The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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So long Sydney
Miss Australia 1957 Helen Wood farewelled at Mascot, March 1958, State Library of NSW (APA 05090) 30 June 2021 The Dictionary of Sydney is an incredible project. It all started back in 2005 when a group of historians and industry partners secured…
Fanmail for Mr Bertie
The Dictionary of Sydney is all about making Sydney's history accessible, interesting and popular. If Charles H Bertie was alive today, he'd be right into the Dictionary of Sydney. Charles H Bertie, 1925-1927, City of Sydney Archives (NSCA CRS 54/129) Listen…
The Archibald Prize
JF Archibald between 1910-19. Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW ( P1/2150) The Archibald Prize is quintessentially Sydney - bold, controversial, and tinged with celebrity. The annual portraiture prize was established by a benefactor, JF Archibald, and the first prize was…
Barracluff's Ostrich Farm
There are many great things about the Dictionary of Sydney, but one of the things I love the most is the way you can discover quirky things about Sydney. In the past I've shared about Cocky Bennett, and public toilets,…
Jack Mundey and the Green Bans
Jack Mundy, Builders Labourers Federation, 1973 by Rennie Ellis © Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive Can you imagine Sydney without The Rocks? or what if we didn't have the Centennial Parklands or the State Theatre? These are just some of the iconic…
St James tunnels
Drawing by Bradfield of Interior of St James' Underground Railway Station, Sydney 1926, reproduced in a supplement to Building magazine, 11 September 1926 There is nothing people like more than a secret tunnel. And while a lot of people have heard…
Artists' camps
Sydney Harbour: A souvenir c1897, National Gallery of Australia (Acc No: 46598) The enthusiasm for painting outdoors, embraced by the Impressionist movement in France, hit Sydney in the 1880s. A handful of artist camps were established around Sydney Harbour in the…
Get on your dancing shoes
Band playing at a Popular Dance night at the Trocadero in early 1938, by Ivan Ive, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (ON 388/Box 030/Item 121) Once the most glamorous dance hall in Sydney, the Trocadero on George Street hosted queens,…
Condemned and Demolished!
Bowden's Corner, Hunter and Castlereagh streets Sydney, c1907, City of Sydney Archives (094145). Notice the tree growing through the building! The large Norfolk Pine grew through the middle of it, which was used as a coat rack for the hotel…
Listening to the Great Depression
People have been asking me a lot lately about how the economic recession we are experiencing now compares to earlier times of economic instability. Unlike the situation we're all in at the moment, which has come about largely because of…