Paddington

Background

The ridge on which Oxford St was built was a walking track for the Gadigal people. A road to South Head, following that track, was roughly built in 1803. It was improved to give better access to the signal station at South Head by Governor Macquarie. In the early days of the colony the area was considered useful only for the collection of rushes for thatched roofing. First land grants were granted in 1823 to:

  • Robert Cooper (an ex-convict convicted of receiving stolen goods of raw silk and ostrich feathers),

  • James Underwood (ex-convict)

  • Francis Forbes (Chief Justice of NSW who introduced trial by common jury)

    who together created a distillery and wheat grinding mill. James Underwood named the suburb in 1839 when he subdivided his land.

Victoria Barracks

We met for coffee at the Arthouse Kitchen before starting a tour of the Victoria Barracks, one of the best known examples of military architecture in Australia. Hasn’t everyone wondered what is behind the long sandstone wall along Oxford St? Time to find out! Tours are run on Thursdays and require a booking.

Originally the barracks were near Wynyard; the construction of Victoria Barracks in Paddington commenced in 1841, with George Barney, the first Colonial Engineer being responsible. The location was chosen as it was the highest point in Sydney. The design was chosen to provide lots of space and to protect the inhabitants from tropical diseases. Local sandstone was used, 70,000 pieces of slate came from Bangor Wales, glass from England, Cedar timber from Central Coast NSW and 240 convicts were involved in the seven year construction. It is still the longest occupied building in the Southern Hemisphere. The Paddington village grew with workers’ cottages for stonemasons, quarry men, carpenters and labourers requiring nearby housing. Larger housing sprung up for the emerging gentry with water views.

  • The main building in the Barracks

  • Each convict created different markings on the sandstone as they were paid per piece laid.

  • The Aleppo pine grown from a seed of the lone tree pine at Gallipoli. A pine tree grows at all Australian barracks. Seeds from these pines germinated the replaced tree at Gallipoli, decimated from WW1.

  • The original officers’ quarters.

  • Uniforms were red because it was the cheapest dye in the 1830s. And stood out.

  • Ten colonels’ families live in this building’s three bedroom apartments

  • Our gang, posing in front of the main building

  • Removing mud from boots

  • Sharpening a bayonet

  • The original hospital, now the officers’ mess

  • Outside looking in

  • Busby Bore ran from Centennial Park to Hyde Park. Fresh water was a scarce resource.

Victoria Barracks today

Today Victoria Barracks is an active base under the command of Lieutenant General Susan Coyle, housing 50 families, mainly SAS and Officers and with over 1000 Officers working at the Barracks. A flag is raised if she is on site. Defence Force Command has operated from Victoria Barracks since the Crimean War. Ex Defence Force members are encouraged to return to the site through sporting (men played bowls on the grounds as we watched) or other activities and the Wallabies and Waratahs train on the grand oval.

The most recent court martial (2022) was for lending a pass to the Barracks to ‘an outsider’.

We said goodbye to our wonderful guides and walked past the Paddington Town Hall opened in 1891. The clock tower is 32 metres high, set in motion in 1905. Three sides of the clock have roman numerals. The fourth, facing Oxford St, celebrates the coronation of King Edward VII by the face reading ERVARDUS THE VII commencing where VIII should be.

Across the road is the Paddington Post Office, completed in 1885.

And Juniper Hall, built by the land-owning gin distiller Robert Cooper in 1825.

Paddington Reservoir Gardens

After lunch at the Paddo Inn we wandered down Oxford St to the Paddington Reservoir Gardens, designed by Edward Bell and built from 1864 to 1866. It operated as a water reservoir, taking water from the Botany Swamps for supply to Sydney up until 1899. It was then used for storage, a garage and mechanical workshop. Restoration commenced in 2006 to convert the site into a stunning garden and park.

  • Our gang, posing at the garden

A walk to Five Ways and then on to Wagner Contemporary, a lovely art gallery owned by Nadine Wagner. Her focus is on exhibiting emerging artists (who stay with her when famous) and the exhibits change every three weeks. Oh if only I had more walls!

Off home to ponder moving some paintings around.

References

https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/barney_george

https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/paddington

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Barracks,_Sydney

https://paddington.church/wp-content/uploads/2019/History/Eve-Cohen-Book-3.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddington_Post_Office

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