Day 19: 27/6/13
Today I decided to give the beaches a miss as it was still forecast to rain and I had to get the bag ready for Bangkok. I slept in a little and caught the end of breakfast. I had to wash my clothes then as I had very little clean clothes left! I finished a book I was reading while I was waiting for them to wash and dry. I ironed them aswell so it took up half of the day!
I went to Darling harbour for the afternoon. On the way I passed Paddy's markets so I had to go in to check them out. It was like a big warehouse with lots of stalls selling clothes, jewellery, souvenirs, etc.
I had been right about Darling Harbour- it wasnicer in the day time. There was a whole area of restaurants and cafes that I hadn't seen at all the last day. So I had lunch there and a cup of tea.
I decided then to go back to The Rocks where there was a walking tour at 6pm. This one was shorter, just an hour and a half and it was just based on The Rocks area. This, again, was the oldest area of Sydney where the first settlers lived. It was called the rocks as the ground was just a rocky headland and they had to carve out the rock to build any houses or anything. There are lots of old buildings there and little laneways and alleys that are left from that time. As a lot of the first settlers were convicts it was a rough area with prostitution, brothels, gangs and high crime.
The tour started near circular quay where the opera house is so I got good night time views again! The guide was a young girl, very chatty and with good information. She started at Cadmans cottage which is the oldest building in the Rocks- built in 1916. Cadman was a convict and was given the job of minding the boats that rowed out to the big ships that brought the convicts. He met his wife on one of these boats, as he was a convict too. They met and got married within 2 weeks! There were 4 men to every woman that time but it was dangerous to be a single woman that time as many went missing and were forced into prostitution.
There was a statue of William Bligh there. He was the captain involved in Mutiny on the Bounty. He was given a second chance by the government and allowed to be a governor here, but there was a mutiny against him here too and Macquarie ended up taking over. The king had imposed a ban on trade in the convict colony and Bligh tried to enforce that completely but the people revolted against him.
We walked along a lot of little laneways that were really only the width of one person. As it was dark already at this stage you could imagine what it was like back then. One of the gangs that the guide mentioned had women in their gang that lured the men into the alleyways and robbed them of everything!
The convicts lived freely in the area really. Three sides of the headland are obviously surrounded by water if its a headland so escape wasn't really possible on those sides. So they just needed soldiers on one side and then the convicts were contained. They thought that living like this they woul become better citizens but they often just corrupted each other really. No murderers were ever sent to Australia as thy crime was punishable by hanging at the time in England. Most of the convicts that had been sent over were thieves so theft and forgery were big problems in the Rocks. At one stage there was a bank robbery. As the convicts had built everything, including the bank they had a pretty good idea how to rob it! The equivalent of 20 million dollars was stolen and the police never found it. Two years after the crime they found out what happened when one of the robbers committed another crime. When arrested he said he'd tell them who the other bank robbers were to save himself from hanging. He said they had found a tunnel underground and kept digging up until they came to the bank. There were three other robbers. One had died in the two years gone by. The other two were arrested and should have been hung but they had no real evidence against them as the other convicts word was not admissible in court in those days. So the three of them were sent to a different convict settlement in the Norfolk islands. When the ship arrived there, only two of the convicts were alive, guess which one didn't make it!
A lot of the Rocks area had been demolished in the early 1900's when an outbreak of the plague occurred. 103 people died and only 3 of them were in the Rocks but the government still took it as a chance to demolish part of the area as it was seen as the slums. Even in the 70's the government tried to knock all the old buildings and there were huge protests. The demolition and builders involved took the side of the residents so eventually the government decided to preserve part of the area, even though now they are still trying to rehouse people that live there.
Because of part of the area being demolished there are newer buildings in the middle of the area, as well as ruins. There is a big archaeological site in the middle of it aswell which is supposed to be the biggest one in Australia. Blocking off the site they have metal fences that look like the shape of the houses back then. One part has the rooms marked out and furniture places in it aswell to give you an idea what they looked like. Near this area where there were old cramped houses was where the Irish area was. There's still one house left. It had a shop, set up in 1844 and it opens for tours every day now and things are still sold in the shop!
There are three pubs in the area all claiming to be the oldest. One, called the Fortunes of War, has the date 1828 on the wall, but the building it's now in was only built in 1922. The Hero of Waterloo pub that we heard about on the last tour has existed in that building since 1843. The last, Lord Nelson hotel, is the oldest hotel in the area.
We passed the house also where the man lives that owns the rights to the bridge climbing activity. It costs almost $300 to climb the bridge I think! The government didnt want to allow the activity at first but then he offered to pay a million a year, for a 20 year contract! Maybe it was 2 million actually? I can't remember- too much money anyway! This mans grandfather was the first man to cross the bridge by train so it seems his fascination with the bridge starts there. He even has that ticket for the train in his wallet and insured for something crazy! When the bridge was opened the prime minister was there to cut the ribbon, but someone dressed up, rode by on a horse with a sword and cut the ribbon first. Noone knows where the sword is. It was said to have been in Ireland at one stage but now it's rumoured that this guy has it!
One of the first prime governors tried to befriend the aboriginals so captured a few now and again and made them have dinner with him. One was called Bangalow and he was to be an advisor to the governor. He even went to England with him for some time, but he picked up diseases and illness over there as his body wasn't immune. When he came back he went straight back to his tribe and didn't really work as an advisor at all, but there are still places in Sydney named after him and his wife.
We finished the tour on Observatory hill where there's an observatory and you can see out over the harbour bridge- again a good night view. She told us here about how for a long time they feared a rebellion from the Irish convicts as she said there were rebellions going on in Ireland at the time- what rebellions were in the early 1800's? Anyway, they shipped lots of them to other convict sites just incase, but a rebellion never happened!
I walked back to the hostel then. It was late night shopping and everywhere was busy so I had a look in some of the shops aswell. Myer always have a really impressive cosmetic and perfume area which is nice to walk around!
I had to repack all the washed clothes then and get the bag mostly ready as I leave at 5:30 tomorrow morning. Ill have a shower now so I'll be almost ready to go. The flight isn't until 9:40 but it takes an hour to get to the airport and I've to be there three hours early for an international flight. So, an early start and a long flight on the way! It's a ten hour flight. I arrive a t 4:30 in the afternoon Bangkok time and there's supposed to be a transfer there to bring me to the hotel. So, hopefully all goes according to plan!