By MICK ROBERTS ©
ALL within a short walk from Sydney Harbour’s docks, during the 19th century, once traded four pubs known as the Whalers Arms.
Rubbing shoulders in the cramped, crowded bars and taprooms of the inns and public houses were American, Maori and South Sea Islander whalers and sealers, ex-convicts, soldiers and ladies of the night, indulging in their favoured drink of the day, rum and water, with perhaps a dash of vitriol.
The crews of the whaling and sealing vessels that docked at Millers Point preferred and were always quick to make their way to Sydney pubs with signs like Three Jolly Sailors, the Sheer Hulk, the Sailor’s Return, the Ocean Wave, and of course, The Whalers Arms.
There were four pubs trading either at the same time or at various periods under the sign of the Whalers Arms in Sydney’s Rocks and Millers Point from 1831 through to when the last closed its doors in 1893.
The four Whalers Arms at The Rocks and Millers Point
1. Corner of Pottinger Street and Windmill Street (1831 – 1842)
2. Corner of Lower Fort Street and Mill Street (Traded as the Young Princess from 1840 to 1847 before changing its sign to the Whalers Arms from 1847 to 1850 and from 1860 to 1870).
3. Corner Argyle Street and Windmill Street (1847 – 1893). Opened in 1847 by James Merriman, and closed in June 1893 when Alfred Jordan was refused a renewal, “as the house is utterly unfit for a hotel”.
James Merriman was born at Parramatta in the year 1817. He was closely connected with shipping interests, trading between Sydney and New Zealand. He held whaling interests and pioneered the pearl shell industry in the Torres Straits. He opened the Whalers Arms at the end of Windmill Street at Millers Point in 1843, and was publican until 1860. In his later life, Merriman was elected an alderman on Sydney Council, serving several terms as mayor. He died in 1883.
4. Corner of Gloucester Street and Cumberland Place (1851 – 1893). Opened by John Sims in 1851 and traded until 1893. The license was refused in June 1893 as “the house being a very old one”, and was “without the required standard of accommodation”.
John Sims owned whaling vessels, and was generally connected with whaling interests. His ships traded with New Zealand, and it is said that as many Maoris as white people used to be found at the bar of the Whalers’ Arms. Indeed, the lane alongside the pub was known as Maori-Lane. Sims, who was greatly respected, became a wealthy man, and, at his death in 1883, left properties at Balmain, Surry Hills, and other parts of Sydney suburbs.
The Whalers Arms, corner of Lower Fort and Mill Streets, Millers Point
This story focuses on the history of the Whalers Arms, which was located a short walk from what was at the time the Sydney Harbour ferry services at Millers Point.
A well-trodden stone-paved laneway runs from Pottinger Street to Windmill Street at Millers Point, with the name Ferry Lane. It’s a clue to a much livelier time, before the famed Sydney Harbour Bridge was built, and when ferries were the only means of connecting Sydney’s north and south.
Most are familiar with the landmark pub, the Hero of Waterloo at Millers Point, sitting on the corner of Lower Fort and Windmill Streets, however, the story of the Whalers Arms on the opposite corner is much less told.
The dramatic tale of the Hero of Waterloo’s unsuspecting patrons who drank themselves into a stupor and were pushed through a trap door and carried through underground tunnels to waiting ships is a well-recited story. Like the Hero of Waterloo, the Whalers Arms too was reportedly a pub for recruiting crews.
The Whalers Arms at the corner of Lower Fort and Windmill Streets called last drinks as a pub in 1870 under the sign of ‘Brown’s Family Hotel’. Today it’s a private residence.
The small corner pub started trading life in 1840 as the Young Princess, before adopting the sign ‘Whalers Arms’ in 1847.
The name Whalers Arms was taken from an earlier pub, which had closed for business in 1842, and was located a few blocks west on the eastern corner of Windmill and Pottinger Streets.
The earlier Whalers Arms and the Young Princess were both established by accomplished boat-builder, Joseph Faris.
When 24-year-old Joseph Faris established the first Whalers Arms near Millers Point wharves in 1831, the area was alive with hard-drinking merchant seamen, boat-builders and dock-workers.
Millers Point developed from the 1820s, beginning with small private wharves for the early colonial trade of precious timbers like sandalwood and cedar, and for the whaling and seal industry. It was a crucial location for early American whalers, with the wharves supporting their trade along the coast.
Faris and his wife, Elizabeth were married in London in 1829 before arriving in Sydney in 1830. Farris established a boat-building business at Millers Point, before gaining a license for a stone inn at the corner of Windmill and Pottinger Streets.
