The former Maritime Services Board Building (now the Museum of Contemporary Art) was built on the site of the demolished Commissariat Stores buildings, and on part of the old (infilled) government naval dockyard. The site of the former government dockyard continues to the north of the MCA building under the present car park that is the site of the current extension building to the MCA and also the Police Station at 132 George Street. The shallow, U-shaped building had two short wings projecting to the east (the waterfront) from the main building. The wings enclosed a stone paved quay where ships anchored. The two wings had large openings on their eastern
facades (that faced the waterfront) each with a cats eye fixed beneath the roof line for loading goods into the warehouse. The hipped roof, was initially shingle or clay-tiled but later re-clad with
corrugated iron. The warehouse was timber floored. An intense public effort to
preserve the two buildings failed, but later helped inspire the formation of the
National Trust of Australia. Some of the remaining blocks from the two buildings were reused in other buildings throughout
The Rocks.
Archaeological testing 1991, 1993 & 2000 and Ground Penetrating Radar Survey, June 2009 Archaeology of First Fleet Park First Fleet Park has been assessed as having high archaeological potential based on archaeological monitoring and testing activities by Casey & Lowe in the 1990s that provided a predictive model for the presence of subsurface remains. This informed the analysis of the remote sensing survey by ground penetrating radar (GPR) undertaken in June 2009 for the First Fleet Park CMS. This information strongly invalidates the site assessment in The Rocks and Millers Point Archaeological Management Plan (1991) which stated that the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) area was likely to be completely
disturbed. The construction of the former Maritime Services Board building (the present MCA) in 1946-52 was accompanied by the raising of the ground level of the landscaped and park areas by . This would suggest the retention of archaeological deposits, particularly in the present MCA forecourt area. The major upgrade and landscaping program to First Fleet Park for the 1988 bicentenary involved the further raising of its ground level by around one metre. 1991 and 1993 archaeological monitoring programs for stormwater services and street works interpreted the following sub-surface features in First Fleet Park as: • A dry-coursed sandstone seawall which may date to the 1840s reclamation and infill program that created Circular Quay. • Timber piles belonging to the mid nineteenth century Queen's Wharf. • Wall
foundations of buildings south-west of the Hospital/Kings/Queens Wharf along George Street that likely included the foundations of Isaac Nichols' 1808 house that was used as the colony's first post office. • Some wall remnants of the demolition layer of early nineteenth century buildings (demolished 1880s) located at the junction of Queens Wharf and George Street. • In the area of the present MCA forecourt, large rough-cut sandstone blocks laid without mortar at around below ground, below which was bedrock at . These were interpreted as a section of the quay floor associated with the 1809 Commissariat Stores building. Remains of brick structures and associated deposits were also identified that were demolished prior to the construction of the 1809 Commissariat Stores. The First Fleet Park CMS (2009) assesses the potential archaeological resource of First Fleet Park as: • Evidence of the original landform; • Aboriginal cultural material; • Earliest post-contact occupation deposits including pre-Commissariat Stores structures; evidence of Isaac Nichols' houses and warehouse (1798–1800, 1808) and Mary Reibey's house (1811); original foreshore warehouses; other uses of the foreshores prior to wharf structures; • Wharves and maritime activity from 1797; • Reclamation and infilling for Circular Quay from the 1840s and associated seawalls; and • Later nineteenth century and early twentieth century occupation relating to demolished buildings and landscape items prior to demolition of the area from 1939. The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey, undertaken in 2009 to ascertain the likely archaeological resource and service constraints in First Fleet Park, surveyed a total area of . The GPR survey results were limited by the thick layer of clay infill used in the 1980s park redevelopment. This limited the penetration of the radar signal to around depth only. Detection of archaeological remains at First Fleet Park was therefore unlikely as most were located below this depth. The GPR survey did succeed in identifying significant subsurface features. But many of the strongest signals (such as large anomalies at shallow depths of ) were service-related rather than subsurface features. Anomalies at depths of have been interpreted as possibly archaeological in nature. These include: • In the south-west corner of First Fleet Park, a strong linear feature running on a diagonal to the current George Street alignment disappears between . This may be building foundations from the original George Street frontage of early nineteenth century residential, commercial and retail premises. It aligns with Casey & Lowe's interpretation, from its 1993 archaeological monitoring program, of nineteenth century building foundations, potentially those of Isaac Nichols' houses and warehouse (1798–1800 and 1808). • A linear feature running west to east that may be associated with the Kings/Queens Wharf (dating from 1816). • A linear feature running north–south that may be a seawall associated with the 1840s land reclamation and infill for Circular