Local street scenes

Walsh Bay is one of five neighbourhoods on our peninsula which have changed dramatically since British colonists settled along The Rocks from 1788. To accompany this site’s historical imagery of our waterfront strip, we compiled some surprising pictures of the Argyle Cut with its original steep stairway to Grosvenor Street, the old tram terminus at Argyle Place, the Cuthberts shipbuilding yard at today’s Central Barangaroo, paintings of the original cottages, mansions and a new Lord Nelson Hotel at Millers Point, and the late 19th century rowing club at Dawes Point.

The Argyle Cut looking east, sketched by Lionel Lindsay 1919, showing the later-demolished Argyle Steps.
  • East Darling Harbour (today's Barangaroo), artist unknown, c1870 (SLNSW).
  • An O class tram passing under the harbour bridge at George and Lower Fort Streets.