The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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Vanessa Finney, Capturing Nature: Early Scientific Photography at the Australian Museum 1857-1893
Vanessa Finney, Capturing Nature: Early Scientific Photography at the Australian Museum 1857-1893 NewSouth Books, 2019, 654 pp., ISBN: 9781742234984, p/bk, AUS$49.99 Let me declare a point of self-interest before I say too much about this insightful and intriguing book. I confess to…
Mugshots 1920s style
A few weeks ago I talked about the Registry of Flashmen which was compiled by William Miles, a police commissioner who used the latest surveillance techniques of the 1840s to understand the local criminal class. Fast forward 80 years to…
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…
Arthur K Syer, Capturing everyday life on Sydney streets
Chinese labourers c1885-90 By Syer, Arthur K. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales, a844023 / PXA 394/23, 1885 - 1890 Photography is an amazing medium. In certain frames it can give us a candid glimpse of…
A cracker of a night
Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve 2013 (Photo: Karl Bayer, First Light Photography Courtesy: City of Sydney) As you oohed and aahed at the magnificent display of fireworks on New Year's Eve, did you pause to wonder where it all began?…
Every picture tells a story
A. McManius, by Henry William Burgin from Studio portraits of Parramatta residents, ca. 1860-1872 , Mitchell Library, SLNSW, a1327004 / PXA 1036, 28 It often comes as a surprise to modern audiences that a 'photoshopped' photograph is nothing new, but photographers…
Knights of the Camera
Cover of the album 'Works by Members of the Amateur Photographic Society of N.S.W presented by the Society to His Excellency Lord Carrington August 1886', courtesy Graham Trevena In the most recent regeneration of the Dictionary, we were delighted to be…
Centennial Park turns 125
Centennial Park was officially dedicated on 26 January 1888, when Sir Henry Parkes declared: "The most distinguishing feature of modern civilisation is the beneficial provision made for the enjoyment and the health of the people, and this great park, which has…
New Year's Eve in Sydney
The Dictionary of Sydney team thanks you for your support over the last year, and wishes you a happy and prosperous 2013! You can read more about the history of New Years Eve in Sydney in Hannah Forsyth's entry on the…
And that’s not all…
As well as getting the material ready for the Dictionary’s regeneration (which is taking place now over at Arts eResearch), we’ve been working hard on our more academic outlet, the Sydney Journal. The new issue has just been published, with a…