Customs House

This guide to Customs House in Sydney centers on the customs officers who once had the power to seize any book, magazine or film judged morally corrupt before it reached Sydney readers. It traces the building's construction in 1845 on reclaimed harbor land, its expansions under architects James Barnet and Walter Liberty Vernon, and the century and a half it stood watch over Circular Quay's ships and duties. Customs finally left the building in 1990. Listen near the harbor-facing entrance.