A little bit of history.....................
Dearest Mom and Dad
As you know I m reading Bill Bryson's fascinating bock about the history of homes. While visiting Button in Sydney we went to quite a few wonderful museums. Two were in the Rocks. Here is a brief little history lesson for you.
So the Rocks basically is the oldest settlement in Sydney - situated right on Darling Harbour
In 1900 the Bubonic plague hit the Rocks - it was at that time very very dirty - so to control the outbreak the government resumed nearly all of the Rocks - and knocked down most of the buildings, homes and shops. Very little of the original Rocks still exists. One of the (if not the oldest ) is Susannah Terrace - now the quaintest little living museum.
They run guided tours of these houses - and because Australia is such a young country - the trust has managed to locate people who have lived there or had memories of people who lived in the houses over the years. In fact, in same cases the furniture on display is the exact furniture which has been donated to them. They have collected photographs of the families and you are told, by the guide, what happened to the them, and what kind of lives they lived.
So now we move one - a couple of hundred years - and as excavation begun for a new youth hostel across the road from Susannah Terrace - foundations of the old Rocks were discovered.
So, instead of just building on this newly discovered archaeological treasure - the youth hostel was built on stilts ABOVE the site - preserving it - it is still an active archaeological site.!!!!!!!!!
Can you see the foundations of the very first homes built in Sydney? I find it all so fascinating - so did Button.
Many artifacts have been found here - some of them were on display.
This is the entrance to the youth hostel - the lift is behind Button.
Have you managed to find the book, Dad?
As you know I m reading Bill Bryson's fascinating bock about the history of homes. While visiting Button in Sydney we went to quite a few wonderful museums. Two were in the Rocks. Here is a brief little history lesson for you.
So the Rocks basically is the oldest settlement in Sydney - situated right on Darling Harbour
In 1900 the Bubonic plague hit the Rocks - it was at that time very very dirty - so to control the outbreak the government resumed nearly all of the Rocks - and knocked down most of the buildings, homes and shops. Very little of the original Rocks still exists. One of the (if not the oldest ) is Susannah Terrace - now the quaintest little living museum.
They run guided tours of these houses - and because Australia is such a young country - the trust has managed to locate people who have lived there or had memories of people who lived in the houses over the years. In fact, in same cases the furniture on display is the exact furniture which has been donated to them. They have collected photographs of the families and you are told, by the guide, what happened to the them, and what kind of lives they lived.
More often than not, the marriages broke down - the guide did say that times were tough in the early days of the Rocks - maybe that was the reason for such a high right of divorce - which was not really the thing to do back in the 1800's. The little shop, which still operates today, is on the bottom right.
Button, doing some shopping. She bought some "old school" wooden pegs!!!
So now we move one - a couple of hundred years - and as excavation begun for a new youth hostel across the road from Susannah Terrace - foundations of the old Rocks were discovered.
So, instead of just building on this newly discovered archaeological treasure - the youth hostel was built on stilts ABOVE the site - preserving it - it is still an active archaeological site.!!!!!!!!!I hope you can see from these photos how the youth hostel operates while the site is preserved.
Can you see the foundations of the very first homes built in Sydney? I find it all so fascinating - so did Button.
Many artifacts have been found here - some of them were on display.
This is the entrance to the youth hostel - the lift is behind Button.
Have you managed to find the book, Dad?XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jenny
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