Pyrmont Bridge - Then & Now - 2

Same bridge as yesterday, different angle. You will note, of course, that Pyrmont Bridge is now motorised-vehicle-free. Even the exceedingly ugly Monorail has been removed. With both my shots, I am facing east. Instead of being predominantly a working harbour, Darling Harbour - which the Pyrmont Bridge spans - is now predominantly a leisure and tourism harbour. The restored pub, the Dundee Arms, is tucked in on the other side of that massive white rectangular building on the further shore.

This 1907 image shows the working habour past, of both Darling Harbour and the Pyrmont Bridge. Pyrmont is immediately to the west of the bridge, ie at my back. It provided much of the sandstone for work in the immediate vicinity, and for the CBD, from quarries with the romantic names Paradise, Purgatory. and Hellhole. In the B&W image, clearly visible on the horizon are (from L to R): the dome of the Queen Victoria Building, the clock tower of the Sydney Town Hall, and the double western buttresses of the Anglican Cathedral, St Andrews. The view ach and every one of these landmarks from the Pyrmont Bridge today, is obliterated by developments since 1907, as one might reasonably expect.

Pyrmont Bridge - Then & Now - 1

The first Pymont Bridge, across Darling Harbour, was opened in 1858. It was wooden. It was replaced in 1902 by this steel bridge. Both versions had a swing span which opened to allow the passage of tall ships.

The "Then" shot was taken by Charles Kerry, and is part of the Tyrrell Photographic Collection at the Powerhouse Museum. They estimate it was taken between 1902 and 1917. I walked across on a most blustery day, and the span swung open behind me. My shots were taken facing east. The structure across the bridge(the little house) is the control room for the opening span.

Darling Harbour wharves

Taken from Pyrmont Bridge, about midday today, facing slightly NW. On the right there are the looming towers of Barangaroo, and right foreground is the Sydney Acquarium, on the site of the original Market Street Wharf, commissioned by Governor Macquarie in 1811. On the left is the National Maritime Museum, and a smidge of the renovated wharves of the old industrialised Pyrmont. Way in the background, is the "north shore" with the towers of Chatswood just visible.

Sitting on the dock of the Bay

Waiting for my function on child immigrants at the Maritime Museum to commence, I wandered under Pyrmont Bridge and into Cockle Bay.

These two lads had a wonderful view of the Bay at their very doorstep. The honey-bee-chequered building is the IMAX Theatre which I must pluck up the courage to attend ... one of these days.


Cockle Bay is part of the larger Darling Harbour, the harbour being named after the 7th Governor of the state of NSW (the others of note being Philip, Hunter, King, Bligh, Macquarie, Brisbane, Darling, Bourke). Cockle Bay started life as a provider of shellfish for the aboriginal tribes of the area but was quickly polluted by industrial effluent come white man and his industry. Eventually it was home to a massive railway shunting and goods yard. This was converted into the entertainment district that we enjoy today.