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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
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Arthur Stace writing his message, Eternity

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Arthur Stace writing his message, Eternity

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National Library of Australia

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Eternity St Barnabas' Anglican Church Broadway Stace, Arthur

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National Library of Australia

Eternity

Written in chalk on Sydney's pavements for decades by Arthur Stace, the word Eternity, in copperplate script, has become an icon of Sydney's popular culture, as well as its religious life.

Stace, Arthur

A former drunk who was converted to Christianity, Arthur Stace spent the rest of his life spreading the Gospel, and unobtrusively writing Eternity in chalk on pavements all over Sydney. The identity of the Eternity Man was a mystery for over twenty years. Eternity has since become part of Sydney's mythology and iconography.

St Barnabas' Anglican Church Broadway

St Barnabas' Anglican Church on Broadway, known to many as Barney's, has a long tradition of ministry to the diverse communities of the inner city. The congregation was boosted by the arrival of Reverend RBS Hammond in 1918 and his energetic ministry to disadvantaged people and in the cause of temperance. St Barnabas' also became important to students attending Sydney University and the University of Technology. In the 1990s the publican of the Broadway Hotel began a notice-board repartee with Reverend Robert Forsyth that became famous. St Barnabas' burned down in 2006 but was rebuilt and reopened in 2012.

Footpaths

Graffiti

Religions and Beliefs

Eternity

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Word written by footpath evangelist Arthur Stace between 1932 and 1966 on pavements throughout the city.

Stace, Arthur

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The man who wrote Eternity on Sydney's pavements for over thirty years.