In a series of history articles by ‘Old Chum’, documenting Sydney’s early European history, the location of the original of Whalers Arms is revealed.
Old Chum was the pen name of journalist Joseph Michael Forde (1840-1929), who wrote a series of history articles for the newspaper Truth beginning around 1901 through to 1902. His articles, which were under the heading ‘Old Sydney’, covered a wide range of Sydney’s history, and his work was popular with the public. In an article published in the Sydney Truth on 2 February 1902 Forde revealed the location of the original Whalers Arms:
Old Sydney – The Rocks – By Old Chum
Windmill Street – The big stone house at the corner of Pottinger-street is perhaps the oldest house in the neighborhood. The street has been considerably raised since it was built, and from the front it looks dwarfed. From Pottinger-street its size is seen to better advantage. In the twenties it was a public-house and if the curious in such matters will look on the eastern gable, they will still be able to read the name, the Whalers’ Arms, indicating the business done in the neighborhood, and the trade it courted. Its thick walls and solid foundations appear to have been beaten by time, and before the year expires the old house will be of the past. When the whalers deserted the spot, the house changed its name to the Napoleon Inn, being one of three having the same name in the locality at various times.
In another article in the series, Forde writes:
“The Whalers Arms was strategically positioned at the corner of Windmill and Pottinger Streets. Pottinger Street led to the Sydney Harbour ferry services at the time. It was also where a number of boat-building business operated, making it an ideal pub for travellers, sailors, and maritime workers…”
Joseph and Elizabeth Faris moved into the Whalers Arms with their baby girl in 1831. At the time there was just one other pub in Windmill Street – Moses Solomon’s Steam Packet Inn.
By 1833, two more children, Joseph Jnr and Thomas, were added to the Faris family. With their three children, Joseph and Elizabeth made a return trip to London in 1835, and leased the Whalers Arms to John Redgrave.
The family returned to Sydney the following year and Faris returned as licensee, hosting the Whalers Arms from 1837 to March 1840.
During these years, Faris continued with his boat-building business, establishing a reputation for his craft. The Sydney Monitor reported on 6 June 1838 that he “just turned out of his building yard, a six oared galley, for the water-police station at Garden Island”.
On his return to Sydney, Faris found Windmill Street had become a busy high street, with several public houses, general stores and other houses of business. Beside the Whalers Arms, four pubs were trading in Windmill Street in 1840.
- Hit or Miss (Pictured below) was located directly opposite the Whalers Arms at the corner of Windmill and Pottinger Streets.
- Napoleon Inn
- Ship Inn
- Steam Packet
The license of the Whalers Arms was transferred from Faris to Patrick Byrne on March 3 1840. In turn, Faris, now 33, took the reins of a newly built pub on the northern corner of Fort and Windmill Streets by the name of the Young Princess.
This is where the history of the Whalers Arms becomes a little complicated. Faris’ Young Princess would later change its sign to the Whalers Arms. We’ll get to that a little later in the story.
Meanwhile the original Whalers Arms continued to trade at the corner of Windmill and Pottinger Streets with Patrick Byrne at the helm. Byrne wrote the following letter to the editor of the Sydney Herald on 11 December 1841 highlighting the violence often experienced in colonial Windmill Street.
To the Editors of the Sydney Morning Herald
GENTLEMEN, – A statement having been inserted in your columns of this day, describing a fracas which occurred yesterday opposite my house the Whalers Arms, Windmill street, wherein it is erroneously mentioned, that I stood unconcernedly by whilst two ruffians, who came out of my door stripped, ill treated two sailors. I request in justice to myself that you will insert a statement of the facts, which were simply these :- A sailor, a powerful man, belonging to the Colombine, endeavoured during the afternoon several times to create a quarrel with some of his shipmates and the emigrants who came out in the vessel, so much so that I had been compelled on more than one occasion to interfere, to prevent tumult at the time your informant passed, the two sailors had been fighting with two emigrants but finding they were getting the worst of it set down, and was so struck by an emigrant by their own vessel, named Kelly. So far from not interfering, I had just previously despatched a constable for assistance, as there was every reason to suppose that the sailors, who were all away from the ship, would make a general attack upon the emigrants. I had some time previously refused to serve any of them with drink, and shut the door and windows of my house. And in conclusion, had I attempted to interfere, singly it would have ensured me a broken head at least. Trusting the foregoing explanation will prevent the character of my house suffering through the misrepresentation of any person.
