The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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21st Biennale of Sydney
Ai Weiwei, Law of the Journey, 2017 reinforced PVC with aluminium frame, 312 figures 60 x 6 x 3 m Installation view (2018) at Cockatoo Island for the 21st Biennale of Sydney Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin Presentation at the…
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Sydney's Lost Cemeteries
We're very excited here at Dictionary HQ this week as Dr Lisa Murray (our former chair, Dictionary contributor, City of Sydney Historian, renowned taphophile and absolute all-round legend) has just launched her book Sydney Cemeteries: A Field Guide (published by NewSouth…
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NAISDA celebrates 40 years
NAISDA Dance College is partnering with Carriageworks to celebrate NAISDA’s 40th anniversary with Circle of Cultures – a very special season which will take place at Carriageworks from 15-24 November 2016 Listen now Today I want to acknowledge a significant…
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The Garden Palace, objects and memories
Garden Palace, Sydney c1879-1882 by JT Richardson Credit: Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a128953 / XV1/ Pub/ Gar P/2) On 17 September 1879 the Sydney International Exhibition opened in the newly built Garden Palace in the Botanic Gardens, along with…
![Gone_to_Gowings_Sun_10-Nov-1946_p12](/sites/default/files/styles/max_325x325/public/featured_images/Gone_to_Gowings_Sun_10-Nov-1946_p12.jpg?itok=C0jZenJP)
Sydney sayings
Like 'Not happy Jan' in the 1990s, the 1940s advertising slogan 'Gone to Gowings' (referring to the iconic Sydney department store on the corner of George & Market Streets) quickly made it into the local vernacular. In 1946 when notorious underworld…
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Colonial neighbours: Reynolds' cottages
Reynolds Cottages on the left, Harrington Street, The Rocks 1901 Courtesy State Records NSW (4481_a026_000192) Did you know there are three cottages side by side on Harrington Street in The Rocks which have survived for 187 years! Writer and historian, Melissa Holmes,…
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The Bubonic Plague in Sydney
wp-image-12965https://home.dictionaryofsydney.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Plague_Proclamation_SRNSW_CGS4917_SR_Doc_31-1.jpgPlague Proclamation poster, 1 February 1905 Source: State Records NSW (CGS 4917, [SR Document 31])357528/> Plague Proclamation poster, 1 February 1905 Source: State Records NSW (CGS 4917, [SR Document 31])GS4917_SR_Doc_31 Have you been struck down by the lurgy this winter? Lisa's been looking…
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Sydney's Rum Hospital
Old Sydney Hospital, Macquarie Street c1865-85, Mitchell LIbrary, State Library of NSW (a089177 / SPF / 177) It seems rum is good for your health. Or it was 200 years ago in Sydney. Sydney in 1810 was in desperate need of a permanent…
![marrickvilleMailsHer Majesty's mails being helped across Sydenham Road during the late heavy rains and floods, Australian Town and Country Journal, 8 June 1889, p27](/sites/default/files/styles/max_325x325/public/featured_images/marrickvilleMails.jpg?itok=THhnjE3h)
Sydney's wild weather
Wild weather just hit Sydney and parts of Australia’s east coast, causing four deaths and an estimated $38 million in damage. It seems each time this occurs, photographs and film footage captured by awestruck residents dominate the news, and this…
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White Bay Power Station
White Bay power station c1930, City of Sydney Archives (SRC352) Sydney Harbour was once a bustling maritime port and industrial waterfront. The White Bay Power Station is a landmark industrial complex on the shoreline of White Bay, an abandoned reminder of…