The Great Excavator, Building magazine, 12 October 1923, p107

This week saw a massive overhaul of Sydney's public transport timetables, and this, along with the ongoing construction works around the city and suburbs have left many of us feeling a bit overwhelmed. Today we thought we'd look at the history of one of Sydney's older modes of public transport.  Did you know the City Circle took almost 100 years to come about? Thanks to the Transport Heritage Grants Program, the Dictionary has recently published a new essay by historian Mark Dunn about the development of Sydney’s underground railway and its complex design and construction.

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The earliest suggestion for the extension of the railway into the city came in 1857 after the first railway opened in 1855. The first Sydney railway terminus was close to where Central Station is now, in what was then known as an outpost of the city called Cleveland Paddocks. Many Royal Commissions and enquiries investigated the issue, but no real plans were pursued until 1906 when the first stage of Central Station was opened. In 1911 the engineer JJC Bradfield proposed plans to the Public Works Committee which included the city loop, as well as lines through the eastern and western suburbs. He ambitiously envisioned the loop could carry between 36,000 and 42,000 passengers per hour. The city loop plans were prioritised over the other lines and excavations commenced in Hyde Park for the railway and its first stations, Museum and St James.

Courtesy State Archives and Records NSW (NRS20460_a123_0017)

The first section between Central and St James was opened in 1926 and the tunnelling between Town Hall and Wynyard was completed by 1931. These stations opened just three weeks before the Sydney Harbour Bridge, on 28 February 1932. Bradfield’s dream for Circular Quay Station was delayed by World War II and the tunnels were used as public air raid shelters at St James, sections of which remain in the disused tunnels. The station was finally opened in 1956, almost 100 years after the first mention of a city railway loop. The stations were originally colour coded so that passengers could work out where they were, and the beautiful 1920s green tiles at St James were part of that system. Original tiles that are still in the disused tunnels at St James are used to replace broken tiles in the current public areas of the station. The development of the City Circle line saw many other changes in the city as big retailers, like David Jones and Mark Foys, started building new stores near the stations. Construction work in the city like these now also needed to take into account the huge tunnels now under the ground. Hyde Park, which had been excavated, was reconstructed along the lines suggested by Norman Weekes in his prize winning plan, and large parts of Darling Harbour had been reclaimed with the excavated soil from the construction of the tunnels. Further reading: City Underground by Mark Dunn   Mark Dunn's essay City Underground on the Dictionary of Sydney was one of five new entries looking at Sydney's railway and transport heritage that were made possible thanks to the Transport Heritage Grants Program in 2016. They were produced in collaboration with the Australian Railway Historical Society and are available online now here.   The Transport Heritage Grants Program is a NSW Government funded program, administered by the Royal Australian Historical Society with the support of Transport Heritage NSW and we would like to acknowledge our gratitude for their support of the Dictionary of Sydney.  

The railway opened before the station buildings themselves were complete, and many people were unimpressed by the temporary buildings. Museum Station under construction c1926, photo by EG Shaw, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (Item 72 : Sydney scenes, 192, f7)

  Nicole Cama is a professional historian, writer and curator, and the Executive Officer of the History Council of NSW.  She appears on 2SER on behalf of the Dictionary of Sydney in a voluntary capacity. Listen to the podcast with Nicole & Nic here, and tune in to 2SER Breakfast with Nic Healey on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:15-8:20am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney. The Dictionary of Sydney has no ongoing operational funding and needs your help. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Dictionary of Sydney today!

'Lesbian Brides' marching group, Mardi Gras 1994 Photograph by C. Moore Hardy, Courtesy City of Sydney Archives (C. Moore Hardy Collection 061352)

It was an historic moment last Wednesday when it was announced that the Australian people had voted overwhelmingly in favour of marriage equality.

The Dictionary of Sydney has a number of articles that chart the history of the gay and lesbian community in Sydney. Leading historians Garry Wotherspoon and Rebecca Jennings have written great books on gay and lesbian Sydney and their essays for the Dictionary provide a wonderful overview, charting the LGBTQI community's subcultures, the scandals - both whispered and wild - and the outings.      

