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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Subjects
Culture and Customs
Eating and Drinking

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Eating and Drinking

Subject

Coffee

Oranges

Phillip’s Table: Food in the early Sydney settlement

Sydney rock oysters

The Newcastle Hotel

Transcript: Mr John Costa recalls his family feeding American Italian soldiers on their Liverpool farm during World War II

Transcript: Mrs Constance Jewell remembers economising with meals during the Depression

A Botany Bay barfly

A Day's Picnic on Clark Island

Saccostrea glomerata (Sydney rock oyster )

Carousel Club

Intoxicating Drink Inquiry Commission

Apium prostratum (sea parsley)

50-50 Club

Booker T Washington Club

Brookvale Union Brewery

Burt's Milk Bar

Carlton and United Brewing Company

Chequers nightclub

Diamond Horseshoe Club

Gruppo Campari

Jewel Box

Kit Kat Club

Livio's Striparama

Local Option League

Maxine Night Club

Peters Ice Cream

Pink Panther Club

Pink Pussycat Club

Portuguese Deli

Resch's Ltd

Roosevelt Club

Ruby Red's

Staccato Club

The Annexe

The Hermitage

Tooheys Pty Ltd

Tooth and Co Ltd

Venus Room

Ye Olde Crusty Cellar

Buring, Hermann Paul Leopold

Despas, Antonio

Dunsdon, Thomas

Fulton, Margaret

Peters, Frederick Augustus Bolles

Polese, Giuseppe (Beppi)

Renault, Jeanne

Resch, Edmund

Underwood, James

Vincenc, Cyril

Marble Bar

Spanish Quarter

Sydney Macaroni Manufactory

Macquarie Place Drinking Fountain

Bar of the Newcastle Hotel, George Street, 2 January 1957

'Some ground having been prepared...', in David Collins' 'An account of the English colony in New South Wales...' 1798-1802

'The Hill', Sydney Cricket Ground 1982

A day's picnic on Clark Island 1870

A number of us gave lunch to Miss Walker at "The Hut" at Parsley Bay today, Thursday 22 September 1910

ANZAC Day lunch for returned soldiers, Sydney Town Hall 25 April 1916

Advertisement for W Blyth, Cook, Pastry Cook and Wholesale & Retail Confectioner 1847

Afternoon-tea time at the Electrical Association for Women's rooms, Violet McKenzie at piano c1936

At the soup kitchen 1885

Austral Club public bar c1925-55

Bar of the Newcastle Hotel, George Street, 2 January 1957

Barmaids serving customers in the Newcastle Hotel 1968

Buffet car on the Sydney to Melbourne train 1980

Carmen photographed for Drag Queen & Transgender Artists 'Safe Drinking' campaign poster 1998

Chinese cook in kitchen of Shanghai Cafe, 65 Campbell Street in Surry Hills, September 1941

Coffee arabica 1787

Communion breakfast, Roman Catholic Church, Surry Hills, c1945-46

Cooking demonstration at the Royal Easter Show March 1940

Darug women Erin Wilkins and Leanne Watson examine one of the wooden guni, yam sticks, held in the collection of Hawkesbury Regional Museum at Windsor

Drinking fountain near Fort St School 1924

Drinks party, Kings Cross 1970-71

Eating oysters from the rocks on Clark Island 1870

Entrance to Tooth & Co. Kent Brewery, Broadway 1930s

Farewell dinner for visiting boxer Jack Johnson (centre back) held by the Coloured Progressive Association, Sydney 1907

Feast Day at Liverpool Asylum 24 July 1886

Five stages of inebriation - stage 5, c1863-1868

Grocery store on the corner of Riley and Fitzroy Streets during bread price war in the Depression, Surry Hills 21 August 1934

Hydro-Majestic staff ball c1910

Imperial Airways inflight menu for the RMA Coorong flying between Brisbane and Sydney 12 July 1938

Italian delicatessen in Sydney, February 1958

Italian migrant John Battista and family members working in his pizza business Kensington 1966

Italian waiters and staff, Mamma Maria Bar 1971

Jim Buckley's Newcastle Hotel on George Street, Sydney 1972

Liquor Referendum sign and advertisements, Surry Hills June 1916

Man prising oysters off rocks in the river bed in Ku-ring-ai Chase National Park 1893-1896

