The Dictionary needs funding, sponsorship and support for a range of special projects as well as our core activities. These partnerships allow us to create new content and engage new audiences for Sydney's history.
Browse these pages to look at our past projects. Sponsors and supporters have included the Australian Government’s Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program; Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts; Australian National Maritime Museum; Oral History NSW; Royal Australian Historical Society; the City of Sydney, and more.
Pic: Flower sellers in Martin Place c1940 by Harold Cazneaux Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales a2057025 / PXD 806/25 (detail) http://dictionaryofsydney.org/image/88073
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Pic: Training for the new decimal currency - a display of giant coins at the Channel 10 studio in Sydney 1965. By W Brindle. Contributed by National Archives of Australia [A1200, L52590]
The Dictionary of Sydney is a unique digital story-telling platform about Sydney with more than 400 contributors, 1000 entries, 13,500 entities and 5000 multimedia items freely accessible online. It is a free public resource for everyone to share and enjoy.
Between 2006-2016, the City of Sydney was the Dictionary of Sydney's generous major government partner, providing cash and in-kind support.
In 2016, the City of Sydney provided a special one-off grant to transfer the Dictionary of Sydney website to the State Library of New South Wales. As of December 2016, the City of Sydney no longer funds the Dictionary on an ongoing basis.
The State Library is hosting the website and providing technical support, but is not able to provide any operational funding. You can read more about the project here. Since the website was transferred to the Library's platform in July 2017, there have been more than 3,200,000 page views.
In September 2018, management of the Dictionary of Sydney passed to the State Library of New South Wales. Publication of new content on the Dictionary will cease in early 2022.
Publication of new content on the Dictionary of Sydney will continue while funds allow. After early 2022, the Dictionary of Sydney website and content will be preserved and made available by the State Library of New South Wales.
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Detail from MS Hill's 1888 map 'The City of Sydney', a birds-eye view over the city looking to the south and west across Darling Harbour. http://dictionaryofsydney.org/image/97526
Daylight saving starts again in New South Wales this long weekend which means on Sunday at 2am it will be time to synchronise our watches... so, that's forward, right?
Departures indicator board above entry barriers at Wynyard Railway Station, 27 August 1948 from State Records NSW 17420_a014_a014000658GPO clock face being removed, Martin Place 14 June 1942, National Archives of Australia, C4078, N1914D5 February 1941 Aboard HMAS Sydney CQMAR Saltmash checking the clocks which is a daily routine aboard ship, Australian War Memorial 005421Tramwaymen (taken for "Century" newspaper), June 1938, from the Mitchell Library, SLNSW hood_17175 / Home & Away 17175Topsy the pony in the auditorium at Waltons, 12 September 1955 by Ern McQuillan, Mitchell Library, SLNSW ap_00871 / APA 00871Traffic flowing smoothly over Sydney Harbour Bridge, once the city's worst bottleneck. Two new lanes replacing the tram tracks on the east side, making eight in all, were opened on July 2, 1959, from the National Archives of Australia: A1200, L32700The Sydney Trade Fare 1965, National Archives of Australia A1501, A6034/6Citizenship Advice Bureau at Bankstown Square, 7 November 1966 by Curly Frazer, Mitchell Library, SLNSW d7_24410 / APA 24410Patrons of the Northern Club Hotel toast introduction of 10 pm closing, 1 Feburary 1955 by Ern McQuillan, Mitchell Library, SLNSW d7_43404 / APA 43404
One of the many joys of working on the Dictionary of Sydney is the opportunity/excuse to revisit favourite pictures and collections as we look for the right images to illustrate an entry. Another is following up the unexpected stories and connections as we check details and confirm spellings.
The collection of studio portraits of local Parramatta residents, ca. 1860-1872 by Henry William Burgin II in the Mitchell Library at the State Library of NSW (PXA 1036) is one such favourite, and one of the more unusual of these is this 'trick' photo of A. McManus (or McManius - both versions are listed in the description in the SLNSW catalogue record):
A. McManius, by Henry William Burgin from Studio portraits of Parramatta residents, ca. 1860-1872 , Mitchell Library, SLNSW, a1327004 / PXA 1036, 28
Who is A. McManus? And is he the head or the holder? What was his relationship with the photographer, that they felt comfortable playing about with their images like this? Could one of the participants even be the photographer?
What started as a quick check to find out more has (once again) turned into more of a quest.
A quick trawl through Trove didn't really help this time, so perhaps knowing more about Burgin might provide an answer. Or not!
Henry William Burgin II, born in Parramatta in 1830, was a watch and clock-maker, who took up the photography in about 1860. He was later joined in the watchmaking & photographic business by one of his sons, Henry William Burgin III (1852-1887). Margot Riley provides an informative overview of Burgin's work and the provenance of the photographs in the State Library's collection in the 2006 exhibition guide to the Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection and suggests that their interest in photography was prompted by their work with optics and mechanics as watchmakers.
