I am amazed to find that the YHA building located at the Rocks is one of the most significant urban archaeological sites in Australia (Visited by no less than Tony Robinson and the Time-team crew) and it provides FREE tours of the site every Thursday :)
I highly recommend this experience as it is both interesting and educational with true life stories based on historical records of the lives of the people of the convict colonies living in The Rocks district of Sydney (Called the Rocks due to the inhospitable rocky landscape). It was almost beyond belief that people were able to build homes here and make a living through setting up small businesses and labouring at the harbour/docks. Personal interpretation of the site was provided by the resident YHA ‘Big dig’ historian, who was excellent and made full use of the artefacts and archaeology to bring the site to life and transport us (all three of us) back to life on the Rock in the 19th Century. She went on to tell us of FREE access centres/museums in the area for more information on the Rocks and guided us to streets with remaining building features dating back to the 19th and early 20th Century.
The site has been meticulously preserved with the aid of modern high tech engineering to build the YHA above the archaeological site on steel supports placed at locations least likely to cause damage to the site! This enables the archaeologists access to the whole site and allows for educational visits from schools and researches :) While we were guided around there were two schools also having a tour demonstrating the value of the site.
To add value to the educational site it is also used to display artwork of local students completing their studies - while I was there the current year 12 project work was on display in the form of sculptures. A great exhibition space :)
So overall the Rocks YHA is both a unique and excellent value hostel at the heart of Sydney - Strongly recommended.
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