Sydney sandstone
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Sydney sandstone was the preferred building material used from the late 1790s to the 1890s for the new city of Sydney.
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[edit] The Rocks
Very soon after the first settlement in 1788, farming began to fail because sandstone was underlying, at a very shallow depth, most of the available flat land. This caused what amounted to a famine for the colony, and the early administrators sent groups of prisoners to an area nearby, named The Rocks, to eke out what ever existence they could from the land and build housing for themselves. These first occupants soon hewed out sandstone from the outcrops and built simple houses.
Convicts were also employed tunnelling through what is called the 'Argyle Cut' in The Rocks. The rock was dumped in the mangrove swamps at the head of the Tank Stream to begin to make Circular Quay.
Later development in the area led to bond stores and warehouses being built on the bay, with better housing and pubs for entertainment.
[edit] Types of rock
Quarries were named by the convicts and later free miners for the type of rock being mined, for example 'hell hole', 'purgatory' and 'paradise'.
[edit] Sydney buildings
The main public buildings in Sydney, completed from the 1850s until the 1900s were built in sandstone from Pyrmont where some 50 quarries operated.
The best stone was 'Paradise', a soft rock that is easy to carve, and when weathered colours to a warm, golden straw colour. It is pale grey when quarried but contains the mineral siderite, an iron oxide, that virtually rusts and gives the stone the yellow colour.
From the 1870s, various building sites had up to 300 masons working and carving the stone. Hostorians have reported that during this period, there were more masons working in Sydney that the whole of Europe. Notable buildings of this period include:
[edit] Modern revival
After many sandstone buildings were demolished in the 1960s and 1970s, a revival began when heritage values of these older buildings were recognised.
Today, a few sandstone quarries operate in the Sydney region, catering for renovations and occasional new buildings such as Stone Kit Homes.
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