Centre for Australian Art

Australian Prints + Printmaking

Sydney in 1809: Resident Artist's impression [Prints after John Eyre.]

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Title

Sydney in 1809: Resident Artist's impression [Prints after John Eyre.]

Author

Mowle, P. O.

Source

Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney) 18 April 1831 - ongoing

Details

Saturday 26 July 1930, p. 11 of 26.

Publication date

26 July 1930

Type

Essay/article

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

SYDNEY
IN 1809: Resident Artist's impression.

(BY P. O. MOWLE.)
 
Early in 1809, John Eyre, a resident artist, drew two panoramic views of Sydney, one from the “East Side of the Cove" and the other from the "West Side of the Cove”. The two views were sent to London, where they were divided into two parts and so published, in colours, on June 4, 1810, by John Booth, of Duke-street, Portland-place.
In the following year, Booth used the four views to Illustrate D. D. Mann's "The Present Picture of New South Wales," a quarto publication which dealt with the "State of Agriculture and Trade, Prices of Provisions and Labour, Internal Regulations and other interesting Subjects."
In 1884, the four views were reproduced in chromolithography and republished by William Dymock, of Sydney; and these republications have done much to familiarise the Australian public with the location and character of the buildings of early Sydney. They further depict the state of Sydney immediately prior to the arrival of Macquarie, who, during his first year of office, 1810, improved and named the streets and promulgated building regulations. Dymock's republications occasionally change hands in the bazaars of art dealers at about 20/ each, while the rarer publications of 1810 realise as much as £5 each.
 
THE ARTIST.
John Eyre (who must not be confused with the missionary of that name, at Otaheite, and afterwards the schoolmaster at Parramatta) spent many years in New South Wales. He was a prolific artist, and, in addition to the drawings sent to London in 1809, he produced ten of West's well-known set of 12 views, published in 1813, and four for "an extra collection of 12 beautiful views of New South Wales" published in the following year, and advertised as having been "drawn and engraved by artists of superior abilities resident in the colony." In the Sydney Gazette of August 15, 1812, Eyre notified his intention of leaving the colony, but there is no information available respecting his departure.

THE BUILDINGS.
On examining the panoramic view from the "East Side of the Cove," formed by specially joining for reproduction in the "Herald," two of the 1810 publications, it does not appear that any of the buildings still stand, although many of the institutions flourish on other sites. On the extreme left of the picture there is Government House, the site of which is marked to-day by a tablet at the intersection of Bridge and Phillip streets. This house was first occupied about May, 1789, although the tablet records that it was the "First Government House. 1788-1845." For 15 months, that is, from February, 1788, to May, 1789, the first Government House stood on a site now occupied by the north-eastern corner of the Lands Office. The Government House depicted had a frontage of 100 feet, with a verandah running along its full length, the roof of which was supported by eight double pillars, and at each extremity, and slightly in front of the building there stood a sentry-box. The house was surrounded with a garden and shrubbery of about four acres, and it stood at a distance of about 200 yards from the waters of the cove.
Many important functions were held at the house, the first taking place on June 4, 1789, in honour of the anniversary of the birthday of George III. After Phillip, the first occupant, returned to England, in 1792, the house was successively occupied by Hunter, King, Bligh (who was there put under arrest and deprived of his Government on January 26, 1808), Macquarie, Brisbane, Darling, Bourke, and Gipps, the last named removing into the present Government House in June, 1845.

