The Dictionary of Sydney presents the latest addition to their mobile app: Randwick Heritage Walk, a free guided tour that explores some of the best historical buildings and sites in Sydney’s Randwick.
Following the success of the Convict Parramatta and Sydney Harbour Islands walking tours, this new guided tour provides a fascinating insight into Randwick’s past, accompanied by contemporary and historical images and GPS guided maps.
On foot with friends or family or from the comfort of your armchair, discover and enjoy little known historical facts about Randwick:
- Did you know that the very first statue of Captain James Cook in Australia was erected in Randwick? In 1874 Captain Thomas Watson, mariner, harbour pilot and lighthouse keeper, commissioned the 18 foot high statue from sculptor and stonemason Walter McGill, whose work also appears on Sydney’s General Post Office, Darlinghurst Gaol, the Australian Museum and the Woolloomooloo Gates. McGill was also a keen phrenologist who cast the death mask of bushranger Captain Moonlight after his execution!
- In the 19th century, special coaches from Wynyard took merrymaking Sydneysiders to the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in Randwick for a grand day out. Next to the Coach and Horses Hotel, it offered croquet lawns, skittle alleys, a dancing room and a menagerie!
- The world famous Irish opera singer Catherine Hayes donated all the takings from her last Sydney concert in 1854 to fund a hospital for Randwick’s Destitute Children’s Asylum.
Based on the Randwick City Council’s Bicentennial heritage plaques program, and researched and written extensively by historian Catie Gilchrist, this latest tour should not be missed!
The app doesn’t work and nor does the link to the Randwick Heritage Walk
Hi Barbara, sorry for the inconvenience, but the post you are referring to was from 2016. So it’s an oldie.