The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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A matter of life and death – the coroner in New South Wales
17 June 2021 The role of the coroner in New South Wales has existed for 234 years – longer, in fact, than the state itself. On 2 April 1787, Governor Arthur Phillip was granted the powers ‘to constitute and appoint justices…
Hanging out with the hangman
Nosey Bob, the common hangman, The Bulletin, 31 January 1880, p4 Today is the anniversary of the death of Robert Rice Howard, the hangman for New South Wales from the 1870s until 1904, who died on 3 February 1906. Listen to…
Kathryn Harkup, Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts
Kathryn Harkup, Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts Bloomsbury, July 2020, 340 pp. (plus an appendix, bibliography, acknowledgements and index), ISBN: 9781472958211, p/bk, AUS$29.99 The great Bard is well known for his plays and his poetry. He is also a…
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…