The Great Hall of the University of Sydney, is one of the principal structures of

The University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, with a public interior used for formal ceremonies, conferences, recitals and dinners. The Hall, located in the Main Quadrangle on the campus, is a symbol of the university's stately history and an excellent example of Victorian Academic Gothic revival architecture. Completed in July 1859, the Great Hall soon became a tourist attraction; the writer

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...

wrote home in 1874 that the Hall was "the finest chamber in the colonies", and that no college of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

possessed a hall "of which the proportions are so good". The Great Hall, Main Quadrangle and the East Range of the University of Sydney were listed on the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

local government heritage list in 1999; where the collection of buildings are described as ''".... probably the most significant group of Gothic Revival Buildings in Australia."''

History

Edmund Thomas Blacket Edmund Thomas Blacket (25 August 1817 – 9 February 1883) was an Australian architect, best known for his designs for the University of Sydney, St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney and St. Saviour's Cathedral, Goulburn. Arriving in Sydney from Eng ...

(1817–1883), the Great Hall lies at the most northeastern point of the university Quadrangle - dominating the sweeping lawns of University Place, as well as University Avenue, which overlooks Victoria Park. Blacket was appointed Colonial Architect of New South Wales from 1849 to 1854. He resigned from this position in 1855 to pursue the design of new buildings for the university - supervising both their development, and construction, until their completion in 1862. Blacket's other notable achievements include the design of St. Paul's College and the alteration of the original construction of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, from architect James Hume's original design. The Great Hall was completed in July 1859, and represents one of Blacket's finest accomplishments. On 18 July 1859, degrees were first conferred upon graduates by the university in a formal ceremony in the Hall.

Organ

During 1881–1882, a Forster & Andrews pipe organ was installed, later to be replaced in 1972 by the present organ, manufactured by

Rudolf von Beckerath Rudolf von Beckerath (19 February 1907 – 22 November 1976) was a German master organ builder. He was born in Munich, to the painter Willy von Beckerath, but grew up in Hamburg, where his family moved the year he was born. He initially pu ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, Germany; and installed with the assistance of

Ronald Sharp Ronald William Sharp (8 August 1929 – 21 July 2021) was an Australian organ builder. He was awarded the Silver Jubilee Medal (1977) and the British Empire Medal (1980). Sharp was self-taught and built his first organ in 1960. He speciali ...

. The organ has three manuals and pedals, a mechanical key and electric stop action, 54 stops, 79 ranks and 4005 pipes. The cedar case was constructed in the university's Joinery Shop, and blends with the architecture of the Great Hall. Looking towards the organ, the three manual and pedal console can be seen on the left. Above it are large principal pipes from the Great division (middle keyboard), with the rest of the Great pipes situated immediately behind these display pipes. Above the Great is the Swell division (top keyboard), which is the expressive section of the instrument enclosed in a large wooden box with front shutters operated by the Swell pedal at the console. In the centre of the gallery, jutting out into the hall, is the Ruckpositiv division (bottom keyboard), and on the right side, the Pedal division.

Architecture

The Great Hall is recognised as one of the finest examples of the Victorian Gothic revival style of architecture in Australia, in a design that reflects, and harmoniously complements the University Quadrangle of which it forms part. A feature of the Great Hall is the sloped roof, built in

hammerbeam A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams ...

style to resemble that of

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

in London. The arched design of the roof is supported by six collar cedar beams, and is architecturally reminiscent of such British interiors as those of

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chi ...

and Etham Castle, all equally typical of Gothic constructions. Twelve carved wooden figures of angels are located among the beams holding items that reference the arts and sciences – Grammar has a papyrus roll, Dialectic has Aristotle's diagram of the three syllogistic figures, Poetry has a harp, Ethics has a St Mary's lily, Metaphysics has a symbol of the Deity, Arithmetic has an abacus, Geometry has the 47th proposition of the first book of Euclid, Astronomy has a star, Music has a lyre, and Physics has an ancient air pump. An angel of knowledge originally sat atop the eastern gable, however was removed in 1874. The marble floor, elevated upon the western side of the hall, mirrors the dais found in Westminster Hall, upon which the throne of

King Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father d ...

stood. The armorial bearings upon the southern side of the Hall, as well as the frame of the Oriel window, have been carved of Caen stone. The walls are otherwise constructed of

Sydney sandstone Sydney sandstone is the common name for Sydney Basin Hawkesbury Sandstone, one variety of which is historically known as Yellowblock, and also as "yellow gold" a sedimentary rock named after the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, where this ...

, with a floor of marble.

Gallery

Sydneyquadrangle1.jpg, The Main Quadrangle, the University of Sydney, viewed from Great Hall Roof of the Great Hall, University of Sydney.jpg, The arched roof of the Great Hall

References

External links