University of Sydney Quadrangle, Camperdown

While Sylvia op shopped and my parents rode the ferry, I visited the Sydney University quadrangle.  I have visited it once before when I was studying at the University of Melbourne and was very aware of how much bigger it was than our local university quad.  It is very beautiful and houses the splendid heritage MacLaurin Hall that you can see on the far right of the photo and Great Hall on the opposite corner.  This visit to Sydney I had the pleasure of spending time exploring the quad, marvelling at gargoyles and carvings, enjoying glimpses of student life and peeking into gorgeous old rooms.

 

I walked up to the quad from the City Road bus stop past the fine heritage building Madsen Hall and the Anderson Stuart Building.  I walk around grand sweep of road called University Place so I could enter by the path that cuts across the expanse of grass out front.

 

This entrance is the best way to get a full view of the grand entrance and take in the huge span of the building.  The University of Sydney Quadrangle was built between 1854 and 1966 of Sydney sandstone.  At the right of this photo is the Great Hall which was included in the original building and constructed between 1855 and 1862.  I wish I had had a chance to see inside the Great Hall which looks magnificent in the online photos.

 It is interesting to note (with my disclosure that I am very fond of the University of Melbourne) that construction began on the the Melbourne Uni in 1854 the same year as Sydney Uni.  I could go into many comparisons but let's just say that it took a lot longer for Sydney (established as a town in the 1890s) to found a university in 1850 than Melbourne (pronounced a town in 1837) whose university was founded 1853.  It seems to me that Melbourne was able to build a university more quickly with the goldrush riches and industrial progress at the time but Sydney was able to build a larger quad because it was a more established town by then.  

 

As I got closer to the main entrance under the clock tower I saw some galahs on the grass - not to be confused with all the students out the front taking selfies (ha ha).  The main entrance was among the earliest constructions along with the Great Hall.  As you can see there is currently construction work on the main entrance, as well as in the North end of the Quadrangle.  With a building this large, old and complex, I imagine there is often construction work.
 

Even closer to the entrance I saw some ibis on the grass with their long lanky legs and large black bill.  I noticed that there are a lot of the Australian white ibis around Sydney.  They are affectionately nicknamed bin chickens because of their scavenging habits.   
 

Through the entrance way is the charming view of the sandstone facades with crenelated roofs and mullioned oriel windows.  (Yes that is fancy architecture-speak I looked up online to describe how amazing they are!)  There are also many young students or tourists taking selfies.  I have seen it said that this building reminds people of the magical Harry Potter universe.  Perhaps that attracts more visitors?

I had a quick walk down to the north end of the quad where the Great Hall is.  I am impressed by this staircase and in hindsight wonder if it goes to the Great Hall.  I'll have to find out on my next visit.  Down the end the foot path lacks the shade of the cloisters in the south.  It is also the location of the construction work which has roped off some of the foorpath so I do not continue a full lap.  Instead I walk down the centre and take in the wonderful views to the souht (see the top photo).

There are many gargoyles around the quadrangle, inside and out.  I particularly liked the crocodile on the south wall of the cloisers but it was so sunny that it was difficult to photograph.  Instead I share these photos of fantastical beasts in the decorative gargoyles inside the cloisters where the light was better.  I would have loved more time to look up at the garfoyles.
  

I took a photo of this noticeboard which advertised different subjects offered by the various disciplines in Faculty of the Arts and Social Sciences.  It is good to see people putting creativity into the titles to entince the students.  They sound fascinating: 'I scan therefore I am', 'Smash the patriarchy', and 'Zoroaster, Jesus and Buddah walk into a bar'.  Makes me wish to be an undergraduate student again with so much possibility ahead of me.

 

I went into the entrance of the Department of Philosophy on the east side near the south side.  It is a fine space with the arched wooden doors, the relief sculptures and the view out to the quadrangle. Above the door is a plaque in memory of Frederick Mate, classical and mathematical scholar, who died aged 20 of a sudden illness in 1864. His epitaph is Consummatus in brevi explevit tempora multa, which translates as Completed in a short time, he fulfilled many times.

 

On the wall of this space are short bios of a broad range of people who have been influential in philosophy.  I just wish I had had the time to stop and read every one.

In the South West Corner I climbed the stairs that promised to take me to the MacLaurin Hall.  From the stairwell I could see the back of the clock tower through the squares of the mullioned windows.  I wanted to open the window with the old fashioned handle and step through to walk along the top of the cloisters behind the crenelations.  It would be forbidden so instead I kept going.

I was very disappointed to have signs up to the MacLaurin Hall but the doors were locked.  While universities are wonderful to walk through they are for the students and staff first and foremost.  The locked door was a reminder that rubbernecks like myself cannot just wander everywhere.  

My glimpse of the hall was through the window in the door.  The photo is to give a sense of the building even if it is not the best quality.  I really wanted to go in and admire the cedar hammer-beam roof, the gothic windows and the paneled wood dados on the lower parts of the walls.  This hall was opened in 1962 in the space that was formerly the reading room of the Fischer Library that was built at the start of the 20th Century.  

I came out this side entrance that is at the end of the MacLaurin Hall with many gothic details.  I was most taken with the carvings on the archway.  

While walking through the university often felt like being in a museum, there is no informative tour guides nor signage so there were many details I knew very little about. 

This is a close up of many of the carvings on the side entrance.  I could see that themes of justice, biology, music, chemistry, science, engineering and perhaps medicine.  These seemed to correspond to the teachings of the university but not all of the carvings made sense to me.  So I could only look and wonder at the artistry.

This plaque or monument was inside the side entrance.  Again I don't know much about it or the people's faces either side.

Up close this face looked so realistic despite the blank eyes that I am sure he was modelled on someone important in the university.  I wish I knew more about this man wringing his hands in a devout and/or scholarly manner.  The building tells so many stories but they are not always easy to read.  What can be seen is the grandeur, riches and power in this quadrangle that sets out to impress and entice.

Inside the side entrance is a magnificent gothic stone staircase leading up to a hallway with a rib vault ceiling.  

 

I was rewarded for my curiosity with these wonderful stained glass windows in the stairwell.  The artwork is majestic with the robed man looking for all the world like a university vice chanellor who is elevated to the status of the royal kings either side of him.

Near the stairwell, I peeked into a class room opposite the hall.  It had a magnificent timber roof and dados with rows of wooden desks that, while not fancy, were in sympathy with the design.
 

 

There were no other doors open to me so I headed back down the staircase past the carving of this medieval beast who looked as spent as a student who has studied all night for an exam.

Then back past the students resting in the archways of the cloisters and out into the streets of Glebe to meet up with Sylvia.  There is such a lot to see in the quadrangle and the university that I hope to return to see more.

More posts about our March 2026 trip to Sydney: 

• Opera Bar and Sydney Harbour  
• Duke of Clarence, QVB, Uchilounge (City centre), Sydney 
• Miss Sina, Oh My Days, Sappho Books (Glebe and Marrickville) Sydney
• Bills, Bourke St Bakery, Shift Eatery (Surry Hills), the Rocks, Airport (coming soon) 
• Sydney Street Art 2026