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William Lygon, 7th Earl of Beauchamp, and Governor of New South Wales 1899 Courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a593005 / ON 219/123)

The LGBTQI community has always been a part of every facet of Sydney's society, but for many years their preferences had to be kept much more covert. We've had a gay Governor, in the form of Lord Beauchamp in 1899, while  female gangster Iris Webber got involved in two separate shooting affrays for 'luring away' female companions from the razor gangs to come and live with her in the 1940s. Cases of cross-dressing or trans people have been recorded by the police since the early 1830s. The criminalisation of all these behaviours and people makes it difficult to uncover the history of this community so the historian needs to read between the lines to interpret events as well as understand the nuances of the language of the period, and to use personal papers and oral histories as well as official records. It also means that records of people in the community can be found in collections like State Records NSW and the Police & Justice Museum where records and photographs document those arrested and incarcerated, or worse.

Tom Hurly was a resident of the Parramatta Lunatic Asylum whose life was described in an account of a visit to the asylum reported in the Australian Home Companion and Band of Hope Journal in June 1861. 'We now passed into the female department, which is divided from the men's ward by high walls..... On leaving this room we saw a little dapper man approaching, dressed in neat frock coat and trowsers, and somewhat shabby white hat. A visitor we enquired? "No," replied Mrs. Statham, "that is one of our characters - it is a woman who fancies herself a man, and whom we humor by allowing her to dress according to her ideas."... If her fancy of dressing as a man were denied her, without doubt she would be in a constant state of excitement and violence.' 

Given the heated debates surrounding same sex marriage, it is sobering to realise the precarious nature of many of the rights now accepted by our community. In the lead up to the 40th anniversary of the first Mardi Gras here in Sydney I encourage everyone to read up on Sydney's LGBTQI community and to celebrate this historic decision. Further reading: Dictionary of Sydney Lesbians by Rebecca Jennings Gay men by Garry Wotherspoon Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras by Garry Wotherspoon Drag and cross dressing by Garry Wotherspoon Sydney's rainbow crossings by Megan Hicks Books Gay Sydney: A History by Garry Wotherspoon, NewSouth Books, 2016 Unnamed desire: A Sydney lesbian history by Rebecca Jennings, Monash University Publishing, 2016 Sydney's Pride History Group Pride History is a volunteer community group dedicated to researching, writing about and recording memories of Sydney's LGBTI history. Click here to go to their website. The National Library of Australia is also collecting ephemera relating to the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey. To find out more, visit their site here.           Dr Lisa Murray is the Historian of the City of Sydney and the former chair of the Dictionary of Sydney Trust. She is the author of several books, including Sydney Cemeteries: a field guide. She appears on 2SER on behalf of the Dictionary of Sydney in a voluntary capacity.  

Grantlee Kieza Mrs Kelly: The Astonishing Life of Ned Kelly’s Mother 

HarperCollins Publishers (ABC Books), 2017, 624 pp., ISBN: 9780733331572, h/bk, AUS$39.99 

