Abstract
In this chapter we review of previous research and an outline of our methodology which has underwritten a new account of the archaeology of Sydney’s First Government House (FGH), a site of great national and international significance. Following a discussion of the formation processes and sequence of construction at FGH, we provide two studies of different aspects of its archaeology: first, the tablewares and dining equipage of Governors King and Macquarie, and, second, the unusual architectural history of the guard house, built c.1812 and partially demolished in 1838.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Change history
30 January 2020
The book was inadvertently published with an incorrect figure legends for figures 5.7 as “One of the two black basalt sherds recovered from the site (YRP6211). This was probably the base of a tea-serving vessel, probably a teapot or sugar basin. It was recovered from a thick layer of yellow clay above a barrel drain, near the guard house and predates 1810” and 5.8 as “Oval sauce tureen in creamware, impressed ‘3’ (YRP6089)” where as it should be
Notes
- 1.
The first stone-hewn house was built by Lieutenant Governor Ross; work commenced 1 month before the foundation stone of First Government House was laid (Broadbent 1997, 21).
- 2.
According to Broadbent (1992, 12), Governor Macquarie used the Parramatta residence during the winter months.
- 3.
Posts were spaced out and infilled with a weave of twigs which would then be daubed over with clay, a technique known as ‘wattling’ (Bridges 1995, 13).
- 4.
It was reported that, during the move to the new Government House, ‘Hyde Park men’ (convict labourers) employed to carry Governor Gipps’ goods and chattels stole money and jewellery from him (Gillespie 1975, 130).
- 5.
Proudfoot has argued that the demolition took over a year to complete on the basis of a claim on 10 August 1846 for ‘Female Servants cleaning and taking care of Govt House after Gipps’ departure’ (AO 4/7217.2 in Proudfoot 1983, 79).
- 6.
This relationship is not likely to be a product of the different collecting and cataloguing strategies of both excavation phases and artefact identification projects.
- 7.
16R4: 03, 24R6: 11, 38R16: 08, 38R16: 08, 10a, 20, 38R16: 14, 38R16: 20, 38R16: 21, 38R5–38R6: 09, 38R6–38R9: 25a, 40R12: 11, 40R14: 17, 40R16: 15, 40R8: 06, Y-N: 1084, Y-N: 1092, Y-N: 1096. See artefacts: FGH09417, FGH09419, FGH10364, FGH10385, FGH10386, FGH10387, FGH10389, FGH10391, FGH10407, FGH10410, FGH10411, FGH10497, YRP5764, FGH10628, FGH10646, FGH11023 and FGH12110.
- 8.
It is unclear why 216 dinner plates – 3 per person when catering for 72 – were required. Two per person may have been required for each course following entrée, but three cannot be so easily accounted for. It is possible that part of the order was to be used at other residences of the Governor and/or that a portion of them was set aside in case of breakage.
- 9.
These ‘stands’ for bowls were probably oversized saucers, rather than raised platforms that often accompanied tureens or other more elaborate serving wares (Alasdair Brooks pers. comm.). Alternately, the ‘bowls and stands’ may represent oversized teabowl and saucers (see Miller 1991, 15), or perhaps hygiene-related articles, given their placement just above wash-hand bowls, water ewers and chamber pots, in the invoice.
- 10.
There were two stamped ‘WEDGWOOD’ from post-FGH periods of occupation (YRP6084 and YRP6085).
- 11.
Note that Townsend draws the verandah separately; Gordon does not seem to depict the guard house verandah at all (although the First Government House verandah is represented as a series of columns).
- 12.
The two plans differ in their representation of the layout of Government House and its outbuildings. The primary reason being that both surveys were for the purpose of planning the new street grid rather than preparing a detailed architectural plan of First Government House and its associated structures. Gordon’s 1842 plan is far less detailed, each structure being represented in block form to present the approximate location of each structure. Townsend, on the other hand, recorded details of bevelling and the portico of the Colonial Secretary’s Office and Macquarie’s saloon. Aside from these minor distinctions, Gordon depicts the First Government House outbuilding complex and three separate structures, Townsend depicts them as part of one range of buildings, much more alike to Mortimer Lewis’s detailed plan prepared in 1845, prior to demolition. Unfortunately, the guard house was not included in Lewis’s detailed drawing of the First Government House complex.
- 13.
No road surface was revealed, probably owing to significant disturbance of the Young Street drain, and the fact that much of the area that would be road was concealed under the Young Street west kerb.
References
Unpublished
Hughes, J., and Historic Houses Trust of NSW. n.d. ‘Workforce’, Research Folder Held in the Resource Centre, Museum of Sydney.
Proudfoot, H. 1983. ‘The First Government House, Sydney and the Subsequent History of the Site after 1845: Historical Study’. Unpublished Report. Premier’s Department and the Department of Environment and Planning.
Stocks, R. 1988a. ‘First Government House Site, Sydney: Stratigraphic Analysis Report’. Unpublished report. Canberra: NSW Department of Planning, Heritage Resource Services, Anutech.
———. 1988b. First Government House Site: Phillip Street Terraces Watching Brief, for the Department of Environment and Planning, and Alcova Holdings Pty. Ltd.
Thorp, W. 1987. The First Government House Site Ceramics Assemblage: Analysis of Selected Levels, 1788–1969 unpublished report for NSW Department of Planning, Heritage Resource Services, Anutech, Canberra.
