The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
Search the blogs
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…
Kathryn Harkup, Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts
Kathryn Harkup, Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts Bloomsbury, July 2020, 340 pp. (plus an appendix, bibliography, acknowledgements and index), ISBN: 9781472958211, p/bk, AUS$29.99 The great Bard is well known for his plays and his poetry. He is also a…
Waverley Cemetery’s burlesque star
Maggie Oliver in costume c1885, courtesy State Library of South Australia (PRG 280/1/18/291) Waverley Cemetery is the resting place of more than 100,000 people, including many well known personalities from our past like writers Dorothea Mackellar and Henry Lawson, publisher JF…
The Trouble with Harry
Mug shot of Eugenie Falleni 1920 Courtesy: Sydney Living Museums, Justice & Police Museum (FP07_0031_005) As part of the 2017 Mardi Gras festival, there’s an interesting play showing at the Seymour Centre called The Trouble with Harry. The play revolves around…
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…
Theatre Magic
Harry Rickards c1867-72, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a4361049 / P1/1449) Sydney had a vibrant theatre scene in the late 19th century. And one of the most famous entrepreneurs was Harry Rickards. http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/rickards_harry Harry Rickards was a popular performer in music halls…
Sydney’s cultural life
Hyde Park, St James Parsonage Dispensary, afterwards the Mint, and Emigration Barracks 1842 by John Rae Credit: Dixson Galleries, State Library of NSW (a928373 / DG SV*/Sp Coll/Rae/16) We’re coming into the festival season, when our city seems to come alive…
Circus in Sydney
James Ashton, Ashton's Amphitheatre, 1855. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales, TN115, Illustrated Sydney News, 2 June 1855 With the Sydney Festival kicking off today I’m sure there are plenty of revellers looking forward to the…