Bestselling author Grantlee Kieza’s latest work, Mrs Kelly: The Astonishing Life of Ned Kelly’s Mother, is a biography of Ellen Kelly (c1832-1923). Although ostensibly documenting the life of Mrs Ellen Kelly, this book is the latest addition to the corpus of materials on one of Australia’s most controversial criminals: Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly.   There is an obvious tension within this work. The idea of an independent and very feisty woman – one who was prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to support herself and her family – conflicts with the inescapable fact that Mrs Kelly is a woman defined by the men in her immediate circle, even as some of the more difficult experiences of her life see those men absent. One example of the isolation often felt by Ellen Kelly is presented, poignantly, when Kieza describes her situation in 1878: “Ellen begins to make a new home for herself and baby Alice in the cold stone confines of Melbourne Gaol and resolves to cause no trouble, so as to make life for both of them as bearable as she can” (p.274). Meanwhile, her son continues to write a bloody chapter in Australian history. So, the woman presented on the cover – a striking photograph of Ellen Kelly dominates the work’s dust jacket – is at once the central protagonist and a secondary character. Ellen’s image appears confident and forthright but is offered, on the front panel, with a framed portrait of her son behind her. Indeed, in this work Ned Kelly is never far from the reader’s line of vision.   Kieza has fleshed out this biography with copious amounts of creative content. For instance, in telling the tale of Ned Kelly’s last stand, he describes “Ned’s eyes [as] blazing red. His voice booms from inside his helmet with a metallic echo” (p. 407). Similarly, there is a great deal of dialogue that has been generated to drive the action of this story forward. Some readers might find this distracting. They are compensated, however, by some rigorous endnotes that make it easy to differentiate between the historical record and Kieza’s extrapolations.   It’s a hefty effort, coming in at 624 pages, supplemented by 16 pages of glossy photographs that are, today, obligatory for the genres of biography and true crime. There are also pictures throughout the text, supplementing the twin stories of Ellen Kelly and her son Ned.   The history of Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang is complicated by decades of debate resulting from numerous large-scale emotional and intellectual investments made into this, the most famous bushranger narrative, of the colonial era. Venturing into such a contested space is a tough task: anyone taking on the challenge of adding to bookshelves already groaning under the weight of the ‘Kelly Legend’ is to be applauded. To be able to take one of the women from this history, and place her (as far as possible) centre stage, is especially praiseworthy. This book is essential for any collector of Kellyana. This book would appeal too to anyone interested in the way some women lived, and survived, in areas far from major metropolises in a period when Australia changed dramatically. As Kieza notes on the dust jacket’s back panel, Ellen Kelly was: “Wife of a convict. Mother to outlaws. Witness to history.” Having stood so close to heart of the bushranger story, Mrs Kelly lived long enough to see the bushranging era brought to an, almost clinical, end with the hanging of her oldest son. She also lived long enough to see her son become a part of the national narrative; it is only right that her story is also told.     Reviewed by Dr Rachel Franks, November 2017  For a preview of the book or to purchase online, visit the HarperCollins Australia website here

Yaralla 2007 Courtesy City of Canada Bay Library

Did you know ‘the most significant, suburban Edwardian estate in NSW’ is in Concord West, on the banks of the Parramatta River? Yaralla Estate, sometimes referred to as ‘Sydney’s best kept secret’, was once at the centre of this city’s social scene as local historian, Patricia Skehan, writes in the Dictionary of Sydney.

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The Yaralla estate covered over 100 acres and originally formed part of a very early land grant to the convict, Isaac Nichols, in the 1790s.  In the 1840s the land was acquired by the Scottish banker and philanthropist, Thomas Walker and in the 1850s he commissioned the well known architect, Edmund Blacket, to design the beautiful Italianate-style Yaralla mansion. The Walker family lived there from 1870, but the family’s first Christmas was marred by tragedy when Thomas’s wife, Jane, died from tuberculosis on 26 December. He asked his sister, Joanna, to care for their only child, Eadith Campbell Walker.

Miss Rhoda and Miss Elsie Anderson playing croquet at Yaralla, Sunday 14 August 1904, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (PX*D 574, p51a)

After his death in 1886, Thomas Walker left £100,000 to be used to establish a free convalescent hospital at Yaralla, which was opened in 1893. The building now houses the Rivendell Child, Adolescent and Family Unit, a mental health facility for young people. Eadith Walker became one of Sydney’s most prominent philanthropists in her own right. She held fundraising and social events for the Kindergarten Association and the Deaf and Blind Society, among others, and allowed the estate’s grounds to be used as a convalescent home for soldiers suffering from tuberculosis during World War I. Yaralla also saw its fair share of famous guests. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, was a guest in 1920 and so too were Queen Elizabeth II’s parents in 1927. Eadith Walker died in 1937 and her will, like her father’s, stipulated the estate continued to be used for benevolent purposes. Over time, some of the buildings on the estate have fallen into disrepair but restoration efforts have been undertaken by the  Canada Bay Heritage Society. Their open days and tours raise money to help preserve this wonderful estate, so make sure to check out their website for details on the next open day. There's also lots of additional information on their site about the Walker estates. Further reading: Dictionary of Sydney entries by Patricia Skehan on Yaralla, Thomas Walker and Eadith Walker here: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/place/yaralla Canada Bay Heritage Society website: https://canadabayheritage.asn.au/the-walker-estates/ Canada Bay Connections, an excellent local history blog from the City of Canada Bay's Library team https://canadabayconnections.wordpress.com/?s=yaralla Nicole Cama is a professional historian, writer and curator, and the Executive Officer of the History Council of NSW.  She appears on 2SER on behalf of the Dictionary of Sydney in a voluntary capacity.

