Sydney, Australia, Pentrich and South Wingfield Revolution

Start: First Fleet Park, West Circular Quay in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

(S/E) The shoreline in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) is where The King’s Wharf (A) was and is where the men would have been landed from the transports. Retrace steps through First Fleet Park to George Street and turn left to the corner of Grosvenor Street. (B)Turn back up George Street. (C) Follow George street to reach under Sydney Harbour bridge.

(1) Before the bridge (D), go right then down, right the path, cross Hickson road and follow the harbour edge back towards Circular Quay. Walk around Quay (E) to Fort Macquarie site (Opera House/Bennelong Point).

(2) From the Opera House, retrace your steps and cross to Customs House.

(3) Turn left out of the Customs house (F), left around the corner into Loftus Street. Follow up Loftus Street to Macquarie Place Park on your right. Walk left up Bridge Street and cross over to the Museum of Sydney (G). Continue up Bridge Street and cross Macquarie Street to the Conservatorium of Music (H).

(4) Walk down (South) Macquarie Street past Parliament House, Sydney Hospital, Mint Museum (I) and Hyde Park Barracks.

(5) Walk through Hyde Park North; take the diagonal path on the right of the fountain (South-West) to Park Street; follow it right (West) to the Town Hall (J). Walk through Town Hall Square.

(6) Turn right down Bathurst Street. Short Walk Option: Follow down Bathurst Street to Darling Harbour then follow directions for the Long Walk from waypoint (11). Turn left into Kent Street pausing to view the Judges House (K), continue to the end of Kent Street; turn right into Liverpool Street, left into Sussex Street then to the end at Hay Street.

(7) Cross Hay Street into Thomas Street, then right into Ultimo Road. Follow to the end then turn left into Harris Street.

(8) Turn right into Thomas Street and follow to the end.

(9) Turn left into Wattle Street then right at the lights to the Essen Restaurant on Broadway (cnr. Wattle Street and Broadway). Walk back along Broadway to George Street. (L) 

(10) Take the steps down to the Devonshire Street pedestrian tunnel, and turn left to access the Goods Line Walk.  At the end of the Goods Line, walk down the steps on the right to cross Darling Drive. Follow Darling Drive to left and follow path to Darling Harbour.

(11) (Short walk carry on from here) Walk through Darling Harbour (M)/Tumbalong Park. Follow around the shore of Darling Harbour to Margaret Street West; follow up to Margaret Street via escalators. Continue up Margaret Street to Scots Presbyterian Church (N) on the corner with York Street.

(12) Turn left into York Street (O) then left into Jamison Street. Retrace steps to York Street then follow the pedestrian tunnel to left at the corner of Grosvenor Street down to Kent Street (P) and turn right. This was the route the men would have taken from the gaol to the quarry.

(13) Walk down Kent Street (Q) to the Lord Nelson Pub. Turn right into Argyle Street to the Garrison Church. Continue down Argyle Street.

(14) Turn right into Cambridge Street, Walk back to First Fleet Park via Nurses’ Walk and the end of the walk on the shoreline in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). (S/E)

Shorter walk – 7.25 miles/11.7 km
Urban walk, Take care when crossing roads
Start: First Fleet Park, West Circular Quay in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

More information at Pentrich and South Wingfield Revolution

In September and October of 1818, fourteen of the men sentenced to be transported arrived in Australia, this walk incorporates some of the areas of Sydney that all of the men would have frequented.

(A) The MCA is also where the old Commissariat building was located from which clothes, etc, were issued to the new arrivals and where John Mackesswick later worked. It is also the probable site of the old Grocer’s warehouse.

(B) To the site of the gaol to which the men would have been marched on disembarkation.

(C) Observe the plaques, sites of the first hospital and watch house. Continue to the site of the old battery and observatory.

(D) Note Cadman’s Cottage on the right.

(E) Note the studs in the pavement showing the original shoreline. This point area is where convicts were later landed off the transports. Construction began 1817; completed 1821; demolished 1901. Also plaque in pavement re. Fort Macquarie. View the diorama to get a perspective of Sydney as it is today relative to 1817.

(F) View the memorial to the site where the Union Jack was raised after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. Also, view the anchor from the Syrius, one of the transports of the First Fleet; obelisk prepared by quarrymen.

(G) Take time to look at some of the old footings of the first Government House and a plaque to note the site of the first Government House.

(H) These buildings were originally the stables and staff accommodation for the old and current Government houses.

(I) The Sydney Hospital and the Mint Museum are on the sites of the old Rum Hospital. The Hyde Park Barracks were built in 1818, but German Buxton and George Brassington would have been familiar with them, being involved in the stone masonry. George was working at Sydney Hospital when Josiah Godber died there in 1822.

(J) The Town Hall is on the site of the old burial ground.

(K) Walk on the right hand side past the Judge’s House, 531 Kent Street. (EdwardTurner built a house next door.) Edward also built the Essen Restaurant, originally named the Stonemasons Arms.

(L) To the right is Central Station, part of which has been built on the site of the Sydney Asylum Hospital where John Onions and John Hill died. John Hill was buried next to the building in Sandhills Cemetery

(M) The site of Dixon’s Flour Mill, where Josiah Godber worked, is in the South East corner of Cockle Bay & the site of Grose’s Wharf, where Joseph Turner worked, is at the bottom of Bathurst Street (near McDonalds.) Sussex Street Bakery, where Thomas Bettison worked, is probably nearby. Note how much the shoreline has changed due to land reclamation.

(N) German Buxton is thought to have bought shares in the quarry and supplied the stone for the building of this Church.

(O) On the corner of Jamison and Clarence Streets is St Philips Anglican Church where John Onions was the sextant for a while.

(P) Take note of the terrace houses on the right hand side of Kent Street in front of the old quarry wall. NOTE: Kent Street WAS the quarry, as confirmed by a plaque on one of the houses. (Josiah Godber, Thomas Bettison, Edward Turner, John Mackesswick, German Buxton and George Brassington all worked here in the quarry.)

(Q) Take the chance to view the archaeological dig under the YHA (follow signs to ‘The Big Dig’) and the mural on wall at end of Gloucester Street.