The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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Listening to the Great Depression
People have been asking me a lot lately about how the economic recession we are experiencing now compares to earlier times of economic instability. Unlike the situation we're all in at the moment, which has come about largely because of…
Death of the Monorail
Sydney Monorail 6 September 2009 via Flickr (pbutke (CC BY 2.O)) I remember the childhood joy of riding the old Sydney monorail – a single-loop that connected Darling Harbour, Chinatown and the Sydney central business and shopping districts. You had to…
The squire of Enmore House - Joshua Frey Josephson
Croquet and archery in the grounds of Enmore House, Newtown c1865-70, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (SPF/389) Today I'm going to give you an insight into how my mind works and the connections I follow when I'm exploring the Dictionary…
Stars shining bright above you
Assistant astronomer Ernest Adderley at the Sydney Observatory looking through 6 inch telescope 18 February 1941 by Stan Grimes, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (ON 388/Box 028/Item 125) This month in Sydney is a good time to look to the…
Armed with such terrible weapons
Plate VI, Cambridge, O.P., ‘On Some New Genera and Species of Araneidea’, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, XIX (Fourth Series) (1877) Today Sydney-siders take for granted that our local spiders, in particular the Sydney funnel-web, are dangerous and to be…
![SLNSW ML 88 Circular Quay _ watercolour by Frederick Garling [post restoration DETAIL]](/sites/default/files/styles/max_325x325/public/featured_images/SLNSW-ML-88-Circular-Quay-_-watercolour-by-Frederick-Garling-post-restoration-DETAIL.jpg?itok=anvLiprp)
Richard Dawson: Sydney's original iron man
Sign for Dawson's Foundry at Circular Quay c1854, detail of painting by Frederick Garling, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (ML 88) Richard ‘Dicky’ Dawson was an entrepreneur whose early iron foundry located down at Circular Quay was a landmark business…
The Dugong and the Salamander
Excavation of dugong remains at Sheas Creek 1896 , Courtesy Australian Museum Archives (AMS351/V9817) It’s strange to think about what might be entombed in dirt beneath the pavements we walk on in Sydney. But the discoveries around 1900 of two particular…
Shipping hazards
wp-image-17470https://home.dictionaryofsydney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SLNSW-PXC-f10-a709011h.jpgWreck of the 'Edd Lalm' [Edward Lombe] On Middle Head Fort Jackson 1834, by Oswald Walters B Brierly, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW(PXC 284, f10)500323/> Wreck of the 'Edd Lalm' [Edward Lombe] On Middle Head Fort Jackson 1834, by…
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 Lady Footballers
A high kick, The Australasian. 24 September 192, p67 via Trove Last week Australia and New Zealand won their joint bid to host the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup on Friday, prompting us to think across codes about some other legendary…