Published
Annable, R. 1992. ‘First Government House Young Street Guard House’. Unpublished Report. Museum of Sydney Resource Centre.
Bickford, A. 1993a. ‘FGH Site Young Street and Raphael Street Excavation Final Report: Catalogue Reports’. Unpublished Report 3. State Authorities Superannuation Board.
———. 1993b. ‘FGH Site Young Street and Raphael Street Excavation Final Report: Excavation Report’. Unpublished Report 1. State Authorities Superannuation Board.
Bickford, A., and L. Petrie. 1993. ‘FGH Site Young Street and Raphael Street Excavation Final Report: FGH-AB Catalogue Report’. Unpublished Report 2. State Authorities Superannuation Board.
Birmingham, J. 1990. A Decade of Digging: Deconstructing Urban Archaeology. Australian Historical Archaeology 8: 13–22.
Bridges, P. 1995. Foundations of Identity: Building Early Sydney 1788–1822. Sydney: Hale & Iremonger. https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21123062.
Broadbent, J. 1992. Macquarie’s Domain. In The Age of Macquarie, ed. James Broadbent and Joy Hughes, 3–18. Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press in association with Historic Houses Trust of NSW.
———. 1997. The Australian Colonial House: Architecture and Society in New South Wales, 1788–1842. Potts Point, NSW: Hordern House in association with the Historic Houses Trust of NSW.
Copeland, R. 1999. Spode and Australia: Two Interesting Pieces of Documentary Evidence. English Ceramic Circle 17 (1): 29–33.
Coysh, A.W. 1972. Blue-Printed Earthenware 1800–1850. Devon, England: David & Charles.
Coysh, A.W., and R.K. Henrywood. 1997. The Dictionary of Blue and While Printed Pottery, 1780–1880. Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors’ Club.
Crook, P., L. Ellmoos, and T. Murray. 2005. Keeping up with the McNamaras: A Historical Archaeological Study of the Cumberland and Gloucester Streets Site, The Rocks, Sydney. Archaeology of the Modern City Series 8.Sydney: Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. http://www.latrobe.edu.au/amc/assets/downloads/KeepingUpWithTheMcNamaras.pdf.
Crook, P., and T. Murray. 2006a. An Archaeology of Institutional Refuge: The Material Culture of the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, 1848–1886. Archaeology of the Modern City 1788–1900. Sydney: Historic Houses Trust of NSW. http://www.latrobe.edu.au/amc/assets/downloads/12-HPB.pdf.
———. 2006b. Guide to the EAMC Archaeology Database. Archaeology of the Modern City Series 10. Sydney: Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. www.latrobe.edu.au/amc/downloads/10-ArchDB.pdf.
———. 2006c. The Historical Archaeology of the First Government House Site, Sydney: Further Research. Archaeology of the Modern City Series. Sydney: Historic Houses Trust of NSW.
Crook, P., T. Murray, and L. Ellmoos. 2003. Assessment of Historical and Archaeological Resources of the First Government House Site, Sydney. 2nd rev. Archaeology of the Modern City 1788–1900. Sydney: Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. http://www.latrobe.edu.au/amc/assets/downloads/5_FGHAssessReport.pdf.
Davies, P., P. Crook, and T. Murray. 2013. An Archaeology of Institutional Confinement: The Hyde Park Barracks, 1848-1886. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Gillespie, R. 1975. Viceregal Quarters: An Account of the Various Residences of the Governors of New South Wales from 1788 Until the Present Day. London: Angus & Robertson.
Godden, G. 1969. Caughley and Worcester Porcelains, 1775–1800. London: Herbert Jenkins.
Hayden, A. 1909. Chats on English Earthenware: A Practical Guide for the Collector. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
Lewis, M. 1845. ‘Report on the Present State of the Old Government House Prepared by M Lewis for the Board of Survey’. Colonial Secretary, Letters received. SR NSW.
McBryde, I. 1989. Guests of the Governor: Aboriginal Residents of the First Government House. Sydney: Friends of First Government House Site.
McCormick, T. 1987. First Views of Australia, 1788–1825: A History of Early Sydney. Sydney: David Ell Press.
Miller, G. 1991. A Revised Set of CC Index Value for Classification and Economic Scaling of English Ceramics from 1787 to 1880. Historical Archaeology 25 (1): 1–25.
Proudfoot, H., A. Bickford, B. Egloff, and R. Stocks. 1991. Australia’s First Government House. Sydney: Allen & Unwin and the Department of Planning.
Shaw, A.G.L. 1967. King, Philip Gidley (1758–1808). In Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 2, 55–61. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
Stanley, P. 1986. The Remote Garrison: The British Army in Australia 1788–1870. Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Kangaroo Press.
Sussman, L. 2000. British Military Tableware, 1760–1830. In Approaches to Material Culture Research for Historical Archaeologists, ed. D.R. Brauner, 44–55. Pennsylvania: The Society for Historical Archaeology.
Whiter, L. 1978. Spode: A History of the Family, Factory and Wares from 1733 to 1833. London: Barrie & Jenkins.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Murray, T., Crook, P. (2019). Archaeology at First Government House, Sydney. In: Exploring the Archaeology of the Modern City in Nineteenth-century Australia. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27169-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27169-5_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-27168-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-27169-5
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)