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.
From Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 - 1872) Tuesday 15 November 1887
SYDNEY has long suffered under the reproach of thoroughly inadequate hotel accommodation. It is not that she lacks establishments, the style and management of which equal her requirements. She possesses these, but there are by no means enough of them. A stranger from the country, or visitor from overseas is astonished to find that after he has named a handful of places, he has exhausted the list of notable houses, notwithstanding the fact that our metropolis numbers some eight hundred licensed establishments, presumably for the good housing and convenience of the public.
This well-deserved censure is, however, being gradually removed... Palatial places, more worthy of the metropolis, are beginning to rear themselves in architectural excellence, and the transitory human element in our midst is beginning to feel much more cared for. Truly, a splendid, departure in every respect is that visible in the Empire Hotel, which was opened on the 15th October.... And well is the edifice styled, for it is augustly built, as well as augustly named. Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 - 1872) Tuesday 15 November 1887 p 20]
Back to list