Sydney Town Hall

Hey Doc! Rev up the DeLorean in front of Woolies, yell «Great Scott!» and find yourself transported in time (but not in space) to 1832.
Gone are the Sydneysiders congregating on the steps of the Sydney Town Hall. Gone are the steps, pillars, «fanciful» roof, and the multi-​facing timepiece. In fact the impressive, sturdy, Victorian, sandstone building is gone altogether! In its place is a quiet, secluded, and very neglected graveyard: The Old Sydney Burial Ground. A cow aimlessly strolls between the headstones whilst chewing on some cud, and a stray goat and a couple of pigs are also nearby. Closer inspection reveals the permanent citizenry of the necropolis are a motley crew: a cacophony of convicts, freemen and military men. The oldest tombstones are dated 1792. Many of the graves are vandalised and lying open. Great Scott! Something decidedly untoward just wafted up out of one of them!
It is already quite dark and there is some movement over in the shadows. Grave robbers digging up another grave to purloin the leaden coffin, no doubt. Ah! Not this time — though, evidently, a common enough occurrence. No, this time it’s just your average Piddlin’ Pete relieving himself after a big night.
…
When the construction of the Town Hall commenced in 1869, many of the remains were exhumed and moved to a mass grave, marked by a monument, at Rookwood Necropolis. However, only those graves that were directly in the path of the construction were removed so there are, in fact, still graves containing skeletal remains being unearthed on site in the Town Hall basement. (I’m still coming to terms with the realisation that, having danced at the Town Hall in the past, I was effectively dancing on the grave of one of my convict ancestors! A thieving con by the name o’ William Innes).
Tours showcasing these archaeological excavations are not currently offered on site, but there is nothing stopping you from parking yourself in front of Woolies and fashioning a DeLorean out of your grey matter so you can visualise what was once on the site of the Sydney Town Hall and what still lies beneath! If you need a bit of a stimulus to get your ol’ noggin DeLoreanified, Google the «Old Sydney Burial Ground» to see historical sketches of how the burial ground used to look.
As for me, it’s high time I got back to the future.
* Review originally written and posted 23 February 2013.

Nice old piece of architecture. And a massive organ like the one at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, San Diego. We went inside to check it out as I hadn’t been here in decades. Seems like nothing has changed, but you probably wouldn’t want a change. No doubt its on the national historic registry and all that, also.
There was a school assembly about to start for the school next door. Particularly snotty-​nosed kids. Whatever.

Psst. .. wanna see a massive organ?
Follow me, and get ready to suspend your disbelief. It’s easy to forget the Town Hall is there. Well it’s not, given it’s size and gothic façade, but after you’ve walked past it for the thousandth time it sort of fades into the background, and you need a special occasion to remind yourself that hey, we’ve got this epic old building, and it’s all kinds of awesome.
Inside are marble hallways, chandeliers, ballrooms, probably some stately offices at the back blocked off to the public, and the main chamber, a huge hall used for galas and fundraisers and events of state, and the entire back wall of this huge, regal room is an organ, an old, bold, colossal pipe organ like something out of a steampunk Wizard of OZ. It is a sight to behold, let me tell you. I just want to see the damn thing played. Might have to come back on Christmas.

Loved being able to attend a seminar in this amazing building.

Another great piece of architecture in Sydney.
Located in the CBD, this is a great building showing unique architectural design. While I did not enter this building, I did sit on the steps on a busy and lively Friday night and people-​watched — it was great! It must not be a unique thing to do since there were many others sitting on the steps of Town Hall enjoying the people watching too.
This place is a great spot to appreciate day or night… an amazing landmark to see.

Town Hall is one of Sydney’s iconic historical structures. The Town Hall itself is used for events like school award ceremonies or performances. Below the actual structure is the Town Hall train station. You can go north to Wynyard station or south to Central Station.
The steps of Town Hall are a great place to wait for the bus and people watch. Watch out for the pigeons though.
Nearby you can go to the Queen Victoria Building which houses stores that sell a wide variety of items. It’s really a small mall.

One of Sydney’s historic gems and definitely worth a look in side, its played host to a variety of events in recent months including seminars for MBA’s and even a Lady Gaga ga ga ga ga concert.
Beautifully decked out in opulent furnishings albeit with a slightly tough and ready Aussie side to it, I mean its no Vatican or palace of Versailles but I really do love the interior its quite grand!
Watch out for the emo’s on the steps during the evening you may get eye liner on you.

