Powerhouse Museum

Anyone know exactly where in Sydney this was?

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/51979177@N02] Good work! I think you are right with the Goldsbrough Darling Harbour ID. See also this 1884 illustration - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/64035872 , which shows railway in front - a bit of a hint. The old warehouse was at the corner of Fig and Pyrmont Streets, Ultimo. I think it was rebuilt after a fire and extended to Allen Street, as it now is.

According to the 1895 interactive map, the building on the left is the Meat Market !. The photographer was at the junction of Allen and Pyrmont Streets, looking SE - www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.map-rm3443-sd&rgn=...

GoogleMapsStreetView - goo.gl/maps/Ic8i0

Phew! A relief after four years of sleepless nights!

" ... Sydney's first wool store was the Richard Goldsbrough warehouse built on the corner of Pyrmont and Fig streets in 1883. From World War II until the 1960s, wool stores on the peninsula employed thousands of men. With lanolin oil soaked into thousands of feet of wood, fires were a constant hazard. In 1935 the Goldsbrough and Mort store went up in a blaze lasting two weeks, filling the suburb with the smell of burning wool and grease. ..."
From PhM - www.powerhousemuseum.com/exhibitions/paradise_industrial_...

Article about the 1935 fire which destroyed the warehouse. A photo shows the warehouse as above with three extra floors built on top - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/83657628

The Central Meat Market at Ultimo - see how the refrigerated railway truck went under the canopy -
acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=168451
acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=168452
Interior -
acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=168453
acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=168454

In 1899, in order to commemorate the landing of Cook, an area of 100.86 hectares was set apart and dedicated as a Public Recreation Reserve. I wonder if that is what they are celebrating.

It is the dedication of Captain Cook Reserve at the landing place in Kurnell.

The ceremony happened on Saturday 6 May 1899. The officials and guests arrived by steamers and were brought to the jetty "by the steam punt from Tom Ugly's Point, above which was carried a framework from which floated a variety of colours." (See link below)

A very full description including the speeches is in the Sydney Morning Herald the following Monday 8 May 1899 (page 4). It is an interesting read and really brings this photo to life - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14213166

If this is a photo of the people attending the dedication party then somewhere amongst them is Joseph H. Carruthers, a great Australian who probably did more for Captain Cook than any other. It was thanks to his work that Kurnell was set aside for the public to enjoy. He likened it to Australia's "Plymouth Rock". Amongst his other work, he prompted the erection of the statue to Cook in London, near Admiralty Arch, and the 1928 Cook celebrations in Hawai'i.

Captain Cook Society There is another photo of the Monument, misnamed by the photographer Charles Kerry as La Perouse, at the same time -

Captain Cook Society J.H. Carruthers (as Minister for Lands) is listed as attending, and his full speech is quoted in the Trove link above.

" As the Plymouth Rock is the most sacred ground
to the Americans, so may this historic place, rich in
its traditions, be the one place in our island continent
more consecrated than another to the great man who
here first set foot upon our shores, and in his foresight
secured for the empire and its people a territory
unsurpassed in the whole universe. "

Just going on the two garden plots seen here in the foreground, the date range has to be 1907-13...the City Council built the gardens in 1907...a tramway building (not seen here) was erected on the smaller triangular plot in ca. November 1913.

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142945425 - the Australasian [Melbourne], 17th June, 1911...the pic of the garden plots that appears here looks to be somewhat later (see pic bottom rhs)...

The two garden plots were built on the site of the Ship Inn and an adjacent yard...the adjacent yard occupied the smaller triangular allotment. The Ship Inn was demolished in ca. March/April 1904. I suspect the Change Alley building also occupied part of the plot closest to the camera. Change Alley was demolished in ca. August/September 1901 to make way for the Pitt St tramway extension...

- this ca. 1891-93 SANSW pic shows Change Alley and the Ship Inn and also the adjoining yard as they then appeared...

The two allotments on which the gardens were built were evidently leased to the City Council by the Railways Department in 1907...the City Council appear to have built the garden plots by the end of 1907. The Railways Department resumed ?both plots in 1913...and then erected a tramways building on the smaller triangular plot in ca. November 1913...the initial tramways building was a basic rectangular structure...in subsequent years it was added to and became more elaborate...

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/115231796 - Evening News, 30th April, 1907...re preliminary work being carried out prior to the construction of the garden on the site formerly occupied by the Ship Inn...

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/238058729 - Daily Telegraph, 30th April, 1907...slightly more info on the proposed garden...

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229923580 - the Australian Star, 20th April, 1908...brief mention of the garden...which must have been planted some time previously...

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229672730 - the Sun, 28th August, 1913...background on the City Council lease of the garden plots...

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/238900687 - the Daily Telegraph, 11th September, 1913...one of numerous objections to the erection of the tramway building on the Circular Quay reserve garden plots

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15463958 - SMH, 8th November, 1913...brief item which indicates that the construction of the tramways building was then in progress...

- this 1920s SANSW pic shows the tramways building as it then appeared...

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71590526 - the Australian Town & Country Journal, 20th March, 1907...the stereoscope pic of Circular Quay that appears here shows the Paragon Hotel addition...this is the first pic I've found that shows the addition...there were a number of additions made to the Paragon Hotel over the years...substantial additions/renovations were also evidently made in 1910...

- the Paragon Hotel addition doesn't appear in this other PHM pic taken in ca. September-October 1902...

Another date marker I've overlooked are the suspension wires for the tramway overhead electrical wires...the suspension wire system replaced the tramway 'T' poles in 1908...so that puts the date range at 1908-13...