Bangarra Dance Theatre, Wharf 4/5
A restored heritage wharf home to one of Australia’s leading performing arts companies
10am–4pm
About the building
Bangarra Dance Theatre is a company of professional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performers, drawing on 65,000 years of culture to create powerful, contemporary works of theatre with dance, music, poetry and design. The northern end of Wharf 4/5 in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct has been home to Bangarra since 1997, providing a creative production space for its choreography, music, costumes and props.
In 2020, Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects with Tropman & Tropman Architects redeveloped Wharf 4/5 to create purpose-designed facilities for the Bangarra Dance Theatre, Gondwana Choirs, The Song Company, Sydney Dance Company and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. The award-winning redevelopment embraced the industrial heritage of the two-storey finger wharf built in the early 1900s for commercial shipping.
The site was a traditional meeting place of the Gadigal people for millennia, before being transformed into an industrial hub throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1984, Government Architect John Whyte Thomson and architect Vivian Fraser adapted the wharves to house Sydney Theatre Company. They were further adapted in the 1990s to house more of Sydney’s leading theatre and dance companies.
Built
1920–21
Architect
Henry Deane Walsh
Alterations
John Whyte Thomson and Vivian Fraser, 1984; Cox Richardson, 1997; Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects, 2020, 2022; Tropman & Tropman Architects, 2020
Awards
Royal Australian Institute of Architects NSW Architecture Awards – Sulman Medal for Public Architecture, 1985
Australian Institute of Architects National Architecture Awards – Enduring Architecture, 2008
Australian Institute of Architects NSW Architecture Awards – Sulman Medal for Public Architecture, 2021
The NSW Architecture Medallion, 2022
Award for Public Architecture, 2022
Greenway Award for Heritage, 2022
Commendation for Interior Architecture, 2022
National Trust Heritage Awards – Winner of Adaptive Reuse, 2022
Acknowledgements
Bangarra Dance Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation upon whose country we are based.
Bangarra Dance Theatre is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body. It is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Find out more about this building here
Bangarra Dance Theatre, Wharf 4/5
15 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
Entry details
Bangarra Foyer, Studio Theatre (viewing only) and Dangarra O Badu (Dancing on Water) function space
10am–4pm
3.30pm
Need to know
Accessible featuresWharf 4/5 is an accessible building with ramps and lifts. All ground-floor spaces have wide doorways. Being a heritage building, the timber floors in the foyer and function space have some uneven surfaces. Accessible toilets are available
Toilets availablePhotography allowedFood and drink availableNearby options available around the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct
