Jillian Brown, The University of Sydney: Postcards 1899–1955 and Photographs (Sydney, NSW: Jillian Brown), 1–141. ISBN 978 0 646 92881 4.

Jillian Brown, The University of Sydney: Postcards 1899–1955 and Photographs (Sydney, NSW: Jillian Brown), 1–141. ISBN 978 0 646 92881 4.

A hundred years or so ago the impressive gothic revival buildings of the University of Sydney were a popular tourist attraction, particularly those surrounding the Quadrangle – the magnificent Great Hall, the Clock Tower, the Nicholson Museum and the new Fisher Library. Postcards, a cheap and easy way of communicating and sharing experiences, were produced in their millions in many countries, and cards with views of the university were popular purchases for those living in or visiting Sydney. Though the picture postcard has long been in decline as a medium of communication it continues to fascinate collectors (known as deltiologists from the Greek deltos, ‘writing tablet’ or ‘letter’). Jill Brown, a former staff member in the university’s Fisher Library, is proudly a deltiologist and her speciality is postcards depicting the university. In a labour of love she has selected and published 87 cards from her much larger collection – the mere tip of a postcard iceberg. Jill is also a keen photographer and in many cases she contrasts the cards with recent photographs of the same scene. Her expertise enables her to date many of the otherwise undated cards by reference to, for example, when trees were planted on the front lawns and elsewhere and when cranes loomed over the roofs during the construction of the original Fisher Library, now MacLaurin Hall. Not surprisingly most of the cards reproduced are of the main building (the ‘Eastern Range’) as the university’s most outstanding architectural feature. But there are cards and more modern photographs of Sydney Grammar School, where the university began; St Andrew’s, St Paul’s and Women’s Colleges; the Institute building; the Holme building; the former Sydney Teachers’ College; Fisher Library (MacLaurin Hall); the Anderson Stuart building; the Conservatorium; the lake in Victoria Park with the university in the distance; student groups and scenes in lecture theatres; the Quadrangle; and other scenes and buildings familiar to all who know the place. As well as documenting the university pictorially, Jill Brown’s book is a reflection of social history because although her primary aim is to reproduce the pictures on the fronts of these cards she also transcribes the messages on the backs. What sorts of things did people typically say on a postcard a century ago? Of necessity their messages were brief. Often they were banal and inconsequential – 'Hope you are having a good time and enjoying the best of health', 'Wishing you the Compliments of the Season', 'Could you & your mother come and see us on Thursday afternoon', and so on. Other messages are of more interest – 'Tasted a ripe ‘paw-paw’ fruit today, would on the whole prefer an un-ripe turnip', 'This is where Guy is studying for a licence to kill [i.e. Medicine]'. Many crammed longer messages into a small space by means of tiny script and use of abbreviations – everything from notes of tourism to reports of medical conditions – but only four of the writers mentioned the university or having been there. It seems that the cards were selected for purchase not so much for the relevance of their pictures but because they were readily available and suitable for a quick and friendly note to a friend or relative. To whom were these cards sent? Some in the collection are unused, but the others spanned the world. Foreign destinations are the most numerous (UK, France, New Zealand and elsewhere) followed by addresses in Sydney suburbs, New South Wales country towns and interstate. The university’s images were widely disseminated. The 87th and last card reproduced in the book represents the jewel in Jill Brown’s collection, a card for which she searched for many years. It is of the main building and Great Hall, from the north-east, and shows clearly the long-lost Angel of Knowledge triumphantly on her pedestal at the eastern end of the Great Hall roof. Seven feet tall and sculpted from sandstone, the angel was removed in 1874 for safety reasons and its whereabouts has become an enduring mystery. Photographs of it are rare, but Jill has found one. Jill Brown has produced a beautiful and nostalgia-filled book and anyone interested in the university’s history will find this a fascinating journey through its buildings and the people responsible for them. Copies are available for $40 through the Chancellor’s Committee Gift Shop under the Clock Tower in the Quadrangle at Sydney University, or by email at http://sydney.edu.au/ccs/shop/index.shtml Neil Radford 2015