I am, gentlemen, your most obedient servant,
PATRICK BYRNE.
P. S. The two sailors, who your informant states were ill-treated, were subsequently taken to the watchhouse by the police, at the urgent request of the Captain of the vessel and the Wharfinger, for their mutinous conduct.
The original Whalers Arms at the corner of Windmill and Pottinger Streets closed for business in April 1842 when its license was removed to new “commodious” premises on the corner of York and Broughton Streets, Sydney.
The Pottinger Street building remained unlicensed as a public house for many years until Robert Battley made an unsuccessful attempt at reviving the former Whalers Arms. He gained a new license for the building in April 1849 under the sign of the Ferry Inn. However, the venture was unsuccessful and the pub had closed again before the end of the year.
Another failed attempt at reviving the pub was made by Robert Bush in 1855 under the sign of the Steam Ferry Inn. However, like the previous attempt, it had closed within a year. What the old pub became after closing is a mystery. However, it’s likely it became warehouse storage in connection with the nearby wharfs.
The first Whalers Arms at Pottinger and Windmill Streets was eventually demolished in 1902 as part of the Government’s urban renewal program.
Buildings were demolished in The Rocks and surrounding districts primarily because of the 1901 bubonic plague outbreak, which led to fears of contagion and spurred public health-driven slum clearance. The demolitions were intended to improve the unsanitary conditions of the area, which was a densely populated and impoverished neighborhood at the time.
Meanwhile, Joseph Faris opened his new pub, the Young Princess at the corner of Windmill and Fort Streets and was host until 1844 when he fell into financial difficulties. He was declared insolvent in July 1844 and the license of the inn was transferred to Edward Dunn.
Shipwright, Jonathan Brown and his wife, Catherine purchased the Whalers Arms in 1847. It was the Browns who changed the name of the Young Princess to the Whalers Arms in August 1847.
In 1848, the pub sat amongst a rough, industrial, and maritime-focused working-class residential area, featuring sandstone cottages, workers’ housing, and landmark buildings like the Hero of Waterloo Hotel.
The area was a residential hub for sailors, wharf labourers, and craftsmen working at the nearby Cockle Bay (now Darling Harbour) wharves, and was characterised by cramped, tightly packed dwellings.
In March 1848 the lifeless body of 21-year-old John Palmer was brought into the Whalers Arms late on a Friday night after he fell into nearby Sydney Harbour.
The unfortunate man, a steward aboard the barque Cadet, was returning to his vessel after enjoying a colonial ale at the Whalers Arms. As he was boarding he stumbled and fell from a stage leading off Buchanan’s Wharf and drowned.
After he was fished out of the harbour, his body was brought to the Whalers Arms where “remedies were applied for the restoration of animation, but without effect”.
An inquest was held at the Whalers Arms the following day, where a jury found he had accidentally drowned. A request was made to the Coroner that representations be made to masters of ships and wharfingers to “erect proper and safe stages to vessels lying alongside wharves in the harbour”.
To confuse matters for historians, another Whalers Arms was licensed at Millers Point 1849. This pub was hosted for many years by James Merriman and was located in Argyle Street. However, that’s a story for another day.
Meanwhile 41-year-old Joseph Faris recovered from his financial problems and took the license of the Shakespeare Tavern “opposite the Royal Victoria Theatre” in Pitt Street Sydney during 1848. He continued in his profession of innkeeper at the Shakespeare from 1847 to 1854.
John Faris died at the age of 52 while visiting London in 1859. His wife Elizabeth returned to Sydney where she died at Waverley at the age of 76 in 1886.
The Faris’ eldest son, Joseph Junior also became a publican and hosted the Queens Arms Hotel, at the corner of Bourke Street and South Head Road, Surry Hills during the 1850s and 60s. He was killed in an accident while crossing railway lines while working at Redfern Railway Station in 1871.
Getting back to the Whalers Arms, at the corner of Fort and Windmill Streets; hosts Jonathan and Catherine Brown held the license until 1850, when the couple took-over the lease of the Hero of Waterloo Hotel on the opposite corner.
After four years at the helm of the Whalers Arms, the Browns would go on to host the Hero of Waterloo on the opposite corner.
Just a few years after opening their pub on the corner of Windmill and Lower Fort Streets, the Brown’s watched as the much-classier, three-storey Hero of Waterloo Hotel rose from its sandstone foundations on the opposite corner.
The convict-bult pub was constructed between 1843 and 1844 by George Paton, a Scottish stonemason who used stone from the nearby Argyle Cut. Officially licensed in 1845, the hotel is known for its thick sandstone walls and notorious legends of earlt maritime shanghaiing.
