The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
Search the blogs
History Week 2017: Pop! 2-10 September 2017
History Week 2017 is fast approaching, so it's time to start planning which events you'd like to get to. This year History Week's theme is Pop! and will be looking at Australian ‘popular culture’. As History Week enters its 20th year, the…
Sydney’s modernists
The Australian Women's Weekly, September 7 1946, p48 via Trove Sydney Living Museums has an interesting exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, The Moderns: European Designers in Sydney. This exhibition seems to come at a time where this city’s built environment…
The mysterious Mr Eternity
Arthur Stace writing his message, Eternity in Sydney Courtesy National Library of Australia (nla.pic-vn3107050) The 30 July 2017 marks 50 years since the death of a mysterious identity who inscribed the word ‘Eternity’ on Sydney’s pavements for 34 years. The Dictionary…
The Great Strike of 1917
Saturday's Demonstration in the Domain, Sydney Mail 15 August 1917, p22 This year marks the centenary of one of Australia’s largest industrial conflicts and a special exhibition commemorating the anniversary has just opened at Carriageworks. The Great Strike of 1917 is…
On our way
House removal, Brown St & Missenden Rd, Camperdown, 10 April 1916 Courtesy City of Sydney Archives (NSCA CRS 51/659) Moving the Dictionary Over the last year we've been working on moving the Dictionary's content on to a new platform hosted by the State…
Aging gracefully
Feast Day at Liverpool Asylum 24 July 1886, Illustrated Sydney News, 14 August 1886, p16 July marks the start of the new financial year, and for many reliant upon the government for support, this often means a change in pensions and…
Barangaroo
NAIDOC Week is in full swing, celebrating the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples so we thought we'd take the opportunity to celebrate someone a very powerful woman in Sydney’s history - Barangaroo. …
Isaac Nathan - ‘Australia’s first composer’
Isaac Nathan, Australia's first composer c1820 Courtesy National Library of Australia (nla.pic-an2292675) The Dictionary of Sydney chronicles the lives of some of Sydney’s most fascinating people. Isaac Nathan, who was hailed as ‘Australia’s first composer’ despite being the English-born son of…
A Humorous Rollerskater
The Patineur Grotesque in Prince Alfred Park in 1896. To wrap up the Sydney Film Festival, I thought today we could look at the origins of cinema in Sydney. Listen now In 1896, in the early days of moving pictures, the innovative Lumière…
Sydney’s grand General Post Office
Martin Place and General Post Office Courtesy City of Sydney Archives (SRC20098) It was announced recently that Australia Post has secured a deal to sell one of Sydney’s grandest heritage buildings - the General Post Office in Martin Place, a Renaissance style building…