First Government House, Sydney

First Government House
An 1809 watercolour painting of the first government house erected in Sydney.
First government house site
Location in greater Sydney
Former names Government House
Alternative names Museum of Sydney site
Rum Rebellion site
General information
Status Demolished
(and replaced with Government House)
Type Government administration
Architectural style
Location 41 Bridge Street, Sydney CBD, New South Wales
Country Australia
Coordinates 33°51′49″S 151°12′41″E / 33.8635°S 151.2115°E / -33.8635; 151.2115Coordinates: 33°51′49″S 151°12′41″E / 33.8635°S 151.2115°E / -33.8635; 151.2115
Construction started May 1788 (1788-05)
Completed 1789
Demolished 1845-1846
Client Colonial Governor
Owner Government of New South Wales
Technical details
Material English bricks, native stone
Design and construction
Architect
Official name First Government House Site
Type Historic
Criteria a., b., c., g., h.
Designated 19 August 2005
Reference no. 105761
Official name First Government House Site
Type Archaeological-Terrestrial
Criteria a., c., d., e., f., g.
Designated 10 December 1999
Reference no. 01309
References
[1][2]

The First Government House was the first residence for the Governors of New South Wales in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1788 and used until 1845, after which it was demolished in 1846. Some of the site is now occupied by the Museum of Sydney.

On 19 August 2005 the site was listed on the National Heritage List,[2] and on 10 December 1999 was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register with the following statement of significance:[1]

First Government House was the first permanent centre of colonial administration in Australia. It was the home and offices of the Governors of New South Wales from 1788-1845 and the official, social and administrative centre of the colony from 1788-1845. As such, it is associated with numerous events of political, cultural and social significance to the colony's development. Its use as both home and seat of authority and its siting and subsequent development determined to a large extent the pattern of growth of Sydney. This entails both the physical pattern of the streets and its cultural pattern of political, official, recreational and residential and mercantile quarters.

The site of the building contains the only remains from 1788 known to survive in 1983. These remains provide evidence of Australia's major phases of history, architectural, building technology, and administration of the colony in New South Wales.

First Government House has a unique historical significance because of the many historic figures, both European and Aboriginal, who are associated with the building. It also has great scientific significance which is proven in its potential to answer research questions in these and other fields.

First Government House is of great symbolic importance to the Australian people. The site is our most tangible link to our past and the foundation of white settlement in this country.

— Statement of significance, New South Wales State Heritage Register.

House history

The abode of the first Governor of New South Wales, Captain Arthur Phillip, was a structure made of canvas and timber brought from England with the First Fleet and erected in January 1788. After establishing the site of the settlement, a substantial "temporary" government house in the Australian Georgian style was established on the corner of Bridge and Phillip streets in the Sydney central business district. The two-storey house was built under the direction of James Bloodsworth, a convict builder responsible for the construction of most of the colony's buildings between 1788 and 1800. This building, the first "permanent" building in Sydney, was completed by 1789 using English bricks, native stone and a quantity of convict-baked sandstock bricks from the Sydney region.

This first government house was extended and repaired by the following eight Governors, but was generally in poor condition and was vacated when the Governor relocated to the new building in 1845, and was demolished in 1846. The house suffered as a result of the poor mortar (made from the lime of crushed sea shells), white ant infestations, and what appeared to be rising damp in later years. Despite these problems, the house was an architectural milestone for Australia, and the first proportionately classical building in the continent. It even included Australia's first staircase. The colony’s first Legislative Council met at the house in 1824 while the first Government Orders (1795) and Australia’s first newspaper (1803) were printed at the site.[2]

The building was adapted quickly to the Australian climate. A verandah was added by Governor King circa 1800, and a drawing room was added in a side wing in the same year. By 1816 Francis Greenway was commissioned to construct a substantial extension and ballroom by Governor Macquarie, transforming Phillip's house into an Italianate cottage; the first such Italianate structure in the colony.[2]

Macquarie was responsible for prompting the construction of many of the colony's first permanent public buildings, and he attempted to build a replacement for the original Sydney Government House. Work on this was started by Greenway, but the project was not approved by the British government, and unlike the castle-like stables, commissioned in 1816, was never finished.

The house was used until 1845, when the official residence of the Governor relocated to the new Government House. The building was demolished in 1845-46.