The Burgins lived in Church Street, Parramatta which was also where their photographic studio was located. (The Church Street studio was apparently destroyed in a terrible summer storm on 2 January 1872 according to the Sydney Mail.)
A site history summary of the Duke of Wellington hotel site in Parramatta from 2006, part of an archaelogical report into the Plazawest development site by the Archaeological Management & Consulting Group Pty Limited, shows that the area was home to both the extended Burgin family, and to a Terence McManus, a Parramatta police constable. Could this be the same McManus family? Perhaps Terence McManus had a son who grew up with Henry William Burgin and who took part in his photographic experiments?
Ah, no, it seems not. Terence McManus arrived in Sydney as a convict in 1819, aged about 35. In 1830 he married another former convict Sarah Flintoff who was then about 75. Her adult son George Cumming Flintoff (or Flintoft), also a former convict and a shoemaker, lodged with them. It doesn't appear that she & McManus had ever had any children together (although she allegedly gave birth to 21 children). After years of physically abusing her, McManus, then about 60, brutally murdered Sarah, 90, at their Parramatta home in 1844 and died himself shortly after at Parramatta Gaol. No other heirs or children apart from George are mentioned in the newspaper reports of the time and McManus does not appear to be listed as the father of any children on the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages.
Sarah's grave at All Saints Cemetery in Parramatta was unmarked and her name, Sarah MacManus, is included on a memorial wall erected by the council as part of the All Saints restoration project in 2003.
So although this was a dreadful local event that Henry William Burgin II, at 14, must have known about, this hasn't helped identify the A.McManus in this carte de visite.
However, in 1876 an Alfred McManis of Parramatta married Lucie Heathe at Woollahra, and the colonial family tree website Australian Royalty lists both Alfred AND his brother Arthur, both born in Parramatta at about the right time (1836 & 1838) to have known Burgin II and to be the subject/s of this photo.
Could this be the right family? More research is required, but if anybody already knows more about the right A. McManus/McManius/McManis (or any of the other possible variations) of Parramatta, it would be a great to hear more!
In a final quirky diversion, an early photograph of Parramatta locals in the street which is credited to Burgin appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 14 August, 1954, in a contemplation of the stereotype of the lean Australian.
History Week is nearly upon us, and what a feast it promises to be!
Presented by the History Council of NSW, with the theme of EAT History, History Week has something for everyone to savour.
Oyster farmers David Corstorphine of Tuncurry, aged 78 and Fred Selmon of Georges River, aged 70, enjoy oysters at Dolls Point, photo by Sam Hood, from the Mitchell Library, SLNSW a368001 / PXE 789 (v.38), 1
One of the featured free events is 'Unwrapped Sweets: Tales from the City', presented by our colleagues at the City of Sydney History Program, Lisa Murray, Laila Ellmoos, Margo Beasley and Town Hall collection curator Margaret Betteridge. Lisa is the Chair of the Dictionary's Board of Trustees, and the others are all Dictionary authors. It's free, at 11.30 Saturday 3 September, at historic Customs House at Circular Quay.
Pikelets being made at the Electrical Association, 1936, from the Electrical Association for Women Cookery Book, compiled and published by Mrs FV McKenzie, Director of the Electrical Association for Women (Australia) Sydney, published by The Electrical Association for Women (Australia), Sydney 1936, p 98-9 (Private Collection)
While you are there you can see a display put together by the Customs House Library , featuring ephemera from the receptions and functions held at Sydney Town Hall.
Maria Ann Smith (Granny Smith) and her eldest son Thomas, c1863-68, Mitchell Library, SLNSW a3055001 / PXB 275, 1
The City History program is also presenting talks and exhibitions on Sydney's fruit barrows and nut stalls; Sydney's markets; Coffee Palaces and the temperance movement; and the history of the food manufacturing industry in South Sydney. The exhibitions run throughout the week, so there's plenty of time to get along and see them.
Go to the History Week website for the full program, and find a banquet of historical proportions, with hundreds of events throughout the Sydney area. You can search by event type, or area, so there's no excuse for missing out.
Whatever you choose, don't forget to have lunch!
Society of Artists' Selection Committee, Sydney, 1907, (l to r) Julian Ashton, Mrs Norman Lindsay, Harry Weston, Will Dyson, Norman Lindsay, young Souter, Sidney Long & D.H. Souter, photo by Henry King, from the Mitchell Library, SLNSW SPG / 117
The Sydney Morning Herald, or its columnist Peter FitzSimons, has recently been fascinated by the story of Nellie Bishop, a Sydney woman who tried to jump off the cliff at the Gap in 1923, but was miraculously saved by a huge wave and two fishermen. Nellie lived a long and happy life after that, and FitsSimons has suggested that her example should be commemorated with a plaque to discourage would-be suicides at the Gap. The Black Dog Institute, a foundation that researches, raises funds and provides expertise in issues of depression, has reacted with caution, saying that any such plaque should be carefully worded.
