A precinct in constant transition
The area known as Circular Quay is one of the busiest localities on Sydney Harbour. Circular Quay is a busy transport hub, an entertainment quarter, a cultural precinct, a busy commercial zone, government administration, and today a tourist mecca.
The Circular Quay precinct has a rich history and is a transition zone where activities have gone from one activity to another. There is the heritage of Sydney’s sandstone colonial buildings, a rich collection of mid-century modern and some post-modern gems. Amongst them are also buildings that have been re-purposed while others have been demolished.
So, what is a quay? The Cambridge Online Dictionary defines a quay as a long structure, usually built of stone, where boats can be tied up to take on and off their goods.
Circular Quay is located on the southern side or at the head of Sydney Cove. It was known to the Eora people as Warrane and was one of the first contact points between First Nations people and Europeans in 1788.
When the First Fleet arrived in 1788, the ships anchored offshore in the centre of Sydney Cove. Animals were lowered over the vessel’s side and swam ashore, while cargo and convict passengers were transferred to open boats and rowed ashore. In later years the arrival of free women passengers in their finery was inelegantly lowered over the ship’s side in a bosun’s chair to the open boat below.
The Tank Stream drained into Sydney Cove on the western side of Circular Quay and was the water supply to the colony in its early years. The stream was eventually closed off to the harbour with the completion of the retaining wall (1855) and built over in the late 1870s.
Quay construction
Circular Quay was initially constructed in stages between 1837 and 1855 to stabilize reclaimed Tank Stream tidal flats land and was called the Semi-circular Quay. The stonewall construction with sandstone quarried from Bennelong Point allowed shipping to gain greater access to warehouses that lined the quay area on all three sides. The gradual building of a seawall permitted the construction of wharves and ready access to warehouses built adjacent to them.
One of the oldest warehouses built in the 1850s is Campbell Stores on the western side and at the bottom of The Rocks. Construction of warehouses east of the Tank Stream occurred after the mid-1860s with Mort & Co woolstores (1869) with others built in East Circular Quay in the 1890s.
First government house
Government administration played a role in constructing the first government house for Governor Phillip (1788). A Customs House appeared in 1800, with the current sandstone building construction starting in 1834. On the western side of the Quay were the government Commissariat Stores (1788) and the government dockyards, which were replaced by the modernist Maritime Services Board building (1952) and then, in turn, re-purposed as the Museum of Contemporary Art (2012). Modernist styling continues along West Circular Quay with the Overseas Passenger Terminal (1958), which had significant additions in 1988.
Commuting by ferry began to dominate the Quay area from the 1890s with the foundation of the Sydney Harbour Trust (1901), with trains and ferries terminating at the Quay. The expression of mid-century modernism appeared with the construction of Circular Quay Railway Station (1956), envisaged initially by engineer John Bradfield and completing the City Circle rail loop. The Cahill Expressway (1958), named after NSW premier Joe Cahill, was added above the railway.
The Quay transport infrastructure was complemented in Alfred Street by adding the AMP headquarters (1962), which was the highest building in Australia. The Alfred Street terminus of the Sydney City Light Rail (2019) is one of the latest transport additions to the precinct.
East Circular Quay
Eastern Circular Quay is dominated by Bennelong Point, first known as Cattle Point. It is a rocky outcrop with the first building Bennelong’s Hut. It became a defensive position for the new colony, and the Francis Greenway designed Fort Macquarie was commissioned in 1817 and finished in 1821. Fortifications were removed in 1901 and replaced by the Fort Macquarie Tram Depot, which was demolished in 1958 to make way for the modernist Sydney Opera House.
An architectural masterpiece
Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon the Sydney Opera House is a 20th-century architectural masterpiece that opened in 1973. In 2007 the building became a World Heritage Site and was considered outstanding universal value. The UNESCO World Heritage Website states:
The Sydney Opera House is a great architectural work of the 20th century. It represents multiple strands of creativity, both in architectural form and structural design, a great urban sculpture carefully set in a remarkable waterscape and a world-famous iconic building.
Today Circular Quay is alive with the coming and going of people. The area is dotted with eateries, high fashion outlets, hotels and office towers. It is a heady mix of Sydney commuters, tourists, Sydney day-trippers and those off for a cultural fix at the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Sydney Opera House.
New architecture
Circular Quay is overshadowed by the latest post-modern architecture with the newest addition of the Salesforce Tower at Sydney Place at 172-180 George Street. The building will be Sydney’s tallest office tower at 263 metres and 53-storeys and is part of the general renewal of the Circular Quay precinct.
History Notes 