Five Historic Elements Of Walsh Bay Found At Seventeen
IMAGE CREDIT: Erthe By Anliette.
The view at Seventeen, sitting along the docks of Sydney’s iconic foreshore, is difficult to match. However, there’s a lot more than pristine waterside views that makes our venue and its aesthetic a little more relevant to Walsh Bay’s story, and Australia’s colonial roots. From boat lights, to dark denim, here are five elements from Seventeen’s interiors that pay homage to Australia’s past.
1. DARK DENIM
Sheep shearers once made quite the living in the area now known as The Rocks, and they wore their Jacky Howes (or singlets and, coincidentally, the name of our desert cocktail) and denim jeans with pride. As such, our wait team wear their dark denims to pay homage to the sheep shearers of yore whose toil placed this historic area on the map.
2. PINEAPPLE CUT CRYSTAL
A favourite among early settlers whose refined tastes were forged in the parlour rooms of Great Britain’s vast empire, pineapple cut crystal — used to serve our whiskies, single spirits, and a few cocktails — remembers their journey towards the unknown, sunburnt island, in the far Pacific known now as Australia.
3. COPPER AND BRASS
The use of copper (dotting our bar utensils) was once used to sheath the bottoms of wooden ships back in the 18th Century. The oak timbers of the old wooden sailing-ships were always liable to be attacked by the dreaded teredo or shipworm when in warm seas, and so copper sheathing played as a sort of protector against the elements.
Brass, which features heavily around the bar at Seventeen, was once appropriated for fixtures such as bells and accessorising the ship’s wheel. The bright and ornamental metal also featured on warships. Canons and large brass carronades — a terrible weapon which, by contemporary accounts, was feared much more than the conventional cast iron guns — were reserved for wealthier armies.
4. LIME WASH
The powdery hue of our floors is akin to the lime wash that was used to assist in keeping the homes, chapels, and towers of old Victoria clean and pest free. While our floors appropriate a contemporary white wash, we hope its use wards of the stresses of Sydney’s fast pace lifestyle, and allows our guests to relish a peaceful and pleasurable culinary experience.
5. BOAT LIGHTS
Used as a guide, boat lights once blinked in the dark to bring our seafarers safety to shore. Nowadays, while Walsh Bay still thrives in a nautical setting, we use boat lights to guide our guests to a venue that serves good wine, great food, and even better service.
