The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
Search the blogs
Trump that! Early American connections to Sydney
At the moment it seems that almost every news bulletin is headlined with another Trump edict. The American Australian alliance is a 20th century phenomenon that frequently celebrates 'the ties that bind us'. And if we look bck in Sydney's history…
Ice! Ice! Ice!
Advertisement for Watkins and Sparrow, Ice Importers 22 March 1853, Sydney Morning Herald 22 March 1853, p.3 Welcome back to the Dictionary on 2ser radio in 2017! This week Lisa & Nic talked about ice... Listen now We've been in heatwave conditions…
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…
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…
Historic meets modern at Sydney Open
Stained glass window in in Sydney Town Hall, designed by Lucien Henry symbolising Australia. Photo by Paul Paterson, Courtesy City of Sydney Council. It's on again this Sunday, 6 November! Sydney Open is your chance to be a sticky beak and see…
Scandalous Music
Monument in memory of NC Bochsa, erected by Anna Bishop over his grave in Camperdown Cemetery, 1856 by Edmund Thomas Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a4236001 / SV1/Cem/Campe/1) I was wandering around Camperdown Cemetery the other day when I…
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…
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…
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…
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…