February 28, 2024
My Chinese course was over, and a new course would begin in 10 days; so I used this opportunity to travel back to Sydney for a week. I took the opportunity to visit the University of Sydney. (Note that this page is really only for non-Sydney origin readers; readers such as Danny and Jenny went to the University of Sydney with me.)
The Google map shows Sydney University (the two terms are equivalent) just to the south-west of the Central Business District. When the uni (short for ‘university’) opened in 1854, this was outside Sydney in the bush.
A plan of Sydney University itself. It shows Victoria Park, a green triangle on the upper left; the historic buildings to the right of Victoria Park; the colleges on the right filling up half the map; and the engineering quarter on the other side of City Road, marked “Darlington” on the plan.
I took this photo at the Gardener’s Cottage, at the very east of Victoria Park. There is a display in the very right, which said it was designed and built in 1888 in the Victorian Gothic architectural style.
Victoria Park has changed since I was there 35 years ago. I recall it was a bare area with a sprinkling of trees and a swimming pool; the entrance to the University was from Parramatta Road. But in the 1990s the University restored the avenue to the Gardener’s Cottage, and now it’s a beautiful place (above).
The University of Sydney’s motto “sidere mens eadem mutato” and coat of arms, at the entrance to the uni proper. According to the uni’s website, the motto means something like “The same learning under new stars”, the implication being Sydney University is just like Oxford or Cambridge but in the southern hemisphere.
This photo was taken beside the coat of arms facing west, Victoria Park behind me, about to cross into the historic building section. In the centre is the Main Quadrangle.
Time to take a YouTube journey around the historic buildings!
The main entrance to University of Sydney Main Quadrangle. According to the NSW government,
“This group of Gothic Revival buildings, forming the Main Quadrangle is probably the most significant group of Gothic Revival buildings in Australia. Indicating the growth and development of the University of Sydney since its inception. The symbolic and functional heart of the University. The first building of Australia’s first university, designed on an impressive scale and in an architectural style traditionally associated with the highest standards of learning, the original building was a potent symbol of the vision and ambition of its founders, of their belief in the future of the colony and of the overriding importance of education in the age of responsible government. The East Range and Great Hall have remained symbolically at the heart of the University throughout its history, despite substantial changes to the dynamics of the University campus and its building stock. One of Australia’s grandest secular buildings in the Gothic Revival style and, at the time of its construction, the largest public building in the Colony.”
Notice above the great doorway level with the roof, there is a national coat of arms, which wasn’t Australia – it’s Britain. New South Wales was a colony of Britain until 1901. Notice also the flag flying above the roof – it’s the Rainbow Flag.
Another view of the Main Quadrangle. On the right is the Great Hall. On the far left is the historic Anderson Stuart Building:
“Teaching in medicine began in 1883 in a small cottage on Science Road. A brilliant student in Edinburgh, Anderson Stuart was a pioneer of University-based medical education in Australia, at a time when most English practitioners were still the product of apprenticeships and hospital-based medical schools. The first medical class had only six candidates; but this number had increased to nearly two hundred by the turn of the century. Constructed between 1884 and 1892 the building was designed by the Colonial Architect James Barnet to the specific brief of Professor Anderson Stuart who supervised every aspect of the development of the Medical School and its building as well as subsequent additions until his death. On a prominent site to the south of the main building, the school was designed to be in harmony with it, in both architectural style and materials and is made of brick, encased in sandstone. The building’s eastern façade is aligned with the Great Hall and is part of the grand complex of Gothic revival buildings presenting a balanced vista from the city.”
Standing at the entrance to the Great Hall – sorry about the bad photo. The pictures of past NSW governors, the statue of dignitaries (the statue of Wentworth at far left), the hammerbeam roof – I felt the weight of history upon me.
