hyde

The title "Copy of artists impression of Central Railway Station, Sydney (NSW)" is very misleading. The plans were for a station closer to the centre of Sydney in St James Road, at the northern end of Hyde Park. It would have meant bye-bye to the park. The current site of "Central" is the resulting compromise, only a couple of blocks north from the original Redfern Terminus.

See another view -

Imagine if that had been built here - Google Street View

There was over a decade of argy-bargy in the 1890s about extending the railway to the city centre - " In 1888 Railway Commissioner Eddy asked the New South Wales Government if the terminal station could be moved closer to the City. Subsequently, a lengthy Royal Commission in 1891 recommended two stations: a terminal station at the Benevolent Asylum site to the north of Devonshire Street for long distance trains; and a station in Hyde Park facing King Street for suburban trains, with a branch to the eastern suburbs. The 1890s Depression put a stop to any action being taken on new stations at this time. The subsequent Railway Commissioner made a strong request for a new station in 1896 and this led to yet another Royal Commission in 1896/97 on the City Railway. This Royal Commission concluded that having two separate terminal stations would be impractical, and recommended a single larger station at the Hyde Park site facing St James Road. However, with public opposition to the loss of parkland and with a change of government in 1899, the St James Road scheme was abandoned. Interestingly, the first reference to Central Station appears to have come from an initial report of the Royal Commission into this scheme. [maybe explains this 'faulty' title?] The abandoning of the St James Road scheme was much to the disappointment of the Railway Commissioner. In 1900, State Parliament accepted a compromise solution that was the brainchild of the then Minister for Public Works, E.W. O'Sullivan. He proposed that a new station be built just north of Devonshire Street, a stone's throw from the existing terminus. However, to both commuters and the Railway Commissioner, it did not constitute a City railway extension. " from - www.cityrail.info/about/history/central_station_in-depth

beachcomber australia Imagine how much noisier Sydney would be if Central Station was at Hyde Park! Quicker to get to, though :) Thanks for your research into this. I'll update the caption to say "Copy of artist's impression of (a possible) Central Railway Station at St James Road, Hyde Park signed 'W. Bowry .98'" Hopefully this will make more sense. AB

I seem to remember that these alterations to become court rooms etc happened. The 'Immigration Barracks' (now known as Hyde Park Barracks) in 1870 ...

Thought this rang a bell. See ...

Who is this creepy looking man & why is he standing there with his hand in the air?

James Hazen Hyde, I suspect: www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1981/5/1981...

i feel the need to join him in a lively dance.

rockcreek: Thanks for the identification. Comparing it to another photo in our collections ( hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b43051 ), it does appear to be James Hazen Hyde. We'll fill out his name in the source description and reload it to Flickr.

Amazing.