Old Sydney Hospital, Macquarie Street c1865-85, Mitchell LIbrary, State Library of NSW (a089177 / SPF / 177)

It seems rum is good for your health. Or it was 200 years ago in Sydney. Sydney in 1810 was in desperate need of a permanent general hospital. Governor Lachlan Macquarie wanted it built, but didn't have a lot of dosh to pay for it. Rather than call upon the British Treasury yet again, Macquaire offered a contract whereby the developers got a limited, but lucrative, monopoly on the importation of rum in exchange for building the hospital. Today it is often described as Sydney's first public-private partnership. Garnham Blaxcell, Alexander Riley and D'Arcy Wentworth were the three entrepreneurs who took on the challenge of building the Sydney Infirmary. The hospital became colloquially known as the Rum Hospital. This new hospital was sited on the ridge of what is now Macquarie Street, to capture healthful breezes from the harbour. Convicts labour constructed the hospital between 1811 and 1816. There were three wings, two of which survive today. The north and south wings were planned as accommodation for doctors and staff, but were surplus to requirements and were soon used for other things and are better known today as The Mint and NSW Parliament House.

The Sydney Infirmary "But the poor woman will die if she is not attended to" 1869 , Sydney Punch 4 September 1869

The middle wing (Sydney Hospital still occupies this site) was the main ward of the Sydney Infirmary. It was shoddily built, with poor foundations causing subsidence and rising damp. Its walls were built from rubble that provided an ideal home for rats, bedbugs and other vermin. Health care was minimal, with convalescing patients helping with nursing care. Judith Godden reminds us in her overview article on hospitals in Sydney that few worried about the poor quality of health care at the Sydney Infirmary, as the hospital only dealt with convicts and ex-convicts up until the 1840s. We have quite a bit of content on the Rum Hospital. Laila Ellmoos in her article on the Sydney Hospital charts the development of the hospital. There is some audio to listen to in which Dr John Graeme discusses the hospital's evolution. The 'new' hospital building was planned and constructed between 1878 and 1894. Although it is no longer a general hospital, Sydney Hospital and Eye Hospital continues to function as the oldest working hospital in Australia.   Listen now   If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in to 2SER Breakfast with Nic Healey on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:15-8:20 am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney.

No1 Mortuary Railway station, Rookwood Cemetery - funeral train in station c1870 Pic: State Records New South Wales (17420_a014_a014000306)

The railways are a quintessential part of Sydney. Railway historian Bob McKillop argues that they shaped the commerce and suburbs of Sydney in his two new entries for the Dictionary of Sydney, The Railways of Sydney: shaping the city and its commerce and Funeral Trains. Here are five little known facts about the history of Sydney's railways: 1. Our first railway line was planned to go to Goulburn A railway line between Sydney and Goulburn was first dreamt up in the 1840s. The aim was to assist inland primary producers to get their fruit, wool and wheat to port. Stage one, built by the the Sydney Tramroad and Railway Company (subsequently the Sydney Railway Company) from 1850-1855, went only as far as Parramatta. There were numerous delays in the construction and variations in the scope of the works, including a change of gauge. Rising costs meant the government finally bought the railway from the Sydney Railway Company in 1855. 2. The Sydney Railway Waltz celebrated the first train trip to Parramatta Every grand occasion needs a great ditty. And the first official train from Sydney to Parramatta, which took place on 26 September 1855, was just such a grand occasion. William Paling stepped up, composing a cute little waltz, complete with the train gathering speed and a train whistle. 3. Rookwood Necropolis was serviced by funerary trains When the government established Sydney's new general cemetery out at Haslem's Creek in 1867, people complained that the cost of funerals would be prohibitive. The government provided a novel solution: a funeral train to transport coffins and funeral groups out to Rookwood Necropolis. The Mortuary Station on Regent Street, Redfern, designed by colonial architect James Barnet, is a gothic reminder of the Sydney funeral trains.