The grotto near the bathing place at Yaralla, Sunday 22 August 1915, Courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (PX*D 603, p41)

Listen to the podcast with Nicole & Nic here, and tune in to 2SER Breakfast with Nic Healey on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:15-8:20am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney. The Dictionary of Sydney needs your help. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Dictionary of Sydney today!  

Young council employees c1905, probably employed as gully flushers Courtesy City of Sydney Archives (006011)

This morning on 2SER, Lisa  talked to Nic about the fantastic exhibition she's been working on which commemorates the City of Sydney Council's 175th anniversary . This major exhibition, which Lisa has put together with the City's Archivist and Curator of the City's Civic Collection, presents the civic and social histories, events, people and places of the inner city from 1842 to 2017 and demonstrates the impact of Council as the administrator of the city over 175 years. Four major themes – Governing, Building, Working and Inspiring – are explored through 175 objects, photographs, documents and hundreds of other supporting materials, and provide an opportunity to look at some of the amazing things that the Council has been involved in. Local governments effect all of our lives as they are responsible for everything from water and sewerage to rubbish and roads, and as the first council that was formed in Sydney, the City of Sydney was really responsible for developing Sydney as a place. The City of Sydney was incorporated in 1842 when the Sydney City Incorporation Act 1842, declared " the Town of Sydney to be a City". The first elections were held on 1 November 1842.

City of Sydney 1845, (Shields), courtesy City of Sydney Archives

One of the first tasks of the new council was to look at paving, draining and cleaning, and for that they decided they needed a "minutely and accurately taken" detailed survey of the city. This task was undertaken by Francis Webb Sheilds, Draftsman and Assistant to the City Surveyor, who worked on the survey in daylight hours either side of attending his duties at the City Surveyor’s office. This map was used extensively and eventually was copied in 1896–1897, and this copy is on display in the exhibition. Lighting the City was another issue the Council has been responsible for since 1842, and one of the first committees established was indeed the Lighting Committee. Oil and gas lighting was the order of the day at that time, eventually replaced by electric lights. On display in the exhibition is a ceremonial lightbulb from 1904, when the electricity was first switched on, and a letter from Thomas Edison from 1882. The plans for the Queen Victoria Building are also on display, as well as gorgeous photos of the building under construction like the one below showing construction workers on the site. There's a gorgeous bookplate from the special children’s library which was established in 1918, the first of its kind in Australia. Prior to this, libraries had only been for adults. Even so, the minimum age for a reader’s card was 12, although this wasn't strictly enforced. There was even a wash basin (with soap) for children to wash their hands before using the books.

Construction of the Queen Victoria Building c1898, courtesy City of Sydney Archives (066781)

The beautiful 2 meter long plans for Hyde Park which landscaper Norman Weekes completed in 1927 are on exhibition as well. After large portions of the park had been excavated for the construction of the City Circle line underneath, it was redesigned to take the form we know today. The exhibition also covers rat catchers, inspectors of nuisances, water and toilets and sewerage, and even a traffic count for George Street in 1886, with a tally of how many carts and horses went past the Town Hall. Nearly everything in the exhibition is from the City's own archives and Civic Collection, and it's an amazing opportunity to see the kinds of material managed and cared for by the City. The themes of the exhibition – Governing, Building, Working and Inspiring –  have been central to the ethos of the council over the last 175 years. While the services and emphasis of focus might change over time, fostering community to make the city a better place to live is still the City of Sydney's guiding principal, and this exhibition allows an insight into the City's challenges and achievements .

City of Sydney Archives CRS1159-0646

In addition to the exhibition, the City is also celebrating the anniversary by commissioning Sydney composer Austin Buckett  to compose a contemporary work that explores the unique characteristics of Sydney Town Hall’s Grand Organ, showcasing how the Grand Organ can meaningfully function in contemporary music and art worlds. Organist Grace Chan, with the assistance of two registrants, will perform the work at Sydney Town Hall in a free premier concert in Centennial Hall on 5 November. A Q&A with the composer Austin Buckett will follow. Head to the City's website here for details.            

