Observatory Hill - Time Ball over the Harbour

Photo: Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

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

You've climbed to one of the best lookouts in the city. This hill has had many jobs. In the 1790s a windmill stood here, which is why the neighborhood below is still called Millers Point. Around 1804 work began on Fort Phillip to defend the settlement, though it was never finished.

The domed building is Sydney Observatory, built in the late 1850s. Look at the tower: every day at 1 pm a time ball drops from its mast, a signal that once let ships' navigators in the harbour set their clocks exactly. The ball still drops today.

Now look west, over the wharves of Walsh Bay toward Barangaroo. That waterfront park is named for Barangaroo, a Cammeraygal woman and the wife of Bennelong, the Wangal man who became a go-between for the Gadigal and the British; you'll meet his name again at the Opera House. Check the observatory's website for current hours and night viewing sessions.

Getting here: Walk up Argyle Street and through the Argyle Cut, a road hacked through the ridge by convicts from 1843, then climb the steps on your left to Observatory Hill.

Did you know?: The Argyle Cut you just walked through was started by convict gangs with hand tools in 1843 and finished in 1859 with paid labour and gunpowder.

Photo op: From the park's edge, frame the Harbour Bridge arch through the giant fig trees, or shoot the observatory's dome and time ball against the sky.

More on Wikipedia: Sydney Observatory · Observatory Park, Sydney · Barangaroo, New South Wales

Observatory Hill - Time Ball over the Harbour

Stops on this tour