A TIMELINE OF THE HISTORY OF SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

26 January 1788 The first colonists come ashore at Port Jackson
17 February 1788 Thomas Barrett is the first person to be hanged in Australia
1790 A second fleet arrives
1791 A third fleet arrives
1793 The first free settlers arrive. The first church is built in Sydney.
1794 The first theater is built in Sydney
1804 A stone bridge is built over the Tank Stream
1807 The first wool is exported from Australia to England
1808 The Rum Rebellion takes place
1809 A post office opens in Lower George Street
1815-1816 Cadman's Cottage is built
1816 The Botanic Garden begins
1819 Hyde Park Barracks is built
1824 St James Church is built
1827 The Australian Museum is founded
1830 Hackney carriages begin to run in the streets of Sydney
1831 A newspaper called the Sydney Herald begins publication
1842 Sydney is incorporated
1845 Government House is built
1850 Sydney University is founded
1855-57 Fort Denison is built to protect Sydney
1858 Sydney Observatory is built
1861 The population of Sydney is 56,000. Horse drawn trams begin running in the streets.
1868 St Andrews Cathedral is consecrated
1881 The population of Sydney is 221,000
1885 Customs House is built
1888 Centennial Park is laid out
1892 Strand Arcade opens
1898 The Queen Victoria building is erected
1900 Bubonic plague kills 103 people in Sydney
1901 The population of Sydney is 481,000
1905 St Marys Cathedral is consecrated
1916 Taronga Zoo opens
1920 Sydney Airport is founded
1923 The first radio station in Sydney begins broadcasting
1932 Sydney Harbour Bridge opens. Archibald Fountain is erected in Hyde Park.
1934 The Anzac War Memorial is built
1942 Three Japanese midget submarines enter Sydney Harbour
1954 The population of Sydney is 1.8 million
1961 Trams in Sydney stop running
1973 Sydney Opera House opens
1976 Strand Arcade is badly damaged by a fire
1981 Sydney Tower is built
1988 Powerhouse Museum opens. The Chinese Garden of Friendship opens.
1991 On 21 January Northern Sydney is badly damaged by a storm
1992 Sydney Jewish Museum opens. Sydney Harbour Tunnel is built.
1994 Governor Phillip and Governor Macquarie Towers open.
1995 The Museum of Sydney opens
1996 The Anzac Bridge opens
2000 The Olympic Games are held in Sydney
2005 Rocks Discovery Museum opens
2007 Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre opens. Sydney Opera House is made a World Heritage Site.


Source: http://www.localhistories.org/sydneytime.html

Australian Gas Light Company

The Australian Gas Light Company is Australia’s second oldest company. The Australian Gas Light Company, was established by private interests in New South Wales on 7 September 1837 to light the streets of Sydney with coal gas. The first gas street lights were lit in 1841 and by March 1843 there were 165 gas lamps in the city - 14 Government lights, 11 Corporation lamps, 106 Publicans’ lights, and 34 Private lamps. The rest of the people used traditional oil lamps which were to remain as the predominant source of lighting both industrially and domestically until the arrival of electricity.

The Australian Gaslight Company operated from premises in Pitt Street on land south from Campbell Street to Redfern. It was known as the Government Paddock that was originally part of the brick pits from Sydney’s earliest years. The first gasholder and a two story building were erected in 1855. By 1858 the company purchased another eight allotments in Pitt St., and in 1860 were considering extension of the service to Newtown, Redfern and Glebe. Two new holders were constructed in 1861 and 1865, a fourth holder was built in 1874.

The former Australian Gaslight Company's head office was situated at 479-487 Pitt Street, Sydney. Coal was stored in a coal store from where it was delivered to the vertical retorts by overhead conveyor. Gas was produced in vertical retorts before being piped to the scrubbers and purifiers to remove any impurities. It then passed through a meter room before being stored in gasholders under pressure.


Gas was manufactured from coal, which had to be shipped in by barges and ferries. Consequently, suburban gas companies established their plants at harbour side locations. With the growth of Sydney, the sites where these now-abandoned plants were built have become valuable real estate, being at key locations around the harbour. Some sites have been re-developed for other industry or housing, while a few have been reserved for public use in the form of harbour side parklands.