The first page of the Sydney Railway Waltz, composed by WH Paling 1855. Credit: National Library of Australia (nla.mus-an6340871) Listen to it being performed by the NSW Transport Institute band here

4. Our first permanent railway terminus was built in 1874 When the railway opened in 1855, the government's priority was to reduce the capital cost of the railway. The first Sydney terminal was just a single wooden platform covered by a corrugated iron shed, 100 feet long and 30 feet wide (approximately 30.5 x 9 metres). Designed by the engineer-in-chief John Whitton in 1871, Sydney's larger and more permanent terminal station with its northern frontage on Devonshire Street was finally opened in 1874. The brick building was in neo-classical style with decorative detail formed using polychromatic relief work. Central Station opened in 1906 after the railway lines were extended to bring the service a little bit closer to the City. 5. Glebe Island was levelled for the Metropolitan Goods Line By the early twentieth century the passage of goods trains along Sydney's main lines was disrupting the flow of passenger traffic. The efficient handling of goods was just as important as passenger services. In 1907 the new Chief Railway Commissioner Thomas Richard Johnson decided to build build a double track goods line from Dulwich Hill to White Bay and Rozelle (Glebe Island), and evenutally on to Darling Harbour. (This is what the light rail now runs along.) Glebe Island was quarried and levelled by 1918 to accommodate new grain silos. These are just some of the fascinating facts you can discover in these new essays by Bob McKillop - head over to the Dictionary to find out more! Thanks to the Australian Railway Historical Society who partnered with the Dictionary of Sydney on this project. This project was funded by the Transport Heritage Grants Program, which is administered by the Royal Australian Historical Society.

If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website.

Tune in to 2SER Breakfast with Nic Healey on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:20 am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney.  

Listen now

 

Portrait of Bennelong c1793, attributed to William Waterhouse, State Library of NSW, a1256013 / DG 10, f13

NAIDOC Week 2016 celebrations are in full swing at the moment and the Dictionary of Sydney recently published new articles about Sydney’s Aboriginal past by historian, Keith Vincent Smith. I spoke with Nic Healey on 2SER Breakfast about two interesting Aboriginal characters - Carangarang and Willemering. Many will have heard of Bennelong, the Eora man who was captured by Governor Arthur Phillip and travelled to England and back to Sydney. But few may know about Bennelong’s sister, Carangarang. She was born in 1771 into the Wangal clan on the south shore of the Parramatta River. The first written record of Carangarang described her as ‘pretty’. Lieutenant David Collins said her name meant ‘The Sea’, but was also interpreted as ‘pelican’. He also observed what he called a ‘family party’ one day at Bennelong Point, where the Opera House now stands, with Bennelong and his wife along with Carangarang, who breastfed her child while Bennelong cleaned the fish and cooked them on a fire. In another incident, Carangarang was in a boat when it capsized and she quickly carried her two children on her shoulders and swam to safety. Later in life there were descriptions of Carangarang walking along the Parramatta River, wearing an ‘Opossum cloake’, carrying a net bag over her shoulders, and her hair decorated with eel bones. At that time she was the wife of the chief of the Burramattagal clan, the people of Parramatta, whose totem was the burra or eel. Keith Vincent Smith also wrote about Willemering, a doctor or ‘clever man’ from the Garagal clan around Broken Bay. There has always been debate and mystery surrounding the role of the clever man. Smith notes they not only healed wounds, they were ‘sorcerers with secret-sacred knowledge’ who could ‘make rain, kill by chanting, conduct inquests and take part in revenge expeditions’.

