Old Police Station, The Rocks

About

The Old Police Station, The Rocks is a heritage-listed former police station and now home to Sergeant Lok, a Modern Asian restaurant and bar, that is located at 127–129 George 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 designed by James Barnet and built in 1882 by W. Cains and Sons. The property is owned by Property NSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 May 2002.

The subject site was the location of the first General Hospital in Sydney which operated between 1788 and 1816. In 1797 High (George) Street was realigned. The realignment required the portable hospital to be pulled down and re-erected on a stone foundation slightly west of its original location. A store and dispensary were then erected to the north and west of the hospital buildings. In 1816 the Sydney Hospital opened in Macquarie Street and the old hospital closed.

In 1836 William Davis was granted the subject site in the form of 16 perches, although an 1834 survey suggests that houses were on the site prior to this grant and therefore, Davis had probably been in informal ownership of the land. It is also possible that the Davis building was part of the 1790-1816 hospital. By 1844 The Rocks had a reticulated water supply to public fountains. Gas mains were laid in the 1850s, as were water mains. Sewerage lines were installed during the mid-1860s. Archaeological investigation could possibly uncover evidence of these on the subject site.

The Rocks had a notorious reputation for trouble and violence stretching back to its colonial beginnings as a penal colony and early trading port. The "pushes" of the Rocks were particularly notable. Law and order were kept by mounted police or "troopers", in combination with ordinary police, who could be picked out in a crowd by their bell-topper hat, black coat and white duck trousers. The mounted police wore a military uniform similar to the regular 13th Light Dragoons.

Police control of the Rocks during the mid-19th century was achieved with the Water Police in George Street, a single constable in Harrington Street, a station house in Cumberland Street, and, more to keep a watchful eye on Millers Point, a station at government ground cornered at Kent and Argyle Streets.

Gazettal of an official police force occurred in 1862, when the Police Regulation Act, No. 16 was proclaimed. The Rocks had paled in police significance and, taking into consideration factors elsewhere, was less a charge on the city conscience. There were still sporadic eruptions of violence in the nineties, and those whose business or inclinations obliged them to pass through The Cut, were still aware of the sandbag and the footpad and the garrotter in gas-lit early 20th century. But these were not confined to The Rocks.

In the 1890s a Royal Commission was formed "to make a diligent and full inquiry with the view of ascertaining the undoubted facts in the matter of alleged illicit gambling and immoralities among the Chinese resident in George-Street North, in the said City of Sydney and neighbourhood, and the alleged bribery or misconduct of any members of the NSW Police Force in relation thereto". The commission's investigation was to take three months from the 20 August 1891, but required two extensions before a final report was given in January 1892.

The two 'illegal' forms of gambling introduced by the Chinese were fan-tan (a game of chance) and pak-ah-pu (a sort of lottery). The Commission found that:

'Generally lottery tickets are sold amongst a display of bogus wares in the front shops, and fan-tan is carried on in one or more of the rooms behind. Access to the fan-tan rooms is gained as a rule through narrow passages, and then only at the pleasure of sentinels, who, according to the apparent intentions of the visitors, suspiciously open or double-bar the heavy doors with which ingress is regulated. Means of escape in case of surprise are artful and manifold, often from the same house leading into a back street, adjacent dwellings on either side, and across rear balconies and roofs to more distant houses tenanted by accomplices'.

In George Street North, the games mainly attracted wharf-labourers, sailors and coal-lumpers, and, because of the low cost, children were also buying the pak-ah-pu lottery tickets. The Commission put forward the following recommendations:

- That Non-commissioned Officers and Senior-constables be empowered without procuring a Magistrate's warrant to enter any house suspected on being a public gambling resort.

- That persons found on premises where gambling is in progress should be liable to arrest and summary conviction.

- That where gambling implements are found on suspected premises, the occupant should thereby be rendered liable to prosecution, and the onus of proof cast upon the accused of his being there for a lawful purpose.

- That, in houses suspected as public gambling resorts, the existence of barricades against police inspection be declared unlawful.

- That the police should, by the frequent visitation of gaming-houses, in addition to organised raids, harass those who make a living by gambling, or who gamble for amusement, as much as possible, without neglecting their duty in other directions. For the suppression of opium smoking

- A stricter enforcement of the law relating to the sale and distribution of opium. For improvement in the sanitary condition of Chinese residences

- A Common Lodging House Act, compelling the keepers of lodging-houses of all descriptions to provide adequate accommodation (cubic space, ventilation, water-closets, etc.).

- That Parliament should give its favourable consideration to the new Bill for the better government of the City of Sydney, now in course of preparation by the City Council There were also many allegations against policemen taking bribes from the Chinese gamblers to turn a blind eye on the illegal gaming rooms. Some allegations, 'As reported in the press some of the statements volunteered by the deputation and the Members of Parliament who introduced them to the Colonial Secretary were:

- 'It would be most advisable to change the police. North George-street was regarded by the police as one of the best beats for making money.'

However, the Commission found that the witnesses bringing bribery charges against the police could not substantiate their claims without exception they had based their statements on mere suspicion, or upon allegations that had come to them second-hand. For the most part the evidence was hopelessly general. Indeed, so far as the more serious allegations made by the deputation to the Colonial Secretary were concerned, the witnesses against the police had so utterly failed to establish their case that the police were examined, and severely cross-examined, on the charges of bribery with a view to seeing if, by any chance, they would implicate themselves; and that they certainly did not. In general, the Commission emphatically discredited the charges of bribery against the police and rejected the charge of alleged inactivity by the police towards the Chinese gambling problem.