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James Colman, The House that Jack Built: Jack Mundey Green Bans Hero
James Colman, The House that Jack Built: Jack Mundey Green Bans Hero, The House That Jack Built: Jack Mundey, Green Bans hero by James Colman 2016, NewSouth ISBN: 9781742235011 RRP: $49.99 NewSouth, Sydney, 2016, paperback $49.99, ISBN 9781742235011 Readers of the…
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…
History Week 2016
Download the History Week 2016 program here History Week 2016 begins this Sunday and Sydney's history lovers are going to be busy! Now in it’s 19th year, History Week is a significant event that engages local communities on the NSW cultural calendar.…
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,…
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…
Ostrich farming in Sydney
Did you know there was an ostrich farm at Sydney’s South Head from 1889 until the early 1920s? In addition to providing the highly sought after commodity of ostrich feathers for the discerning fashionable lady, the farm became a popular tourist…
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…
"I challenge you sir!" - Duelling in colonial Sydney
'Honour Calls Him to the Field' from Whims and oddities : in prose and verse, by Thomas Hood, London 1836, p342 (The Internet Archive) Did you know a duel took place in a field in Homebush early one morning in March…
All aboard for Sydney's railway history
No1 Mortuary Railway station, Rookwood Cemetery - funeral train in station c1870 Pic: State Records New South Wales (17420_a014_a014000306) The railways are a quintessential part of Sydney. Railway historian Bob McKillop argues that they shaped the commerce and suburbs of Sydney…
NAIDOC 2016: Sydney's Aboriginal people
Portrait of Bennelong c1793, attributed to William Waterhouse, State Library of NSW, a1256013 / DG 10, f13 NAIDOC Week 2016 celebrations are in full swing at the moment and the Dictionary of Sydney recently published new articles about Sydney’s Aboriginal past by…