Page from Collins' 'Account of the English Colony' describing the spearing of Phillip at Manly Cove 7 September 1790, State Library of NSW, a1341221 / DL Q79/60 (vol.1) p134

During a famous encounter with the British in September 1790, Willemering threw a spear at Governor Phillip. David Collins wrote about the incident, noting Willemering ‘lifted a spear from the grass with his foot, and fixing it on his throwing-stick, in an instant darted it at the governor. The spear entered a little above the collar bone, and had been discharged with such force that the barb of it came through on the other side’. After the incident, Bennelong told Collins he beat Willemering for his actions. Just after Bennelong’s wife, Barangaroo, died and was cremated in 1791, Bennelong clashed with Willemering and wounded him in the thigh with a spear. He claimed Willemering had not come quickly enough to treat Barangaroo when she was ill. After this incident, nothing further was recorded regarding Willemering. Much of the historical narrative on Sydney’s Aboriginal people is dominated by accounts from the British. It is important also to listen to the oral traditions passed down the generations to understand Sydney’s Aboriginal past and celebrate the oldest continuing culture in the world.

Listen now

If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in to 2SER Breakfast with Nic Healey on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:20 am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney.

Matilda Devine criminal record number 659LB, 27 May 1925, Long Bay Gaol. NSW Department of Prisons, Justice & Police Museum, Sydney LIving Museums Record no: 35694

Last week on 2SER, Nicole chatted about Kate Leigh the sly-grog queen, so it seemed only fair that this week I gave her nemesis Tilly Devine an airing. Tilly Devine, born Matilda Mary Twiss in London, arrived in Sydney as a war bride in 1920 and became a formidable figure in the city's underworld, particularly in Palmer Street, Darlinghurst. Known for her violence and her legendary feud with Kate Leigh, Tilly Devine was the city's leading madam until the end of the 1950s. She died, in financial ruin and unlamented, in 1970 but her legend has recently been revived in popular culture. Tilly Devine was a London prostitute, who came out to Sydney in 1919 as a war bride. She didn't turn over a new leaf in the lucky country but instead returned to her tried and true work as a prostitute. Between 1921 and 1925 Tilly Devine was arrested on seventy-nine occasions for prostitution offences, often referred to in the criminal records as 'offensive behaviour' and 'indecent language'. She was also charged with fighting and consorting with known criminals. Usually she was fined or imprisoned for a few days. Soliciting gets harder as you get older. From the 1920s Tilly Devine became a brothel madam, owning or managing a clutch of brothels in Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Paddington and Woolloomooloo. Part of the reason Tilly was able to move from soliciting to pimping was a legal loophole. The New South Wales Police Offences (Amendment) Act of 1908 made it an offence for men to operate a brothel, act as a pimp, or profit from the earnings of prostitution. But it said nothing about women. As well as a thriving brothel business, Tilly Devine also dealt in drugs, and had a sideline in sly grog. She was regularly in the courts for or assault, indecent language and consorting offences. Tilly and Kate Leigh tried to out do each other in their flamboyant court appearances. It was a part of an ongoing rivalry between the two crime queens of Sydney that was also cultivated to celebrity status in media coverage of the day - newspapers such as the Truth, the Daily Mirror and even the Sydney Morning Herald. Catie Gilchrist wrote the companion pieces on Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine. They are a great introduction to Sydney's organised crime in the interwar period. Well-illustrated with police mug shots and gaol cards, the articles also include images and summary information about many of the main players, such as Guido Calletti, Frank Green and Nellie Cameron. It's well worth a look. If you want a bit more crime action, why not come down and hear Lisa in conversation with historian Leigh Straw about her newly released book The Worst Woman in Sydney at Dymocks on George Street, Sydney at 1pm this Saturday 2 July 2016 after you vote! Visit Dymocks’ website to find out more.

Listen now

If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in to 2SER Breakfast with Nic on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:20 am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney.

