The Rocks Laneways - Convict Town Saved

A stop on Sydney Harbour: Rocks to Opera House, a free self-guided tour.

You're in Nurses Walk, one of the little lanes that thread through The Rocks. The Gadigal knew this sandstone ridge as Tallawoladah. After 1788 it became the convicts' side of town: first huts of wattle and daub, then houses, pubs and stores cut from the same sandstone that gave the area its name. It soon had a rough reputation, and in the late 1800s gangs known as pushes worked these streets.

Nurses Walk was named in the late 1970s for the nurses of the colony's first hospital, which stood nearby. Just around the corner, the narrow Suez Canal lane is said to have been nicknamed for the sewage and stormwater that once ran down it.

The Rocks nearly vanished. After a plague outbreak in 1900 hundreds of buildings were demolished, more went for the Harbour Bridge, and in the 1970s developers planned towers. Residents fought back, and builders' unions imposed a green ban from 1973 to 1975, refusing to demolish. That is why these lanes survive.

Getting here: Climb the steps to George Street, walk south a short way, and turn right into the narrow lane called Nurses Walk.

Did you know?: On weekends The Rocks Markets fill George Street and the surrounding lanes with around 100 stalls.

Photo op: Frame the narrow lane with its old sandstone walls and hanging signs; the dark Suez Canal lane makes a moody, shadowy shot.

More on Wikipedia: The Rocks, New South Wales · Green ban

The Rocks Laneways - Convict Town Saved

Stops on this tour