The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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Grab your partners for the Balmain Polka
Courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (M MUSIC FILE/SPA) November is AusMusic Month and so today I thought we should look back at some early Australian popular music and one of the early music composers in Sydney. Graeme Skinner at…
Remembrance Day: 100 years on
The Sydney Mail, 20 November 1918 Last Sunday, 11 November, marked 100 years since the official end of World War I. Initially called Armistice Day, it became known as Remembrance Day after the end of World War II. An article in…
A day at the races
Northern end of Hyde Park in 1842, several years after the racecourse had closed, by John Rae, courtesy Dixson Galleries, State Library of NSW (DG SV*/Sp Coll/Rae/16) Lisa and Tess are both back this week on 2SER Breakfast and given yesterday's…
Posters, ghost signs and billboards
"We are not going to try to have this announcement placed on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, feeling that even a 'CAPSTAN' advertsiement would be somewhat out of harmony with the dignity and impressiveness of this mangnificent structure", Brisbane Courier 23…
The Mitchell Library's new galleries
It's a VERY exciting week to be an historian in Sydney this week with the opening of the new galleries and a learning centre in the historic Mitchell Library wing of the State Library of New South Wales, so today…
Murder most foul: the Sussex Street Mystery
New South Wales Government Gazette, September 21, 1866. p 2194 via Trove This week on 2SER Breakfast, the Dictionary's special guest Dr Catie Gilchrist talked to Tess about one of the stories she's come across during her work as a Fellow…
Redfern Park and Oval, one of Sydney's most important public spaces
Aerial view of Redfern Park and Redfern Oval 1949, courtesy City of Sydney Archives (CRS1132/79) This week the Minister for Environment and Heritage announced that Redfern Park and Oval would be included on the State Heritage Register, a list of heritage…
Keith Kinnaird Mackellar
Keith Kinnaird Mackellar 1898-1899, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW ( State Library of New South Wales (PXE 1193, 1) Most Australians associate the name Mackellar with Dorothea, the writer of one of our most beloved poems. But today we're…
Devonshire Street Cemetery
Devonshire Street cemetery prior to demolition, showing the headstone of Joseph Leburn c1905, by Ethel Foster, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (ON 146/no 401) Last night Lisa gave the Annual History Lecture for History Week 2018, and in keeping…
Life and death in Sydney’s early hospitals
Panoramic view of Infirmary and Mint, Macquarie Street, Sydney c1870, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (SPF/321) The History Council of NSW’s annual festival, History Week, will start this weekend, and as this year's theme is ‘Life and Death’, we…