[et_pb_fullwidth_portfolio include_categories="52" show_date="off" admin_label="Fullwidth Portfolio" _builder_version="3.0.48" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"]  [/et_pb_fullwidth_portfolio][et_pb_row column_structure="1_3,1_3,1_3" admin_label="row" _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="1_3" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_divider show_divider="off" disabled_on="on|on|off" admin_label="Divider" _builder_version="3.23.4" height="20px" hide_on_mobile="on"]  [/et_pb_divider][et_pb_image src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/slnsw.dxd.dc.prod.dos.prod.assets/home-dos-files/2011/01/dos-logo.jpg" align_tablet="center" align_phone="" align_last_edited="on|desktop" admin_label="Image" _builder_version="3.23" animation="off" sticky="off" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" always_center_on_mobile="on"]  [/et_pb_image][et_pb_divider show_divider="off" disabled_on="on|on|off" admin_label="Divider" _builder_version="3.2" hide_on_mobile="on"]  [/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" _builder_version="3.27.4" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"]Since it first launched in 2009, over 1.5 million words have been published on the Dictionary of Sydney including over 1000 entries, 4,500 multimedia items, 13,000 entities and 39,000 factoids. With a free mobile app, resources for schools linked to the national history curriculum and regular local radio spots on Sydney's history, our audience continues to grow.

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New partnership

From June 2016, the Dictionary of Sydney entered into a new partnership with the State Library New South Wales. With assistance from our long-time supporter, the City of Sydney, the Dictionary was migrated on to a new platform at the library. The library will preserve and maintain the Dictionary, ensuring that we can all enjoy it for many more years to come. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" _builder_version="4.0.5" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"]

You can read the City of Sydney's media release here: 'Past and future of Sydney's history secured.'

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Funding

The City of Sydney generously provided cash and in-kind support to help transfer the Dictionary's website to the State Library of NSW.  After December 2016 the City will no longer fund the organisation on an annual basis.

With no ongoing funding, publication of new content on the Dictionary of Sydney will cease when current funds have all been used.

In September 2018, the Dictionary of Sydney Inc was wound up and management of the Dictionary was transferred to State Library of NSW.

If you would like to donate to the State Library of NSW Foundation, you can do so via their website here.

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Impact

In July 2017 the Dictionary's content was successfully migrated on to the new, more sustainable Drupal platform at the Library and publishing recommenced.

Since then, there have been more than 2,200,000 page views, an increase of over 30%.

Due to the reduction in staff hours, a consequence of less funding, publishing will take place at a slower rate than earlier in the Dictionary's history, and will cease when funding runs out. The State Library of NSW will preserve the website and its content to make sure it remains available.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_3" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_divider show_divider="off" disabled_on="on|on|off" admin_label="Divider" _builder_version="3.23.4" height="20px" hide_on_mobile="on"]  [/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" _builder_version="3.27.4" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"]

Future

In addition to the technical project, the agreement with the State Library for the transition of the Dictionary allows for one part-time Dictionary of Sydney position, to be responsible for maintaining and updating the Dictionary, which will be based at the State Library. This position will be funded by the DoS Inc while funds allow and will work in conjunction with an advisory committee that includes the Mitchell Librarian. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" _builder_version="3.27.4" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"]For all media enquiries, please email info@dictionaryofsydney.org [/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/slnsw.dxd.dc.prod.dos.prod.assets/home-dos-files/2016/04/Traffic-Flowing-Smoothly.jpg" alt="Black and white photo of traffic flowing across Harbour Bridge" url="https://dictionaryofsydney.org/media/3526" url_new_window="on" align_tablet="center" align_phone="" align_last_edited="on|desktop" admin_label="Traffic flowing" _builder_version="3.23" animation="off" sticky="off" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" always_center_on_mobile="on"]  [/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" _builder_version="3.27.4" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"]Pic: Traffic flowing smoothly on the Sydney Harbour Bridge after two new lanes were opened, July 1959. Credit: National Archives of Australia (A1200, L32700) [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label="row" _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_divider show_divider="off" disabled_on="on|on|off" admin_label="Divider" _builder_version="3.23.4" height="20px" hide_on_mobile="on"]  [/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_fullwidth_image src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/slnsw.dxd.dc.prod.dos.prod.assets/home-dos-files/2015/06/COSA_1888-City-of-Sydney-Birdseye-view_CROP_centre2.jpg" admin_label="Fullwidth Image" _builder_version="3.0.87" animation="off" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"]  [/et_pb_fullwidth_image][et_pb_row admin_label="Row" _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" _builder_version="4.0.5" text_font_size="10" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" text_orientation="right" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" global_module="11276" saved_tabs="all"]

