The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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Sydney's Lost Cemeteries
We're very excited here at Dictionary HQ this week as Dr Lisa Murray (our former chair, Dictionary contributor, City of Sydney Historian, renowned taphophile and absolute all-round legend) has just launched her book Sydney Cemeteries: A Field Guide (published by NewSouth…
Demolished Sydney
There’s an interesting exhibition on at the Museum of Sydney at the moment called ‘Demolished Sydney: Georgian town to global city’. It features the buildings and places that once shaped the city’s skyline and were demolished to make way for…
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…
The Mad Dentist of Wynyard Square
Henry Louis Bertrand c1865 Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (c011220001 / P2/468) This week on 2SER Breakfast with Nic Healey, Nicole shared author John Edwards's Dictionary entry on Henry Louis Bertrand, the dentist of Wynyard Square whose murderous &…
Historic meets modern at Sydney Open
Stained glass window in in Sydney Town Hall, designed by Lucien Henry symbolising Australia. Photo by Paul Paterson, Courtesy City of Sydney Council. It's on again this Sunday, 6 November! Sydney Open is your chance to be a sticky beak and see…
2SER Supporter Drive
Support 2SER's annual fundraising event and let them know you care! You may have noticed that the Dictionary hasn't been on the radio lately, and that's because 2SER are running their annual supporter drive. We love our segments on 2SER Breakfast each…
Scandalous Music
Monument in memory of NC Bochsa, erected by Anna Bishop over his grave in Camperdown Cemetery, 1856 by Edmund Thomas Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a4236001 / SV1/Cem/Campe/1) I was wandering around Camperdown Cemetery the other day when I…
The Royal Commission into Noxious and Offensive Trades
Scalding and dressing pigs at Mr D O'Connell's pig-killing pens, Glebe Island abattoir, 1879 Australian town and country journal, 7 June 1879, p 1088 There have been many current and proposed Royal Commissions in the news lately, so I thought I’d…
Have you ever been to see Kings Cross?
William Street, Kings Cross at night 1970 by John Fitzpatrick, Credit: National Archives of Australia (A1200, L84008) Comic entertainer Frankie Davidson asked Australians in 1963 'Have you ever been to see Kings Cross?' Whether you've been there or not, you probably know…
Sydney’s shipwrecks
Last week news broke that HMS Terror, the long-lost ship of British polar explorer (and former Governor of Tasmania) Sir John Franklin, has been found 168 years after its sinking. I thought I’d delve into the Dictionary of Sydney and…