“In 1854, Edmund Thomas Blacket began designing the University’s Great Hall. The original colonial architect, Blacket’s design was intended to mirror the Tudor Gothic style seen in the London Guildhall, the Banqueting House at Hampton Court Palace and Westminster Hall in England. The foundations were laid in 1855 and by July 1859, the Great Hall was ready for unveiling. A grand music festival was held over a week to commemorate the momentous opening of University buildings to the public. … An iconic feature of the Great Hall is the sloped roof, built in hammerbeam style to resemble that of Westminster Hall in London. Look up and you’ll see 12 carved wooden figures of angels sitting among the beams holding items that reference the arts and sciences”.
Incongruously, there was Careers Day at the uni – the bottom of the photo is taken up by booths promoting different jobs. It was a strange scene.
A closeup of the very imposing door leading into the quadrangle. I was reminded of some of the old Oxford colleges.
In the Main Quadrangle. As SudentVIP says, “A big old slab of gothic architecture, right in the middle of Sydney Uni. Come here for offices of philosophy lecturers, vast and stuffy lecture theatres, the famous jacaranda tree [since died], and to take photos with your motorboard [sic] on graduation day.”
A tourist looking out over the Main Quadrangle. The Department of Philosophy is behind the grass. An article in Honi Soit (pronounced “Ony Swa”, a shibboleth marking the Sydney University student) details in depth the Department of Philosophy battles: “Philosophy itself is notorious for having eccentric characters, so it’s no surprise that the Department at Sydney University has its own colourful history. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the Department was caught in a quagmire of big personalities and political tensions culminating in an infamous split in 1973.”
I went upstairs to MacLauren Hall, filled with booths advertising careers (above). It was very imposing, with the Gothic Revival architecture, hammerbeam roofs, and heavily decorated windows. SudentVIP says “Massive hall space used by the university for particularly prestigious lectures and seminars. Creepy, like a lot of the rooms in the Quad.”
In 1987 this was used as a registration point for new initiates like me.
A photo of the southern entrance to the Main Quadrangle, ornately decorated. Note the lion and the unicorn motif – the kangaroo and emu, part of the national coat of arms, were yet to come. The coat of arms of the various departments decorated the arch below the animals.
A photo of the Physics Building. The University of Sydney says “The School of Physics at the University of Sydney is the leading physics department in the country … we were the only physical sciences school in Australia to receive a perfect score in all eight categories, and achieved a top score of five in every category.” I was going to do Honours in Physics, until I found out what it involves.
Inside the building, shot furtively from the doorway. In this room, I recall, the lecturer derived the speed of light from Maxwell’s Equations. Fun times.
I returned to Redfern train station via St Paul’s College. I was told that when Sydney University was new a big proportion of eligible young men (no young women, they were banned) were in the bush, so the colleges were established for them. These colleges were independent of the University, despite providing accommodation. This led to interesting university-college complications.
On my way out of Sydney University I crossed City Road and into Darlington. Once Darlington was a suburb, but the Dictionary of Sydney writes,
“The social trajectory of inner city ‘slums’ was mostly upwards in the later part of the twentieth century, as once despised terraces acquired a new trendy status. But any such chance for Darlington was stymied by the predations of the University of Sydney, which viewed the area as essential to its expansion after World War II, and obliteration was the only course it was charting for the suburb. It acquired ‘special zoning rights’ under the County of Cumberland Planning Scheme, adopted in 1951, and from 1958 it began acquiring Darlington properties. In 1960 the state formally permitted it to buy up all land in a specified area of 36 acres (14.5 hectares), without regard to the usual planning regulations. At the time, this area included 416 houses, 28 house/shops or shop-only buildings, 47 factories, five pubs, a dance hall (the Surryville) the Royal Institute for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, the Darlington Town Hall, post office and public school. This decision blocked further development in the area … [but] plans were altered to allow retention of the original stone school house, which was upgraded for use by the university’s Music Department – the first reluctant admission by the university of any obligations to the heritage of the area.”
The above photo is of that schoolhouse, standing alone. In the background are various engineering departments.
Redfern Train Station was just a short walk away; I caught a train home.
Wandering Richard 