The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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Sydney as Inspiration for Art and Design
Waratahs in staircase window at St Cloud, Burwood. By Douglass Baglin. Contributed by Private collection. By kind permission of the Baglin estate. There is a great exhibition currently showing at the State Library of NSW called 'Inspiration by Design'. It is…
History Week 2015: War, Nationalism and Identity
Women lay wreaths on the wharf at Woolloomooloo where the WW I troops departed, c1931. By Hood, Ted. From the collection of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, hood_02026 / Home and Away 2026 History Week has been…
Randwick Racecourse
Royal Randwick Racecourse 1948. Contributed by City of Sydney Archives, SRC11917 Since it is the start of spring, and the spring racing carnival is getting underway, I thought we should take a look at the history of Randwick Racecourse. Randwick Racecourse is…
Long Bay prison
Entry for Kate Leigh in State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay Photographic Description Book, 1915. Contributed by State Records New South Wales, NRS 2496, No 188, 3/6007 Long Bay prison opened 106 years ago this month and saw some of Sydney’s most…
Sydney's 'pissoirs' and public lavatories
Men's convenience, Taylor Square c1934. Contributed by City of Sydney Archives 02020262, NSCA CRS 538, Cleansing Department photographs, 1929-1939 It’s a thing we all need, take for granted and is perhaps one of the more awkward topics to discuss, but when…
Harriet and Helena Scott
Antheraea Eucalypti 1851. By Scott, Harriet. Contributed by Biodiversity Heritage Library (Plate 1 from 'Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations drawn from the life by Harriet and Helena Scott; with descriptions, general and systematics, by AW Scott', London, 1864) Have you done…
Elizabeth Kata: An Australian in Japan during World War 2
MRS. S. KATAYAMA, wife of a Japanese pianist, and her son, David, 19 months, have arrived in Sydney from Tokio. Mrs. Katayama, formerly Miss Betty McDonald, of Sydney, intends to spend several years in Sydney. She wants her son to…
Sydney's governesses
Lydia Allen, governess c1876-1880. By Newman, Hubert. From the collection of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, a4157033 / P1/33 There's been some recent media coverage about the federal government reimbursing parents of their nanny fees and the…
Top ten pages for June in the Dictionary
Front cover of 'Atlas of the Suburbs of Sydney', Part I 1886, Contributed by The Archaeology of Sydney Research Group Map Collection, the University of Sydney We have a lot information in the Dictionary and each month we track our most…
Wonderland City: Sydney’s amusement parks
Alice the elephan Alice the elephant loading the Wirth's Circus train c1932. By Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales, hood_05790 / Home and Away 5790, Mitchell Libraryt loading the Wirth's Circus train c1932 It’s…