Meal service, Flying Boat between Auckland and Sydney, 1950s

Men drinking in a hotel, 1930s

Miles Franklin's waratah cup and saucer c1923

Mothercraft: The Ingredients of Humanised Milk 1931

Mrs Marsall's picnic party at Randwick races, 1930s

Ordering a drink at the Marble Bar 20 December 1937

Oyster farmers David Corstorphine of Tuncurry, aged 78 and Fred Selmon of Georges River, aged 70, enjoy oysters at Dolls Point

Page from Miles Franklin's Waratah Book with signatures of artists Pixie O'Harris and Marie McNiven 1950-1951

Palato: the drink that pleases the palate: an orange drink manufactured exclusively by Schweppes Ltd 1914-1921

Patron in the Marble Bar looking at painting 'Noon' by Julian Ashton 20 December 1937

Patrons of the Northern Club Hotel toast introduction of 10 pm closing, 1 February 1955

Picnic at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, Sydney c1855

Picnic given by Messrs Farmer, Painter and Pope to their employees at Pennant Hills 17 March 1866

Picnic in Middle Harbour 10 December 1902

Picnicking, Taylor Bay 1886

Pikelets being made at the Electrical Association, 1936

Pub sign advertising 'Free Toohey's New' 2000

Restrictions on spectators for the first race meet at Hyde Park Racecourse in October 1810

Saton [sic] rebuking sin c1862-1863

Scene from filming of 'A Nation is Built', Mount York November 1937

Society of Artists' Selection Committee 1907

Spiffliwinks, who has just received an appointment upon a Scientific Journal, takes lodgings in a street in Darlinghurst, anxious to secure quiet and seclusion from the turmoil of the clty 1882

Spirits in Bond, c1844-1866

St Patrick's Day, a public dinner at Exchange Hotel, Sydney 1854

Starting for the Christmas picnic, December 1872

Sydney soup kitchen 1883

The Marble Bar in Adams Hotel, August 1952

The Marble Bar in Adams Hotel, August 1952

The Newcastle Hotel on George Street 1972

The Sydney Milky Way; or Infant Poison 1875

The bar of the Newcastle Hotel on George Street 1972

The dining hall, Randwick Asylum 1890

Unidentified medical personnel on board hospital ship TSS Oranje II, June 1941

United States R & R men from Vietnam meet Aussie girls at the Whisky-A-Go-Go, 9 November 1967

View upon the Nepean River, at the Cow Pastures New South Wales 1824-1825

William Bowra, Kent Brewery cellar foreman c1925

Ye Olde Crusty Wine Cellar, 255 George Street, Sydney December 1942

moon cake, Cabramatta 2009

Excerpt of oral history interview with Jane Lanyon about life as a child in the inner city during the Depression, by historian Sue Rosen at Redfern, 19 November 1994

Mr John Costa recalls his family feeding American Italian soldiers on their Liverpool farm during World War II, interviewed in 1986

Mrs Constance Jewell remembers economising with meals during the Depression, interviewed in 1986

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Eating and Drinking

Coffee

Coffee grew in the garden at the first Government House but Sydney remained predominantly a tea-drinking colony. Despite the efforts of temperance campaigners to replace alcohol with coffee, coffee drinking remained a minority pleasure until after World War II, when coffee-loving migrants arrived in great numbers.

Oranges

Oranges arrived in Sydney with the First Fleet and have been grown in Sydney ever since.

Phillip’s Table: Food in the early Sydney settlement

In the days of the early settlement, the governor's table was a place for administration, negotiation, revelation and celebration. What can we discover about this period in our history from a gastronomic perspective, and what does Phillip's table reveal about life at Government House?

Sydney rock oysters

Gathered by Aboriginal people for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived, Sydney oysters became a farmed product in the 1870s and remain a popular seafood.

The Newcastle Hotel

As a building, the Newcastle was a typical two storey Australian pub. It became something of an arty and intellectual hotel sometime in the early twentieth century when academics, writers, journalists, bohemians, free thinkers and students gathered in the late afternoon and drank

Transcript: Mr John Costa recalls his family feeding American Italian soldiers on their Liverpool farm during World War II

Mr John Costa was born in 1928 and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960' project. Here he recalls his family feeding Italian American soldiers on their farm during World War II.

