Page 118 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sydney

116  SY DNEY AREA B Y AREA

w The Mint closed in 1927 as it was no
longer competitive with the
10 Macquarie St. Map 1 C5. Tel 8239
2288. @ Sydney Explorer, Elizabeth St Melbourne and Perth Mints.
routes.  St James, Martin Place. The Georgian building went
Open 9am–5pm Mon–Fri. Closed into its own decline after it was
Good Fri, 25 Dec. - 7 ground floor converted into government
only. ∑ sydneylivingmuseums. offices. In the 1950s, the front
com.au/the-mint courtyard was even used as a
car park. In 1982, it opened as
The gold rushes of the mid- a branch of the Powerhouse
19th century transformed Museum (see pp102–3), but
Colonial Australia. The Sydney the collection moved to the
Mint opened in the 1816 Rum main museum in Harris Street.
Hospital’s south wing in 1854 This building is now the head
to turn recently discovered office of the Historic Houses Trust
gold into bullion and currency. of NSW and you can wander
It was the first branch of the through the front of the building,
Royal Mint to be established or view the small historical
outside London. The Mint was display near the entrance. Replica convict hammocks on the third
floor of Hyde Park Barracks
Francis Greenway, e Hyde Park
Convict Architect Barracks Museum
Until the 1990s, Australian A$10 notes
bore the portrait of the early Colonial Queens Square, Macquarie St.
architect Francis Greenway, the only Map 1 C5. Tel 8239 2311.
currency in the world to pay tribute to a @ Sydney Explorer, Elizabeth St
convicted forger. Greenway was transported routes.  St James, Martin Place.
to Sydney in 1814 to serve 14 years for his Open 10am–5pm daily. Closed Good
crime. Under the patronage of Governor Fri, 25 Dec. & - 7 level one only.
Macquarie, who appointed him Civil Architect 8 on request. ∑ sydneyliving
in 1816, Greenway designed more than museums.com.au/hyde-park-
40 buildings, of which only 11 remain barracks-museum
today. He received a full pardon in
1819, but soon fell out of favour as he Described by Governor Macquarie
persisted in charging large fees while as “spacious” and “well aired”,
still on a government salary. Greenway the beautifully pro por tioned
Francis Greenway (1777–1837) died in poverty in 1837. barracks are the work of Francis
Greenway and are con sid ered his

Macquarie Street The Mint, like its twin,
Fine examples of Francis Greenway’s Georgian style Parliament House, has an
are within an easy walk of one another at the Hyde unusual double-colonnaded,
Park end of Macquarie Street. The brick and sandstone two-storeyed veranda.
of Hyde Park Barracks, St James Church and the Old
Supreme Court Building form a harmonious group on
the site the governor envisaged as the city’s civic centre.

The roof of The Mint has
now been com pletely
restored to replicate the The stone wall, of Hyde
original wooden shingles Park Barracks’ north west
in casuarina (she-oak). pavilion still bears the marks
of the convicts’ chisels.

The Mint (1816)

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