
NSW Parliament
Georgian former hospital wing turned seat of government, funded by a colonial-era monopoly on rum imports.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to NSW Parliament in Sydney opens with Darcy Wentworth, a London surgeon accused of highway robbery four times and cleared each time, who sailed to New South Wales rather than risk a fifth trial. It follows how he became one of the colony's richest men through a deal with Governor Lachlan Macquarie: build a hospital in exchange for a monopoly on importing rum. You'll hear about the convicts who built it and the colony's own architect who predicted it would soon fall to ruin. Look up at the surviving Georgian colonnade as you listen.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
The Mint
Colonial hospital wing funded by rum, later reborn as the first Royal Mint branch outside England.
Hyde Park Barracks
Georgian convict barracks designed by a pardoned forger, later a depot for migrant women and the destitute.
Old Government House
Georgian country residence of New South Wales's earliest governors, built by convicts beside a colonial observatory.
Government House
Gothic Revival vice-regal mansion of turrets and battlements overlooking the harbour, still the governor's official residence.
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Castellated Gothic former stables, built for horses but scandalous enough to help end a governor's career.
Sydney Town Hall
Victorian Second Empire civic hall built atop a colonial burial ground, with a mighty pipe organ.