Transcript: Mrs Constance Jewell remembers economising with meals during the Depression

Mrs Constance Jewell was born in 1896 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' She moved with her husband to Hammondville, a housing settlement for families in difficulty during the depression. She recalls economising with meals during that time.

A Botany Bay barfly

Saying which refers to early Sydney's drinking habits.

full record »

A Day's Picnic on Clark Island

full record »

Oil painting depicting a day on the island in 1870, donated to the Mitchell Library in 1930.

Saccostrea glomerata (Sydney rock oyster )

full record »

Sydney's famous native rock oyster that are endemic to the east coast of Australia. They inhabit sheltered estuaries and bays, and have a smooth, thick shell.

Carousel Club

Nightclub in Kings Cross on the corner of Darlinghurst Road and Roslyn Street that was owned by Abe Saffron & Sammy Lee who had built the venue to house the revue 'Les Girls'.

full record »

Intoxicating Drink Inquiry Commission

Commission set up to inquire into the causes of the excessive use of intoxicating drink, the deterioration it had produced in public morality and the extent to which legislation had been effective or otherwise in repressing the vice of drunkenness and regulating the traffic in liquor throughout NSW.

full record »

Apium prostratum (sea parsley)

full record »

Native edible plant, commonly known as sea parsley or sea celery, found along Sydney's coastlines.

50-50 Club

Sydney's best known illegal casino, sly-grog nightclub and cocaine den during the 1930s.

full record »

Booker T Washington Club

Nightclub in Surry Hills established by the American Red Cross during World War II, exclusively open to those of African or Aboriginal cultural background.

full record »

Brookvale Union Brewery

Trade union-backed brewery that produced union pilsener and honey stout for sale to trade union clubs, but was unable to compete with market domination of Toohey's and Tooth's.

full record »

Burt's Milk Bar

Milk bar in Kings Cross which initially sold non-alcoholic beverages including milkshakes before it became a gathering place for young people from the 1940s featuring seating, snack food and two juke boxes. From the late 1940s it played progressive jazz music, a genre which, according to one frequent patron, Martin Vaughan, was played no where else in Sydney.

full record »

Carlton and United Brewing Company

Brewing company formed by the merger of Carlton, Fosters, Victoria, Shamrock, Castlemaine and McCracken Breweries which was the last operator of the Tooth's Brewery in Chippendale.

full record »

Chequers nightclub

Nightclub established by Chinese entrepreneurs Denis and Keith Wong which attracted a colourful and often notorious clientele to its original basement location in The Strand Arcade in the 1950s. It then moved to 79 Goulburn Street.

full record »

Diamond Horseshoe Club

Club located in Oxford Street,Woollahra, where Lea Sonia would often appear in drag.

full record »

Gruppo Campari

Global wine and spirit manufacturer.

full record »

Jewel Box

Kings Cross nightclub which featured 'drag' acts.

full record »

Kit Kat Club

Nightclub in Kings Cross.

full record »

Livio's Striparama

Strip show in Darlinghurst Road during the 1960s.

full record »

Local Option League

Temperance lobby group which sought to give voters in each electorate the right to prohibit the sale of liquor.

full record »

Maxine Night Club

Night club in Oxford Street Woollahra

full record »

Peters Ice Cream

First Australian ice cream brand, developed by American-born Frederick Augustus Bolles Peters.

full record »

Pink Panther Club

full record »

Nightclub at 41 Darlinghurst Road.

Pink Pussycat Club

Strip club in Darlinghurst Road.

full record »

Portuguese Deli

Delicatessen which offered a range of 'exotic' and unusual fare in the 1960s to tempt the conservative Sydney palate.

full record »

Resch's Ltd

Brewing company that built the Waverley brewery in Redfern and claimed to be the only company in New South Wales making beer without additives, in the German style.

full record »

Roosevelt Club

Nightclub at 42 Orwell Street Potts Point which became infamous during the era of strict licensing laws in the 1940s.

full record »

Ruby Red's

Lesbian bar and dance venue on Crown Street in the 1970s and 80s.

full record »

Staccato Club

First strip club in Australia.

full record »

The Annexe

Nightclub in Kings Cross which featured 'drag' acts.

full record »

The Hermitage

L'Hermitage was a French restaurant opened by French migrants Henry and Jeanne Renault in the former Paling's building on Ash Street in July 1942. Jeanne worked 'front-of-house' while Henry worked as their chef until he established his wine import business.

