The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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The wearing of the green
Dictionary staff had a most interesting lunchtime on Tuesday last, listening to Jack Mundey at the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts giving a talk marking 40 years since the start of Sydney's famous Green Bans. Jack Mundey, Builders Labourers Federation, 1973,…
Tick, tick, tick
Waiting for our new site to be regenerated every three months feels to the team like the ad break before they open the envelope at the Oscars. We know that there is great stuff in the new build, 28 new…
City of villages IV
What about Sydney's coastal villages? While Aboriginal people ranged their lands along the shores of Sydney's waterways, the country was called by diverse names, some of which were appropriated by the Europeans, whether they understood them or not. Coogee, Maroubra,…
City of villages III
Western Sydney is a vast area, diverse in people, landscape and built environment. Its many communities sometimes feel that the city turns its back on them, but not the Dictionary of Sydney. From Parramatta to the Blue Mountains, read about…
City of villages II
Some of Sydney's regions were separated out by geographical features, and the biggest was Sydney Harbour itself. The Lower North Shore was Cammeraygal country bef0re the arrival of the Europeans and their diseases, and its scenic beauty was much admired by…
City of villages
Like all cities, Sydney is not one undifferentiated whole, but a collection of self-identified regions which may or may not line up with current administrative and government boundaries. Some of these regions and their names date back to before the establishment…
Sick Sydney
Compulsory mask, brought in to combat the flu epidemic 1919 by Sam Hood, State Library of NSW hood_07851 Epidemics have been a fact of human life at least since the invention of agriculture, when people first started to live in large…
'A woman of rare talents and lofty character'
One of Sydney's most interesting and important reformers was Maybanke Anderson, also known as Mrs Wolstenholme, and born Maybanke Selfe in England in 1845. She was to become one of the best known women in Sydney, giving 'freely her time,…
Back to school
School room on the NSS Sobraon c1895, State Records of New South Wales 4481_a026_000005 In the school holidays, working in the city gains a pleasurable dimension from the presence of kids, freed from school attendance for a short time, and able…
Hopping about...
With Anzac Day falling on the same weekend as Easter this year, there are lots of entries in the Dictionary which explore some of the many Sydney traditions which will be marked over the next few days. Ladies at the Show…