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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…
Horse Drawn: John Rae and 'The Turning of the First Turf'
John Rae c1884, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (ML MSS A807) John Rae is, perhaps, my favourite dead white male. On the surface, he’s really rather ordinary. An administrator who was meticulous and ambitious, he was a career public servant.…
Sydney's City Circle
The Great Excavator, Building magazine, 12 October 1923, p107 This week saw a massive overhaul of Sydney's public transport timetables, and this, along with the ongoing construction works around the city and suburbs have left many of us feeling a bit…
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…
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…