The Hermitage served dishes such as venison in wine and steak tartare which shocked some restaurant-goers. Jeanne said one patron ‘could not understand us serving raw steak. It was fit only for dogs.’

The restaurant contained a copy of Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' near its entrance and became a popular dining spot for many well known individuals including the former Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Robert Gordon Menzies. On its closing in 1957, the Sydney Morning Herald interviewed Jeanne Renault:

Madame smiled her half-smile...But when I asked her: "Are you sad, Madame?" she answered: "Yes, I feel sad. Would not you?"

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Tooheys Pty Ltd

Brewing company established by Irish brothers John Thomas and James Matthew Toohey in the 1860s which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Lion Nathan.

full record »

Tooth and Co Ltd

Brewing company founded in 1835, and incorporated in 1888, which became a large, successful and diversified company for most of the twentieth century.

full record »

Venus Room

Nightclub in Orwell Street Kings Cross.

full record »

Ye Olde Crusty Cellar

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Wine cellar opened by the winemaker and viticulturist, Leo Buring, in the basement of the former Primrose Building at 255A George Street in August 1931. The premises were described as having 'the head of Bacchus...to guide guests in and out' with 'shaded lights' and a feeling of 'cloistered gloom'. According to a publication produced by Buring, titled 'Amusings of the Ye Olde Crusty', it notes:

In an earlier and out-of-print edition of the "A-Musings,” Ye Olde Crusty was described as a Wine Cellar...It is more than such words could convey. It is the treasure house of the Grape, presided over by the Master Vigneron, Mr. Leo Buring.

The cellar's special vintages attracted crowds and the venue also played host to many distinguished guests. In May 1933, officers of the German Navy light cruiser DKM Köln visited the cellar.

Buring, Hermann Paul Leopold

Winemaker and viticulturist who established Leo Buring Pty Ltd, a winery at Emu Plains called Leonay and a wine cellar on George Street called Ye Olde Crusty Cellar. In 2018, the Leo Buring label was owned by Treasury Wine Estates.

full record »

Despas, Antonio

Italian-born businessman.

full record »

Dunsdon, Thomas

Confectioner, pastry chef,caterer and importer who arrived in Sydney when he was 27 with his wife, Sarah. His sisters joined them later. He both used and sold ice when it first appeared in Sydney in 1839.

full record »

Fulton, Margaret

Cookbook writer and journalist who introduced the Australian general public to a wide array of cuisines and cooking techniques. Her first book, the Margaret Fulton Cookbook was published in 1968 and was still in print in 2019. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1983 and in 1998 was named as one of the National Trust's National Living Treasures.

full record »

Peters, Frederick Augustus Bolles

American-born pharmaceuticals salesman who emigrated to Sydney and began commercially producing ice-cream, the first person in Australia to do so, founding the Peters brand.

full record »

Polese, Giuseppe (Beppi)

Italian-born chef and businessman who opened famous restaurant Beppi's in 1956 and is considered the patriarch of Italian restaurants in Sydney.

full record »

Renault, Jeanne

French restaurateur who established The Hermitage (L'Hermitage) restaurant in the former Paling's building in Ash Street with her husband, Henry. Jeanne later opened another restaurant of the same name on West Esplanade, Manly.

Jeanne and Henry were instrumental in establishing the Wine and Food Society of NSW. Members of the society asked the Renaults to set up a ‘base’ for their society, so their restaurant became the society's home. While Jeanne worked 'front of house' at The Hermitage, Henry was their chef until he established Renault and Company, a wine importing business, in 1947.

full record »

Resch, Edmund

full record »

Businessman and brewer who established Resch's Ltd, a successful brewery that captured much of the Sydney market in the early twentieth century.

Underwood, James

Former convict who diversified from shipbuilding to also become a successful merchant, sealer and distiller.

full record »

Vincenc, Cyril

Delicatessen owner who specialises in European foods and has done much to improve the culinary scene in Sydney.

full record »

Marble Bar

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Lavish Victorian bar built in George Adams' Tattersall's Hotel when it was renovated in 1891. The bar was dismantled and reassembled when the hotel was demolished in the late 1960s and reassembled in 1973 in the new Hilton Hotel that was built in its place. Ornately designed to Adams' specifications by Henry Parkes' son, architect Varney Parkes, the bar features sheets of plate glass mirrors, marble walls and pilasters, mosaic floors, cedar timbers, stained glass windows and domed roof, and a series of paintings by Julian Ashton.

