Page 71 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sydney

THE ROCKS AND CIRCULAR QU A Y  69

The Rocks (see p32), temporar ily
halting all demolition and
redevelopment work.

5 Sailors’ Home
106 George St, The Rocks.
Map 1 B2. @ Sydney Explorer,
Circular Quay routes from Elizabeth St.
 Circular Quay. Open to gallery
customers only: 9am–7pm daily (to
10pm Thu–Sat; to 8.30pm Sun).
Built in 1864 to provide cheap
lodgings for visiting seamen, the
Sailors’ Home is now used as an
art gallery. The building’s original
north wing is Romanesque
Revival in design. The L-shaped
wing that fronts onto George
Street was added in 1926.
At the time it was built, the
Sailors’ Home was a welcome
Old-style Australian products at the corner shop, Susannah Place alternative to the many seedy
inns and brothels in the area,
and Sydney’s maritime history domestic history, evoking the saving sailors from the perils
and traditions in the 18th and living conditions of its inhabi- of “crimping”. “Crimps” would
19th centuries. tants. Rather than re-creating tempt newly arrived men into
A unique collection of a single period, the museum lodgings and bars providing
arch aeological artifacts, such retains the many renovations much-sought-after entertain-
as an illegal alcohol still, and made by successive tenants. ment. While drunk, the sailors
hist orical images dating from Built for Edward and Mary would be sold on to departing
the early establishment of the Riley, who arrived from Ireland ships, waking miles out at sea
European colony to the postwar with their niece Susannah in and returning home in debt.
era, helps visitors explore 1838, these solid houses have Sailors used the home until
the eventful and basement kitchens 1980, when it was adapted
colourful history and back yard for use as a puppet theatre.
of this neighbour- outhouses. The house is now home to
hood. The displays Connections to the Billich Gallery, a privately
are enhanced by piped water and owned art gallery exhibiting
interactive high- sewerage had the art of controversial Sydney-
tech touch screens Billy Tea on sale at the Susannah probably arrived based Surrealist painter
and audiovisual Place shop by the mid-1850s. Charles Billich, whose work
exhibits, bringing The museum sur- also hangs in the Vatican and
the history of the area alive. veys the houses’ development the United Nations.
over the years, from wood and
coal to gas and electricity,
4 Susannah Place which enables the visitor to
Museum gauge the gradual lightening of
the burden of domestic labour.
58–64 Gloucester St, The Rocks. The terrace, including a
Map 1 B2. Tel 9241 1893. cor ner grocer’s shop, escaped
@ Sydney Explorer, Circular Quay the wholesale demolitions that
routes from Elizabeth St.  Circular occurred after the outbreak
Quay, Wynyard. Open 2–5pm daily. of bubonic plague in 1900, as
Closed Good Fri, 25 Dec. & 8
∑ sydneylivingmuseums.com.au well as later clearings of land
to make way for the Sydney
This 1844 terrace of four brick Harbour Bridge and the Cahill
and sandstone houses has Expressway. In the 1970s, it was
a rare history of continuous saved once again when the
domestic occupancy from the Builders Labourers’ Feder ation,
1840s right through to 1990. under the leadership of activist
The museum now housed here Jack Mundey, imposed a Interior of the Sailors’ Home, viewed from
examines this working-class con servation “green ban” on an upper level

068-069_EW_Sydney.indd 69 29/05/17 12:19 pm