As Sydney Fish Market sits on the precipice of extraordinary physical transformation (with our landmark new building literally rising out of the water beside the current site), there is a lot to be learnt and appreciated by looking back on the history of Sydney's seafood and its Fish Market. 

It is of course key to note before diving into this history, that prior to colonisation, seafood was fished sustainably for millennia by Australia's Indigenous people. With a deeply held connection to the country's land and waterways, these first inhabitants utilised incredibly varied fishing practices, underpinned by ecological knowledge passed down over generations, to provide sustenance for their communities. 

Between colonisation and the late 1800's, there were very few options available to Sydney residents who wanted to eat seafood. The only way to ensure its quality and freshness was to catch it yourself; with no ice-making capabilities, any product that was sold on to consumers by early fishers was carried from the fishing grounds (mostly at Botany Bay) to Circular Quay, where it sat in the blistering sun for hours before being purchased.  

This lack of regulation, and the resultant health concerns, led to Sydney's first real Fish Market being built on Forbes Street in Woolloomooloo, in 1871.

Sydney Fish Market, Woolloomooloo, during a morning sale, in approximately 1890. 

For the first time in Australian history, the sale of fish could be controlled by the government, and product was sold by licensed staff using a traditional voice auction. Any fish deemed unfit for human consumption (often a fair percentage of the day's catch!) could now be seized by the inspector and removed from the auction. 

This didn't prevent all hijinks, however! Not only was the fish laid out directly on the floor, where it was regularly stepped and even spat on, but many buyers hired young boys to deftly snatch boxes of fish from between their competitors' legs and dash away with them. 

This early Fish Market featured troughs for scaling and cleaning (into which clean salt water was pumped from the Harbour), and – get this – a small 'refrigerating chamber'! This was incredibly high-tech for the time (though it was likely not much cooler than the regular air temperature). 

A fascinating passage in the book 'History of the Fisheries of New South Wales', written by Lindsay G. Thompson in 1893, describes visiting this very first Sydney Fish Market as follows: 
 

"The early pedestrian, whose inclination...drives him from his comfortable bed at the early hour of half-past four in the morning, may see, if his footsteps lead that way, a curious crowd assembling at the Fish Market in Woolloomooloo. There, just at the time when the ordinary sleeper unconsciously rolls over to fall into his deepest sleep, ere yet...the traffic in fish is going on with undeniable vigour. Languid-looking Italians, swarthy Greeks, sharp Jews, and dilapidated Caucasians all gather to the sale. 

The roads outside the market are lined with vehicles of various kinds... Other vehicles are arriving every now and then from the wharfs, with the harvests which have been gleaned by fishermen in various places up and down the coast. Inside, the market is scrupulously clean, and lighted with numerous lamps. When I wended my way thither, before the sun had risen...the air was thick with a heavy dark fog... Through it the lamps in the silent deserted streets glimmered dimly... In sudden contrast to the deserted streets, however, all was bustle and business at the markets. Precisely at 5am the sale began." 

Anyone who has visited Sydney Fish Market in the early morning knows that this description of the daily auction remains eerily accurate to this day. 

Meanwhile, a private Fish Market opened in Redfern in 1891, to the consternation of many nearby residents. Anecdotally it is reported that the seafood sold during this time at Redfern (without the watchful eye of the government over it) was in fact better quality than that sold at Woolloomooloo, due to its central location allowing for better storage and transport of product. 

With a large portion of seafood now arriving to Sydney from the northern fishing communities of the Clarence River, Macleay, the Hunter, and Port Stephens, as well as the southern fishing communities in Ulladulla, Bermagui, Shoalhaven, and Lake Macquarie, Woolloomooloo's lack of proximity to rail lines was becoming an issue.  

As such, in 1914, the Woolloomooloo Fish Market was closed, in favour of a bigger, more central site in Haymarket. The Lord Mayor at the time, Alderman Allen Tayor, said of the move, "I am strongly of opinion that Woolloomooloo has outlived its purpose."  

It was hoped that the Haymarket location would put a stop to the private sales at Redfern and bring seafood sales back under centralised control... It did just that, allowing the Haymarket location to become a profitable monopoly at which the wholesale marketing of fish occurred in the hands of licensed agents. The Haymarket Fish Market, located on Thomas and Quay streets, had a total floor space of 22,000 square feet and featured fish cleaning and filleting facilities, larger 'refrigerating chambers', and a much bigger auction hall. 

Fish sales continued at Haymarket until 1964, when the Fish Marketing Authority was established by the NSW State Government, and a regulated wholesale market was established. This Authority promptly assumed responsibility for the conduct and management of the sale of fish in Sydney and Wollongong, a task which was previously maintained by the Chief Secretary of New South Wales. 

Sydney Fish Market as we know it today was born in 1966, when it was moved to the foreshore of Blackwattle Bay in Pyrmont. Visitors to the current site may not know that originally the main Market building was located on the far side of the car park, where retailers like GetFish and the Salty Squid restaurant now stand. The current building, which SFM operations were moved into in the 1980's, was originally a printing warehouse owned by Fairfax, and was painted a peppermint green! 

In these early days of the Pyrmont site, fish was still sold using the traditional, labour-intensive ‘voice’ auction system. This system saw buyers assemble outside the sales bay fence, where inside an assistant would hold up samples of fish from each box for buyers to bid on, until the highest price was reached.  

One change that did occur on the new site was that the use of wooden crates to store fish ceased; they were replaced first with waterproof corrugated carboard cartons, and then finally with the iconic plastic crates that are still used today. 

This period also saw the Fish Market open up to the public for the very first time. Tenants rented shops on the Blackwattle Bay site and opened wet fish shops, selling mostly whole fish, prawns, oysters, and lobsters to Sydneysiders. In 1967, tenants at the Market also began selling meat, continental goods, and general merchandise. In the intervening years, Sydney Fish Market slowly began to look more and more like it does to visitors today. 

As technology improved, 1989 saw the Market install computerised auction clocks (modelled on the process used for more than 130 years in Dutch tulip auctions), which dramatically evolved the way fish would be sold for the foreseeable future.  

To learn more about the history of the Pyrmont site, check out this podcast featuring 40-year SFM veteran, Gus Dannoun. 

Finally, in 1994, the NSW Government privatised and deregulated fish marketing, which led to the formation of Sydney Fish Market Pty Ltd as it is known today. Since this time, two equal shareholders (the Catchers Trust and the SFM Tenants and Merchants Pty Ltd) have jointly owned the company, which from that point forward no longer held a monopoly on the sale of seafood in the state.  

Tracing the lineage of Sydney Fish Market - from Sydney's very first Fish Market in Woolloomooloo, to the current site in Pyrmont - is utterly fascinating. Perhaps most excitingly, the next chapter of this story is being written as you read this; the new Sydney Fish Market – a waterfront icon set to rival the Opera House – is in the process of being built on the water in Blackwattle Bay.  

This Market has a rich and storied history embedded into its DNA, whether it is located in a warehouse in Woolloomooloo or a state-of-the-art facility on the water of Sydney Harbour. In the lead-up to this iconic building opening its doors, we encourage you to spare a thought for how far we have come, and especially to give thanks to the thousands of hard-working individuals in the seafood supply chain who helped us get here.