We were really wilting in the heat on our big 'city' day on our Sydney trip and after a late lunch we were casting around for something to do out of the heat while we waited for our dinner date. We stumbled upon the Susannah Place Museum, a carefully preserved row house in the Rocks, the original working class neighbourhood of Sydney and where many immigrants settled. This row of houses narrowly managed to avoid demolition during the big bulldozing and redevelopment of the area in the 1970s and it is now a small museum that is only open to small, guided tours. It was a fascinating insight into life as an immigrant from the 1850s onwards. Our guide was careful to emphasize that the houses hadn't been so much 'renovated' or 'restored' to their original states as 'preserved' - there were many layers of different decades present in the furnishings and the decor. But what was perhaps most surprising was that one of the families had continued living in the houses (by that time mostly abandoned) until 1990! They were determined not to move out until they were confident that the houses would remain.
My favourite story from the tour was the description of wash day for one of the residents (see the copper boiler in the courtyard below) who had a standing order at the local pub for two schooners of beer every Monday night (wash day). The beers would be ready and waiting on the bar for her. I can't say I blame her.
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| The carefully reconstructed shop that was in the front room of one of the houses for many years (see the tin at the top left) |
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| Modern cooking - this family had gas installed |
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| The privy |
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| One of the houses that was still lived in during the 1980s |
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| The washing machine |
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