In a city now predominantly the product of late twentieth century urban redevelopment, The Rocks provides an opportunity to experience an environment where buildings and public places of the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth century still remain. Stories from the past, such as the life of convict households, publicans' expansion plans, the habits of sailors and wharf labourers, and the changing alignment of the waterfront, can be read from archaeological evidence, written histories and oral testimony, as well as the very fabric and setting of many of the buildings themselves.