Our chat last week on 2SER about the French in Sydney led to some great discussion on our facebook page about French suburb names and connections in Sydney. So this week on breakfast with Tim Higgins we started to explore the origins of Sydney suburb names - starting with French connections. Naming is a powerful thing. Place names can often be signposts to historical connections, people and places in our past. So it's worthwhile being curious about place names and street names. Hunters Hill has a strong French connection through the Joubert brothers, and there is even a street named after them. But the origin of the suburb name is not French.

Our entry on Hunters Hill says the suburb derives its name from naval officer John Hunter, captain of the Sirius in the First Fleet, who charted Sydney Harbour in January and February of 1788. An alternative suggestion that is sometimes bandied about is that it derives from the farm name of one of the Scottish Martyrs, Thomas Muir. But this myth derives from an 1831 pamphlet biography of the Scottish Martyr. Hunters Hill was named on maps prior to this.  You can read all about that in Beverley Sherry's entry on Thomas Muir. The suburb of La Perouse is named after the ill-fated French navigator and explorer La Perouse, whose ships the Astrolabe and the Boussole arrived  in Botany Bay just a few days after the British First Fleet in 1788. The beach on which they landed was later named Frenchmans Beach. The French stayed for 6 weeks on the north shore of Botany Bay, recouperating and taking on fresh supplies. While they were here Father Receveur, a Franciscan chaplain, died and was buried at La Perouse.  The expedition departed for home on 10 March 1788, but was never heard of again. Canada Bay, together with the adjacent Exile and France Bays, recalls the 1837 rebellion against British rule in Canada. In 1840, 58 French Canadians were exiled to NSW. They worked quarrying the sandstone around some of the bays. The were pardoned and most returned to Canada. Vaucluse in the eastern suburbs was named after Vaucluse in the south of France. Its particularly associated with the historic Vaucluse House and estate.

Sans Souci is in southern Sydney. The suburb derives its name from the grand home "Sans Souci" built there by politician Thomas Holt. According to France Pollon's The Book of Sydney Suburbs the home was named after the palace of Prussian Frederick the Great at Potsdam and meant "without care". We have a genteel drawing of the house in the Dictionary of Sydney.   Of course, you can discover more about suburbs and localities in the Dictionary of Sydney. Do a keyword search or browse our list of places.   Other useful references are: Brian & Barbara Kennedy, Sydney and Suburbs: A history and description, A.H & A.W. Reed, Frenchs Forest, 1982. Frances Pollon (ed.), The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Angus & Robertson, North Ryde, 1988. NSW Geographic Names Board If you missed us, look for the podcast of today's segment on Tim Higgins' blog. And don't forget to tune in next week on 2SER 107.3FM for another chapter from the Dictionary of Sydney.

With Bastille Day just gone, it was appropriate to chat all things French with Tim Higgins at 2SER this morning. Until the mid-nineteenth century, there were only about 400 French people living in Australia, 75% of which were based in Sydney. Numerically the French may not have been large, but they have made a striking contribution to Sydney's history. The Joubert Brothers are a shining example of the French entrepreneurial spirit in Sy dney. Didier and Jules Joubert arrived in Sydney in 1839 from the Bordeaux area of France. Didier Joubert was a wine and spirit merchant who set up business in the township of Sydney. In 1847 he purchased Figree Farm (owned by Mary Reiby) in Hunters Hills. His brother Jules was a builder and together from 1854 the brothers began building sandstone villas and subdividing Hunters Hill. It became known as the French village. Didier Joubert went on to become the first mayor of Hunters Hill. Another interesting fact about Didier Joubert, which I didn't have time to mention on 2SER this morning, was that he was one of Sydney's early amateur photographers using the daguerreotype process. In fact, one of the earliest documented photographs taken in Australia was of Didier Joubert's store in Sydney in 1841.

It was because of the Joubert borthers that Hunters Hill became the home of the influential teaching order, the Marist Brothers, who established St Joseph's school. You can read all about it in the Hunters Hill suburb entry by Beverley Sherry. Australian wool attracted French woolbuyers who moved to Sydney in the 1880s and 190s. They were the active core of the local French population in Sydney and dominated French cultural life in Sydney until the Second World War. In the 1890s this group helped establish the French Benevolent Society (1891), the French neswpaper Le Courrier Australien (1892), the French Chamber of Commerce and Allinace Francais (both 1899). All this and more is covered in the Dictionary's well illustrated entry on the French, written by Ivan Barko. The Dictionary's segment on 2SER is podcast, with thanks to Tim Higgins. Tune in next Wednesday morning as we once again dive into Sydney's history.

If you tuned into our weekly slot on 2SER breakfast with Tim Higgins this morning, you would have heard me discussing the Australian Aborigines Progressive Association launched in Sydney in 1925. As a forerunner to NAIDOC, the AAPA, and the Aborigines Progressive Association that proceeded it in 1937, mark the beginning of the civil rights movement in Australia. As NAIDOC week gets underway around the country, this year the focus is on the vision expressed through the Yirrkala Bark Petitions of 1963. This petition is the first documentary recognition of Indigenous people in Australian law. Before this, there were other petitions made to Australian parliaments and directly to the Crown. While unsuccessful, they paved the way for the constitutional changes that were to come much later. Headed by Aboriginal activist Fred Maynard, the AAPA ran its headquarters out of Addison's Hall in Surry Hills in Sydney. With links to the communities in northern NSW, the AAPA campaigned for land rights and an end to the removal of Aboriginal children from their families. Most importantly, they sought self determination and equality and the dissolution of the Aborigines Protection Board in New South Wales. In 1927, the association petitioned the New South Wales Premier, Jack Lang, to restore lands removed from communities under the Aborigines Protection Act 1883 . Activist and member of the AAPA, Jane Duren wrote directly to King George V contesting the power of the Aborigines Protection Board to withdraw Aboriginal control of reserves on the grounds that they had been granted by Queen Victoria. Threatened by the AAPA's action, the Aborigines Protection Board hit back through the press and directly to the Premier, discrediting its leaders. Though the association had built up 11 branches across New South Wales, with over 500 active members, threats to Maynard's family and police harassment saw an end to this foremost association. You can read more about the Australian Aborigines Progressive Association and the activists who paved the way for future constitutional reform in the Dictionary. If you missed my chat with Tim this morning you can download a podcast. Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday on 107.3 at 8.20am for another Sydney history highlight when our chairperson, Lisa Murray, returns to the airwaves.

   

Pyrmont Bridge bustles with pedestrians and cyclists, connecting the city with the peninsula. One hundred years ago it was just as important a transport connector, but it was jam-packed with horses and carts alongside pedestrians. This morning on 2SER breakfast with Tim Higgins we chatted about Pyrmont Bridge's history. I kept banging on about how unique the Pyrmont Bridge is. So why is it special? Well, at the time of construction (1899-1902) the swing span of Pyrmont Bridge was one of the largest in the world. It was also one of the first swing bridges in the world to be powered by electricity. It could be opened or closed in just 45 seconds. It was powered by electricity generated from the nearby Ultimo Powerhouse (now the Powerhouse Museum). But world-firsts aside, it also has a special technical design that was developed right here in Sydney. Percy Allan was the Chief Engineer for bridges at Public Works and he developed a new design for timber truss bridges, using Australian ironbark timber for its strength. The design type became known as the Allan truss bridge. Allan's innovations simplified the design, increased load bearing capability, reduced construction costs, and made the construction and maintenance of timber truss bridges much easier. Pyrmont Bridge is a unique type of Allan timber truss bridge, comprising 12 timber truss deck spans. 105 timber truss bridges were built in NSW between 1894 and 1929, and this is the only one of this particular design. So you won't be surprised to learn that the Pyrmont Bridge is listed on the State Heritage Register. You can read all about the Pyrmont Bridge, and its neighbouring swing bridge the Glebe Island Bridge, in the Dictionary. For those you keen to get into the techncial details of timber truss bridges, take a look at this survey of timber truss bridges that the RTA undertook. 2SER podcast the Dictionary's chats with Tim Higgins or tune in next Wednesday on 107.3 at 8.20am for another Sydney history highlight.

Sport has a long tradition in Sydney life, interwoven with its fabric and culture. Today we talked all things footy on 2SER with Tim Higgins. Football, in all its varieties, is pretty topical as we're off to the World Cup, the Lions are touring and it's State of Origin. But where did it all begin? The Dictionary's article on Sport in Sydney, written by Richard Cashman, provides us with the answers. Rugby Union was the first football code to gain a toehold in Sydney. The first club to be formed was at Sydney University in 1864 and the following year Hyde Park hosted the first recorded public rugby game. The Southern Rugby Football Association was formed in 1874 to administer the code. Next came soccer, with the first recorded match of soccer being played at Parramatta Common on 14 August 1880. The 1920s saw a number of international teams touring, including England and (surprisingly) China. The celebrated split in Sydney rugby began in 1907 and culminated in the launch in 1908 of a new, more professional code known as rugby league, which was based in inner-city working-class suburbs. South Sydney was one of the foundation clubs. The backing of hotelier and prominent entrepreneur Sir James Joynton Smith was critical for league's survival. By the 1920s rugby league had become the dominant football code in Sydney. Australian football is a relative newcomer on the Sydney scene. It became cemented in Sydney when the struggling Australian football team South Melbourne Swans relocated to Sydney and became the Sydney Swans in 1982. But there are some diehard fans here in Sydney, among them 2SER's breakfast host Tim Higgins. If you missed today's chat between Tim and historian Lisa Murray you can catch up with it on 2SER's podcast. And don't forget to tune in to 2SER 107.3 next Wednesday at 8.20am when we'll once again be looking at Sydney's history from different angle.

