south end of George Street, the main street running through Sydney's CBD, the standout three monkeys sculpture leads to all sort of conjecture when you consider what the edifice is now used for.

Fondest memory: Now, as is plainly obvious, the usage of the venue has altered considerably...............well, in some ways anyway. They still want to take your money off you and use if for themselves, it's just that they use different means to do it these days.
Inside are the ubiquitous poker machines (slot machines if you're from North America) in addition to alcohol. Not a good mix if you're a client!
An interesting statistic - 21% of all the world's poker machines are located in N.S.W., 40% in Australia. You probably think we're gamblaholics. You'd probably be right.

Favorite thing: During one of my walks around Sydney, I saw the most interesting juxtaposition in the city. As we walked past the harbour area where the ships are docked to allow cruise passengers onboard, we looked across to see the old Moreton Hotel, which is built with old style English brick, and just behind it there was a brand new monorail track.

Very interesting positioning of the 18th or 19th Century mixed in with the 20th Century.

Enjoy your walks around the city and enjoy it!!

Favorite thing: Here is the Town Hall in the CBD of Sydney. It is probably not as nice as most town halls but it is a fairly impressive building... I had walked past it quite a few times before without even noticing what it was...

Favorite thing: Being our countries biggest city it stands to reason.
Sydney has vast amounts of shopping places and one worth checking out is the Q.B.D
Queen Victoria Building it is a brillant building with some really expensive shops and a is one of sydneys best known shopping arcades.

Fondest memory: Sydney has such a array of great shops and markets .
I really enjoyed the shopping though newtown.
cool hip little record stores and clothing stores to a mexican restaurant which name escapes me though I found to be the best mexican restaurant I have ever eaten at and that includes about 25 I ate in in mexico itself.
the service food and the style of the place was choice to use a kiwi phrase thought ehf act i was there with 4 lovely ladys and myslef had nothing to do with it and besides I was single then lol
Sydney is a city that took me 5 years to warm to but now i love like a second home.

Favorite thing:
Visit the high Victorian-era architecture Town Hall, with one of the most striking interiors in Australia. This building was completed for Sydney's centenary in 1888. The Town Hall contains an 8000-pipe organ and is one of the largest in the world. Free lunchtime concerts featuring the mighty organ are held regularly. See for more pictures in the
Sydney views Travelogue please.

Favorite thing: A footprint of a Georgian house that once stood in Martin Place is marked out by black granite paving tiles and metal grilles, through which a light mist rises every ten minutes, evoking the ghostly spaces once occupied by previous residents. The three bronze bowls, reflection pools and fountains represent the Georgian washrooms which were placed at the back of the house.

Favorite thing: I like this building because you can get in and you can see how the judgement working. You can see a list on the wall to visit the forums.