The Browns closed the Whalers Arms and became hosts of the newly built Hero of Waterloo in 1850. In turn the Whalers Arms became a general store operated by Isabella Brown.
The Browns placed the following advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald on 1 August 1850:
HERO OF WATERLOO, FORT-STREET
JONATHAN BROWN respectfully intimates to his friends and the public, that he has fitted up the above Tavern with every thing suitable for the accommodation of travellers or other persons visiting Sydney requiring Board and Lodging. He intends conducting the house on the most economical principles, and flatters himself, from his past experience and his determination to sell the best article that the market can produce at the lowest remunerating price, to meet with the approbation and encouragement of the public generally.
N B.-Masters of vessels would find this house in every way suitable to them, from its convenient distance to all the principal wharves.
On February 7 1853, Jonathan Brown’s father, Robert died in Belfast and the Sydney publican made the long journey back to Ireland to sort out his affairs. However, while the publican was in England, tragedy struck.
Jonathan Brown died in Wen, Shropshire “after a few hours illness” on August 30 1854. His wife, Catherine continued as a hotelier in and around Millers Point after her husband’s death, including as host of the Hero of Waterloo.
Meanwhile the former Whalers Arms operated as a general store for almost a decade before again becoming a pub in 1860.
Robert Brown, likely a brother of Jonathan Brown, re-licensed the general store as a pub in April 1860. He didn’t stay long as publican though, and the license was transferred to Thomas Dodd before the end of the year.
Dodd persevered with the pub, which obviously was struggling to make a profit. Dodd pleaded guilty to having “abandoned his licensed public-house” in June 1864 and the license of the Old Whalers’ Arms was cancelled.
The following month, Edward Doyle and his wife Maria were successful in gaining a new license for the pub and they continued as hosts for a year before tragedy struck.
Just a few weeks after gaining the license, Edward Doyle died at the pub aged 47 after “a long and painful illness” in July 1865.
This is where 55-year-old Catherine Brown appeared back on the scene and reopened the pub. The widower changed the name to Brown’s Family Hotel, and included a wine and spirit store in the business.
After her husband’s death in England in 1854 Catherine Brown had become the first publican of the newly built Paragon Hotel at Circular Quay in 1860. However, an attempt to revive the old Whalers Arms at the corner of Fort and Windmill Streets, Millers Point, would be a failure.
Brown advertised the lease, furniture, license, goodwill, and bar fittings for sale in 1869 and before the end of the year the pub would close for the last time.
The following year William Fisher was operating the building as a “Shipping and Family Grocer”.
Catherine Brown took the license of the Gladstone Hotel in the long gone Clyde Street at Millers Point in 1871. She held the license of the Gladstone Hotel until her death in 1875 at the age of 64.
Following the decision to retain the Rocks and Millers Point for its cultural significance, the old Whalers Arms building passed into the ownership of the State Government and eventually to the NSW Land and Housing Corporation.
In the last decade of the 20th century the building ceased to be occupied and was subject to vandalism and the ravages of a severe white ant infestation.
In 2005, a 99-year lease was purchased of the old Whalers Arms, and since 2006 it has been renovated as a private residence.
Licensees of the original Whalers Arms
Corner Windmill and Pottinger Streets, Millers Point
1831 – 1835: Joseph Faris
1835 – 1836: John Redgrave
1836 – 1837: Henry Griffith
1837 – 1838: Joseph Faris
1838 – 1839: George Clarke
1839 – 1840: Joseph Faris
1840 – 1842: Patrick Byrne
1842 – 1842: John Holmes
License removed from Whalers Arms to Young Prince of Wales, York and Broughton Streets, Sydney.
Licensees of the Young Princess
Corner of Lower Fort and Windmill Streets, Millers Point
1840 – 1844: Joseph Faris
1844 – 1844: Edward Dunn
1844 – 1846: Edward Hancock
1846 – 1847: John Barber
1847 – Jonathan Brown
1847 Name changed to the Whalers Arms
1847 – 1850: Jonathan Brown
1850 Whalers Arms closed
Operated as grocery store
1860 Whalers Arms reopens
1860 – 1860: Robert Brown
1860 – 1864: Thomas Dodd
1864 – 1865: Edward Doyle
1865 – 1866: Maria Doyle
1866 Name Changed to Brown’s Family Hotel
1866 – 1870: Catherine Brown
Hotel closed
© Copyright Mick Roberts 2025
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