The Dictionary of Sydney has teamed up with 2SER 107.3 to present a regular live segment on Sydney's history. Tim Higgins is the new Breakfast Show host on 2SER and he's crazy for Sydney's history. Tim has invited the Dictionary of Sydney to be a regular part of his show. Each Wednesday at 8.20am Tim will be chatting with historian and Dictionary Chair, Lisa Murray. Together they'll be delving into the Dictionary's rich content to discover something amazing, confounding or just plain interesting about Sydney's history and sharing it with you.

This week was the Dictionary's debut! Tim and Lisa went straight for some political intrigue, chatting about one of Sydney's shady political figures Thomas John Ley. Ley was a self-made politician that tried his hand at local, state and federal politics in 1920s and 1920s. 'Lemonade' Ley was not as squeaky clean as his nickname first suggests, and there were allegations aplenty as his opponents started to mysteriously disappear. Don't worry if you missed the segment. Tim is podcasting the chats each week. And of course you can always find out more in the Dictionary of Sydney. Check out the entity listing in the Dictionary for Thomas John Ley that pulls together all the resources and mentions of this colourful Sydney character. There's a timeline, photo and entry written by Paul Ashton. Tune in next week to 2SER 107.3 on Wednesday at 8.20am for the Dictionary's next segment with Tim. We'll be tweeting a teaser on the topic every Tuesday evening to whet your appetite. And if you do forget, we'll be blogging and linking to the podcast. The Dictionary of Sydney and 2SER: two community organisations that are proudly bringing you Sydney's arts, culture and history.

Support the History of the Future CALL FOR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS The end of financial year is looming and we’d like to remind you that donations to the Dictionary of Sydney are tax deductible. If you haven't contributed to the Dictionary, we hope that you will. These funds will be used to enhance the Dictionary's current resources and develop new ones. We need your support to ensure the ongoing survival of the Dictionary. Please join us in this important effort by contributing today. Every cent counts and donations from $30 to $10,000 will assist in every way to support the future of the Dictionary of Sydney. MAKE YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION BEFORE JUNE 30 We thank you for your appreciation of history, and for assisting us in sharing this important documentation with generations to come. Cheques can be made payable to the Dictionary of Sydney Trust and sent to: Attention: Kim Hanna Dictionary of Sydney Trust GPO Box 1591 Sydney NSW 2001 or visit www.givenow.com.au/dictionaryofsydney to make an online donation now! Thank you for your generous support of the Dictionary of Sydney Kim Hanna, Executive Officer

Ever wondered what would happen if Dictionary of Sydney data was opened to a group of programmers or hackers? We got our first glimpse over the weekend 31 May - 2 June with GovHack2013. GovHack is a national competition where hackers (coders, engineers, designers, statisticians etc) form teams and compete to create the best new mashups, data visualisations and apps using open government data. They compete not just for the fun and the glory, but also for prizes. The Dictionary of Sydney Trust was lucky enough to be invited by Intersect, who hosted the Sydney event, to contribute our data. Other data available to hackers included contributions from State Records NSW, the National Library's TROVE api and plenty of statistics from the ABS. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! Now, technically the Dictionary of Sydney is an NGO, but as we draw upon many great government cultural institutions for our content, and in the spirit of open data, creative commons and Vivid Sydney, we were a welcome and enthusiastic contributor of data. To create some interest around the Dictionary's data, we offered a local prize for "Most Enthusiastic Use of Dictionary of Sydney Data". Three local teams utilised Dictionary of Sydney data and applied for our prize. The projects are: Sydney Lexicographer, UniBurb and When will my house be underwater? We encourage our followers to check them out and consider voting in the People's Choice Award over the next couple of days. All of the projects created around the nation over the weekend are available for viewing and you can vote for your favourites for the People's Choice Award. There are some inspiring projects and it's a great introduction to the benefits of open government data - to see how open data facilitates access to information, supports digital dissemination of information and encourages community outreach and engagement. And that aside, there are just some cool digital projects playing with data and showcasing the potential of the digital humanities. The winners of the national and local prizes of GovHack2013 will be announced later in the week and we will also announce the winner of "Most Enthusiastic Use of Dictionary of Sydney Data" here on our blog. So stay tuned ...

