The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

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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,…

No honour among thieves…

Detail of Convicts embarking for Botany Bay, ca. 1790 by Thomas Rowlandson, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (SV/312) In Governor Arthur Phillip’s great outdoor gaol in Sydney Cove, most eyes were on the convicts. It was logical to assume that…

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…

Ben Boyd

Portrait of Ben Boyd by an unknown artist, 1830s, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (ML 1461) Sailing into Sydney in his yacht Wanderer in July 1842, Benjamin Boyd was welcomed by the press of the day as a flamboyant saviour…

The High Life

The Astor Flats, Macquarie Street 1923, Building Magazine 12 Nov 1923, p3 Nestled at the Harbour end of Macquarie Street facing the Botanic Gardens is The Astor, the grand old dame of Sydney’s apartment blocks. Built in 1923, it was then…

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…

Hanging out with the hangman

Nosey Bob, the common hangman, The Bulletin, 31 January 1880, p4 Today is the anniversary of the death of Robert Rice Howard, the hangman for New South Wales from the 1870s until 1904, who died on 3 February 1906. Listen to…

The Waratah Festival

Waratah Spring Festival parade, College Street 1960s, City of Sydney Archives SRC18259 Celebrating Spring, and named for the state's floral emblem, the Waratah festival ran for 18 years from 1956 to 1973. It was replaced by the Sydney Festival in January…

Behind you!

Billie Barlow as Jack Grist in 'Puss in Boots' 1901, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (P1/106) This week on 2SER Breakfast, Alex and Minna were treading the boards of the old Tivoli Theatre in Castlereagh Street looking for some Christmas…

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…