The Rocks 1901 Gloucester Street

Original Archival

Today (Google)

North from Essex Street. This is one of a comprehensive government survey series of photos of The Rocks taken in 1901, just before the mass slum clearance and rebuilding. I cropped this photo into the one at top as I thought the little chap with his baby sibling in its pram is really adorable, but also it's a familial insight into daily life at the time. He's looking up the street toward two women, perhaps one is their mum, standing near the Black Dog Hotel. The buildings beyond there on the right still exist, but much of everything forward has since been demolished, with the Cahill Expressway cutting through the middle.