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historical walking tours

Front Cover Image: Photograph: Archaeology of Bathing, City of Sydney Archives

Preservationthe glebeHistorical Walking Tour

walk on waterguide to sydney’s water featuresHistorical Walking Tour

Wuganmagulya (Farm Cove) within the Royal Botanic Gardens (Photograph: City of Sydney Archives)

Historical Walking Tours — Walk on Water / 01.

waterwalk on

The centre of Sydney is full of water features. Some you are meant to ignore, some are there to be noticed and enjoyed.

This brochure explores the theme of water in the City.

rom spectacular fountains in parks and plazas to the drains and sewers hidden underground.

sydney’s history

is all around us. our walking tours will lead you on a journey of discovery from early aboriginal life through to

contemporary sydney.

Clover Moore MPLord Mayor of Sydney

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Sydney CoveWarrane

Bennelong PointDubbagullee

Dawes PointTar–raWalsh Bay

Darling HarbourTumbalong

RoyalBotanicGardens

The Domain

Hyde Park

Beare Park

DarlingHarbour

Moore Park

Belmore Park

Wentworth Park

Harold Park

JubileePark

VictoriaPark

Centennial Park

Royal Randwick Racecourse

Cockle Bay

Blackwattle Bay

Rozelle Bay

Johnstons Bay

Farm Cove Wahganmuggalee

Woolloomooloo Bay

Elizabeth Bay

Rushcutters Bay

Sydney Park

TaylorSquare

Sydney University

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Wynyard

Martin Place

Town Hall

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Erskinville

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SydneyFish Market

WentworthPark

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Convention

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Central

HarboursideDarling

Park CityCentre

GalleriesVictoria

WorldSquare

purple—

baths& pools

blue—

drinkingplaces

yellow—

publicconveniences

green—

ornamentalfountains

red—

waterengineering & sewerage

KEY LEGEND

KEY LEGEND

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The Anzac Memorial on Hyde Park South was built to commemorate the men and women who served in World War I. But, by the time it was opened in 1934, the land fit for heroes was no longer providing the rewards and jobs hoped for, and the country was in a profound economic depression. When the Council was given money to create work for the unemployed, one of the tasks was to build a large pool in front of the memorial.

03 ANzAc PooL of REfLEcTioN

(Photograph: City of Sydney Archives)

Made from a dead Yellow Box tree, 23ct gold leaf and terracotta tile, the Golden Water Mouth statue stands 10.7m high. It is sited at the entrance of the “village” of Chinatown and marks the place where, in a traditional Chinese village, a wooden pagoda would be built to protect the rivers and ensure wealth to the village. This artwork incorporates Shui Kou elements of wood, water, earth and gold together with native Australian species. It evokes memories of the Chinese arrival in Australia—the

”New Gold Mountain”.

GoLDEN WATER MouTh 01

The obelisk on Elizabeth Street is one of the earliest monuments recording the good works of a Sydney mayor. It was built in 1857 and unveiled by the Mayor, George Thornton. The monument is actually a sewer vent, which provoked many jokes and led to it being nicknamed “Thornton’s Scent Bottle”.

02 obELiSK


(Photograph: Jamie Williams Photography)

The importance of public access to drinking water has declined over the years. In the 19th century, many houses were built without water connections and John Frazer’s gift of two drinking fountains to the people of Sydney was a generous and welcome gesture. The two imposing Frazer drinking fountains were built in the 1880s. They were designed by the City Architect, Thomas Sapsford, and carved in Pyrmont sandstone by Lawrence Beveridge. The basins for the fountains were made of granite.


04 05 fRAzER fouNTAiNS



The Sandringham Garden and Memorial Gates commemorate King George V and VI. They were built on the site of the old bandstand in Hyde Park and dedicated in 1954. The gardens include bronze memorial gates incorporating the crests and heraldic motifs of each king, a memorial tablet with inscription and dedication, and a memorial fountain with mosaic inlay.

SANDRiNGhAM GARDENS06


cooK + PhiLLiP PARK 07

The many uses of water at Cook and Phillip Park are testament to Sydney’s diverse range and love of water—from the harbour to the Yurong, from bathing to competition, and from playing to meditation. The swimming pools in the complex, used for both children’s games and sporting events, the Yurong Water Garden and the pools of reflection on College Street, which act as major structural elements to balance the weight of the roof of the pools below, all create the water world of Cook and Phillip Park.

(Photograph: City of Sydney)

08 ThE YuRoNG WATER GARDEN

This sculpture by Anita Glesta in the Yurong Water Garden is an environmental artwork inspired by the Yurong Creek that once ran from the edge of Cook and Phillip Park through the mangrove swamps down into Woolloomooloo Bay. Roughly hewn boulders of sandstone and original pavers and rocks from the former Cook and Phillip Park have been arranged to form a course for the creek which flows down three terraces of gardens retracing the path of the original. The use of sandstone reflects the cultural and natural heritage of the surrounding area.

(Photograph: Brett Boardman / Spackman Mossop Michaels)

This distinctive Art Deco showpiece is the legacy of a private citizen, J F Archibald, and is quintessentially Sydney. The fountain was built in Hyde Park North in 1932 to commemorate the association between Australia and France in World War I. The work of French sculptor Francois Sicard, it depicts a bronze Apollo surrounded by other mythical figures.

09ARchibALD fouNTAiN, hYDE PARK NoRTh




This installation in Martin Place called Passage was created by Anne Graham in 2001 for the Sydney Sculpture Walk. The walls of early Georgian houses are traced with inlaid black granite and stainless steel grilles. The three bronze bowl fountains represent washrooms at the rear of the houses.