There is a lot more to Town Hall than the steps. Yes ok it’s probably the most central and convenient place to rendezvous (especially with wayward visitors!), but if you can conspire to actually go *inside* this gorgeous building, you’re in for a treat.
Over the years I’ve been to a few events here — dating back to school days (gasp!). I remember being impressed back then and to this day the stunning Sydney sandstone still manages to be awe-​inspiring.
Margaret & David (from ABC’s At The Movies) packed out the place during the Sydney Film Festival. It was great to the hall used for such a vibrantly public service — and not merely reserved for stuffy council meetings and the like.

The Sydney Town Hall is one of our most impressive buildings; imposing over the four-​way crossing on George Street, looking up to the beautiful architecture of Sydney Town Hall is a pleasant reminder of another time, a time when this country of ours was just forming. The Victorian Sandstone building is a good neighbour for the Queen Victoria Building, an ally in the ongoing competition of heritage versus progress.
In addition to it’s aesthetic beauty, Sydney Town Hall is a practical place; people have been meeting each other on the steps of Town Hall since forever. Locals, tourists, friends, business partners — Sydney Town Hall eclipses the social barriers between these people, with its iconic nature as a compelling force. Day and night, there are friends and lovers sat on the steps.
It also serves as a venue for Sydney’s various events, and can be said to be one of the most talked about, used and beautiful places in Sydney.

The Sydney Town Hall steps have been the meeting place for students and people from out of town who don’t know the name of a bar of café to meet at since the dawn of time. The Town Hall is located bang in the centre of the city– as a town hall should be– and is a beautiful building. 1880’s Victorian sandstone, the building has retained its original function and interior, and houses council chambers as well as various sized function rooms. These rooms, besides what ever Secret Council Business goes on inside, serve as a venue for talks during Sydney Writer’s Festival and those type of events.
But most of all Sydney Town Hall is famous for its huge organ. Yeah I went there. The main hall (the Centennial Hall) contains the world’s largest pipe organ with tubular pneumatic action and it’s the dream of organists world wide to play with those pipes.

I have been fortunate and blessed to be invited to many events in this historic, prestigious building. It is sophisticated and elegant inside, and it was a real honour to be enjoying my university graduation ceremony here. If there is any art or cultural event going on in Sydney such as the recent Art and About event; you would be lucky to find some prominent art hanging around here.
Serves a variety of different purposes; just love the sheer elegance of the main auditorium; especially the beautifully shaped and designed roof with that european homely feel. The seats and comfortable. This is the best part of the Town Hall. Downstairs still has its grace, glory and elegance yet it’s more functional and a little traditional like a normal church hall.
It will forever remain Sydney’s ideal meeting spot for friends to meet prior to catching up; hence the iconic Town Hall steps. It was also special when the Sydney Town Hall lit up the way it did in celebrating the ten year anniversary from the 2000 Olympic Games the way it did last year — just priceless. Just beautiful, well maintained, pristine and historic. Another great landmark to add to Sydney’s books.

Die Town Hall, die Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts im viktorianischen Stil gebaut wurde, ist das Rathaus Sydneys.
Außerdem beherbergt es verschiedene Ausstellungen.
Direkt gegenüber des Queen Victoria Buildings gelegen, bilden diese beiden Gebäude an diesem Platz im Herzen Sydneys eine Art Gegenpol zu den umliegenden modernen Hochhäusern. Die Uhr im Turm dient nicht nur als Information für die Bürger, sondern für viele ist die Town Hall auch Treffpunkt bei Verabredungen.
Unter und vor der Town Hall liegt das große Verkehrsdrehkreuz Sydneys. Nicht nur viele Buslinien halten hier, sondern auch die City Rail.

Situé au coeur de Sydney, Le Sydney Town Hall se dresse face à la Reine Victoria Building et à côté de la cathédrale St Andrew’s.
Regardez ce style d’une grande architecture de style victorien, il demeure le seul non-​religieux bâtiment de l’ère à avoir conservé sa fonction d’origine.
Le bâtiment abrite la salle du Conseil, des salles de réception, le Centennial Hall et bureaux pour le maire et les conseillers élus.
Le Centre Hall (salle principale) contient l’un des plus grands orgue entièrement mécanique, construit de 1886.