HIRING TOWN HALL

DID YOU KNOW?

Sydney Town Hall is built on the site of Sydney's first official European cemetery.

The Vestibule chandelier is lit with has over 170 lamps and is lowered twice a year for maintenance and cleaning.

The Vestibule chandelier is lit with over 170 lamps and is lowered twice a year for maintenance and cleaning.

For its time, Sydney's Grand Organ was considered by Westminster Abbey's organist as the 'finest organ ever built by an English organ builder'.

The City's first Royal visitor, HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, laid the foundation stone for Sydney Town Hall on 4 April 1868.

Four huge bronze bells play the Westminster chimes on the quarter hour and chime the number of the hour, on the hour.

The electric passenger lift in Town Hall, installed in 1906, is the oldest working lift in continuous use in Australia.

The citizens of Sydney were granted a public holiday on the day Sydney Town Hall opened on 27 November 1889.

The ceiling in Centennial Hall is made of Wunderlich pressed metal panels. In 1888, it was claimed that it could withstand the playing of the highest organ note.

There was no one single architect for Sydney Town Hall. At least eight men contributed to its final design over a period of 21 years.

The first meeting of the Municipal Council of Sydney was held in November 1842.

Town Hall Surrounds

The site for Sydney Town Hall was Sydney’s first official cemetery which was used between 1792 and 1820 for the burial of its early residents. While the footprint for the Town Hall was exhumed and the graves which would have been affected by the excavation for the foundations of the building were relocated prior to the construction of the building, gravesites still exist in the area around the Town Hall. This explains why archaeological remains continue to be uncovered every time the area is disturbed.

One of the conditions imposed on the Council in the 1860s prior to the construction of the Town Hall was that the site be enclosed with a sandstone wall and a fence. Early photographs show that wrought iron palisade fencing with gates and sandstone gate piers defined the curtilege. The fencing was removed in 1927 as a consequence of the construction of Town Hall railway station, and the fence and gates re-erected at St Joseph’s College, Hunter’s Hill.

The creation of an open plaza between the Town Hall and St Andrew’s Cathedral is regarded as an important example of co-operative urban planning and this civic precinct has been an important rallying point for democratic expression, including the demonstrations against Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War and the dismissal of the Whitlam Government during the 1970s.

The Town Hall steps are Sydney’s favourite meeting place. They have also been the ceremonial stage from which official dignitaries receive royalty and watch the parades which celebrate the achievements of victorious sporting teams, the contributions of military units and the cultural heritage of Sydney’s community organisations.