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The Fish Markets light rail stop is within the Half Way quarry site

Half Way Quarry

Half Way - between Miller Street and Pyrmont Bridge Road, Pyrmont
In the mid 19 century, the quarrymen of Pyrmont had names for each of the numerous quarries on the Pyrmiont peninsula. "Half-way" was named after the degree of difficulty encountered in extracting the harder rock. This quarry's sandstone was used in for the outside walls of many of Sydney's sandstone buildings.

Quarrying of the "Half Way" site began in the 1850s, when the stone from the higher levels of the hillside was being extracted. Most of the surviving sandstone buildings in the suburb of Pyrmont are from the late Georgian/early Victorian era and were built of sandstone extracted from the "Half Way" quarry site. The stone was easy to extract, in plentious supply, and was the most cost effective material available for the construction of terrace houses.

In the 1870s, Robert Saunders began introducing new technologies which led to the re-opening of many quarries like Half Way that had been abandoned where all the rock to ground level had been extracted. By using steam-powered cranes and specially imported sawing machines with steam driven iron blades, Saunders was later able to extract the harder stone found below ground level from the abandoned sites. In the later years, its harder rock from below ground level was used specifically for the decorative carvings on buildings like the General Post Office, the Queen Victoria Building, Sydney Town Hall and others. Today the light rail passes through part of the Half Way quarry site.

Buildings made from its sandstone



Treasury Building, Macquarie Street, Sydney (1849): One of the first of a number of Government buildings on Bridge Street built of Pyrmont sandstone. This two storey example of the Classical Revival style was designed by Mortimer Lewis. Adjoining it is the Premier's Office, another imposing sandstone building. It was designed by Colonial Architect Walter L Vernon and completed in 1896. Both buildings were cleverly incorporated into the 28 level, 530 room Intercontinental Hotel which was completed in 1986.




Queen Victoria Building, George Street, Sydney (1898): Designed by City Architect George McRae in 1898, this spacious and ornate building of Romanesque design was for two decades a produce market. Built of Pyrmont sandstone, it enjoyed many decades of service as a produce market until it fell into disrepair. After surviving numerous threats of demolition and various uses including that of the City Library, it was refurbished at a cost of $75 million and reopened in its present form in 1986.

The building features two statue groups by sculptor William P. Macintosh, which were commissioned in 1897 during its construction. Located on the west facade of the building's central arches at the York Street frontage, one west features a male flanked by two draped females. Made from Sicilian marble, the statues stand approximately 4.5 m high. The east group features a lightly draped female figure flanked by two, semi-nude males. Made from Sicilian marble, the statues stand approximately 4.5 m high.




Sydney Town Hall, George Street, Sydney (1869-89): One of Sydney's most elaborate buildings, a remarkable feat considering it was created by a succession of architects who strove to outdo each other with their own individual ideas of what the end result should be.

The most significant motif carved into the sandstone of the Town Hall is a simplified version of the Common Seal of the City as adopted by the first Council in 1842 (photo above). The work of a draughtsman in the City Surveyor's Department, M. de St Remy, it features a shield supported on one side by an Australian aborigine, and on the other by a British sailor. The shield featured a beehive, reflecting industry, and a sailing ship, recalling Sydney's connections to the sea. The City's motto "I take but I surrender" is incorporated into the design. Although de St Remy's original design was never formally endorsed, it formed the basis for subsequent developments and was used with slight variations throughout the 19th Century.




Customs House, 31 Alfred Street, Sydney: Located on land reclaimed from the harbour in the 1850s near where Tank Stream entered Sydney Cove, Customs House in Alfred Street is of Classical Revival design. It stands on the site of the first jetty built by the pioneer colonists in 1788. For many years, Customs House was not only a focal point for trade but also the building and square in front of it provided a focus for major national celebrations. Today Customs House Square plays host to numerous cultural events and exhibitions.



The building, made of Pyrmont sandstone, is an enlarged and redesigned version of the original much smaller Customs House which features polished granite columns, a coat of arms and the face of Queen Victoria carved in the stone above the main entrance. The elaborate clock face was placed when the side wings were added in 1897. The top floor was added in 1900.




General Post Office (George Street Section), George Street, Sydney (1864-87): At the opening of the first stage, the GPO was described by the Postmaster General as a building that "will not be surpassed by any other similar structure in the southern hemisphere". Built on a grand scale and at huge expense, it dominated the streetscape and skyline for decades and symbolised the prosperity Australia was enjoying in the wake of the gold rush and the economic boom it had fostered. For Sydneysiders, it symbolised their city in the same way that the Houses of Parliament symbolise London and the Eiffel Tower, Paris, and remained its most well known landmark until the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932) and the Sydney Opera House (1971) stole the limelight.