Lucy Osburn 1856, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (MIN 283)

 

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Lucy Osburn was born in Leeds, England in 1835 and was trained by the social reformer and founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale. In 1867, Nightingale sent Osburn and five other nurses to Sydney at the request of Henry Parkes to establish nursing methods and training at the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary on Macquarie Street, now known as Sydney Hospital. Osburn had only been in Sydney for a week when she faced one of her first challenges. Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria’s second son, had been shot in an assassination attempt during his visit to Sydney and she supervised his nursing. She also faced challenges with the poor conditions of the hospital wards and infighting among her British nurses. Her main achievement was to reform nursing practice and establish training methods. At the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary she dismissed the male nurses, replaced them with female nurses, and introduced training on and off the wards.

Lucy Osburn & 21 nursing staff of Sydney Hospital, outside the Nightingale Wing 1870 (1976, June 16). The Australian Women's Weekly, 16 June 1976 p68 via Trove

As the first Lady Superintendent of the Sydney Hospital, she also enforced a strict hierarchical and regimented system that reflected the class system of the time. Plagued by illness and criticisms regarding her management style, Osburn was forced to resign in 1884 and returned to England where she died in 1891. Osburn has since been recognised as the founder of Nightingale nursing in Australia. The Lucy Osburn-Nightingale Museum has exhibition displays and archives in her old rooms at Sydney Hospital in a building known as the Nightingale Wing. Designed by the leading architect, Thomas Rowe and built in 1869, it is now the oldest building on the hospital site and is located in the courtyard behind the hospital. If you miss it during Sydney Open, the Museum is also open every Tuesday, or by appointment. It’s a gem, so make sure you visit! You can find the Sydney Open page here.

Nightingale Wing, Sydney Infirmary, Macquarie Street c1869-74 courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW ( SPF/178)

Read Judith Godden's entry on Lucy Osburn on the Dictionary here, and another she has contributed on the history of nursing in Sydney here. Find the full program and buy passes for Sydney Open on the Sydney Living Museum's website here: https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/sydneyopen Nicole Cama is a professional historian, writer and curator, and the Executive Officer of the History Council of NSW.  She appears on 2SER on behalf of the Dictionary of Sydney in a voluntary capacity. Listen to the podcast with Nicole & Nic here, and tune in to 2SER Breakfast with Nic Healey on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:15-8:20am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney. The Dictionary of Sydney needs your help. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Dictionary of Sydney today!

Edited by Rebecca Hawcroft, The Other Moderns: Sydney’s Forgotten European Design Legacy, 

NewSouth Publishing, 2017, 352 pp., ISBN: 9781742235561, p/bk, AUS$49.99

Rebecca Hawcroft, a cultural heritage consultant, has brought together some of Australia’s most important commentators on culture and design for The Other Moderns: Sydney’s Forgotten European Design Legacy (2017), from NewSouth Publishing. In the forward, Nectar Efkarpidis, co-founder of Hotel Hotel (now Ovolo Nishi) in Canberra (and project partner with NewSouth), writes of stories and how beyond “aesthetics and an appreciation for design, our spaces and furnishings speak of people, traditions and divergent ways of thinking” (p. 9). Hawcroft follows up this idea of storytelling, in the Introduction, noting how the stories of many of Australia’s most talented migrant designers have been forgotten (p. 11). Names are routinely cast adrift from their designs. Chairs and coffee tables sit elegantly but often anonymously. As the book’s title suggests, this is an excursion in modernism, that “philosophy intertwined with ideas of industrial functionality, socialist reform and health [leading] to comprehensive changes in production, housing and city planning” (p. 13). Each chapter explores a different aspect of a movement that can be interpreted as compelling and startling but is always, despite the passage of time, a vision that is very ‘new’. The first chapter, by Michael Bogle, explores the training grounds for European architects and designers. Hawcroft then looks at “the lucky escapees” and the European architects in postwar Sydney, before turning her attention to the artistry of Ferdinand Silberstein-Silvan’s architecture. Catriona Quinn explores the stunning Gerstle Furniture story which allowed for modernism to enter every home via rich timbers and sleek design. Jeromie Maver explains how George Kóródy and Artes Studios also supplied furniture, alongside lighting, fabrics and artwork “for the modern home” (p. 123). The Bonyhady desks, Kóródy designed pieces for Anne and Eric Bonyhady, are looked upon as living objects by Tim Bonyhady. Hawcroft returns with a piece unpacking how modernism transited from the margins to the mainstream. The glorious photography of Margaret Michaelis, with a gift for capturing images as diverse as beautiful architecture and a small group of poor children (pp. 196-97), is highlighted by Helen Ennis. Hawcroft then focuses in on Zsuzsa Kozma and that dream device that some of us own and some of us lust after: the drinks trolley. Tone Wheeler completes the narrative with his work on the migrants who built modern Sydney: from office towers to shopping malls and from hotels to medical centres. For any publication about design, the pressure to create an object as well as a text can be immense. The designers for The Other Moderns are clearly not easily intimidated: images and words are integrated seamlessly. Each page is an example of the way the elegant placement of a heading or a picture can enhance, rather than diminish, a story. The images – buildings, objects, people – are all thoughtfully included, there is nothing featured that does not work to serve the story, nothing that has been presented simply to add bulk. Importantly, there is no set template regulating placement and size, each image has been carefully considered to add balance or to catch the eye; much like you would arrange furniture in a favourite room. This volume is as informative as it is beautiful. It will make a fine addition to any home’s coffee table (or drinks trolley). Reviewed by Dr Rachel Franks, October 2017 Available from all good booksellers and directly from NewSouth Books here.  The associated exhibition The Moderns: European designers in Sydney is showing at the Museum of Sydney until 26 November 2017. For further information head to the Sydney Living Museums website here.  

