Page 125 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sydney

KINGS CROSS AND D ARLINGHURST  123

within Australia. Ascending the stone quarried on the site by
stairs to mezzanine levels 1–6, convicts, which was then
the visitor passes through chiselled by them into blocks.
chronological and thematic No fewer than 67 people were
exhibitions which unravel the executed here between 1841
history of the Holocaust. and 1908. Perhaps the most
From Hitler’s rise to power no tor ious hangman was
and Kristallnacht, through the Alexander “The Strangler” Green,
evacuation of the ghettos and after whom Green Park, outside
the Final Solution, to the ulti mate the jail, is thought to have been
liberation of the infamous death named. Green lived near the park
camps and Nuremberg Trials, the until public hostility forced him to
harrowing events are graphically live in relative safety inside the jail.
documented. This horrific period Some of Australia’s most
is recalled using photographs noted artists, including Frank
and relics, some exhumed from Hodgkinson, Jon Molvig and
Star of David in the lobby of the Sydney mass graves, as well as audiovisual William Dobell, trained or
Jewish Museum exhibits and oral testimonies. taught at the art school which
Holocaust survivors act as was established here in 1921.
5 Sydney Jewish volunteer guides. Their presence,
Museum bearing witness to the recorded
events, lends considerable
148 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst. power and mov ing authenticity
Map 5 B2. Tel 9360 7999. @ Sydney to the exhibits.
Explorer, Bondi & Bay Explorer, 311,
389. Open 10am–4pm Mon–Thu &
Sun, 10am–2:30pm Fri. Closed Sat, 6 Old Gaol,
Jewish hols. & 7 8 = Darlinghurst
∑ sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au
Cnr Burton & Forbes Sts, Darlinghurst.
Sixteen Jewish convicts were Map 5 A2. Tel 9339 8744. @ 333, 378,
on the First Fleet and many 380, 389. Open 10:30am–5pm Mon–
more were to be transported Fri. Closed public hols. 7 8 11am,
before the end of the convict 1pm, 2pm, 3pm.
era. As with other convicts,
most would endure and some Originally known as the The former Governor’s house, Old Gaol,
would thrive, seizing all the Woolloomooloo Stockade Darlinghurst
opportunities the colony had and later as Darlinghurst Gaol,
to offer for those wishing to this site has been home to the 7 Darlinghurst
make something of themselves. National Art School since 1922.
The Sydney Jewish Museum It was constructed over a Court House
relates stories of Australian 20-year period from 1822. Taylor Square, Darling hurst. Map 5 A2.
Jewry within the context of Surrounded by walls almost Tel 1300 679 272. @ 333, 378, 380.
the Holocaust. The ground floor 7 m (23 ft) high, the cell blocks Open Feb–mid-Dec: 10am–4pm
display explores present-day radiate from a central round- Mon–Fri & Sun. Closed mid-Dec–Jan,
Jewish traditions and culture house. The former jail is built of public hols. 7 8
Abutting the grim old jail, to
which it is connected by under-
ground passages, and facing
Taylor Square, this unlikely gem
of Greek Revival architecture
was begun in 1835 by Mortimer
Lewis, the Colonial Architect of
New South Wales from 1835 to
1843. He was only responsible
for the central block of the
main building with its splendid
six-columned Doric portico.
The balancing side wings
were added in the 1880s.
The court house is still used
by the state’s Supreme Court
mainly for criminal cases, and
Beare Park, a quiet inner-city park with harbour views these are open to the public.

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