Sandstone

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The sandstone we associate with Pyrmont was formed about 220 million years ago when sand was deposited in the delta of an immense river, covering the entire Sydney basin. These formations were later raised to their present heights by earth movements. Sandstone was then eroded and shaped by smaller rivers to its current shape.

In early Sydney sandstone was plentiful and was used extensively for buildings and housing. This sandstone was called ‘freestone’, found in eluvial deposits, and could be easily worked in all directions. Sandstone that was later quarried in-situ was called ‘flagstone’. Despite sandstone easy availability, the stone masons who worked it for industrial purposes were highly skilled and well organised. Their union won the world’s first eight-hour working day in 1856, organised from their offices that are now known as the old Pyrmont post office.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century Pyrmont became the primary supply of Sydney sandstone. Pyrmont’s Yellowblock sandstone was the most prized seam in the complex strata, as it was both structurally very strong yet easy to shape, a very unusual combination. When freshly harvested, the Yellowblock was soft and grey, but it hardened as it oxidised, and changed to a rich honey colour over several weeks. It became recognised as the best sandstone in the world at International Exhibitions in 1880 and 1888, at Amsterdam in 1883 and at Chicago in 1893.

Charles Saunders who arrived in Sydney in 1852, aged 28, opened the first ‘Quarryman’s Arms’ hotel in Pyrmont in 1858. His quarrying business also grew to be the most significant in Pyrmont, especially under the leadership of his son Robert who was the first Pyrmont quarry operator to adopt mechanical quarrying and steam-powered drilling, sawing and planing of the sandstone. The Saunders’ three main quarries in Pyrmont, nick-named by their employees as Paradise, Purgatory and Hell Hole were the main suppliers. Local and international demand for their product was insatiable: by 1928 more than half a million cubic yards was estimated to have been extracted from the total of over 20 quarries of various sizes that operated in Pyrmont. They left a dramatic impact on the local landscape and environment.

Pyrmont’s sandstone was Sydney’s preferred building material in and beyond the nineteenth century, used for many prestigious buildings. The original Sydney University, Sydney Town Hall, Lands Department, GPO, Great Synagogue, QVB, St Andrew’s Cathedral, St Mary’s Cathedral, Customs House, St Paul’s College, the Australian Museum were among the many prominent structures built from Pyrmont sandstone.

In time sandstone extraction became more difficult as reserves were worked out while other building materials became cheaper and more available. Quarrying of Pyrmont sandstone finally ceased in 1931.

The appreciation of the significant legacy of sandstone buildings tended to wane in the following decades, to the point where the iconic QVB building was even slated for demolition in 1959. Unfortunately sandstone buildings erode in time from wind and rain and their building maintenance was expensive. But in the last 40 to 50 years there has been a growing appreciation of Sydney’s unique sandstone heritage, in part due to the visionary work of George Proudman (b1925), a Master stonemason and lover of Pyrmont sandstone who was instrumental in revitalising the craft of stonemasonry in NSW. True to his beliefs on sympathetic conservation of Sydney’s sandstone heritage, late in life he challenged the use of Wondabyne sandstone on the two spires of St Mary’s Cathedral, added in 2000, on the basis that Wondabyne sandstone, from Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury, was greyish in colour but did not oxidise and had to be chemically stained to match the naturally oxidised Pyrmont sandstone used for the rest of the cathedral. The prolonged court case sadly took its toll on the aged Master; he died in 2000.

Conservation and refurbishment requires substantial supplies of sandstone. The construction of buildings in Pyrmont, such as McCaffrey’s Tower in the late 1990s at Jacksons Landing, yielded 12 thousand tonnes and 71 Harris Street Residential construction in 2017 saw the harvesting of another 10 years supply of Yellowblock for future Sydney building conservation. Several other potential Pyrmont construction sites, including the Old Fish Markets may provide access to future Yellowblock supplies. There are several quarries outside of Sydney, including Gosford Quarries and Wollombi Quarries, that supply sandstone for Sydney sandstone heritage conservation. (We acknowledge the help of Albert Kraan, Proprietor of Wollombi Quarries in the preparation of this entry).

Sandstone

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