Stories from Susannah Place
A House In The Making
Susannah Place opened as a 'warts and all' house museum in 1993, but it took until 2006 to finally throw all of its door open to visitors. Curator Anna Cossu explains who lived here, what makes this place is important and why it's forever a 'work in progress'.
Childhood at Susannah Place
Come and play with Anna Cossu at Susannah Place Museum and find out what the kids who lived there got up to in the footpaths, streets and lane ways of the Rocks, Sydney.
Four houses, 170 years
Susannah Place celebrated its 170th anniversary with a free community event held on 14 September 2014 brought together ex-residents, descendants and the public.
From little things big things grow
Fragments of a 1946 Greek-American Tribune newspaper, olive seeds in the kitchen hearth and names and dates in Rate Assessment books were the only clues to the existence of a Greek family that lived at 60 Gloucester Street, The Rocks.
If these walls could talk: Susannah Place Museum
Marks on walls, evidence of home improvements and remnants of paint, linoleum and wallpapers offer us a glimpse into the lives of the more than 100 families who called Susannah Place home between 1844 and 1990.
King George V Memorial Playground (KGV)
Built on a narrow strip of land left over from the Sydney Harbour Bridge construction the King George V Memorial Playground (KGV) was built by the Sydney Municipal Council as a part of a scheme to provide playgrounds in crowded inner city suburbs.
They sawed the furniture in half
As anyone who has lived in a terrace house knows getting large pieces of furniture upstairs can be a frustratingly hard and sometimes hazardous exercise.
Two up, two down
Perched on one of the sandstone ledges that gave The Rocks its name, Susannah Place is a typically English row of ‘two up, two down’ terraces. Between 1844 and 1990, over 100 families called these four terrace houses home, living lives inextricably linked to the vibrant world of the Rocks.
‘By hook or by crook’
In 2020, Sydney Living Museums was gifted an autograph album by descendants of the Youngein family.
‘Everyone worked at the waterfront’
Sydney Harbour was the lifeblood of the thriving working‑class community who once lived in The Rocks, including the residents of the four terrace houses that now make up Susannah Place Museum.