When the Council was re-instated in 1857 it had no Town Hall site. Grumbling, the government re-issued the Bent Street site grant, but the Council persisted in asking for alternative sites. The Bent Street site (outlined in red on the plan), close to Macquarie Street and to the Colonial Secretary’s office, may well have suited the colonial government’s purposes, but in the very real battle for control of urban functions, the Council was clearly anxious to acquire land which was physically and psychologically located in the commercial centre of town. The enduring interest in the Old Burial Ground site arose from its proximity to the George Street Markets, the Haymarket and the Corporation Wharf. To build a Town Hall there would be to strengthen the municipal precinct and create a symbol of city government in the heartland of commercial Sydney. The experience of their sacking and rule by commissioners could only have clarified the aldermen’s thinking on the strategic importance of building in the right place. The Bent Street site was a valuable one, and by now the Council was manoeuvring to sell it. This would allow the purchase of a more acceptable site, at the Council’s discretion. Eventually, in 1862, the Town Hall Exchange Act allowed the Council to establish a ‘more convenient site’ either by selling or swapping it.

(image: City of Sydney, Engineers Plans S7-154/2)