The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
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James Phelps, Australian Heist
James Phelps, Australian Heist HarperCollins Publishers, 2018, 351 pp., ISBN: 9781460756232, h/bk, AUS$39.99 New, from one of Australia’s most popular, and prolific, true crime writers James Phelps, is Australian Heist (2018). Phelps tells the story of how a gang of bushrangers held up…
Shirley Beiger: ‘All that glittered was not gold’
Shirley Beiger on the cover of PIX 28 April 1951 The State Library of NSW have made an enormous amount of historical material available online in recent years. One such resource is the tabloid magazine, PIX , which was published between 1938…
Ah-chew! (Sniffle, Sniffle) - the pneumonic influenza pandemic of 1919
Today on 2SER Breakfast, Lisa and Tess talked about the pneumonic influenza pandemic of 1919 (aka the Spanish flu) - a world-wide pandemic that hit Sydney 100 years ago in February 1919. More people died from the flu around the…
Chinese New Year
Tuesday was the official day of Chinese New Year, a festival that has been celebrated for generations in Sydney, so today I thought we'd look at the long history of Chinese people in Sydney. Listen to the whole conversation with Lisa…
‘the flying fairy and empress of the air’
Kate Rickards in costume as Toots c1888 by Kerry & Co Courtesy Tyrrell Collection, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (85/1286-498) There are some fascinating women in the Dictionary of Sydney. Among those is one who went by many stage names…
Vanessa Finney, Transformations: Harriet and Helena Scott, colonial Sydney’s finest natural history painters
Vanessa Finney, Transformations: Harriet and Helena Scott, colonial Sydney’s finest natural history painters NewSouth Books, 2018, 204 pp. (plus notes and index), ISBN: 9781742235806, h/bk, AUS$49.99 Harriet Scott (Morgan) (1830–1907) and Helena Scott (Forde) (1832–1910) were, as natural history artists, without peer…
Julie McIntyre and John Germov, Hunter Wine: A History
Julie McIntyre and John Germov, Hunter Wine: A History NewSouth Books, 2018, 287 pp. (plus bibliography and index), ISBN: 9781742235769, p/bk, AUS$49.99 Robert Louis Stevenson once suggested 'wine is bottled poetry'. In their captivating new book Hunter Wine: A History, historian Julie McIntyre…
Street Photography
Today on 2SER Breakfast, Lisa and Tess talked about a fabulous new exhibition at the Museum of Sydney called Street Photography, that looks at the popularity of commercial street photographers in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Listen to Lisa and Tess…
Decorating the city
Christmas tree in Hyde Park 7 December 1962, City of Sydney Archives (NSCA CRS 48/3060) It's getting very festive around the city as Christmas approaches so today we thought we'd look at one of the city's biggest Christmas traditions! Listen to…
Ocean baths
Wylie's Baths, Coogee c1915, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (PXE 1028, f56) Ocean baths are abundant in Sydney and along the New South Wales coast, reflecting our love of the ocean and, perhaps, an ambivalence towards the surf. These man-made…