In the most recent regeneration of the Dictionary, we were delighted to be able to include the complete photographic album Works by Members of the Amateur Photographic Society of New South Wales, August 1886. The album is owned by generous contributor Graham Trevena, and contains some beautiful and unfamiliar views of 19th century Sydney. We are very grateful to him for allowing us to share these images.

The Amateur Photographic Society of New South Wales  was the second of such organisations in Sydney. The benefits of forming such a society along the lines of London's Photographic Society were being discussed as early as 1855 (Photography, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 May 1855, p5  and Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September 1855, p8), and again in 1863 (The Empire, 28 July 1862, p1)

but it wasn't until 1872 that the first Amateur Photographic

Society of New South Wales was formed (Sydney Morning Herald, 20 July 1872, p7).

The inaugural meeting of this second association was in on 4 September 1884 in rooms at Baumann's cafe on Pitt St (Sydney Morning Herald, 2 September 1884, p12):

A NUMBER of gentlemen interested in photography met on Thursday evening last at Baumann's rooms, which were courteously lent for the purpose, to inaugurate and form an amateur photographic society. The following gentlemen were elected office-bearers for the year, viz; President, Mr. E. L. Montefiore ; vice presidents, Messrs. A. Wigram and J. W. M'Cutcheon ; hon. secretary, Mr. H. Paterson ; hon. treasurer, Mr. Beckett ; committee, Messrs. C. Turner, Dr. Elliott, E. Lichtner, V. Cohen, and H. S. Jeanerett. During the evening several charming pictures, consisting of views of the Hawkesbury, were exhibited.

It is contemplated to hold a day's outing, when the " Knights of the Camera " will have an opportunity of " bagging " some fine and interesting photographs. We may add that any amateur desirous of joining the club can gain all particulars from the hon, secretary, whose address is 227, Macquarie-street. (Sydney Morning Herald, 7 October 1884, p7) The Society was very active, and held regular meetings and excursions to Sydney's beauty spots to practice their art, with competitions to encourage members and free lectures to the general public. Bought by Graham Trevena  in the 1950s during a book-shopping foray into the city during a break from university classes, the album was originally presented by the members of the Amateur Photographic Society of New South Wales to the then Governor, Lord Carrington, at the opening of their second annual exhibition or 'conversazione' of their work at the Sydney Town Hall on 5 August 1886:

The spacious and well-lighted salon, thronged as it was with the "amateurs" and their friends who had assembled to inspect the beautiful collection of photographs exhibited therein, presented a brilliant spectacle as the Governor, accompanied by Captains Terry and Baring, entered tho building. The Volunteer Artillery band played the National Anthem, and Lord Carrington, who was received by the president and officers of the society, took his seat on a dais which had been erected in the hall. Shortly afterwards Mr E. L. Montefiore (the president of the society) welcomed the Governor, and thanked him for the honour he had bestowed upon them by consenting to open the conversazione. He also requested him to accept an album containing a number of photographs which had been executed by the members of the society. The speaker then announced to the members that Lord Carrington had consented to become the patron of the association, and the statement was received with applause. Lord Carrington, in reply, said he had to return his most grateful thanks for the fresh proof of the kindness which had invariably been shown to him in the colony. He

accepted with gratitude the album which they had given to him, more especially because the views in it were the work of the amateurs.  In conclusion he thanked the president for the compliment he had paid to him in making him patron of the Society, and said he wished the association every success. He then declared the conversazione to be open, and subsequently inspected the photographs, some of which were exceedingly beautiful. The different pictures were arranged on stands and distributed around the walls, and in one corner of the room the apparatus used by the amateurs was exhibited. A number of excellent photographs of many of the most interesting spots in the colony are shown, and some of them are well finished and mounted in capital style. The Botanical Gardens, the harbour, the suburbs, our mountain, river and coastal scenery, all have their admirers, and pleasing mementoes have been obtained of well-known spots and favourable holiday resorts, Tho photographic collection will remain open during the afternoons and evenings of today (Friday) and to-morrow. (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 August 1886, p7) The Amateur Photographic Society of New South Wales became defunct in 1889 and was replaced by the new Sydney Amateur Photographic Society (Sydney Morning Herald, 31 May 1889 p8), which proposed "to admit ladies & minors, at half the usual subscription". Head to the Dictionary to explore the album:

Works by Members of the Amateur Photographic Society of NSW (and remember to click on the thumbnail and go to the full record to see the largest version). Our thanks again to Graham Trevena!