Foundation Park, The Rocks

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Sydney is filled with history, from its buildings to museums, and sites where the old and new sit in stark contrast, showing the journey of the city from 1788 until now. The Rocks has been part of Australia for thousands of years, as the home of the Gadigal people, who call it Tallawoladah, and in 1788, became the start of Sydney Cove.




Filled with pubs, restaurants, and many shops, The Rocks is one Sydney’s biggest tourist places, with markets every weekend, Vivid during May and June , and much more to entice tourists. But it’s the history that truly makes this area, and there is one hidden gem off Argyle Street that gives insight into the earlier history of the city.




Foundation Park is up a series of steps, behind places like Nurse’s Walk and the main area. Formerly Gloucester Street, Foundation Park is hidden behind a row of shops on Playfair Street and is made up of eight terrace houses built in the mid-1870s, and demolished in 1938, whilst the park was created in 1972. I now know where this is and where to find it, but I first stumbled across it accidentally when looking for something else, and have been fascinated by it since, and you can find out more if you go on one of the many walking tours of The Rocks .




This park offers visitors a chance to step back in time and see how families during the nineteenth century, and the way they lived, and the space that they lived in – two rooms for up to ten people, perhaps more. You can explore the rooms, and see just how big they were, and what kind of furniture the families had. This is an intriguing and slightly eerie place – you can imagine the things these families must have gone through, the way they lived and died, and the illnesses that could have affected them. This is like a living museum - one that is also a time capsule of a time long gone in the centre of a modern city, and the stories that these houses could tell are sure to be intriguing. It’s a little different to the usual historical experiences, and well worth checking out to get a deeper insight into Sydney’s history through a time capsule right in the centre of the city. And keep an eye out for ghosts !




If you’re up for a unique adventure and an insight into life during the 1870s, then check out Foundation Park at Gloucester Walk in The Rocks.

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