200 years of NSW Treasury in pictures

Explore 200 years of NSW Treasury through captivating images that highlight our rich history and growth. Discover our key moments and legacy.

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William Butler Simpson

A glimpse of 200 years: 1824-2024

Take a visual journey through the past 200 years of NSW Treasury. They highlight key moments and show how our organisation has grown and changed since 1824. Each picture shares a piece of our history and our ongoing role in building a strong future for NSW.

The ‘Black Stump’ - the State Office Block building complex on Phillip, Bent and Macquaries streets. NSW Treasury moved from the colonial Treasury Building headquarters to the modernist skyscraper upon its completion in 1967. The Black Stump was a football kick away from the ‘home’ of NSW Treasury, Colonial Treasurer William Balcombe’s manor on the corner of Bent and O’Connell streets.

Part of the plans for the Treasury Building on Macquarie Street. The signature of the Government Architect, George McRae, is visible.

Perilous Performance: Colonial Treasurer Geoffrey Eagar, cast as a tightrope walker in the satirical magazine Sydney Punch, 1864.

Prior to the 1990s, places like the First and Last Hotel (pictured here at Circular Quay in 1963) were important institutions in an earlier public service culture. This was particularly so at NSW Treasury when the Budget Papers were being prepared.

Milestones

A communal kangaroo hunt in the 1810s.

Two thousand years of Aboriginal coastal economy in a midden at Kurnell, an area that continued to be used long after the arrival of Europeans.

The Ngunnhu fish traps around 1890s, which were still being used by Ngemba people.

Some of the traditional tools and weapons used by Aboriginal men and women in Sydney.

Aboriginal maid ironing at ‘Kaleno’ station – Bourke, NSW

Aboriginal workers on Cullunghutti, circa 1891.

Aboriginal tracker and police officers at Walgett, circa 1890

Warangesda Aboriginal Station, circa 1910.

John Eyre’s watercolour of the east side of Sydney Cove, circa 1811.

Royal commissioner John Thomas Bigge, watercolour by Thomas Uwins, 1819.

First Colonial Treasurer William Balcombe, circa 1823-1829. Courtesy National Library of Australia.

The Governor attending the annual meeting of the First Australians at Parramatta, New South Wales.
Augustus Earle, circa 1826.

The Male Orphan School at Bonnyrigg, 1840.

Obverse and reverse of an 1806 Spanish silver dollar, showing Charles IV of Spain.

New South Wales gold prospecting, circa 1850-1860. Sketch attributed to an officer of the 11th Regiment of Foot.

Arrival of the Government gold conveyance at the Colonial Treasury, Sydney, on August 21, 1851. Sketch in the Illustrated London News, 1852.

Sydney branch of the Royal Mint, Macquarie Street, circa 1870.

Corner of O’Connell Street & Bent Street [a view], William Butler Simpson, 1853. The building on the left is the house of first Colonial Treasurer William Balcombe – and thus the first headquarters of NSW Treasury.

A bullock cart hauling wool at Glen Innes, circa 1890.

The Turning of the Turf of the First Australian Railway by the Hon Mrs Keith Stewart, daughter of His Excellency Sir Chas <sic> Augustus Fitz Roy, Governor &c &c, William Harris, 1850.

Sydney branch of the Royal Mint, Macquarie Street, circa 1870.

The Everleigh Railway Workshops (now known as Carriageworks). Photograph by Milton Kent, circa 1950.

Sticking Up the Squatters: NSW parliamentarians (and later Prime Minister and Treasurer of Australia respectively) Henry Parkes and John Christian Watson, cast by the satirical magazine Sydney Punch, 1880.

Treasury staff photo at Chowder Bay, 1894.
Geoffrey Eagar’s successor, Francis Kirkpatrick, was head of the Treasury at the time.

Portrait of Colonial Treasurer Geoffrey Eagar, circa 1865–1890.

Geoffrey Eagar was a recurring feature in the satirical magazine Sydney Punch. The Treasury Governess (1871). Eagar’s nickname (‘Betsy’) and competent support are headlined as he is cast as governess to successive treasurers; George Lord comes off poorly again (‘he’s precious stupid, but the pay is good’).

The Treasury Building by night, 1938.

Eagar’s Extremeties; or “Pedal” Balancing (1871). Eagar is appointed head of the Treasury, helping Colonial Treasurer George Lord balance his responsibilities (Lord is seen here standing on Eagar’s feet).

The Treasury Building on the corner of Macquarie and Bridge streets, circa 1870.

The 32nd ministry of the NSW Government, under Joseph Carruthers, circa 1904. ‘Premier’ was not a formal position until 1920, so the leader of the government was appointed to another portfolio; Carruthers chose to be the 28th Treasurer.

Officers of the New South Wales Treasury who served in the Great War, 1914–1919.

Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Torrens (D67) is launched by Dame Helen, Lady Munro Ferguson – the wife of Australia’s Governor-General Ronald Munro Ferguson – on Cockatoo Island, 28 August 1915.

Sydneysiders seen wearing masks during the 1918-1920 flu pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer ‘Spanish flu’.

