statelibraryofnsw

Looks like this pic might have been taken on 11th October, 1926, when a number of safe and strongroom doors were being transported to the Government Savings Bank of NSW building in Martin Place, then under construction. If you zoom in you can just make out the writing on the load carried by the 3rd wagon, 'WEIGHT 27 TONS'...this was the main strongroom door...it was evidently pulled by a team of 20 horses... Per the various newspaper reports, the large 27 ton strongroom door arrived in Sydney from London on board the S.S. Largs Bay, on 5th October 1926 and was transported to Martin Place several days later on 11th October...the newspaper reports don't mention when the other doors arrived, but I suspect the same occasion... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224116674 - the Sun, 6th October, 1926...item on the 27 ton door being unloaded... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117320326 - Evening News, 7th October, 1926...pic of the 27 ton door being unloaded... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28058827 - SMH, 12th October, 1926...pic of the 27 ton door being transported up Martin Place. The SMH pic was taken maybe a minute or so later than this SLNSW pic...but there are a couple of match-ups over to the right which more or less confirm that it's the same occasion...the parked van with the rolls of what looks to be newsprint ...the chap wearing the coat and cap leaning on the pole. Note how the SMH has whited out the 'Chubb's' name...I suspect they didn't want to give any unpaid advertising. trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224123959 - the Sun, 11th October, 1926...the Sun also had a pic of the 27 ton door being transported up Martin Place...taken slightly later, at the corner of Castlereagh St and Martin Place...with the Commercial Travellers' Club Building in the background (see pic bottom lhs)...the Sun didn't white out out the 'Chubb's' name... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224124009 - the Sun, 11th October, 1926...the Sun's brief item re...

Claude Matthews (Lang-Labor)...seen here sitting on the right...elected to the NSW Parliament at the 1934 Leichhardt by-election...Member for Leichhardt 1934-54... www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/formermembers/Pages/for... - Matthews' NSW Parliament 'former members' bio details...

Norwich Chambers was on the NW corner of Hunter and Bligh Sts...it was built in ca. 1885-86...and demolished in 1922... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13595372 - SMH, 15th August, 1885...item re Norwich Chambers...which was then a hole in the ground...includes a description of the proposed building... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223494258 - the Sun, 25th November, 1921...the building was sold in November 1921 and then demolished to make way for the Metropolitan Building, which was one of Sydney's 1920s skyscrapers... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118854670 - the Evening News, 14th June, 1922...per this item Norwich Chambers was then being demolished... This ?1890 pic of Norwich Chambers shows the Grecian figures above the entrance at the corner of Bligh and Hunter Sts www.flickr.com/photos/193158484@N02/52371078083/