Locations > 400 Harris Street
400 Harris Street Ultimo - Communications Hub
Government Printing Office
In 1840 Governor Gipps established a Printing Office “under the exclusive orders and control of the Government”. It was staffed by a Government Printer, two free men as assistant printers, with 20 convicts as production staff.
In 1959 a new building at 400 Harris Street was opened to house the Government Printing Office, which did all the printing for parliament, government departments and agencies, and some work for the Commonwealth. It became one of the largest printing houses in the southern hemisphere. For some years the Office also enjoyed a reputation for illicit gambling.
In 1989, as part of the government’s drive to privatise publics functions, the Office closed. The printing of Hansard and legislation was contracted out to the private sector, while public agencies made their own arrangements for printing.
Briefly the state government thought of re-using the site as a gaol. When the news was leaked, residents denounced the idea as “Ultimo’s Alcatraz”. The notion was never realistic, and soon disappeared. Many years passed before a use was found for this unusual structure.
Global Switch Sydney
Global Switch Sydney is a bland, high-security structure, occupying a whole block with neither windows nor obvious entry points, nor even signage. It was selected for its location on this edge of Sydney’s CBD and built in 2009 to accommodate an ultra-modern data centre. Its two data centres span 73,000 sq m of technical space. These features, and its location, have attracted “a diverse and network-dense telecommunications presence, making it a natural choice for any carrier seeking to establish a CBD presence”. Global Switch Sydney hosts many of the largest telecommunications, cloud and financial organisations, as well as state and commonwealth government agencies.
It has no other connections to Pyrmont.
