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The Art of the Scott Sisters

Helena Forde, nee Scott c1866 Pic: © Australian Museum Harriet Scott, Ash Island 1856 Pic: Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a9971002 / MLMSS 1694, 23b) A few weeks ago Nicole talked about The Australian Museum which is 190 years old this…

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…

‘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…

Catherine Bishop, Minding Her Own Business Colonial Businesswomen in Sydney

  Catherine Bishop, Minding Her Own Business: Colonial Businesswomen in Sydney New South, Sydney 2015, pp1-302, RRP $39.99 Contemplating the life of women in Sydney in the nineteenth century one might think about them as daughters, wives, mothers, lovers, sisters, spinsters and widows.…

International Women's Day

Violet McKenzie with wireless c1922. 1920 - 1926 Reproduced courtesy of the Ex-Wrans Association NSW. March 8 is International Women's Day. And what better way to celebrate the day than to look back and acknowledge the extraordinary contribution women have made…

History Week 2015: War, Nationalism and Identity

Women lay wreaths on the wharf at Woolloomooloo where the WW I troops departed, c1931. By Hood, Ted. From the collection of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, hood_02026 / Home and Away 2026 History Week has been…

Sydney's governesses

Lydia Allen, governess c1876-1880. By Newman, Hubert. From the collection of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, a4157033 / P1/33 There's been some recent media coverage about the federal government reimbursing parents of their nanny fees and the…

Women’s Sydney

Five women in Hyde Park c1939. 1933 - 1943 By Hood, Sam. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales, a368031 / PXE 789 (v.38) , 112, Mitchell Library What was life like for women living in Sydney…

No ordinary woman

Petition from Maria Lock re: land grant 1831. By Maria Lock. Contributed by State Records New South Wales, NRS 907 2/7908, page 1 of 3 As part of NAIDOC week, this morning on 2SER Breakfast Lisa spoke to Mitch about an…