The large buildings extending some distance right and left and on the heights to the right of Government House were the military barracks, situated on the site now bounded by George, Barrack, and Clarence streets and Margaret-lane. The buildings were commenced in September, 1792, the largest being added by Lieutenant-Colonel Foveaux in 1808-9. These barracks, further enlarged by Macquarie, were occupied until 1849, when they were removed to Paddington, in order to release for civic purposes a valuable site of 16 acres. Leaving an area for public use, now known as Wynyard-square, and so called after Major-General E. B. Wynyard, commander of the forces in New South Wales, Tasmania, and New Zealand during 1847-53, the remainder of the site was sold at Intervals during the period 1849-52.
The building to the right of the barracks depicted with a tower, was the church of St. Phillip, so named by Governor King, in 1802. The foundations were originally laid by Hunter in 1798, but King reduced their measurements from 150 by 52 feet to 97 by 32 feet. The height of the tower was 49 feet 6 inches, and its diameter 12 feet. It contained a peal of eight bells, which had been brought to the colony by Hunter, and they were rung for the first time on May 29, 1807, to mark the completion of the tower. The church stood on the site now occupied by an electric lighting station at the intersection of Lang and Grosvenor streets, and was completed and opened for service in 1808, but not consecrated until Christmas Day, 1810. The building shown in the picture was demolished in 1857, after its place had been taken by the present church of St. Philip, in 1856.

The building to the right, but nearer the water, with one door and two windows on either side of it, was the jail. It was constructed of stone and took the place of a double log building, which had been wilfully set on fire, and so destroyed, in 1799. The building portrayed was completed in 1801, at a cost of £3954, of which amount a large proportion had been raised by assessments on the landing of spirits, wine, and beer. The assessments, or duties as they were soon termed, were found to be so easily collected that they were continued for general purposes and from that day to this duties of import, and occasionally of export, have been imposed without intermission in New South Wales.

The wharf near this part, at the foot of the road leading to the hill, was called the hospital wharf, on account of its contiguity to the general hospital, which consisted of the three buildings to the right of the road just mentioned. The buildings on the right of the general hospital, one with eight windows and two doors and the other with four windows and one door, were the barracks of the medical officers. The hospital was removed to Macquarie-street in 1816.

The large buildings to the right, at the water's edge, are the residence and extensive warehouses of Robert Campbell, who established himself as a merchant in 1798. Campbell, for many years, was the leading merchant in the colony. In 1806, the Governor chartered one of his vessels, the Sydney, to bring supplies from Calcutta to relieve tho distress caused by the Hawkesbury floods. The vessel was wrecked on the coast of New Guinea, and it was not until 1825 that he was partly compensated by a grant of 4000 (afterwards increased to 5000) acres of land at Limestone Plains. The estate was called "Duntroon" and in 1911, a large portion, including the homestead buildings, was selected for the Royal Military College of Australia. Campbell was a Legislative Councillor from 1825 to 1843, and he died at Duntroon in 1846.
 
FORTIFICATIONS.
The hills in the background were known as the Windmill Hills. In 1804, King reported to the Secretary of State that he had "caused a citadel to be commenced on the highest windmill hill as it commands the town and country round to a very great extent and the approach of .the harbour." He also reported that "it may be termed a fortification." This was a reference to the ramparts of hexagonal design depicted on the hill at the right of the picture, the foundation-stone of which was laid by King on September 4, 1804, in the flank commanding the "Town of Sydney and Surrey Hills." The citadel was named Fort Phillip, in honour of the first Governor, and arrangements were made to encompass it with a large ditch and glacis. In 1825, the citadel of fortification, having outlived its original purpose, was converted into a signal station, and there a portion of the stone ramparts still remains. This portion, consisting of one complete and two incomplete flanks, might appropriately be marked with a tablet as being the oldest remaining part of any public construction in Australia.

The point, at the extreme right of the picture, was named Dawes's Point, after Lieutenant Dawes, who arrived as an officer of the Sirius and with the qualifications of an astronomer. He immediately built an observatory and installed instruments with which he had been furnished by the Board of Longitude. Shortly afterwards, when the Sirius was despatched to the Cape, in October, 1788, eight guns were unshipped and placed in position in front of the Observatory and a small breastwork thrown up in front of them. In 1801, the Dawes's Point or West Battery consisted of twelve guns, and King reported that it "is now capable of annoying any vessel with effect." At this battery, the "new Union Flag" was displayed for the first time on June 4, 1801, the anniversary of the birthday of the Sovereign, and the occasion of the public reading of "the Royal Proclamation for the Union between Great Britain and Ireland." From here also, the Royal Standard was flown, for the first time in Australia, on June 4, 1803.
 
[The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW), Saturday 26 July 1930, p. 11.]