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The Dictionary of Sydney
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Playbill from the Theatre, 30 July 1796

Playbill from the Theatre, 30 July 1796

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National Library of Australia

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National Library of Australia

Advertising

Sydney is Australia's advertising capital and the relationship between the city and the advertising industry stretches back to the earliest years of European settlement. Advertising helped propel commercial activity in Sydney and the advertising industry has helped shape Sydney, illuminating the city's skyline and streetscape, and influencing the lives of all Sydneysiders. Moreover, advertising has promoted the city itself as a must-see destination for tourists or a backdrop for the latest blockbuster film.

Culture and customs

Sydney's pre-industrial culture was comprehensive and public, and most European inhabitants were players, performers or spectators. After 1850, distinct but overlapping cultures emerged, imported and adapted from Europe and America. New forms of cultural transmission after World War I enabled the elaboration of new cultures based on ethnicity, age and gender, which have combined to produce Sydney's cultural diversity.

Theatre

European theatre in Sydney began before the first Fleet made landfall, with a convict play on board the Scarborough. While theatre was always popular, a commercial theatre scene did not emerge until the 1830s, and theatrical fortunes rose and fell with the city's prosperity.

Sydney's lost theatres

Theatres operated on more than two dozen sites in Sydney in the period 1796 to the 1930s. Only two of these sites still function as commercial theatres today, indicating a significant loss of the city's cultural memory.

Advertising

Theatre