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The Dictionary of Sydney
Radford, Neil

Radford, Neil

Author

Dr Neil Radford was the University of Sydney Librarian from 1980-1996. Now retired, he has been a volunteer at the Dictionary of Sydney since 2012.

Australia’s First Lottery as Author

Balmain Colliery as Author

Celebrating the end of World War I as Author

Recruiting for World War I as Author

Robbing the Bank: Australia’s First Bank Robbery as Author

Sumner Locke Elliott as Author

The Soldiers Riot of 1916 as Author

The beginnings of Anzac Day commemorations in Sydney as Author

Thomas Fisher as Author

University of Sydney as Author

Victoria Barracks as Author

War Memorials for World War I as Author

War Memorials for the Sudan and Boer Wars as Author

War Memorials to World War II and later conflicts as Author

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Australia’s First Lottery

Australia's first lottery, held in Sydney in 1849, was surrounded by controversy and was probably illegal. It was immensely popular however and the government turned a blind eye as it seemed the only way of averting the consequences of a financial disaster.

Balmain Colliery

Attempts to mine the coal under Sydney started in the 1870s but, despite the efforts of several companies and a miners' cooperative, the Balmain Colliery was never a commercially successful producer of coal or gas and finally closed in 1950.

Celebrating the end of World War I

After four long years, the declaration of the Armistice at the end of World War One on 11 November 1918 was celebrated across Sydney. More sombre commemorations, Peace Day, followed after the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919.

Recruiting for World War I

As the embarkation point for many World War I soldiers, Sydney was a centre for recruiting volunteers from all over New South Wales, and also strongly affected by the bitter conscription referenda campaigns of 1916 and 1917, and the subsequent political fallout.

Robbing the Bank: Australia’s First Bank Robbery

Sydney’s, and Australia’s, first bank robbery took place on 14 September 1828 when the Bank of Australia strongroom was breached by thieves entering through a sewer drain and stealing £14,000 mostly in notes but also some gold and silver coins. Most of this was never recovered.

Sumner Locke Elliott

Sumner Locke Elliott, actor, playwright and novelist, lived in Sydney until 1948 and thereafter in the United States. In the 1960s after a successful career as a playwright he decided to reinvent himself as a novelist and of his ten novels five are based on his life in Sydney between the 1920s and 1940s. He won the Miles Franklin Award in 1963 and the Patrick White Award in 1977.

The Soldiers Riot of 1916

On 14 February 1916 soldiers based in the Australian Imperial Force training camps at Casula and Liverpool rioted, first in Liverpool, then at Central Station and in the city. The riot caused widespread damage, the death of one soldier-recruit, injuries to seven, multiple military and criminal convictions and contributed to the introduction of six o'clock closing across New South Wales.

The beginnings of Anzac Day commemorations in Sydney

The landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli in 1915 was first commemorated in Sydney on 25 April 1916. It took nearly twenty years for Sydney commemorations to take the form that is now considered traditional, of a march from the Cenotaph in Martin Place, through the streets of Sydney to the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park.

Thomas Fisher

Thomas Fisher, a bootmaker and property investor, bequeathed a large portion of his estate to the University of Sydney to endow its library. Fisher Library bears his name to this day.

University of Sydney

Legislation to incorporate and endow the University of Sydney was passed in 1850 with the first professors arriving in 1852 followed by a cohort of 24 candidates later that year. In 2016, the university has more than 53,000 students, supported by more than 3,500 academic staff in 16 faculties, and boasts the largest university library in the southern hemisphere.

Victoria Barracks

Victoria Barracks, on what is now Oxford Street in Paddington, has been continuously occupied by military personnel since it was built in 1841. It is an outstanding example of colonial military architecture.

War Memorials for World War I

The shocking losses of Australian servicemen and women in the Great War prompted communities across Australia to find ways to memorialise those who died, and honour those who served. As no centralised authority drove or coordinated this task, the form of each memorial reflects the community that raised the funds to build it. Balmain was the first suburb in Australia to erect a war memorial, but in time, the towns, suburbs, workplaces and institutions of Sydney found a way to fulfil the covenant 'we will remember them.'

War Memorials for the Sudan and Boer Wars

The earliest monuments to Australian soldiers in Sydney are for the Sudan Contingent in 1885, and the Boer War in South Africa between 1899 and 1902. These plaques honour soldiers who served and died and, in one case, women who worked as nurses during the Boer conflict.

War Memorials to World War II and later conflicts

While memorials honouring the dead of the Great War were adapted to mark the sacrifice of those lost in World War II, the losses of a new generation led to innovations in memorialisation. Those who died on active service in Sydney, and those lost in conflicts Malaya, Korea, Borneo and Vietnam are remembered in new memorials in the city and suburbs, and along the road to Canberra. Women, prisoners-of-war and recipients of the Victoria Cross are also memorialised in Sydney.