Pyrmont sandstone became something of a viral sensation in 1855 after architect Edmund Thomas Blacket insisted on using it for the new steps at the Australian Museum. Blackett soon left to take up the exciting task of building Australia’s first university, using the trendy stone sourced from some evocatively named quarries - Paradise, Purgatory, and Hellhole - to form the Great Hall and surrounding buildings.
Like St Peter’s of Rome and Florence’s Duomo, the Quadrangle took over a century of patient craftmanship and community support to complete, with the final details added in 1966.
Sixty years on, the Quadrangle remains the cultural heart of the University. It has long been the setting for exams, lectures and graduation ceremonies, as well as gatherings, quiet study and everyday campus life – and adored by tourists who flock to see its Hogwarts-like charm.
A long vision, realised slowly
Work began in the 1850s, when Blacket designed the Great Hall. His plans drew on the Gothic traditions of Oxford and Cambridge, using hard-wearing sandstone to express permanence in a young city.
The Great Hall opened in 1859 and quickly became central to University life. Other sections followed gradually, shaped by changing priorities and funding. From the outset, this ambitious project relied on a combination of public support, community contributions and bequests – making it a century-long labour of love.
Illustration of Quadrangle main building, dated 1890. Image: University of Sydney Archives, REF-00083861.
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LinkA library at the heart of campus
A major chapter of giving came in 1885, when Thomas Fisher left £30,000 (equivalent to $6.4 million today) in his Will to establish and maintain a University library. Fisher, a bootmaker and property investor who lived close by, regularly conversed with staff and students whilst strolling the University grounds.
His bequest enabled the original Fisher Library to become part of the Quadrangle in 1909, featuring a Gothic-style reading room with a cedar roof and an innovative, multi-level book stack system. When the growing collection moved to a new building, the original library space became MacLaurin Hall. The new Fisher Library, opened in 1963, still houses Thomas Fisher's original collection.
“Fisher Library is more than just a building; it’s a core part of the student experience and a symbol of the University of Sydney’s – and Australia’s – commitment to education and research," says Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Mark Scott AO.
Remembered together
In the 1920s, the community funded the University of Sydney War Memorial Carillon. Dedicated on Anzac Day in 1928, the carillon honours the 197 undergraduates, graduates and staff who died in the First World War.
Funding came not from a single donor, but from families, alumni, faculties and organisations across Australia. It was one of the University’s earliest large-scale, community-led fundraising efforts.
Today the bells chime twice weekly, marking moments of ceremony, joy and reflection.
A look at the Quadrangle through the ages
Finished at last
The cloisters and Western Tower of the Quadrangle were finally finished in the 1960s, completing the Quadrangle more than a century after the first stone was laid.
A bequest from Eleanor Sophia Wood helped support the final stages, closing a long chapter in the Quad’s history. Today, her legacy continues through the Eleanor Sophia Wood MySydney Scholarship, supporting students to reach their aspiration.
Caring for a living place
Completion did not signal an end to work on the Quadrangle. Like all historic sandstone buildings, it requires ongoing conservation and careful maintenance. Since the late 1990s, alumni and supporters have helped fund restoration work across the University, including the Quadrangle.
Much of this work happens out of sight: sourcing compatible sandstone, repairing weathered details, and ensuring modern systems can be introduced without compromising historic fabric.
"The Quadrangle is one of Australia's most recognisable academic landmarks, and preserving it is a generational responsibility. Through careful planning, we are working to protect its heritage while extending its life as the ceremonial centre of the University," says Nicole Gower, Vice-President (Operations).
Contemporary generosity
In 2014, a lighting upgrade in the Great Hall highlighted how philanthropy continues to illuminate and brighten education on campus. Alumnus and lighting engineer Professor Barry Webb AM identified the need for improvement while attending a scholarship ceremony and offered his expertise. A generous donation from the King family in memory of Dr Charles Warman AM later funded the installation.
The work continues
Today, visitors may notice scaffolding or conservation work underway in and around the Quadrangle. These efforts are part of an ongoing commitment by the University, its staff and its supporters to care for a place that means so much to so many.
For more than 160 years, hundreds of thousands have passed through the Quadrangle as students, graduates, staff and visitors. Many have also helped shape its story, through gifts large and small, as well as time, attention and care.
Sixty years after its completion, the Quadrangle stands not as a finished monument, but as a living place; a place to be cherished and cared for across generations.
Professor Barry Webb's work on the Great Hall won the Illuminating Engineering Society of Australia and New Zealand’s Award of Supreme Brilliance. Photo: Bill Green / The University of Sydney
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LinkHero image: Flowers blooming in front of the Quadrangle, 2016. Photo: University of Sydney.