The GPO's George Street facade is one of very few representations that combine elements of the Royal Arms, the official badge of NSW and the unofficial Advance Australia Arms, carved in "Half way" sandstone. It heralds Gullick's approach to designing the NSW Coat of Arms nearly 20 years later. This device is remarkable in several ways. Firstly, the supporters are restrained by chains, emulating the similar restraining of the unicorn supporter of the Royal Arms, supposedly because the unicorn is such a dangerous beast. Neither the emu nor the kangaroo would seem to be as dangerous! However, the unicorn had come to the Royal Arms from the Scottish Arms in 1603, and its restraint had perhaps come to be associated with restraining the Scots: after all, the Scotch Martyrs were a well-known group of political prisoners in the early colony. Is there an allusion here to the uncertainties of NSW or Australian nationalism needing restraint?




Georgian Terrace, 105-115 Harris St, Pyrmont:: This two storey terrace, built during the mid nineteenth century, reflects the development of Pyrmont/Ultimo as a predominantly industrial and warehouse district. Alongside industry, wealthy landowners established large areas of working class terrace housing, that characterised residential development and resulted in the close social and physical environment that evolved in the area.

This group of terrace houses is a rendered sandstone building of typical two storey terrace configuration, with a central passage to the rear between the two houses on the ground floor. The symmetrical building is Victorian Georgian in style. The verandahs feature upper floor cast iron lace balustrades and brackets with paired central posts which frame the central passage and assist the symmetry of the facade. Walls are plainly detailed, with rectangular openings and the corrugated iron gable roof is continuous in broken back form over the verandahs.




Cottage, 6 Union St, Pyrmont: this very small, single storey house is part of a terrace of mixed buildings running along Union Street. It has ashlar sandstone walls, a single rectangular entry door, a timber framed sash window and a corrugated iron gable roof. The house is of great interest for its small size and very simple configuration that reflects the characteristics of a very simple, working class residence of the nineteenth century.


Georgian Cottage, 4 Ways Terrace, Pyrmont: This mid to late nineteenth century cottage was part of the first phase of development of the vicinity, when the higher land around the Pyrmont peninsula was occupied predominantly by working class houses whose occupants were employed in the various shipyards, foundries, quarries and factories which characterised the area and were typically located around the foreshores of the peninsula. The cottage stands on the escarpment above Mill Street with views across Darling Harbour and predates the excavation of Jones Bay Road.

The residential buildings which characterised the early development of Pyrmont Point were a mix of one and two storey terrace houses and free standing cottages, with common characteristics relating to their size, materials, quality and the size of their subdivision block. This building is an example of these types. The small house contrasts strongly with the much bigger scale of the nearby wharves and storehouses.

The house is of rendered sandstone ashlar above the baseline, set on rough rubble sandstone footings. It has a hipped roof covered in reconstructed timber shingles. These replace the original shingles that were found by the owner under the corrugated iron hipped roof. It is symmetrical in plan, with a central entry door and flanking windows and the rendered walls are lined to simulate ashlar construction. Eaves are almost non existent.




Bakery (former), 82 Harris St, Pyrmont: This mid nineteenth century former bakery, shop and residence is historically significant for its association with the development of Pyrmont/Ultimo at that time, and typifies the practice of a suburban bakery combined with retail premises and residence that were common. Local bakeries were a ubiquitous feature of nineteenth century suburban settlement and have declined in numbers since the shift towards supermarkets and shopping centres.

The building is of ashlar sandstone with shopfront and a residence on the upper floor. It features a ground floor driveway through the building to the courtyard at the rear. Typical of Georgian era architecture, the building is plainly detailed, with no parapet and no verandahs, a corrugated iron gable roof and rectangular window and door openings.




Terrace House, 67 Harris St, Pyrmont: This nineteenth century terrace house is walled with ashlar sandstone and is of two-storey terrace configuration. The roof is parapeted gable in form and is clad with corrugated metal. There are some decorative elements on a low parapet above the main facade, but little other decoration. Window sills project only slightly from the front elevation. There is no verandah. The building survives as an example of a Pyrmont stone dwelling of the period.




St Bedes Church, School & Presbytery, 37-43 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont: dating from 1867, these buildings have been in use as a place of worship for over a century. Their history and development are closely allied to the history of the neighbourhood and it is associated with the history of the Catholic Church in NSW. Its establishment coincided with the influx of Irish immigrants, following the events surrounding the failure of the potato crop in Ireland between 1847-52. The construction of the Church by volunteer labour reflected the material poverty and strength of community spirit of these immigrants.

The St Bedes Church is a small, early, Victorian Gothic style Church constructed of dressed ashlar sandstone with a slate tile gable roof. It is simple in details, with pointed arch windows, parapeted gable ends with carved stone Crucifixes as finials and buttressed walls. It relates well in scale and finishes to the housing and many of the other buildings nearby. The presbytery is an ashlar sandstone, gable roofed house with a projecting faceted bay and front verandah of rendered brick. The projecting bay has a basement floor with pointed arch windows and the upper level windows are round arched. The school building is a rectangular, gable roofed, brick building with a skillion roofed wing along the north side. The gable end parapet to the street frontage is stepped from both sides up to the centre and there is a small entry porch in the centre of this facade. The school and presbytery are representative of their form and function.