Much of the "Governor's Domain" to the east of the original house has survived today as the adjacent areas of parkland known as The Domain, the Botanic Gardens, and also the gardens of today's Government House, adjacent to the Sydney Opera House.[3]

The heritage-listed 1816 stables build by Greenway under Macquarie's direction still stand in the Botanic Gardens and form a facade for the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.[3] The stables were built in the Gothic Picturesque architectural style with turrets, the building was described as a "palace for horses", and is a portrayal of the romantic vision of Macquarie and the British architectural trends of the time. It is the only example of a gothic building designed by Greenway still standing. The cost and apparent extravagance was one of the reasons Macquarie was recalled to Britain.[4] The stables, located close to picturesque Sydney Harbour, reflect the building techniques and the range of materials and skills employed during the early settlement era.[4]

Site preservation

The site of the first government house remained virtually untouched until the 1980s, when a proposal to build a new high rise office tower on the site was made. Following representations to the NSW Government by concerned members of the newly formed Friends of the First Government House Site, construction was deferred to allow archaeologists to explore the area. The well-preserved foundations of First Government House were located in 1983 and excavated over the following months; providing a priceless insight into the early years of our nation. The tower was redesigned to preserve the historic foundations and incorporate them into the design of a new museum. When it was commissioned, the project was called the First Government House Museum.[5][6][7] Whilst the museum building was being built in November 1993, the New South Wales Minister for the Arts announced that the museum would be known as the Museum of Sydney on the Site of First Government House,[8][9] described in the press at the time as a "mouthful"[8] and commonly contracted to Museum of Sydney.[5] The change of name attracted protests.[5][6][10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "First Government House Site". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "First Government House Site (Place ID 105761)". Australian Heritage Database. Department of the Environment. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 "The Governor of NSW: Government House". Parliament of New South Wales. NSW Government. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  4. 1 2 "Conservatorium of Music". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 Poland, Peter; President, Woollahra History and Heritage Society Inc. (1 December 1993). "Intellectual Hijacking". The Sydney Morning Herald (letter to the editor)|format= requires |url= (help). p. 14. Geraldine O'Brien is right when she describes "The Museum of Sydney on the Site of First Government House" as a mouthful (Herald, November 20). The sad thing is that this title will be shortened to "The Museum of Sydney" which will both obscure the real significance of this very important and historic site and totally mislead those who visit the museum. The significance of the First Government House is that it was the powerhouse of the European settlement in this part of the Pacific. On this site decisions were made which not only affected the exploration of and expansion into Australia of the newcomers with all that that meant for both them and the Aborigines but also decisions which reached out to the world from Cape Town to Calcutta, Canton and California and all points in between. To call the museum which should be interpreting the far-reaching significance of this site "The Museum of Sydney" reflects an arrogance that assumes that Sydney is the only place that matters and an act of intellectual hijacking on the part of those who have been given responsibility of what was to be "The First Government House Museum".
  6. 1 2 Bain, Adrian (21 December 2002). "Phillip needs filip". Daily Telegraph (letter to the editor)|format= requires |url= (help). Sydney. p. 32.
  7. ↑ Fraser Range Granite NL, "Quarterly Exploration Reports December (Part A)", 27 January 1994, Australian Stock Exchange Company Announcements via factiva accessed 27 August 2011.
  8. 1 2 O'Brien, Geraldine (20 November 1993). "History underfoot in new museum on significant site". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 15.
  9. ↑ Local Government (General) Amendment (Rate Exemptions) Regulation 2009 (NSW) and reg 123, Local Government (General) Regulation 2005 (NSW).
  10. ↑ "Column 8". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 January 1995. p. 1. IT WAS, perhaps, the most genteel demonstration ever held in Sydney - the holding up of placards by the Friends of the First Government House Site at the opening of First Government House Place in Bridge Street yesterday. The Friends were the first to agitate in the early 1980s to stop the site being covered by an office block. An archaeological survey uncovered the footings of Governor Phillip's house, and after long negotiations, a museum has been built there, to open on March 11. Why are the Friends upset? They had expected their preferred name, First Government House Museum, would be chosen. Instead, the Heritage Houses Trust has called it The Museum of Sydney - so some 50 Friends had their quiet, polite, gentle and heartfelt say when the place was opened.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text by New South Wales State Heritage Register available under the CC BY 3.0 AU licence.

  • "Modelling the First Government House". Museum of Sydney.
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