The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

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Mary Reibey: Australia’s pioneering businesswoman

Mary Reibey c1835 Courtesy: Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW Today is International Women’s Day and its also Women’s History Month, so with Rani at the helm at 2SER, let's take a look at one of the Dictionary of Sydney’s most famous ladies…

The Trouble with Harry

Mug shot of Eugenie Falleni 1920 Courtesy: Sydney Living Museums, Justice & Police Museum (FP07_0031_005) As part of the 2017 Mardi Gras festival, there’s an interesting play showing at the Seymour Centre called The Trouble with Harry. The play revolves around…

‘Alternative histories’: The myth of Sydney’s foundational orgy

First page of the List of Female Convicts on board the Lady Penrhyn, from the journal of Arthur Bowes Smyth May 1787 Courtesy National Library of Australia (MS 4568) The 6 February marked the anniversary of a night of salacious activity…

Anniversary Day, Australia Day, Survival Day, Invasion Day

Aboriginal Day of Mourning, 26 January 1938 Man magazine, March 1938 Courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a429002 / Q 059/9) The debate about the name and date of Australia Day has been contested for a very long time, and…

Demolished Sydney

There’s an interesting exhibition on at the Museum of Sydney at the moment called ‘Demolished Sydney: Georgian town to global city’. It features the buildings and places that once shaped the city’s skyline and were demolished to make way for…

The Mad Dentist of Wynyard Square

Henry Louis Bertrand c1865 Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (c011220001 / P2/468) This week on 2SER Breakfast with Nic Healey, Nicole shared author John Edwards's Dictionary entry on Henry Louis Bertrand,  the dentist of Wynyard Square whose murderous &…