South Head and lighthouse, Port Jackson, N. S. Wales, with the approach of a southerly squall c1825 by August Earle, from the National Library of Australia nla.pic-an2818274
But the Gap is far more than just suicides, as our article by Robin Derricourt indicates. A spectacular setting, the Gap has been a destination for tourists since the beginning of European settlement. A tramline, hotels and restaurants, and other tourist attractions have been built in the park at different times, to cater to the visitors seeking the sublime view.
South Head, which the Gap is a part of, was home and ritual space to Aboriginal people, who made engravings of people, animals and fish along the cliffs, the earliest Aboriginal art seen by Europeans. Soon we will be publishing an article by Keith Vincent Smith detailing the Aboriginal campsites in this part of Sydney, where Aboriginal people continued to live, well into the nineteenth century. Bungaree's sons Toúbi (or Toby) and Bowen were among the residents at Camp Cove.
For the Europeans, South Head was the entrance to the harbour, and became a lookout and signal station. Here the lookouts were stationed, at first desperately scanning the horizon for ships bringing supplies to the hungry colony.
Vue du phare du Port Jackson, Nouvelle Galles du Sud, 1830, by Jean Baptiste Arnout, Pl. no. 26 of: 'Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabe, Atlas historique' by Durmont d'Urville, from the National Library of Australia nla.pic-an8134734
The Macquarie lighthouse was built in 1816 on South Head, and augmented with the Hornby lighthouse on the very end of the point in 1858, after the disastrous wreck of the Dunbar in 1857. In wicked weather, the ship had passed the Macquarie light, and turned before it reached the entrance to the harbour. It was smashed on the rocks at the Gap, with the loss of all but one on board. The death toll of 121 is still Sydney's worst maritime disaster.
Wreck of Dunbar, South Head, painted c1862-83, from the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW a939035 / PXA 1983, f.34
South Head has also been an important part of Sydney's defences, with fortification from the 1840s, and artillery in place by the 1870s, as detailed by Dean Boyce in his essay for the Dictionary. HMAS Watson, a Royal Australian Navy training facility, is still there. Much of the rest of South Head is now part of the Sydney Harbour National Park.
South Head to Laings Point 2009, Courtesy of Airview www.airviewonline.com.au, ref: 0903-1223-94
Cambodian New Year, Khmer Temple, Canley Vale April 2010, photo by kind permission of James White
Sydney has a small but cohesive Cambodian community, centred in Fairfield City local government area. Ashley Carruthers and Sarithya Tuy wrote about them for the Dictionary of Sydney in 2008, and more than 1200 people have seen the article since it was published in November 2009.
Our article has been used as one of the sources for Leaving Cambodia, an exciting new online exhibition at the NSW Migration Heritage Centre website, which shows six survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime telling their stories on video, showing their keepsakes and recounting their memories of arriving in Sydney and making a new life here.
Click over and listen to these inspiring and emotional stories.
Millers Point is currently referred to in more than 20 entries on the Dictionary as well as Shirley Fitzgerald's fascinating entry about the area's history, so we were excited to hear about Unguarded Moments, one of the projects which the City of Sydney's Art & About team is working on for this year's festival.
With Killanoodle Design, they'll be creating site-specific portraits of the changing faces of Millers Point which will be screened in different locations around Millers Point and the wharves of Walsh Bay between 23 September and 23 October. An accompanying blog will also tell the stories of people in the Millers Point community from past and present.
As well as fantastic material from collections like the City of Sydney Archives, the State Library of NSW, State Records and the Powerhouse among others, the project will also incorporate the personal memories and memorabilia of the Millers Point community. On Saturday the 20th August, the project organisers will be at Abraham Mott Hall at 17 Argyle Place, Millers Point, between 11 am and 3 pm, so if you, or somebody you know, has stories about Millers Point (or photos or even film), they'd love it if you came by to chat about the project.
You can also contact them via their website http://unguardedmoments.com.au/ and have a look at some of the material they've already found.
Can't wait to see it!
Sometimes it's hard to convey the excitement we all feel about working on this project, with its huge potential. So we asked the clever people at Black Jelly Films, who made us this film.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcUJ8rgYpTc]
And we were very thrilled. What do you think?
South Head and lighthouse, Port Jackson, N. S. Wales, with the approach of a southerly squall c1825 by August Earle, from the National Library of Australia nla.pic-an2818274
Vue du phare du Port Jackson, Nouvelle Galles du Sud, 1830, by Jean Baptiste Arnout, Pl. no. 26 of: 'Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabe, Atlas historique' by Durmont d'Urville, from the National Library of Australia nla.pic-an8134734
Wreck of Dunbar, South Head, painted c1862-83, from the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW a939035 / PXA 1983, f.34
South Head to Laings Point 2009, Courtesy of Airview www.airviewonline.com.au, ref: 0903-1223-94
