Pitt Street is a major street in central Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo

Waterloo, New South Wales

Waterloo is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Waterloo is located 4 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney.-History:...

, although today's street is in two disjointed sections after a substantial stretch of it was removed to make way for Sydney's Central railway station

Central railway station, Sydney

Central Railway Station, the largest railway station in Australia, is at the southern end of the Sydney CBD. It services almost all the lines on the CityRail network, and is the major terminus for interurban and interstate rail services...

. Pitt Street is well known for the pedestrianised retail centre Pitt Street Mall, a section of the street which runs from Market Street

Market Street, Sydney

Market Street is a cross street in the Central Business District of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sussex Street near Darling Harbour in the west, to Elizabeth Street at St. James railway station in the east....

 to King Street

King Street, Sydney

King Street is today the central thoroughfare of the suburb of Newtown in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It's in this street that the residents of the area are most visible, confirming Newtown's reputation as a cosmopolitan community with a higher than average concentration of students,...

. The street is one way (northbound only) from Railway Square

Railway Square, Sydney

The area is not a true square but is a confluence of Broadway, Lee Street, Pitt Street and George Street. The University of Technology, Central railway station and the now closed Kent Brewery are adjacent to Railway Square.-History:...

 to Pitt Street Mall and (southbound only) from Circular Quay to Pitt Street Mall, while Pitt Street Mall is pedestrianised. The northern section of the street, from Railway Square to Circular Quay, is dominated by retail and commercial office space, while the southern section, from Railway Square through Redfern

Redfern, New South Wales

Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Redfern is 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney...

 to Waterloo, is predominantly residential with some light commercial and industrial use.

History

Pitt Street was originally named Pitt Row, and is one of the earliest named streets in Sydney. While it is usually assumed to be named after British Prime Minister William Pitt

William Pitt

William Pitt is most likely to refer to:* William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham , Prime Minister of Great Britain 1766–1768; often known as William Pitt the Elder...

 who was Prime Minister around the time of the establishment of Sydney, an alternative explanation is that it was initially so-named because it terminated close to the tanks or "pits" excavated in 1791-1792 in the Tank Stream

Tank Stream

The Tank Stream is a fresh water course which empties into Sydney Cove in New South Wales, Australia. Today it is little more than a storm water drain, but originally it was the fresh water supply for the fledgling colony of New South Wales in the late 18th century...

, the original source of fresh water for the colony. In 1842, Pitt Street was continued south through to Waterloo with the subdivision of Redfern. In 1853, Pitt Street was extended north from Hunter Street to Circular Quay.

Tram line

The Circular Quay, Central Station Colonnade via Pitt and Castlereagh Streets tram line was an extremely busy service for passengers transferring from suburban trains at Central, particularly prior to the opening of the city underground railway lines in 1926. Trams operated from Central station running northbound along Pitt Street to Circular Quay forming a loop (running southbound down Castlereagh Street) and back into Central Station. These tracks were also used as the city route for some eastern and southwestern routes during busy periods. The line closed on 28 September 1957, replaced by a bus service. The line made use of the sandstone viaduct onto the colonnade at Central station, used by the Metro Light Rail

Metro Light Rail

The Metro Light Rail is the only currently operating light rail line in Sydney. The line opened on 31 August 1997, mostly along the route of an unused goods railway line, to serve the redeveloped inner-city areas of Darling Harbour, Ultimo and Pyrmont, and was extended in 2000 to serve some of...

since 1997.