Spanish Quarter

Area around Liverpool Street which was a hub for the Spanish community in Sydney after the establishment of the Spanish Club there in 1962.

full record »

Sydney Macaroni Manufactory

Sydney's first pasta factory established at 73 Stanley Street East Sydney which served to anchor the growing Italian population of the area.

full record »

Macquarie Place Drinking Fountain

Cast iron canopy fountain imported from Glasgow in 1870, one of eight, to provide public amenity when many houses were built without water connections. It was moved into Macquarie Place in the 1970s. The canopy carries the City's coat of arms, an instructive Bible inscription, and the less charitable demand 'Keep The Pavement Dry!'. The actual drinking fountain is missing.

full record »

Bar of the Newcastle Hotel, George Street, 2 January 1957

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ON 388/Box 043/Item 059]

(Mitchell Library) (Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd.)

'Some ground having been prepared...', in David Collins' 'An account of the English colony in New South Wales...' 1798-1802

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a1341091 / Q79/60 (vol.1), p6]

( 'An account of the English colony in New South Wales: with remarks on the dispositions, customs, manners, &c. of the native inhabitants of that country. To which are added, some particulars of New Zealand...' ; London, 1798-1802) (Dixson Library))

'The Hill', Sydney Cricket Ground 1982

full record »

By

©

Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

A day's picnic on Clark Island 1870

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a3449002 / ML 3]

(Mitchell Library)

A number of us gave lunch to Miss Walker at "The Hut" at Parsley Bay today, Thursday 22 September 1910

full record »

By

Arthur Wigram Allen

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ PX*D 593, Thursday 22 September 1910]

(Album 55: Photographs of the Allen family, 13 September 1910 - 27 November 1910)

ANZAC Day lunch for returned soldiers, Sydney Town Hall 25 April 1916

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[NRS4481_ST5793P]

Advertisement for W Blyth, Cook, Pastry Cook and Wholesale & Retail Confectioner 1847

full record »

By

John Carmichael

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

[RARELT 058.944 L95]

(from 'Low's Directory of the city and district of Sydney for MDCCCXLVII', by Francis Low, Sydney 1847 , opp p 19)

Afternoon-tea time at the Electrical Association for Women's rooms, Violet McKenzie at piano c1936

full record »

Reproduced courtesy of the

Ex-Wrans Association NSW

At the soup kitchen 1885

full record »

By

Nelson P Whitelocke

Contributed By

National Gallery of Australia

[Accession No: NGA 93.2024.16]

(from 'A walk in Sydney streets on the shady side' by Nelson P. Whitelocke. Sydney: Nelson P. Whitelocke, 1885, plate 14)

Austral Club public bar c1925-55

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a231018 / PXE 789 (v.22), 34]

Bar of the Newcastle Hotel, George Street, 2 January 1957

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ON 388/Box 043/Item 059]

(Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd) (Mitchell Library)

Barmaids serving customers in the Newcastle Hotel 1968

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[A1500, K19075]

Buffet car on the Sydney to Melbourne train 1980

full record »

By

©

Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

Carmen photographed for Drag Queen & Transgender Artists 'Safe Drinking' campaign poster 1998

full record »

By

Contributed By

City of Sydney Archives

[066\066416]

(C. Moore Hardy Collection: 66416)

Chinese cook in kitchen of Shanghai Cafe, 65 Campbell Street in Surry Hills, September 1941

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ON 388/Box 028/Item 002]

(Mitchell Library, Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd)

Coffee arabica 1787

full record »

Contributed By

Biodiversity Heritage Library

[plantarumindigen1177unse_0125 (1)]

(Plantarum indigenarum et exoticarum icones ad vivum coloratae, oder, Sammlung nach der Natur gemalter Abbildungen inn- und ausländlischer Pflanzen, für Liebhaber und Beflissene der Botanik (1778) Jarhg. 1, Contributed by Harvard University Botany Libraries)

