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Sydney summer
Click here to read the latest Dictionary of Sydney newsletter The Dictionary of Sydney's summer newsletter went out to subscribers last week, with news, reviews and more. If you missed it, you can still catch up right here, and subscribe to…
Zeny Edwards, A Life of Purpose: a biography of John Sulman
Emeritus Professor David Carment launched this book at the State Library of NSW on 15 December 2017 and he has generously given us his permission to publish the text of his speech. Zeny Edwards, A Life of Purpose: a biography of John Sulman…
Underworld: Mugshots from the Roaring Twenties - exhibition review
Underworld: Mugshots from the Roaring Twenties, which has just opened at the Museum of Sydney, is an exploration of crime in a decade that heralded the brave new world that emerged from the devastation of World War I. Curated by the…
‘The past lives on’:Paul Keating’s Redfern speech
Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating giving speech at the launch of the United Nations' International Year of the World's Indigenous People, Redfern Park 10 December 1992 Courtesy City of Sydney Archives (SRC24730) Last Sunday it was exactly 25 years since the…
Vanessa Berry, Mirror Sydney
Vanessa Berry, Mirror Sydney Giramondo Publishing, 2017, 304 pp, ISBN: 9781925336252, p/bk, RRP AUS$39.95 The very title of Mirror Sydney says a great deal about Vanessa Berry’s take on her hometown. It’s inspired by an aged photograph album found in an op shop,…
Everything old is new again
Completed escalators at the York Street entrance of Wynyard Station, 17 August 1931, courtesy State Archives & Records NSW (12685_a007_a00704_8735000024r) Last week on 2SER Breakfast Nicole talked about the development of the City Circle line, and over the weekend an amazing…
Sydney's City Circle
The Great Excavator, Building magazine, 12 October 1923, p107 This week saw a massive overhaul of Sydney's public transport timetables, and this, along with the ongoing construction works around the city and suburbs have left many of us feeling a bit…
YES, YES, YES!!
'Lesbian Brides' marching group, Mardi Gras 1994 Photograph by C. Moore Hardy, Courtesy City of Sydney Archives (C. Moore Hardy Collection 061352) It was an historic moment last Wednesday when it was announced that the Australian people had voted overwhelmingly in favour…
Grantlee Kieza, Mrs Kelly: The Astonishing Life of Ned Kelly’s Mother
Grantlee Kieza Mrs Kelly: The Astonishing Life of Ned Kelly’s Mother HarperCollins Publishers (ABC Books), 2017, 624 pp., ISBN: 9780733331572, h/bk, AUS$39.99 Bestselling author Grantlee Kieza’s latest work, Mrs Kelly: The Astonishing Life of Ned Kelly’s Mother, is a biography of Ellen Kelly (c1832-1923). Although ostensibly documenting the life of Mrs Ellen…
‘Sydney’s best kept secret’: Yaralla estate
Yaralla 2007 Courtesy City of Canada Bay Library Did you know ‘the most significant, suburban Edwardian estate in NSW’ is in Concord West, on the banks of the Parramatta River? Yaralla Estate, sometimes referred to as ‘Sydney’s best kept secret’, was…