Looking south along Astrolabe Road, Dacey Garden Suburb (now Daceyville), 1913.

A masked nurse of the Lithgow District Ambulance during the 1918–1920 flu pandemic (courtesy Lithgow Library).

The Old Treasury, sketch by George Ure Smith, 1919.

The Commonwealth War Cabinet, 10 November 1943. Minister for the Army Frank Forde (third from left)
sits next to Prime Minister John Curtin (fourth from left).

Excelsior! Political caricaturist Ted Scorfield in The Bulletin (1942) depicts Prime Minister John Curtin fixing the flag of uniform taxation, dragged down by Australia’s other political leaders.

Mr Reid’s Anxiety About the Poor Man: Livingstone Hopkins, caricaturist for The Bulletin (1901), lampoons NSW Premier and Treasurer George Reid.

The Treasury Building from the Royal Botanic Gardens with the newly constructed Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background, 1938.

In June 1942, war came to Sydney as a fleet of Japanese submarines approached the Heads. Smaller submarines entered Sydney Harbour, sinking HMAS Kuttabul - which gives its name to the modern HMAS Kuttabal, the headquarters of the Navy’s Fleet Base East. Larger submarines shelled the eastern suburbs of Sydney and Newcastle (including Woollahra, pictured) before being driven off. Little damage was done (one resident said of the attack ‘...if London can take it, Surry Hills can take it!’), but the attacks added great weight to arguments about uniform taxation.

Premier Jack Lang and Mary Lang with the Governor, Sir Philip Game, and Lady Gwendolen Game.

Getting the Wind Up Proper: Caricaturist Tom Glover in The Sun (1931) on the impact of the
eponymous plans of federal Treasurer Ted Theodore and NSW Premier Jack Lang.

A 1932 election handbill from the United Country Party (a forerunner of the modern National Party), depicting Premier Jack Lang, NSW Labor Council Secretary ‘Jock’ Garden, and Vladimir Lenin.

Press photographers and one newsreel man who reported the dismissal of the Lang Government, 31 May 1932, in the Cabinet Room of the NSW Treasury. Photographer Sam Hood asked Treasury officials to allow the press men to stand on the table for a photograph. They only agreed to this after Hood suggested placing a carpet on the table to protect it.

Randwick Racecourse in 1934. Government revenue from gambling grew significantly from World War I when New South Wales first began to raise revenue from gambling in order to supplement the State’s funds.

Foundation stone and time capsule, Government Savings Bank of NSW, March 1922. The encased document mentions ‘J. T. Lang, Colonial Treasurer’.

Moments

Governor Macquarie Tower, NSW Treasury’s home from 1995 to 2014.

Sydney Opera House, circa 1974.

Sydney Opera House interior, 1973.

Sydney Opera House architect Jørn Utzon (right) draws the winning marble in the Opera House Lottery No 3, supervised by Laurie Fuller of the Government Audit Office.

Whispers, 2023, Megan Cope. One of a series of sculptures created for the 50-year anniversary of the Sydney Opera House that connect the immense time and cultural history of the site. The sculpture is made from 85,000 repurposed oyster shells, cypress pine, stainless steel cables and aluminum.

Premier Joe Cahill signs the Opera House contract, 1959.

Premier Joe Cahill tsigns the Opera House contract, 1959.

The Opera House Lottery ran from 1957 until 1986. During that time, more than 86 million tickets were sold in 496 draws.

Greek refugee and Opera House lottery winner Sandra Megalooikonomou (later Sandra Mitchell).

The plucky Dollar Bill character extolling decimalisation, with his more staid and outdated counterpart.

The first Treasury Note ever issued, in 1893. Decimalisation would come just over 70 years later.

Decimal currency poster, circa 1964.

An employee at Waltons (a now-defunct department store chain in Sydney) training for the introduction of decimal currency in 1966.

The first motorists to cross the newly opened Sydney Harbour Bridge, 1932.

The Cahill Expressway at Circular Quay, 1962.

Sydney’s tramway network, circa 1937.

Spaghetti Junction, by Sydney Morning Herald editorial cartoonist Alan Moir, 2023.

Faye Clayton-Moseley is a Wiradjuri Elder, artist and survivor of the Stolen Generations. She presented this painting, Cootamundra Well, to the Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme (ATFRS) offices in Redfern in 2007. It was the first thing people saw when they entered, and a daily reminder of the pain and trauma suffered by Indigenous children removed by the State. More information on this image is in the Chapter 12 endnotes.
(Courtesy Faye Clayton-Moseley)

The first Day of Mourning, 26 January 1938.

Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls, circa 1920.

Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association logo.

Hospital for the Insane, Gladesville, circa 1910.

The third floor of Hyde Park Barracks (shown here circa 1880) was converted to the Government Asylum for Infirm and Destitute Women in 1862. It housed up to 200 people.

Thousands of people with a disability, their carers, and allies rally at the Sydney Opera House on 28 October 2010.

Castle Hill Lunatic Asylum, pictured here during its demolition (circa 1866), was Australia’s first official institution
which provided care for the mentally ill.