Industrial heartland

In the 1890s, Pyrmont and Ultimo were thriving industrial suburbs with a combined population of 19,177. Rail connected the suburbs to the port and trams took workers to their jobs. The railway yards, wharves, wool stores, power stations and mills created employment for local residents. By 1900, Pyrmont and Ultimo were providing Sydney with power for its lights and trams and were a centre for the distribution of Australian wool, flour, milk, sugar and other foodstuffs.

Photograph, Darling Harbour, from a full plate glass negative,
Kerry and Co, Sydney, Australia, c1884-1917.
Kerry and Co images such as the one above and below, left,
are part of the Tyrrell Collection of glass plate images.

On the sheep's back
By the 1870s the wool industry was successful and expanding rapidly. Auctions were transferred from London to Sydney, requiring city storage. Ultimo, with its deep water harbour and the Darling Harbour goods lines was ideal. The steep slopes leading to the ridge on the peninsula were perfect for handling wool bales — in at the top, examined, displayed, auctioned, and out at the bottom.

Sydney's first wool store was the Richard Goldsbrough warehouse built on the corner of Pyrmont and Fig streets in 1883. From World War II until the 1960s, wool stores on the peninsula employed thousands of men. With lanolin oil soaked into thousands of feet of wood, fires were a constant hazard. In 1935 the Goldsbrough and Mort store went up in a blaze lasting two weeks, filling the suburb with the smell of burning wool and grease.

Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR)
Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR) refined and manufactured sugar and sugar by-products. The sweet smell of molasses and sugar is burnt into the memories of everyone who lived in Pyrmont and Ultimo. From 1875 CSR dominated the northern tip of the peninsula. The company created work, controlled housing and polluted the air and water. Horse and drays, ships and trains transported goods in and out of the peninsula.

The 1919 lithograph above shows a bird's-eye view of Jones Bay.
In the lower half of the image are the Darling Harbour goods yards and the
Navy Victuals Store on Darling Island. In the lower left is Pyrmont power station
and above Harris Street to the right is the Colonial Sugar Refinery.

A busy household and a strong sense of community
Joseph and Mary O'Toole raised their six boys and three girls in Pyrmont. Their son Phillip (born 1913) has vivid memories of a busy childhood — swimming in the baths, playing soccer and rugby for local teams — and a strong sense of local community. Starting off as a carrier with his own horses and carts, in 1916 Joseph O'Toole bought three motor lorries and founded the Austral Sawdust Company. Collecting sawdust from the seven timber mills at Pyrmont, he sold it to horse owners, butchers and grocers. Video interview.

The Griffin incinerator (1935-1992)

Composite of details of the exterior of the Pyrmont incinerator.

Designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony in 1935, the incinerator's façade was very detailed for an industrial building. The design was influenced by ornamental geometry and pre-Columbian Mayan architecture. The incinerator closed in 1971.

The beauty of the Griffins' design (exterior detail at left) and the sheer engineering achievement of building on such a steep site inspired 20 years of protest against its demolition until it was finally approved in 1992.

A Meriton apartment now stands on the site.

Oil painting by Jane Bennett of the Pyrmont incinerator in 1991,
shortly before it was demolished.

The Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo
The Powerhouse Museum arrived in Ultimo in 1893 when the Technological Museum opened on Harris Street (pictured at right). Originally housed in the Garden Palace on Macquarie Street, when this burnt down in 1882 the museum moved to temporary quarters in the Domain. It remained there for ten years until the new purpose-built museum joined the Technical College to make an educational centre for the working men and women of the colony.

Howard McKern (born 1917), pictured at left, worked at the Museum from 1945 to 1977, starting as an assistant chemist and leaving as deputy director. McKern came to know the suburb well, spending his lunch hours walking the surrounding streets and occasionally painting what he saw. From his laboratory McKern looked across to Darling Harbour and Kent Street where 'A familiar scene was big lorries loaded with wool …'. Howard witnessed great changes in Ultimo and at the Museum. Video interview.

Ultimo Power Station
Ultimo Power Station began operating in 1900, supplying electricity for Sydney's trams. Hundreds of men, and some women, worked at the Ultimo Power Station in its 60 years of operation, yet few records survive of their time there. Pictured at right is Ultimo Power Station engine hall in 1905. This is now the part of the Powerhouse Museum which houses the Steaming exhibition.

The exhibition includes objects that belonged to Hiram Lennon (1910–90), who worked for ten years as a timekeeper, assistant pay officer and first-aid officer at Ultimo Power Station.

He married Grace in 1941 and declared in a love letter written at work 'I never knew what living was until you came along'.

Grace and Hiram Lennon are pictured at left.

From power station to Powerhouse
Ultimo power station was transformed over several years into the Powerhouse Museum which opened in 1988.

The Museum commissioned artist Bruce Goold to create the linocut at right celebrating the transformation.

500 Harris Street Ultimo, PO Box K346 Haymarket, Sydney NSW 1238, Australia.
NSW Government | About this website | Privacy statement

all contents © copyright Powerhouse Museum
Powerhouse Museum collection index