Communion breakfast, Roman Catholic Church, Surry Hills, c1945-46

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

Cooking demonstration at the Royal Easter Show March 1940

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a4423001 / ON 204 Box 87/94]

(Mitchell Library)

Darug women Erin Wilkins and Leanne Watson examine one of the wooden guni, yam sticks, held in the collection of Hawkesbury Regional ...

full record »

By

Contributed By

Drinking fountain near Fort St School 1924

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a6898019 / DL PX 144/vol. 4, 19]

(Dixson Library)

Drinks party, Kings Cross 1970-71

full record »

By

©

Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

Eating oysters from the rocks on Clark Island 1870

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a3449002 / ML 3]

(Detail from 'A day's picnic on Clark Island 1870') (Mitchell Library)

Entrance to Tooth & Co. Kent Brewery, Broadway 1930s

full record »

Contributed By

City of Sydney Archives

(SRC3372. Originally part of CRS 44/256)

Farewell dinner for visiting boxer Jack Johnson (centre back) held by the Coloured Progressive Association, Sydney 1907

full record »

Contributed By

Private collection

(Courtesy of John Maynard)

Feast Day at Liverpool Asylum 24 July 1886

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Illustrated Sydney News, 14 August 1886, p16)

Five stages of inebriation - stage 5, c1863-1868

full record »

By

Charles Percy Pickering

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a1821005 / PXB 503, 4]

(Mitchell Library)

Grocery store on the corner of Riley and Fitzroy Streets during bread price war in the Depression, Surry Hills 21 August 1934

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[hood_04530 / Home and Away 4530]

(Mitchell Library)

Hydro-Majestic staff ball c1910

full record »

Contributed By

Blue Mountains City Library

[Local Studies Collection PF830]

(Mark Foy, owner of the hotel, stands center back, wearing his wife's hat and dress with wig. Standing next to Foy is his wife, Elizabeth Dominica.)

Imperial Airways inflight menu for the RMA Coorong flying between Brisbane and Sydney 12 July 1938

full record »

Contributed By

Qantas Heritage Collection

[Image 5, Food and Wine]

Italian delicatessen in Sydney, February 1958

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[d7_04723 / Australian Photographic Agency 04723]

(Mitchell Library)

Italian migrant John Battista and family members working in his pizza business Kensington 1966

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[A12111, 1/1966/16/21]

Italian waiters and staff, Mamma Maria Bar 1971

full record »

By

©

Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

Jim Buckley's Newcastle Hotel on George Street, Sydney 1972

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[A6135, K18/5/72/24]

Liquor Referendum sign and advertisements, Surry Hills June 1916

full record »

Contributed By

City of Sydney Archives

[NSCA CRS 51/1831]

Man prising oysters off rocks in the river bed in Ku-ring-ai Chase National Park 1893-1896

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(from Album of photographs of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and Wolstenholme family, 1893-1896 / probably compiled by Harry Wolstenholme) (Mitchell Library)

Meal service, Flying Boat between Auckland and Sydney, 1950s

full record »

Contributed By

Qantas Heritage Collection

[Image 1, Food and Wine]

Men drinking in a hotel, 1930s

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a368013 / PXE 789 (v38), 49]

(Mitchell Library)

Miles Franklin's waratah cup and saucer c1923

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[SAFE/R 230 (a-b)]

(Mitchell Library)

Mothercraft: The Ingredients of Humanised Milk 1931

full record »

By

Sister Mary Adele Jacob

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article111601216 via Trove]

(The Countrywoman, supplement to The Land, 13 February 1931, p3)

Mrs Marsall's picnic party at Randwick races, 1930s

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[hood_03026 / Home and Away 3026]

(Mitchell Library)

Ordering a drink at the Marble Bar 20 December 1937

full record »

By

Ivan Wilfrid Ive

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ON 388/Box 030/Item 085]

(Mitchell Library, courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd)

Oyster farmers David Corstorphine of Tuncurry, aged 78 and Fred Selmon of Georges River, aged 70, enjoy oysters at Dolls Point

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a368001 / PXE 789 (v.38), 1]

Page from Miles Franklin's Waratah Book with signatures of artists Pixie O'Harris and Marie McNiven 1950-1951

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Mitchell Library)

Palato: the drink that pleases the palate: an orange drink manufactured exclusively by Schweppes Ltd 1914-1921

