The Argyle Cut is a heritage-listed roadway and road cutting located at Argyle Street in the inner-city Sydney suburb of The Rocks in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1843 to 1868 with convict and paid labour. The property is owned by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 May 2002.
History
Agitation for a link between The Rocks and began early; the Sydney Gazette in 1803 lamented the lack of a short cut across the rocky peninsula. Maclehouse, in the Picture of Sydney and Strangers Guide in NSW for 1839, an early tourist guide, says that Argyle Street was in two parts. The eastern from George Street to Harrington Street separated by the western side by a "precipice of considerable height". At that stage a set of stairs which had once been cut into the rock to provide access between the two halves was already deteriorated and unsafe. Before the cut was built, the only way that vehicles could get from the Sydney Cove to Darling Harbour was via a circuitous route along lower George Street, to Dawes Point and into Windmill Street. For pedestrians, there was no other way except along the steep alleyways and flights of crude steps.
As Darling Harbour developed, it became crucial for a link between the Cove and Millers Point. The first schemes came from private enterprise, with an ambitious plan to cut a deep channel through the central spine of The Rocks. The father of this plan was Alexander Berry, one of the wealthiest landowners and merchants in the colony. He had already presided over cutting a channel between the river and an arm of Crookhaven which became the virtual mouth of the Shoalhaven River. Besides his large landholding in the Shoalhaven, Berry had vast commercial interests in Sydney as an importer and exporter. His office was in Lower George Street, and he was vitally concerned about plans to extend Argyle Street. The proposal was that the shareholders should have the right to levy tolls on all passengers and stock using the cut, and from the revenue, the shareholders were to get a dividend. Any excess was to accumulate until it equalled the amount expended initially in the making of the cut. The capital was then to be returned to the shareholders, and the toll would cease. Governor Bourke and the Legislative Council turned down the plan, and the Government decided to undertake the work.
A plan for the Argyle Cut was drawn up by the Government Architect, Edward Hallen, in 1832. The plan shows the proposed bridges over the streets above, a view, and the road's inclination.
The Argyle Cut was begun by 1843, with convict labour in chain gangs. Their overseer was a cruel man, Tim Lane, who used to declare to the labourers that 'by the help of God and the strong arm of the flogger, you'll get fifty before breakfast tomorrow!' Despite his efforts, the job proved beyond the crude tools of the convicts. Transportation to NSW had ceased in 1840 after much agitation, and many of the residents were unsettled by the sight and sounds of convicts labouring in chains in full view. The Government abandoned the project when it was half completed.
The cut was eventually completed by Sydney Municipal Council, using explosives and council labour in 1859. The spoil was used to fill the mouth of the Tank Stream and to buttress the sea wall at Circular Quay. Overhead bridges were built for Gloucester Street in 1862, Cumberland Street in 1864 and the Princes Street in 1867–68 (the latter demolished as part of the Sydney Harbour Bridge construction). There is an inscription identifying Charles Moore, Mayor (1867–68) from this Bridge now relocated to the south wall of the cut. With the building of new wharves at Walsh Bay and the laying out of Hickson Road the Cut lost much of its importance.
As part of the Sydney Harbour Trust's improvements in 1911-12, Gloucester and Cumberland Streets were realigned, and the two road bridges over the Argyle Cut replaced by a single bridge at Cumberland Street and the Argyle Stairs were constructed. This work involved the demolition of 22–24 Gloucester Street, part of View Terrace.
Later, as part of the building of the Bradfield Highway in the 1920s, the Princes Street Bridge was demolished, and the Argyle Cut was widened at the Princes Street end, and the Bradfield Highway was constructed overhead, completed in 1932.