 

On 19 October, Dr Rebe Taylor, the State Library of New South Wales' current Coral Thomas Fellow, will deliver the inaugural lecture on her recent findings. In the early 1830s, surveyor John Helder Wedge collected early south-eastern Aboriginal wooden artefacts from Tasmania and Victoria, now housed in the Saffron Walden Museum in Essex. It has been suggested that Wedge sought the artefacts out of a rare ‘humanitarian’ interest in the Indigenous people. Dr Taylor's research in the Library's collections investigates this idea and wonders: was there a more disturbing aspect to Wedge's collecting? Following her lecture, Dr Taylor, Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville and Kirsten Thorpe, Manager, Indigenous Services, will lead a Q&A with the audience on the ongoing and challenging questions surrounding Australia’s early frontier history and the collections of Indigenous cultural material in overseas museums. Dr Taylor's book Into the Heart of Tasmania, published by Melbourne University Press, has been announced as the winner of the 2017 Queensland Literary Awards History Book Prize. When: Thursday  19 October 2017, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Where: State Library of New South Wales Gallery Room, Ground Floor Mitchell Building Sydney, NSW 2000 This is a free event, but bookings are required for catering purposes.    Book Now For further information: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/inaugural-coral-thomas-fellowship-lecture-tickets-37407900036    

Sydney Gazette, 31 July 1803, p4 via Trove

Sunday 1 October was International Coffee Day and we certainly love our coffee in Australia. Historian Garry Wotherspoon has written an article in the Dictionary of Sydney about how our city’s obsession with coffee came to be, despite our tea-drinking origins.

Coffee Arabica 1787, courtesy Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Sydney’s first coffee arrived in 1788 along with the First Fleet. Coffee seeds and plants had been picked up during a stop in Rio de Janeiro and were planted at the site of First Government House, today’s Museum of Sydney. However, Sydney’s first foray into coffee failed when the seedlings did not yield a commercially viable crop. This of course didn't stop Sydneysiders importing the beans and drinking coffee. The gold rushes of the 1850s brought migrants from all over the world, including Europe and America, along with Parisian-style cafes and restaurants. But coffee establishments would become driven by the temperance movement from the late 1870s, as coffee was seen as a respectable alternative to the ‘demon drink’ - alcohol. Sometimes known as ‘temperance hotels’, these often grand buildings were family friendly, strictly alcohol-free and included dining halls and accommodation, as well as games, smoking and reading rooms.

Grand Central Coffee Palace c1880s, photo by Charles Bayliss, courtesy National Library of Australia (nla.pic-vn3988890)

The coffee palace craze peaked between the 1890s and 1930s, with many being established across the CBD such as the Haymarket Coffee Palace, the Post Office Coffee Palace in Erskine Street and the Victoria Coffee Palace on Pitt Street. The Grand Central Coffee Palace on Clarence Street was probably one of the most elaborate of them all, with over 200 rooms and meeting spaces. Sadly, this beautiful building was demolished in 1929. Others, such as the Great Western Coffee Palace survived demolition, and became, ironically, a licensed hotel in the 1910s called the Burlington Hotel (later the Kien Hay Centre). Migration waves during the interwar and postwar years also brought a new coffee consciousness to Sydney. By the 1960s, coffee ‘lounges’ were springing up beyond the city and into the suburbs. From failed crops, to coffee palaces, lounges and cafes, Sydney has never looked back!