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-vn5057054-v.jpg]

Patron in the Marble Bar looking at painting 'Noon' by Julian Ashton 20 December 1937

full record »

By

Ivan Wilfrid Ive

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ON 388/Box 030/Item 085]

(Mitchell Library, Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd)

Patrons of the Northern Club Hotel toast introduction of 10 pm closing, 1 February 1955

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[d7_43404 / Australian Photographic Agency 43404]

(Mitchell Library)

Picnic at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, Sydney c1855

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a1528104 / DG 265]

Picnic given by Messrs Farmer, Painter and Pope to their employees at Pennant Hills 17 March 1866

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.news-article63512916]

(Illustrated Sydney News, 16 April 1866 p13)

Picnic in Middle Harbour 10 December 1902

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-vn3065524]

Picnicking, Taylor Bay 1886

full record »

By

Contributed By

[Page 2b]

(from the album 'Works by Members of the Amateur Photographic Society of N.S.W presented by the Society to His Excellency Lord Carrington August 1886')

Pikelets being made at the Electrical Association, 1936

full record »

Contributed By

Private collection

(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)

Pub sign advertising 'Free Toohey's New' 2000

full record »

By

Wendy McDougall

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an23209686]

Restrictions on spectators for the first race meet at Hyde Park Racecourse in October 1810

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser , 13 October 1810, p1 via Trove]

Saton [sic] rebuking sin c1862-1863

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By

Samuel Thomas Gill

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a939031 / PXA 1983, f.30]

Scene from filming of 'A Nation is Built', Mount York November 1937

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From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[hood_30229 / Home and Away - 30229]

(Mitchell Library)

Society of Artists' Selection Committee 1907

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By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(l to r) Julian Ashton, Mrs Norman Lindsay, Harry Weston, Will Dyson, Norman Lindsay, young Souter, Sydney Long, DH Souter) (Mitchell Library)

Spiffliwinks, who has just received an appointment upon a Scientific Journal, takes lodgings in a street in Darlinghurst, anxious ...

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By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Sydney Punch, 4 March 1882, p82 via Trove]

Spirits in Bond, c1844-1866

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By

Samuel Thomas Gill

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a1568059 / PX*D 383, 49]

St Patrick's Day, a public dinner at Exchange Hotel, Sydney 1854

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By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an8021204]

Starting for the Christmas picnic, December 1872

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Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

[Acc No: IAN23/12/65/9]

(Illustrated Sydney News, 21 December 1871 p4)

Sydney soup kitchen 1883

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Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

[A/S04/06/83/96]

(The Australasian sketcher with pen and pencil, 4 June 1883 p 96)

The Marble Bar in Adams Hotel, August 1952

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By

Reginald Horner

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ON 388/Box 037/Item 053]

(Mitchell Library, Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd )

The Marble Bar in Adams Hotel, August 1952

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By

Reginald Horner

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ON 388/Box 037/Item 053]

(Mitchell Library, Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd )

The Newcastle Hotel on George Street 1972

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Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[A6135, K18/5/72/26]

The Sydney Milky Way; or Infant Poison 1875

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Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Sydney Punch, 14 May 1875, p1 via Trove]

The bar of the Newcastle Hotel on George Street 1972

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Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[A6135, K3/2/72/1]

The dining hall, Randwick Asylum 1890

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From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Illustrated Sydney News, 17 April 1890, p 17)

Unidentified medical personnel on board hospital ship TSS Oranje II, June 1941

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By

Contributed By

Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons

[Object no. 00021315]

(Samuel J. Hood Studio Collection)

United States R & R men from Vietnam meet Aussie girls at the Whisky-A-Go-Go, 9 November 1967

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From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[ON 388/Box 110/Item 045]

(Mitchell Library)

View upon the Nepean River, at the Cow Pastures New South Wales 1824-1825

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By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a2799093 / DSM/Z/C 989, 93]

(from Views in Australia, or, New South Wales & Van Diemen's Land delineated : in fifty views with descriptive letter press ... / by J. Lycett. pub London, J. Souter, 1824-25) (Mitchell Library)

William Bowra, Kent Brewery cellar foreman c1925

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Contributed By

Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University Archives

(Tooth & Company Ltd)

Ye Olde Crusty Wine Cellar, 255 George Street, Sydney December 1942

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From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[Home and Away 24160]

(Mitchell Library)

moon cake, Cabramatta 2009

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By

© www.52suburbs.com.au

Excerpt of oral history interview with Jane Lanyon about life as a child in the inner city during the Depression, by historian Sue ...

