This view of Darling Harbour shows the new Australian National Maritime Museum. Th e museum' sjleet includes such unusual vessels as an Indonesian perahu and a Vietnamese refugee boat. On the left, behind the historic Prymont Bridge, can he seen the red masts and bowsprit of the 1873 hark James Craig, under restoration by the Sydney Maritime Museum .
as he climbed the steps to the guillotine on 21 January, 1793 , is known to have inqu ired once more: " At least, is there any news of Monsieur de Laperouse?" In the last room can be found relics taken from the wrecks located at last in 1958 on the reefs of Vanikoro, Vanuatu . Back in Sydney Cove, at tiny First Fleet Park , my shoreside prospecting began in earnest. On the east side of the cove is the spectacular modem Sydney Opera House. On the west side, in a face off with modem archectiture, is the old, infamou s sector of town called The Rocks. Here convict work gangs were sent as hore to clear the ground and erect tents and bark she lters to house the fledgling co lony on the sandstone outcrops which gave The Rocks its name. From that time on The Rocks grew haphazardly up the rugged slopes, whi le the fores hore area became the hub of Sydney's wharfside trading life with warehouses, bawdy taverns, flophou ses and seafarers from around the world. Vi sitors were warned not to linger in these quarters after closing time. Today , billboards urge touri sts to " Walk the Wicked¡ Waterfront" for a haunting reminder of the area 's turbulent past. But The Rocks is also Australi a's finest example of a restored colonia l di strict. Fronting onto Sydney Cove is Campbell 's Warehouse, built between 1839 and 186 1, which now houses restaurants with spectac ul ar harbor vi ews. It is typical of the many historic sandstone bui ldings now made over as shops, restaurants, bars and office buildings. But the ambience of the area is still maritime, from theshoreside Mariner's Church built in 1856 up and over the hill to the venerable Lord Nelson Hotel , Sydney's oldest pub, licensed in 1842. Here also, on the water's edge, is Sydney's oldest surviving house, Cadmans Cottage, built in 1816 to accommodate the coxswain and crew of the Governor's boats. Not preserved in the same spirit is the dockl and di strict of Darling Harbour, immediately up harbor from Sydney
Cove. For many thousands of years before the British settlers arrived this bay was vital to the li ves of its Aboriginal inhabitants. They called it Tumbalong. It provided them with seafood and sheltered waters on which to launch their bark canoes.The British newcomers of 1788 in tum dubbed it Cockle Bay, and were gratefu l fo r its she llfi sh when food was scarce in the new colony. As the colony's trade and shipping rapidly outgrew nearby Sydney Cove, the bay 's edges were gradually filled with berths. The harbor is sti ll an active port but little trace of the jumble of wool stores, warehouses, finger jetties and rai 1way wharves remains. Nevertheless, maritime travelers must make the ferry ride around The Rocks and beneath the broad single span of the Sydney Harbour bridge into Darling Harbour to visit the imposing new $ 100 million Australian National Maritime Museum. A surprise for the American vi sitor is the museum' s USA Gallery . As sailors have always known , an ocean is more of a hi ghway than a barrier, and under the theme " Linked by the Sea," the USA Gallery records the numerous instances of maritime contact, competition and collaboration between the two countries. While the exhibiti on of artifacts, some lent by the Smithsonian Instituti on, the US Navy and the Mystic Seaport Museum , is modest, it is powerfully en-
hanced by an audio-vi sual di splay. Director Kevin Fewster was keen to point out to me the centerpiece of the gallery, a touch-screen, computer-based time line that plays over 80 stories of US-Australian maritime contacts. From this little box I learned that the first fore ign trading ship to reach the new settlement at Sydney was the US brigantine Philadelphia in 1792. The vessel's shrewd captain recognized a cornered market in the starvi ng coloni sts and the vessel 's cargo of meat and rum was sold at a good profit. Another more controversial visit was made to Melbourne by the Co nfederate pri vateer CSS Shenandoah in 1865. The welcome and exten sive refitting she received during a stay that lasted six weeks was a breach of British neutrality-reparations for the loss of Union vessels sunk by Shenandoah and other Admiralty-assisted raiders cost Britain millions of dollars after the war. The box tells all-from American whalers to the visit of the Great White Fleet and American serv icemen on liberty during wwn (the caption reads "oversexed and over here! "). How does the average Australian relate to his nation 's maritime heritage? The ranger at the Laperouse Museum lamented that they " Don ' t yet see the story of Laperouse as Australian hi story. " But to understand a large part of the Austra lian connection to the sea, says Kevi n Fewster, we have to appreciate that 90% of Australians live within 30 min utes of the coast. Contrary to the notion of Australians as outback heroes, Fewster believes they relate more readiI y to the water. The archetypes for Austra-
At points throughout the harbor, Sydneysiders can be f ound restoring and operating historic harbor vesels. Below, volunteers load coal on the restored Vice-Regal s/eam yacht Lady Hopetoun while thef ormer harbo1jerries Protex andBerrimasilent/y await their resurrection .
PH OTOS: DESMOND KENNARD. SYDNEY MA RITIM E M USEUM
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SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993