Page 98 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Australia

96  SY DNEY

6Lands
Department
Building
23 Bridge St. Map 1 B3. @ 325, George
St routes. Open one day a year. 7
∑ sydneylivingmuseums.com.au
Designed by colonial architect
James Barnet, this three-storey
Classical Revival edifice dates
from 1877–90. Pyrmont sand-
stone was used for the exterior,
as it was for the GPO building.
All the decisions about the
subdivision of much of rural
eastern Australia were made The imposing sandstone edifice of the Lands Department Building
in the offices within. Statues of
explorers and legislators who explore the evolution of Sydney the town officially became a city
“promoted settlement” fill 23 over two centuries and honour and then suffered economic
of the façade’s 48 niches; the the original Cadigal people. depression. On Level 2, 20th-
remainder are still empty. The century Sydney is explored
luminaries include the explorers Indigenous Peoples against a panorama of images.
Hovell and Hume, Sir Thomas This gallery explores the culture,
Mitchell, Blaxland, Lawson and history, continuity and place of 8St Mary’s
Wentworth, Ludwig Leichhardt, Sydney’s original inhabitants. Cathedral
Bass, Matthew Flinders and The collectors’ chests hold every-
botanist Sir Joseph Banks. day items like flint and ochre. In St Marys Rd. Map 1 C5. Tel (02) 9220
the square outside the complex, 0400. @ Elizabeth St routes.  St
the Edge of the Trees sculptural James, Martin Pl. Open 6:30am–6pm
7Museum of installation symbolizes the first Mon–Fri, 6:30am–7pm Sat–Sun. Crypt:
Sydney contact between the Aborigines Open 10am–4pm Mon–Fri (adm). 7
and Europeans. Inscribed in with advance notice. 8 by arrange-
Cnr Phillip & Bridge sts. Map 1 B3. Tel the wood are signatures of ment. ∑ stmaryscathedral.org.au
(02) 9251 5988. @ Circular Quay routes. First Fleeters and the names
 Circular Quay, Martin Pl. Open
10am–5pm daily. Closed Good Fri, of botanical species. Although Catholics arrived with
25 Dec. ^ 8 & 7 0 - the First Fleet, Mass was initially
∑ sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/ History of Sydney prohibited as it was feared priests
museum-of-sydney Outside the museum, a paving would provoke civil strife among
pattern outlines the site of the the colony’s Irish Catholics. It
Situated at the base of Governor first Government House. The was not until 1820 that the first
Phillip Tower, the Museum of original foundations, below Catholic priests were officially
Sydney is a modern museum street level, can be seen through appointed and services were
built on a historic site and a window. A segment of wall permitted. In 1821, Governor
details the history of Sydney has now been reconstructed Macquarie laid the foundation
from 1788 to the present. using the original sandstone. stone for St Mary’s Chapel on the
Its many attractions include The Colony display on Level 1 first land granted to the Catholic
the archaeological remains of focuses on Sydney during the Church in Australia.
the colony’s first Government critical decade of the 1840s: The initial section of this
House, as well as exhibits that convict transportation ended, Gothic Revival-style cathedral
was opened in 1882 and com-
pleted in 1928, but without the
twin southern spires originally
proposed by the architect
William Wardell. By the entrance
are statues of Australia’s first
cardinal, Moran, and Archbishop
Kelly, who laid the stone for the
final stage in 1913. They were
sculpted by Bertram MacKennal,
also responsible for the Martin
Place Cenotaph (see p93). The
crypt’s terrazzo mosaic floor
The stunning gold-coloured sandstone interior of St Mary’s Cathedral took 15 years to complete.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see pp482–3 and pp504–7