Historic Sydney Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rum

Initially built on land that began as a tent hospital on George Street in 1788, this beautiful old building has been on its current site in Macquarie Street since 1811. Australia at that time was still being governed by the far away United Kingdom. That nation controlled most of the funding for various projects and services provided in the colony. A pre-fabricated copper and wood hospital had been sent out with the Second Fleet in 1790 and they said that was good enough. Not to be beaten, Governor Macquarie, one of the great early figures of Australian history, did his deal with the group of canny Sydney entrepreneurs. They were given the sole right to import 60,000 gallons of rum to sell to the colonists, in exchange for constructing a much better and permanent health facility. The building thus erected subsequently became known far and wide by the irreverent colonists as the Rum Hospital.

Completely ruining the beautiful entrance to this gracious old building, however, is a copy of a sculpture of the "Floretine Boar" by the Baroque creator Pietro Tacca (1577-1640). This was donated to the hospital in 1968. It is a huge statue of a pig with tusks and gaping jaws.

Answer: St Andrew's Cathedral

This Anglican cathedral, named after the Scottish patron saint, is located in the heart of Sydney, and is an excellent example of Gothic Revival architecture. It was consecrated in 1868. Though it would be completed years after his death in 1824, it was the far-sighted Governor Macquarie who had a hand in the initial planning of this beautiful structure. With the construction carried out by other builders, and with a far more modest design redrawn by other architects long after Macquarie had left the colony, his was the vision and the belief that set that dream in motion. Macquarie did so much for Australia, realising long before this was ever the case, that Sydney would one day be one of the great capital cities in the world. Though severely criticised and extremely under-appreciated by the English authorities to whom he had to answer, he well and truly deserves the epitaph on his tomb in Scotland that reads "Father of Australia".

One comical tale relating to the design of this mighty work: It was, as is traditional for cathedrals, built along an east-west axis. This meant that the main door of the cathedral faced west, and that the sanctuary faced east. However, Sydney's main thoroughfare, George Street, ran past the sanctuary side, leaving the entrance to the cathedral facing a less accessible street. Unfortunately, when electric tram services eventually began to be used years later, their constant rumbling up and down George Street meant that the Holy Communion service couldn't be heard by the worshippers within. In an attempt to overcome this, the whole interior of the cathedral was reoriented in 1941. Justifying this afterwards, it was stated firmly that this not only allowed the service to be heard, but that the acoustics were much better. Apparently this was not the case at all, and the newly adjusted acoustics were, in fact, atrocious. This in turn was dealt with by a huge increase in the employment of the cathedral's choristers. However, they still had to bellow the hymns to be heard.

Answer: Sydney Town Hall

The Sydney Town Hall was built in the 1880s on the site of a very old cemetery. All business affairs and decisions relating to the efficient running (or otherwise) of the city of Sydney are carried out in this building by the Lord Mayor, elected councillors and assorted staff. The hall section of the building holds the largest pipe organ in the world. It's a truly lovely piece of equipment. Before Australia's iconic opera house was opened in 1973, most performances took place here in the Centenniel Hall instead.

One can't help but feel that it was a shocking thing to replace an historic cemetery and graves dating back to the very first European settlement in this country in 1788, with a municipal building instead. Think of the history that has now been lost forever (both convicts and free settlers). The grave sites were separated by class and rank. Military officers were buried in separate sections from ordinary soldiers, settlers away from convicts, and so on. When this cemetery became too full, new ground was selected elsewhere. Some graves were shifted, but most remained where they were in the now closed ground, forgotten, neglected, vandalised by hooligans, plundered by thieves stealing lead coffins, utilised for illegal disposal of bodies, and even, the ultimate insult, used by the colony's men as free public urinals. Rest in peace indeed!

Answer: Royal Botanic Gardens

Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens is one of three large and beautiful centres of greenery in that city. They were built in 1816 on land that had been the first established farm in the colony way back in 1788. Who else was behind the later planning for the Gardens but Governor Macquarie himself? With the establishment of the gardens came the first Colonial Botanist, Charles Fraser. That gentleman set about importing as many different species of suitable plants from all over the world that he possibly could. This absolutely lovely site once included an enormous and very beautiful exhibition building of Victorian architectural design, known as the Garden Palace. It was completed in 1879 but, instead of the more permanent sandstone or brick structures out of which many of lovely old historic buildings were constructed, it was built from cedar and oak timbers. Horrifyingly, this magnificent building was burned to the ground in 1882. Occupied by government departments at the time of the fire, a vast amount of the early records of the colony were destroyed along with it, an historical loss of incalculable value. All that is left to mark its entrance are these carved sandstone gateposts and a wrought iron gate.

The Gardens are just beautiful. They cover over thirty hectares of greenery, shady restful nooks, water features here and there, gracious expanses, and lovely vistas over the magnificent Sydney Harbour.

Answer: The Governor

Because of Australia's historic and constitutional ties with Great Britain, the Governor of New South Wales is the state's vice-regal representative for the King or Queen of the UK. The governor carries out constitutional and ceremonial duties, on his or her behalf, in the state of NSW.

This building, Government House, with its gothic architecture, is situated in five hectares of its own beautiful grounds, and sits alongside the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking Sydney, the great Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.

Answer: A primary school

The Darlington School, to be exact. Darlington is a very old suburb in Sydney. This little building is one of the oldest remaining schools of its kind in Australia. It must have been a joy attending this perfect little sandstone structure when it was in use as a primary school back in the early days of the colony. Well, considering its client base, perhaps not entirely. It is now part of the much larger complex of the Sydney Conservatorium, which in itself is part of the Sydney University.

