Location
Pyrmont is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia 2 kilometres southwest of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is also part of the Darling Harbour region.
Pyrmont was once a vital component of Sydney’s industrial waterfront, with wharves, shipbuilding yards, factories and wool stores. As industry moved out, the population and the area declined. In recent years it has experienced redevelopment with an influx of residents and office workers. (Wikipedia)
History
Pyrmont contained a mineral spring of cold water bubbling out of a rock and was thus named for a similar natural spring in Bad Pyrmont, close to Hanover, Germany. Thomas Jones was granted 55 acres of land on the peninsula in 1795. Land was sold to Obadiah Ikin in 1796 for 10 pounds, which he then sold to Captain John Macarthur in 1799 for a gallon of rum.
Pyrmont was the site of quarries from a fairly early stage because of the quality of the sandstone. Charles Saunders, the licensee of the Quarryman’s Arms hotel, became the biggest quarry master, with three quarries established in the area from 1853. The work was continued by his son and grandson till circa 1931. The quarries were nicknamed Paradise, Purgatory and Hell Hole by the Scottish workers employed by Saunders. Steam-powered equipment was used there for the first time in Australia. The sandstone was used in many of the most significant buildings in Sydney. Saunders Street, near the site of the Paradise quarry, was named after Saunders.
The area was also the site of the first Presbyterian Church in the colony, built in 1864 and situated on Mount Street. The congregation eventually outgrew the premises and moved to a new church at Quarry Street, Ultimo, in 1883. In the 1870s, a small Methodist chapel was built on Harris Street on land owned by Charles Saunders. In the 1920s, it was converted to the Maybanke Free Kindergarten, named after Maybanke Anderson, a feminist and educationist. It was still used for that purpose as of 2018.
Pyrmont became a working-class industrial and port community. CSR Limited operated a major sugar refinery. In 1900 the area had a population of around 30,000. The first Pyrmont Bridge opened in 1858. A larger bridge with a swinging span opened in 1902 but was closed to traffic in the 1980s. It was subsequently turned into a pedestrian precinct.
Decay
Pyrmont was regarded as a slum area in the 19th century. It started to decay seriously after World War II, when industries closed down, and the residents moved to the suburbs. In 1963 the Ultimo Powerhouse closed down as well. Its population declined to only 1,800 by 1978.
By 1990 the population had dropped to around 900.
Redevelopment in the 1990s
In order to rejuvenate the area the government initiated the Better Cities Program. In 1992 the City West Development Corporation had been created with the mission to renew the precinct. In 1999 this responsibility has been transferred to the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.
This led to a larger community of 13,000 by 2004 and also an increase in trade with businesses moving back into the area, totalling 22,000 employees. Almost all industrial function is gone from the area now, replaced by low and high-rise residential developments. The sugar refinery closed down and some of the buildings, including The Cooperage and Tablet House, were restored as residential and office space. Both are heritage-listed. (Wikipedia)
Places of Interest