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

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wp-image-12532https://home.dictionaryofsydney.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Giantcoins.jpgPic: 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]440438/> 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]

As the end of the financial year draws ever closer, please consider giving a tax deductible donation to the Dictionary of Sydney. More than ever, for the Dictionary to flourish, we rely upon the goodwill and generosity of our supporters. From July we will enter into a new partnership with the State Library of NSW to host our website. The project to transfer our website is being funded by a one-off grant from the City of Sydney and does not include operational funding from the SLNSW. The City of Sydney, which has been the Dictionary's major sponsor since 2006, will no longer fund the Dictionary on an ongoing basis. You can read more about the move on our blog here or in the newsletter here. While we are continuing to work with our existing supporters as well as seeking new partnerships, we hope our many supporters can help us raise funds to ensure that the Dictionary continues to improve its content and functionality. Each year the Dictionary of Sydney has an annual fundraising drive. This year we ask you to consider what impact the Dictionary has had on you, why you use it and what you love about it. The Dictionary is a unique digital story-telling platform about Sydney with over 400 contributors, 940 entries, 12,735 entities and 4,217 multimedia items freely accessible online. There are many people who would appreciate and use the Dictionary but don't know it exists. In order to bring our content to a wider audience, we need to keep growing the Dictionary. All donations to the Dictionary tax-deductible.

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Entry for Kate Leigh in State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay Photographic Description Book, 1915, State Records New South Wales (NRS 2496, No 188, 3/6007)

The Dictionary of Sydney has some fascinating new articles including one on the famous ‘Sly-Grog Queen’ Kate Leigh, written by Catie Gilchrist. I spoke to Jamie Travers about Kate Leigh’s story on 2SER Breakfast and how she became labelled ‘the worst woman in Sydney’.

Kathleen Mary Josephine Beahan was born in Dubbo on 10 March 1881. As a child, Kate often ran away from home and at age 12, was sent to Parramatta Industrial School for Girls. After being released at age 16, Kate found work in factories and shops in Glebe and Surry Hills. In 1901, she was arrested for vagrancy, receiving 14 days’ hard labour in gaol, the first of many stretches at Long Bay Gaol.

When she was 21, she married Jack Lee, who was part-Chinese and an illegal bookmaker and petty criminal. She anglicised the Chinese name Lee to Leigh, and the couple divorced in 1922. She was in trouble with the law again in 1913, for abusive language and keeping a brothel. But in March 1915, she was convicted of perjury when she swore in court to being with one of the perpetrators of the Eveleigh Railway Workshop robbery. This was a famous armed robbery which occurred in daylight in June 1914 and was the first time a getaway car was used in any crime in Australia. One of Kate’s lovers, Samuel ‘Jewey’ Freeman received a 10-year sentence at Parramatta Gaol while Kate was sent to Long Bay Gaol. Upon her release in 1919, she became engaged in the criminal activities for which she earned her nickname, ‘the Sly-Grog Queen’.

We heard recently from Dr Lisa Murray about the introduction of the six o’clock closing of hotels and pubs in 1916. For 35 years, Kate took advantage of this legislation and provided illegal liquor, known as sly-grog, to Sydneysiders after hours. She became one of Sydney’s leading underworld figures, running more than 20 sly-groggeries in Surry Hills and East Sydney. Her product was considered good quality and some of her establishments were frequented by businessmen and politicians, and affectionately referred to as ‘Mum’s’.

In addition to the sly-grog trade for which she made a fortune, Kate was also a Madam running various brothels and dealt in cocaine, opium and stolen goods. There was almost constant police surveillance on her headquarters at Riley Street, Surry Hills, and Kate contended with other rival gangs giving rise to the razor gang wars during the 1920s and 1930s.