Dick Gooding (right) outside the Lincoln Coffee Lounge & Cafe, Rowe Street 1948-51 , Photograph by Brian Bird Courtesy: Mitchell Library, State LIbrary of NSW (a1629001 / ON 180, 1)

Read Garry Wotherspoon's entry Coffee on the Dictionary of Sydney here https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/coffee. Nicole Cama is a professional historian, writer and curator, and the Executive Officer of the History Council of NSW.  She appears on 2SER on behalf of the Dictionary of Sydney in a voluntary capacity. Listen to the podcast with Nicole & Nic here, and tune in to 2SER Breakfast with Nic Healey on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:15-8:20am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney. The Dictionary of Sydney needs your help. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Dictionary of Sydney today!

John Newton, The Oldest Foods on Earth: A History of Australian Native Foods

NewSouth, 304 pp., ISBN: 9781742234373, p/bk, AUS$29.99

The Oldest Foods on Earth: A History of Australian Native Foods (2016), from NewSouth Books, is John Newton’s vehicle for a 50,000-year journey. Indeed, Newton’s work is a masterclass in how, over more than 200 years of occupation “European Australians have turned their backs on the vast majority of foods” of the Indigenous peoples. Instead, colonists “overlaid an alien system of agriculture which began the process of ecological imbalance the continent now finds itself in” (p. ix). The book’s cover claims ‘with recipes’ and it certainly delivers: a fabulous range of recipes have been provided by names that are well-known to many foodies across Australia and around the world. Maggie Beer, Tony Bilson, Matt Stone, Jacqui Newling and Kylie Kwong are just a few of the great chefs to grace the table of contents. The menu is laden with meat. ‘Kangaroo carpaccio with persimmon, lime, mountain pepper and extra virgin olive oil’, ‘Kangaroo loin with Australian native fruits, herbs and spices’, ‘Sea urchin with macadamia nuts and pandanus palm’ and ‘Braised wallaby shanks with olives and bush tomato’ are just a few of the suggestions put forward to tempt carnivores. Yet, herbivores are also catered for with meat-free dishes including ‘Stir-fried native greens’ and ‘Finger lime, wild lime, lemon and quandong tart’. There are also healthy serves of multiculturalism with a pavlova, a jelly and a couple of pastas disrupting traditional ideas of what native foods are and what they can be. I don’t think that ‘Crispy crickets, mill worms, Aussie 7 spice’ will become an overnight, family favourite. I do think that all the other recipes presented would sit easily on the menu of a fine restaurant or could come out of any Australian kitchen for either a special occasion or as standard Saturday-night fare. As well as offering context and history for these foods — and plenty of ideas of how to work with these ingredients — Newton makes available really practical information such as a wonderful list of Australian edible plants, animals and grains (you can’t just throw anything into a frying pan and expect it to work out well). There is also a valuable list of useful contacts. Newton quotes chef Jean-Paul Bruneteau’s critical message of “food racism” (p. x) and notes the conclusion of a recent international study on food and how, when “two or more ethnic groups share foodways, they become closer” (p. xi). Newton’s argument is clear, logical and powerful: “culinary reconciliation” (p. xii). This vegetarian is never going to sit down to a ‘Macadamia and mustard wallaby stack’ but if you add Warrigal greens to your pasta or roll something in wattle seeds, I’ll turn up. We all can. There is no excuse to not participate in a movement that contributes to the care of the land we live on in addition to helping us care for the culture and knowledge of Australia’s First Peoples. The Oldest Foods on Earth is an epic effort. Newton’s book is cookery, history and reconciliation. If you’re a celebrity-chef-in-the-making or if your preference is to eat out of take-away containers while sitting on the lounge-room floor, this is an important book to own. Reviewed by Dr Rachel Franks, October 2017 Available at all good bookstores and the publisher's website here