Looking east up Hunter Street from the corner of Pitt & O'Connell Streets (and showing C.M. Ware's Royal Mail Hotel), Sydney

1870-1875
Glass photonegative

Quiet during the day, the city could change at night. A report in the Sydney Morning Herald, 7 June 1873, of the arrest of several sailors seems remarkably restrained.

A ‘difficulty’ arose yesterday evening in Hunter-street, between some sailors belonging to D30 and the police. One of the city constables received a blow on the head which drove the colour from his cheeks, whereupon he drew his baton and defended himself with much judgment and moderation.

A gas lamp stood outside the original 1856 Sydney Morning Herald offices to the left, on the corner of O’Connell, Hunter and Pitt streets. Further up Hunter Street, past the blur of a horse-drawn vehicle, can be seen the twin towers of the Iron Church, at the intersection of Hunter and Macquarie streets, now the site of the State Library of NSW.