10 PASSAGE


“The Little Pig” was a gift to the City of Sydney from the Marchesa Fiaschi Torrigiani as a memorial to Thomas Fiaschi and Piero Fiaschi, her brother and father respectively, who were eminent doctors at Sydney Hospital. Sydney’s Il Porcellino is an exact replica of the bronze monument known as Porcellino, a 1547 sculpture of a wild boar by Pietro Battiste Tacca which stands in the straw market in the heart of Florence. It is believed to bring good luck if passersby rub its nose and drop coins into the base pool, and is placed here to help raise funds for the hospital.


11 iL PoRcELLiNo

Dedicated to the memory of Robert Brough (1857–1906), a popular Sydney actor, this magnificent Victorian fountain is tucked away in the northern courtyard of Sydney Hospital. The distinctly Australian design comprises a group of brolgas surmounted by black swans displaying their crimson beaks. The fountain was imported from the Colebrookdale Factory in England and was installed near the Nightingale Wing in 1907.

12RobERT bRouGh MEMoRiAL fouNTAiN

(Photograph: Sally Couacaud / City of Sydney)

An early example of public art commissioned by the private sector, The P&O Building Fountain by Tom Bass was installed in 1963. Oz Magazine in February 1964 published a satirical photograph that showed three men of varying heights apparently voiding their bladders in the fountain. Since then the work has been commonly referred to as “The Urinal”. The photograph was the subject of a legal battle during which the editors of Oz Magazine were accused of promoting “public pissing”. The artwork continues today to provoke attention because of this history and because of its distinctive structure.

P&o buiLDiNG fouNTAiN 13




This artwork by Robyn Bracken traces elements of former baths at Woolloomooloo. A floating jetty and marine piles mark tidal change, while the stair cage and portal frame reflect on the enclosed spaces associated with early bathing machines. It forms part of the Sydney Sculpture Walk.

14 ARchAEoLoGY of bAThiNG

(Photograph: Brett Boardman / City of Sydney)

An Art Nouveau bronze statue of a young girl standing amid reeds, a heron and frogs beckons people to drink at the red granite drinking fountain near the Woolloomooloo Gate in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens. The fountain, erected in 1889, was a gift from the Levy family in memory of Lewis Wofle Levy (1815–85), politician and business man. The statue, by C B Birch (1832–93), is an important example of aestheticism in Sydney.

15 LEWiS WoLfE LEvY fouNTAiN

Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens cover the area which the original clans of Sydney called Wahganmuggalee, later renamed Farm Cove by Governor Arthur Phillip. It was once the hunting and ceremonial ground for the Eora people. Here too the British made their first attempts to grow crops. Brenda Croft’s art installation Wuganmagulya (Farm Cove) is set into the foreshore walk around the cove. It pays homage to the Eora and other clans who travelled great distances to attend ceremonies here. The figures depict Sydney rock carvings.

16 WuGANMAGuLYA (fARM covE)



Circular Quay encroaches over the natural shoreline of Sydney Cove. At East Circular Quay, the 1788 shoreline is indicated in the granite paving by cast bronze discs. The first constructed shoreline, reclaimed to form Circular Quay, is mapped by a continuous band of white granite.

1788 ShoRELiNE 17

(Photograph: Brett Boardman / City of Sydney)



cAST iRoN cANoPY 18

In 1870, Sydney was graced with eight elaborate cast-iron canopied drinking fountains imported all the way from Glasgow. Only a few survive today, such as this one in Macquarie Place. The fountain canopy carries the City’s coat of arms (adopted in 1857), an instructive Bible inscription, and the less charitable demand: Keep The Pavement Dry! The actual drinking fountain is missing.


The settlement of Sydney was centred on a stream of fresh water that emptied into Sydney Cove. This Stephen Walker sculpture was donated to the City by John Fairfax and Sons Ltd in 1981 and is located in Herald Square at Circular Quay. The cascading fountain with bronze animals is an invitation to children to explore, and its dedication “to all the children who have played around the Tank Stream” evokes a sense of this place stretching back into its pre-urban landscape.

19 TANK STREAM ScuLPTuRE


Busby’s Bore was Sydney’s first reliable water source and is commemorated in a fountain in Hyde Park North (20). Tangible reminders of 19th century water engineering include exposed drains at the Museum of Sydney (21), the Conservatorium of Music (22), the General Post Office building (23) and the old Supreme Court (24). The Pumping Station (25) at Darling Harbour (now re-used as a café) was built for the Sydney and Suburban Hydraulic Power Company and from 1891 to 1975 supplied water under pressure to power machinery in the city.

20 25 WATER ENGiNEERiNG

Busby’s Bore Fountain (City of Sydney Archives)

Loos, lavatories, toilets, urinals. Call them what you will, we all need them. The City Council has been involved in providing ”public conveniences” since the 1880s. An example of a 19th century cast iron urinal can be found in The Rocks (26). In the early 20th century a range of substantial men’s lavatories was built. Reminders of these can be found in Hyde Park (27)– (28), Wynyard Park (29), and Macquarie Place (30).

26 30 oLD-STYLE ToiLETS

Men’s convenience, Macquarie Place (City of Sydney Archives)

This brochure was prepared by the History Program at the City of Sydney. 3rd edition, November 2011.

historical walking tours

Think before you bin this guide.After reading, pass it on to someone else who might find it useful or recycle it.

hWT 13

Discover more of historic Sydney with the other walking tour brochures in this series.

More information can be found at the City’s website: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/history or call the City of Sydney on 9265 9333 We welcome your feedback: [email protected]

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