Quay. This was revealed in archaeological monitoring as having been previously disturbed by the laying of telephone cables and other services. • A strongly rectangular anomaly at depth may indicate the foundations or basements of buildings that abutted the north of Isaac Nichols' house, near the Hospital/Kings/Queens Wharf. • The foundations of the Commissariat Stores 1809 building are clearly visible in the Forecourt of the present MCA (former MSB) building. • An extremely strong, consistent signal at depth (strongest at ) running north/northwest across the car park, north of the present MCA (former MSB) building. This corresponds with the remains of the dockyard. • Other strong signals are likely to relate to the docks, wharfage construction (stone quay) or later building foundations. Archaeological testing has revealed that substantial remains of the Macquarie-period dockyard (1810–22) survive within, and to the north of, the MCA car park site. It is possible that further remains may survive under, to the east, and to the south of the present MCA (former MSB) building. Remains of three of the four stone docks built by Governor Macquarie 1818–22 in the Government dockyard have been located. These are the northern, middle and southern docks. A fourth dockyard (the largest of the four) is predicted to the north of the site, located partly under Argyle Street and extending north into Bligh and Barney Park. Testing indicates that substantial portions of the two centre docks (the northern and middle docks) are extant. The line of the western ends of both these two docks and the alignment of most of the walls of the middle dock have been located. The exposed sections of the middle dock are highly intact. The integrity of the middle dock is higher than the northern dock. Both docks lie beneath the car park that is the site of the MCA extensions. Remains of a portion of the southern dock wall have been identified. This dock lies partly under the north-east corner of the 1952 MCA (former MSB) building. Testing has revealed various work surfaces around the docks which represent levels where the loading, unloading and repair of the ships took place. These work surfaces are likely to retain evidence of machinery bases for davits. It is considered that there is limited potential for the survival of the archaeology of other dockyard-period structures as shown on the historic plans. A section of the 1840s–1850s seawall of Circular Quay has been identified in 2010 development works at the MCA where massive stone blocks were encountered in one location. Overall the site is partly disturbed. Archaeological investigation indicates that there is disturbance to the depth of bedrock on the western boundary between the current MCA (former MSB) building and George Street. However, potential archaeological remains that have been detected in ground penetrating survey (2009) in the landscaped areas between the MCA building and Circular Quay and in First Fleet Park are expected to be better preserved since the ground level here was raised in the mid and later 20th century.
Modifications and dates • 1789–92: Hospital Wharf built on the west side of Sydney Cove. • 1797: Governor Hunter establishes the Government naval dockyards on the west side of Sydney Cove. • 1798–1800: Isaac Nichol's builds the first house on the west side of Sydney Cove, next to the Hospital Wharf. • 1805: First land grants along the Tank Stream banks to its mouth on Sydney Cove. • 1808 Isaac Nichols' builds his larger residence that becomes Australia's first Post Office and a large warehouse next to Hospital Wharf and the Commissariat Stores. • 1809 and 1812: Commissariat Buildings constructed. • 1810–1811: Market Place (near George Street and Hospital Wharf) relocated to site of present-day Queen Victoria building. • 1811: Mary Reibey builds her house next to Isaac Nichols' house. • 1812–1813: Hospital Wharf replaced with King's Wharf. • 1818–1822: Governor Macquarie builds four new docks and generally enlarges and extends the dockyards. • 1830–1831: Extensions to the George Street (1812) Commissariat Store building with removal of adjacent buildings and a new boundary wall on the north side of the extended store building. • 1831–1836: Dockyards wind down and perimeter buildings are demolished. Dockyards close c.1833. • 1847: Dockyards are infilled and landlocked; new boundary walls and walls north of the Commissariat Stores built; new stores built on corner of Lower George and Argyle Streets. • 1850s–c.1864: Argyle Street extended to Circular Quay over the infilled largest dock. Colonial Storekeepers Building is then separated from the dockyard by the street extension and is demolished. • 1860s–1870s: Additional stores built at north end of site and other buildings constructed around the Commissariat Stores and in the yards. • 1923: New office for Department of Labour and Industry built at corner of George and Argyle Streets (later the George Street Police Station). • 1938: Designs begun for the new Maritime Services Board (MSB) Building. • 1939: Commissariat Buildings demolished for new MSB building. • 1946–1952: Construction of MSB Building. • 1952: 15 December. MSB occupies building and begins operations. • 1980s: MSB move to new offices. • 1988: Landscaping to forecourt of MSB building; reinstatement of railing to Circular Quay. • 1990: Adaptive reuse of the former MSB building as the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). Conversion by Peddle Thorp and Walker, including extension to provide shop fronts to George Street. • 1991: Opening of the MCA. • 1988: Upgrade of landscaped area of the former MSB to become First Fleet Park. • 2010: Work begins on MCA extension over the existing car park. == Heritage listing ==