The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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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…
Contributor news
The Dictionary is the sum of contributions by authors (over 150 of them so far), artists (photographers and painters mostly, so far), institutions (many of them national treasures), and companies such as Airview who have kindly allowed us to use…
Old stagers
One of the strengths of the Dictionary is our wide and varied coverage of Sydney's theatre history. Much of this can be credited to an indefatigable contributor, Ailsa McPherson. Ailsa's survey article outlines the history of theatrical production in Sydney…
Newsletter circus crossword
Mark St Leon, Circus The Australian Story Download the newsletter circus crossword here…
Red letter days
Celebrations, rituals and ceremonies have always been important parts of life in this place, even before it was called Sydney. The many carvings, clearings, and ceremonial sites in the Sydney basin show that the Aboriginal people had a full calendar of…
Uncovering treasure
Have you discovered Trove yet? It is the National Library's well-named unified search service, which combs a huge range of Australian collections all at once. Here at the Dictionary of Sydney we use it every day, especially the Digitised newspapers collection which…