SYDNEY – Despite its popularity, Sydney is better known among travellers from Singapore for its wineries, wildlife and the iconic Sydney Opera House than for its history and culture.

Capella Sydney, which opened in March 2023, wants to change that.

It is housed within the former New South Wales Department of Education, an ornate monolith hewn out of sandstone in the Edwardian Baroque style.

The original building was completed in 1915 by Scotland-born architect George McRae, and has been restored and reimagined into Capella Sydney by Make Architects, an international firm.

The hotel is the seventh in Capella Hotels & Resorts’ portfolio, its first outside Asia. The hospitality brand is a subsidiary of Pontiac Land Group, a property empire owned by the Kwee family in Singapore.

They are a family of avid collectors; artworks feature across all Capella properties.

At this one, Singapore consultancy The Artling has curated around 1,500 art pieces that tell of Sydney’s history – even the chequered parts.

A set of paintings by First Nations artist Judy Watson at the hotel’s entrance in Fraser Street is a palimpsest of native plants and artefacts used by First Nations people (a collective term Australia uses to refer to indigenous groups). It is overlaid with abstractions of convict artist Francis Fowkes’ 1788 map of the British settlement at Sydney Cove.

The paintings depict early interactions between the Europeans and indigenous people, a reminder of Australia’s fraught colonial history.

This is even more poignant when I learn that the building was built on indigenous land, specifically that of the Gadigal people, who first inhabited Sydney.

In a gesture of respect, Pontiac Land Group sought permission from First Nations custodians before taking over the building. One of them, an elder known as Aunty Margret Campbell, who founded tour company Dreamtime Southern X, now organises First Nations guest experiences for Capella.

One such experience is the Illi Langi – Aboriginal Dreaming Tour, which runs fortnightly and is free for hotel guests.

Ms Campbell starts the 90-minute tour with stories about Aboriginal heritage, before leading guests on a walk to the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.

Other activities, part of the hotel group’s programming known as Capella Curates, grapple with Sydney’s history as a penal colony.

The setting is apt. The hotel is located behind Circular Quay in Sydney Harbour, where boats bearing convicts from England to the former penal colony docked.

Today, this area forms part of Sydney’s Central Business District.

Mr Maxwell Burns-McRuvie of Journey Walks is a walking encyclopaedia of Sydney’s colonial history. He describes himself as a crime historian, storyteller and event host.

He takes my group out on a night tour which starts with dinner and cocktails, followed by whisky shots in a former underground opium den, Doss House.

But most memorable are his tales of Sydney’s colourful residents, whose claims to infamy range from the ingenious to the farcical – such as three French whalers trying to get rid of a dead body after one of them bungled a murder.

The tour, which takes between three and four hours to complete, costs A$1,800 (S$1,570) for a group of four. Other historical and storytelling tours are available at journeywalks.com

Back at the hotel, the historical building is a stunner.

Aperture, the glassed-in lobby, is the property’s most-photographed space. It features a mechanical floral installation, with pastel-hued gossamer flowers hanging from the ceiling that open and close in synchrony.

This calming scene sets the mood for Capella’s destination spa brand, Auriga. Signature treatments such as New Moon and Full Moon (A$350 each), which both involve massages, are inspired by lunar phases.

Within the spa is a 20m-long heated pool, lit naturally with sunlight from a giant glass-domed ceiling. It is a pleasure to get my daily laps in here.

The emphasis on wellness continues in the rooms, which start at 495 sq ft. At turndown service, I discover small surprises on my pillow, such as a pulse point roller and pillow mist.

Rooms are decorated in a neutral palette of walnut and grey, with touches of wood and leather. The resulting effect is residential, high-end and tasteful.

The hotel’s main restaurant, Brasserie 1930, is a French brasserie with an Australian twist. The ingredients are local, and the style is chic yet informal.

Order a Signature Whole Roast Duck with Roast Plum and Fennel (A$190) to share. The duck, sourced from around the Wombeyan Caves in New South Wales, is served with pork sausage and cinnamon, mixed spices and glazed eschalots in red wine sauce, and tastes divine.

Meanwhile, Aperture offers a popular high tea set with nibbles such as a wagyu beef ossobuco pie with bush tomato relish, the latter made from a native Australian plant. Reservations are recommended for high tea, which costs, a person, A$105 with tea or A$120 with a glass of champagne.

And McRae Bar – named after the building’s original architect – serves a selection of classic cocktails called Magnificent Twelve made with local produce.

Wattleseed, an edible seed from the Australian Acacia that has a nutty, coffee aroma, lends a twist to an Old Fashioned (A$28).

The bar also serves Cobblers, cocktails made with fortified Australian wines, along with Sandstone lager, created exclusively for Capella Sydney by Australian craft brewery Young Henrys.

It is here that I raise a glass to the Singapore brand celebrating Sydney’s past and present, even as it writes a new chapter.

Getting there

The writer flew on Singapore Airlines. From Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, Capella Sydney is less than 20 minutes away by car.

Capella Sydney

Where: 24 Loftus Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000
Rooms: 160 rooms and 32 suites
Rates: Double rooms start at A$1,350
Info: www.capellahotels.com

• Former journalist Mavis Teo is the founder of a media outreach consultancy and a freelance travel writer.
• The writer was hosted by Capella.
• Suite Life is a series on destination hotels and their locales.