The Saunders Quarry Operations - Historic Engineering Marker #83 Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 20-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7665

The Saunders Quarry Operations - Historic Engineering Marker #83

The Saunders quarries in Pyrmont-Ultimo played an important role in the growth and development of Australia by providing first-class yellowblock building and sculptural sandstone for a large number of projects designed by important Australian architects and executed by Australian craftsmen, not merely in Sydney and its suburbs but also in other cities in NSW, in several other Australian capitals, and overseas.

The firm founded by Charles Saunders and continued by his son and grandson was a significant participant in the growth and development of the Pyrmont- Ultimo area for three-quarters of a century, throughout the Victorian and Federation periods of Australian history. Some of the Saunders buildings still survive in the area and are now recognised as items of its history. In parts of the dramatic landscape of Pyrmont-Ultimo the effects of the quarrying operations may still be perceived.

Robert Saunders introduced quarrying and stoneworking equipment and techniques not previously seen in Australia. These included steam cranes, large steam-powered multi-blade stone saws and heavy planing and profiling machinery. The firm thereby embraced the trades and skills of the quarryman, the rubble-mason, the fixer and the banker.

The Saunders firm became the longest-lasting and eventually the only quarrying operation on the Pyrmont Peninsula.

Contents of the plaque:

The Saunders Quarrying Operations in Pyrmont-Ultimo, 1853-1930

Charles Saunders established this quarry that became known as ‘Paradise’ in 1853. Its fine sandstone became known as ‘yellowblock’. The Saunders operation, continued by Robert his son and Robert his grandson, was the largest and longest lived of Sydney’s quarries. Two other quarries called ‘Purgatory’ and ‘Hell Hole’ were further south between Pyrmont Bridge Road and Quarry Street. Yellowblock was used to build, and in the 21st Century to restore, Sydney’s most important Victorian and Federation public buildings

The Institution of Engineers Australia, Council of the City of Sydney, 2005

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For more information, please see this page at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/heritage/saunders-quarrying-operations-1853-1931 and nomination.