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Jane Lanyon was born in 1920 in Chippendale and moved to nearby Redfern when she was six. In her interview she recalls many facets of her childhood: local industry, poverty, midnight ‘flits’ to avoid the landlord, and many other survival strategies. In the excerpt below she recalls the ingenuity employed by local children to gather free food during the Depression.

TRANSCRIPT:
Interviewer: As a kid were you expected to contribute to the family in any way? You mentioned before going around and scrounging a few things.

Jane: Yes.

Interviewer: Was that sort of an expected thing or was that just what you did?

Jane: No, I used to do that with the other kids from the school – you know how kids talk at school – but of a Saturday my father and my sister and I used to wheel a pram down to Paddy’s Markets and come four o'clock in the afternoon the markets are finished. The vegetable people used to wipe their stalls of the vegetables and there used to be big heaps of vegetables that would have went to the tip. So we used to go through there and put in the pram what was eatable and what was good and one time a chap took pity on us and gave us a watermelon and we got as far as the old Empire Theatre in Quay Street and my father dropped the watermelon and, of course, rather than waste it we all sat on the steps of the Empire picture show and with our hands we scooped the watermelon out and ate it. So we weren’t going to waste a darned good watermelon because my father was careless.

But that’s what we used to do of a Saturday, go down there, and we used to get, as I say, a pram, an old pram filled with groceries or speck [marked] fruit and we used to bring it home sit at the table, cut the specks out and make fruit salad out of it. Well, that was something for nothing and just something we used to do.

By

Courtesy:

City of Sydney Council

[Sydney Oral Histories: Jane Lanyon]

(This interview is part of the City of Sydney's oral history project: Life in c20th South Sydney)

...

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Mr John Costa was born in 1928 and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960' project. Here he recalls his mother feeding American soldiers on their Italian family farm during World War II.
Transcript

JOHN: My parents were from Italy, from Sicily. My father came out and three years after my mother came out. My people, they came to Chipping Norton, we had a vineyard there and a market garden and I can remember then across the river from our place there was Warwick Farm Racecourse, where quite a few American sailors were in there at the time and they used to come across the river. The river at that time you could walk across it at low tide, it wasnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t very deep, and they used to come around and up to the house, ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“cause a lot of Americans were Italians too, and they used to come over there and have feeds of spaghetti and stuff, Mum used to feed them. I can never forget their faces (we had a couple of cows) they used to like milk shakes, egg flips, and all that sort of thing. They really made us at home - we used to go across with them and they used to give us a few supplies, to keep us going because we had a family, IÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢m from a family of ten, and they were all born around the Liverpool area, all except my sister [who] was born in Pamarea in Italy.

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mr John Costa, from the 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith)

Mrs Constance Jewell remembers economising with meals during the Depression, interviewed in 1986

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Mrs Constance Jewell was born in 1896 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' She moved with her husband to Hammondville, a housing settlement for families in difficulty during the depression. She recalls economising with meals during that time.
Transcript

CONSTANCE: In the dole days you had to be so careful because you had to stretch things. Three penneth of neck o' mutton and three penneth of soup vegetables and a handful of barley made a good dinner. The woman next door she put her dirt tin out one day and it was full of tins! I said 'What are you doing with all the tins?' She said 'Eat, of course!' I said 'They're twice as dear as what two dinners are the way I cook.' Sometimes you'd put a dumpling in it, sometimes you'd buy a neck of mutton and chop it all up and make a stew and then lift the bones out of it and that type of thing. Or you'd buy bacon bones and make pea soup. We used to make a cake, we couldn't afford eggs or anything like that, but I had one that I didn't have to put eggs in it. It was dripping mixed with sugar and you'd beat that up. And if you had eggs you were lucky. You put that in and a handful of fruit or whatever you had and some flour and a pinch of baking soda to darken it.

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mrs Jewell from the 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith)

Culture and Customs

BBQs

Hotels and Pubs

Restaurants and Cafes

Wine culture

Nightclubs