- Address: Macquarie Street, Sydney, Australia;
- Status: a monument of architecture and history
The gold rush that seized the whole world in the middle of the 19th century did not bypass the coast of Australia . By this time the decision of the British Empire to begin construction of mints. They were located in the immediate vicinity of the gold mines. The Sydney Mint is the first branch of the Royal English Mint in Australia.
How did the mint appeared in Sydney?
The history of construction is quite unusual. First there was a hospital for the convicts. True architecture did not correspond to the hospital, all possible ventilation norms were violated.
The Governor of Sydney at that time was Macworry, a rather ambitious man. This building, now considered the oldest public institution in the city, was his first project. The construction of the whole complex (main building, northern and southern wing) was completed in 1816.
1851 - the beginning of the gold rush in New South Wales. A huge amount of washed gold began to appeal among the population. To settle this point, it was decided to open a mint in Sydney. In 1853, under it was allocated the southern wing of the hospital for convicts.
In 1927, the mint was moved from Sydney to Perth and Melbourne .
Architecture and location
The building is located in the business district of Sydney. It was built in the ancient Greek style with two tiers of columns.
Only two wings have survived from the whole hospital complex today. The central building was demolished. In the north wing is now the Parliament, and in the south - the Sydney Mint.
Nearby there are such famous sights as:
- Church of St. James.
- Hyde Park.
- The Parliament of Sydney.
From 1927 to 1979 in the building where the Sydney Mint was located, replacing each other, there were various public services: the insurance department, the licensing committee and others. By this time the buildings were completely dilapidated, so one of the solutions was to demolish them. However, they were defended by activists, who advocate the preservation of architectural monuments. Subsequently, the buildings moved to the department of the Museum of Applied Arts and were restored. The museum was closed at the end of the 20th century, and the Sydney Mint went under the city administration.
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