The NSW Vagrancy (Amendment) Act 1929 was introduced to curb the ‘Terror on the streets’, and included a clause making it an offence to consort with known criminals and prostitutes. As a result, Kate’s properties were often raided for sly-grog, cocaine, criminals and prostitutes, but her gangland rival, Tilly Devine, flourished. The two women frequently fought on the streets and it wasn’t until 1936 that the violence came to end after the pair came to a truce.

In 1930, she pleaded not guilty to the murder of John 'Snowy' Prendergast, a fellow underworld figure. The jury acquitted her after she claimed she had been defending her life and property. From the 1940s to 1950s, despite her convictions, Kate’s violent reputation became a distant memory and she became known in the local community as a generous philanthropist and kind woman. She suffered a stroke and died at St Vincent’s Hospital in February 1964, aged 82. During her life, she received 107 criminal convictions and served 13 gaol terms, and was known for her courtroom antics. Over 700 people attended her funeral which included politicians and members of the police force.

Lisa Murray will be talking with historian Leigh Straw about her newly released book The Worst Woman in Sydney at Dymocks on George Street, Sydney at 1pm, Saturday 2 July 2016. Visit Dymocks' website to find out more.

You can read also our review of the book here.

Listen now

If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in to 2SER Breakfast on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:20 am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney.

The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney celebrated 200 years on Monday 13 June 2016. Yet, the site had been farmed since 1788 and under cultivation with scientific plants as well as agricultural farming before 1816, so why did they choose this date? It has to do with the completion of a road through the government domain that was planned by the wife of Governor Macquarie, Elizabeth Macquarie. The completion of this public road project was recorded for posterity on a sandstone outcrop at the end of the Domain, at Mrs Macquarie's favourite harbour vantage point. The Gadigal called the point Yurong. We now know it as Mrs Macquarie's Chair. When was the last time you went and visited it? The inscription is still legible, 200 years later. It reads:

BE THUS RECORDED THAT THE ROAD Round the inside of the Government Domain Called MRS MACQUARIE'S ROAD so named by the Governor on account of her having Originally Planned it Measuring 3 Miles, and 377 Yards Was finally Completed on the 13th Day of June 1816.

The road was officially opened on the 13th. Governor Macquarie particularly chose this 'auspicious' day, as he described it, to open the road for it was his wife's birthday. And it is this date that Joseph Henry Maiden (director of the gardens 1896-1924) later nominated as the foundation date of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. But the gardens were not at this stage widely open to the public. Sydney's respectable citizens could use the Outer Domain during the day, but the Inner Domain, especially the land around Government House and the Government Garden were for the Governor's Pleasure. A plan commissioned by the Governor in 1816 to celebrate the completion of improvements shows the gradual evolution of the garden. You can see the new road looping around Yurong / Mrs Macquarie's Chair, the Nursery, the Government Garden, and a cottage built for the gardener. By the 1850s the gardens were developed into a series of formal and informal gardens and areas of Woccanmagully or Farm Cove were being reclaimed. Mrs Macquarie's Chair had become a popular picnic spot on long weekends and celebrations, as this painting from 1855 shows.

Picnic at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, Sydney c1855. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales [a1528104 / DG 265]

The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney has a fascinating history. You can find out more in the Dictionary of Sydney. Our entity listing for the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust has links to a number of entries in the Dictionary of Sydney, including the Domain, the director Joseph Maiden, the first female botanical illustrator Margaret Flockton. For a historic timeline as well as all the celebratory events happening this year, visit the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney website: https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/About-Us/History-and-Facts/Our-200-years Thanks Lisa for another great segment for the Dictionary. Remember to tune in next Wednesday at 8:15am to hear more great Sydney stories courtesy of the Dictionary of Sydney and 2SER. If you missed Lisa's segment you can catch up on the podcast here. --- [box]

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