The image above is a beautiful snapshot of a place which many Sydneysiders and visitors to Sydney alike are familiar with, yet little think about. Queens Square is today simply a public square and many Sydneysiders may not even be aware that it has a name.

Queens Square is found at the place where King Street, Phillip Street and Macquarie Street come together. In 1810, when Governor Macquarie arrived in Sydney, he began the process of transforming the fledgling penal colony into a township.  He oversaw the reorganisation of streets, and the establishment of public spaces and parks in line with British town planning. He established a town common in the form of Hyde Park and saw that the key civic features of a township, including Churches, schools, a hospital and a courthouse, were built near this common.

The centre of the township, the civic square, was established just by the town common, and this civic centre was called Queens Square. The square is bounded by some of Sydney’s most important buildings, including The Sydney Mint, the Law Courts, Hyde Park Barracks, and St James Church (which was originally to be the courthouse). Even today, it is still considered by many to be the centre of the city of Sydney.