History Comparisons - it's all relative

Several weeks ago I took an evening stroll around the Sydney city. As I headed back to the hotel near Martin Place (next door to the Lindt Cafe) I kept walking up King Street towards Queens Square. This square is a large open civic space that creates a transition from the green space of Hyde Park and the imposing Supreme Court Building (also known as the Law Courts Building) at the southern end of Macquarie Street.

Queens Square (circa 1930s)

For fans of ABC's hit legal comedy drama "Rake" (Season 4 is currently being broadcast), Queens Square is a regular location for filming as Cleaver and Barney arrive and leave and hearings where Cleaver is either the defendant or the defence barrister (until he was disbarred).

Richard Roxburgh and Russell Dykstra during filming

As I passed the Old Supreme Court building I paused outside the adjacent St James' King Street. St James' was constructed between 1820 and 1824 using convict labour and consecrated in 1824. Designed in the style of a Georgian town church by the transported convict architect Francis Greenway, it forms part of the historical precinct of Macquarie Street which includes other early colonial era buildings such as the Hyde Park Barracks.

St James' Church circa 1890

St James' Church - Google "Street View" Dec 2015

The church building is the oldest one remaining in Sydney's inner city region. It is listed on the Register of the National Estate and has been described as one of the world's 80 greatest man-made treasures.

Hyde Park Barracks - GW Evans c1820

For non-indigenous Aussies, this colonial history and associated architecture is pretty interesting and special however as I stood on the King Street footpath reading the information plaques, my mind made the leap to the "motherland" - to England's green and pleasant land. I wondered - what would have been happening in terms of canal development in the English Midlands when this flurry of building activity was taking place in the colony of New South Wales?

The Oxford Canal (the canal where we will start and finish our cruise) was constructed in several stages over a period of more than twenty years. Construction began near Coventry shortly after the 1769 Act of Parliament was passed.

The Oxford Canal as seen from Napton-on-the-Hill in Warwickshire

Surveying and initial construction was supervised by James Brindley and by 1774 the canal had reached Napton. Financial problems meant that work on the final stretch to Oxford did not begin until 1786 and the Oxford Canal reached the outskirts of Oxford in 1789.

Narrowboat on the Oxford canal near Brinklow between Rugby and Coventry.

Oxford Canal and locks at Hillmorton

The final section into central Oxford was ceremonially opened on 1 January 1790 some 30 years before work started on St James Church in Queens Square.

Meanwhile there's only 50 days left to go before the narrowboating adventure begins.

More soon,
The Skipper