Melanesian Cruise: British Scones and Andrew MacQuarrie (Sydney, Australia 3.16.26)

The US and Australia are sisters with a common mother--England.  I can still feel our common British colonial heritage in Boston and Philadelphia, and I could certainly feel it in Sydney.  On March 16, 2026, Dave and I took a walking tour of Sydney, ending up, once again, in The Rocks.  We relaxed in a little sidewalk cafe, "T Cozy," which sold scones and tea.  We shared a basket of scones, cream and three tubs of jam--raspberry, rhubarb, and passionfruit lime.  

On each table was a basket filled with a half-finished knitting project, complete with knitting needles!

The Rocks is now filled with trendy shops and restaurants, but it is next to the pier where convicts from England were unloaded in the early 1800s, as the first white settlers of Australia.

Nearby are the iconic sights of Sydney--the bridge and the Opera House.

Our morning walking tour began at the statue of James Cook in Sydney's central square, Hyde Park.  Cook was the British explorer who, in the 1700s, was one of first white men to visit Australia, as well as sailing as far north as Alaska.  As I sat on a park bench, wearing a broad-brimmed hat and large sunglasses, a Japanese family came up to me and wanted to take my picture.  "So pretty," one of them said.  I happily obliged, as payback for all the times I have snapped pictures of the "pretty" natives!

The park was filled with white ibis, sunning themselves with the tourists.

At the edge of the park was a huge statue of Andrew MacQuarrie, one of Australia's first governors.  He had a vision for Sydney as a beautiful capital city, instead of just a place to dump convicts.  The elegant colonial churches and public buildings are his doing.

Our guide was Asian, which reminded us of Australia's diverse demographics.  

We passed an original Church of England church, dating from colonial days.

We also passed the Sydney Hospital, which was one of the elegant buildings built by Governor Andrew MacQuarrie in the early days.

We heard the story of Captain Matthew Flinders and his cat, Trim, who accompanied him as Flinders' British ship sailed the world.   When Trim died, he got his own statue, footprints in the concrete, and burial plaque.

As we walked through the Sydney Botanical Garden, we spotted kookaburras, the national bird of Australia

After our walking tour ended, Dave and I visited the lovely St. Mary of the Cross church, as well as Sydney's main art museum.

Sydney has many monumental sculptures, in the fine old British tradition.

I have long been fascinated by aboriginal art and depictions of aboriginal people and culture. Sydney's National Art Museum had both.