a brief history lesson

In an effort to understand where the name of our little market came from, I did some research into Surry Hills’ history…

It would seem that in the 1830s sandy, swampy Surry Hills became an attractive residential area. By the 1890s the suburb was crammed with nearly 5,300 houses (most of which are probably still there, in some incantation). At this time, despite exponential increases in population, there were no improvements to basic amenities, which became shared between more and more people.

Enter the Crown Street Reservoir, which sits under The Winery and the market site. It was built in 1859 and bought relief and water supply to the area. The reservoir now also holds the title of oldest working reservoir in Australia.

It was built from special waterproof bricks imported from England, with wooden columns and a fire-proof arched roof. Crown Street Reservoir was part of the early Botany Swamps water scheme and still supplies water to inner city Sydney.

So, the Reservoir Bazaar sits on an important and historical site indeed. Below are some photos of the site pre-development. You can see where The Winery is now, in an old workshop building.