The main part of the conservatorium was built in 1815 as stables for the Government House residents and staff. They were designed by the brilliant convict Francis Greenway (1777-1837) who designed an enormous number of the lovely historic buildings still in use in Sydney today. He'd been transported to the colony of New South Wales in 1814 for forgery. In spite of creating all that beauty that fitted in so perfectly with the landscape of Sydney at that time, Greenway now lies buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in a large cemetery in Newcastle, the second largest city in the colony at that time. Unfortunately, his original design for the stables has been built upon by more modern buildings at complete odds to its original design, and with its external walls painted a hideous glaring white. It's the biggest mishmash of architectural horror one could ever hope to see. Only this pictured beautiful little original school, built years after the original stables were constructed, has been left unscathed.

Answer: It is the oldest surviving residential building in Sydney

Cadman's Cottage, built in 1816, was constructed as a residence for coxswains who worked for the government. John Cadman began working in this employment in 1809. He was a convict who had been transported to Australia for stealing a horse. He was transported for life. Aged twenty-five when he arrived in 1797, it wouldn't be until 1821, under the governorship of the far-sighted Governor Macquarie, that he was pardoned. John Cadman lived in the cottage until 1845, with his wife and two step-daughters. When he retired in that year, at the age of seventy-three (an astonishing long life for the times) the position of government coxswain was abolished. This early pioneer convict died in 1848 and was buried in the old Devonshire Street Cemetery. The tale doesn't end there, however.

That cemetery was demolished in 1901 to make way for the Central Railway Station, the largest railway station in the country. Thousands of graves and almost 2,300 tombstones of so many hard-working pioneers of this country were removed to another cemetery, where their weary inhabitants were re-interred. Do you think they'd leave them rest in peace there though? Oh no. Horrifyingly so, in 1976, the organisation that runs that cemetery destroyed most of those fascinating monuments to make way for a maintenance free lawn. Can you believe that? Our pioneers and all those historical records in stone - pushed aside for a bloody lawnmower. What a terrible act of corporate vandalism. To make it far worse, the organisation decided at the last moment to keep a few hundred of those headstones, and cemented them into the ground. Not on top of the graves to which they belonged, however. Just squashed up side by side in a semi-circle where it was most convenient. Then they had the colossal gall to call the place the Pioneer Memorial Park. Still resting there in 2013 you ask? Not at all. They're now being gradually removed and taken over to make room for more recent burials. It's a disgrace. The moral of this story, it would seem then ladies and gentlemen, is don't steal a horse.

Answer: Observatory

The first Sydney Observatory was built in 1788 on Dawes Hill in the centre of the early settlement. That was the same year that Australia was settled by Europeans. It was constructed for the sole purpose of observing the return of Halley's famous comet. Comically so, it missed it. The second Sydney Observatory was built further out in the suburb of Parramatta. The pictured third and still existing Sydney Observatory, now a museum, began on a site on which a mindmill had been built. Unsurprisingly, this was then known as Miller's Hill. Within ten years, this windmill fell into disrepair and its sails were stolen. This was replaced by a fort in 1803, to defend the young settlement against possible attacks by the French, or rebellious convicts. Again, neither event ever took place. By 1825 the eastern wall of the site had been converted into a signal station to send messages out to ships moored in the harbour. This was replaced in turn in 1848 by a bigger and better signal station built on top of the original windmill-fort site.

1855 saw the decision to construct a third Sydney Observatory, and this was completed there in 1858. The new observatory's most important initial role was to provide the exact time on a daily basis for the colonists and the ships in the harbour. At 1:00pm each day, the ball on the top of the tower dropped down, and a cannon was fired off. Today this tradition is still observed, but minus the cannon shot of course. The observatory's most important overall contribution to history was helping map an atlas of the entire sky. The little observatory took seventy years to complete its part of this mammoth task, with the resultant findings filling fifty-three volumes of work. In 1982, the then NSW government decided to convert the little building into a museum of astronomy. So there it sits today on what is now Observatory Hill.

Answer: University

Plans for the Sydney University began in 1848 when it was decided to expand a small teaching institution already in existence, and create a university equal to any in the world. By 1858, the university had had 100 graduates with varying degrees pass through its doors. It accordingly was awarded its Royal Charter by Queen Victoria, recognising degrees conferred by the University of Sydney as equivalent to those earned in any university worldwide that came under the umbrella of the UK. Within seven years from that date, professorships were established in anatomy, zoology, literature, engineering, history, law and philosophy. By the turn of the 21st century, the dream of the founders of this magnificent establishment had been well and truly recognised, with Sydney University ranked as the 39th top university in the world.

Notable alumi who have graduated from this beautiful campus include "two governor-generals, five Australian prime ministers, four chief justices of the High Court of Australia, twenty other justices of the High Court, the third president of the United Nations General Assembly, and five Nobel laureates ..."

Answer: Terraced houses

Terraced houses began to pop up everywhere in the inner suburbs of Sydney between the 1850s and 1890s, during the height of Australia's gold rush times and subsequent population boom. They were almost all constructed of brick, sometimes covered in stucco, and with their balconies and overhangs adorned to perfection with cast iron filigree style wrought iron. They were part of their surroundings and blended perfectly with the lovely shady trees by which they were surrounded.

By the beginning of the next century, however, with age and neglect, many of these gracious old rows of terraced houses had fallen into disrepair. The type of tenants also began to change and the more comfortably off of the city's population began to look down their noses at both, the terrace houses and their tenants, as slum material. This was followed by the era of the rapacious developers who began buying them up by the score, bulldozing them, and replacing them with soulless lumps of cement and glass. Australia was about to lose most of this glorious heritage building style completely, when again the tastes of the public changed. The terraced houses were seen as trendy and, as they were so central and near to the heart of the city, were eagerly sought after by young and upcoming professinals willing to pay exorbitant prices.