Radio station 2CH's children's Christmas party, Trocadero 1936, Credit: State Library of New South Wales (hood_20090 / Home and Away 30090)

There’s been a lot of talk about Sydney’s night life lately so I thought I'd look at one of the city's most popular venues between 1936 and the late 1960s. The Trocadero on George Street was Sydney's most glamorous dance hall and played host to a range of VIPs, including the Queen. I spoke to Mitch about it on 2SER Breakfast this morning.

The Trocadero was an art deco style dance hall located on George Street on the site that is now Event Cinemas. It opened on 3 April 1936 during a time where the city was still recovering from the Great Depression and so the Trocadero represented an exciting, glamorous haven for Sydneysiders.

The building itself was striking and included a floodlit tower of Hawkesbury River sandstone and an entrance vestibule with marble floors and polished granite walls. It cost £150,000 (over $13 million) to build, its shell-shaped bandstand included coloured lights and it could seat 2,000 people.

The ABC broadcasted live from the ‘Troc’, as it became known, every Monday and Thursday, and the arrival of American servicemen during World War II increased the demand for the latest in swing and jazz. The famous American jazz musician, composer and bandleader Artie Shaw and his American Navy Band appeared at the Troc in 1943. This American presence caused friction between Australian and US soldiers. One report noted that as fighting broke out, the band played the patriotic American march ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever’ until the police arrived.

Costume cavalcade at Artists' Ball at the Trocadero 6 November 1953, Credit: The Australian Women's Weekly, National Library of Australia via Trove (news-article41489158)

The Troc also hosted awards nights, trade exhibitions, fashion shows and even the early Miss Australia finals. But there were also some of the rowdier events, such as the University of Sydney student balls, which on one occasion saw revellers set the decorations on fire while the band simply ‘played on’.

The annual Artists’ Balls were also colourful, and drew artists and their models, including many cross-dressers. One cross-dresser shocked Sydneysiders dressed as a tram conductress. The person in question not only travelled by tram along George Street, but collected fares from passengers along the way. In another incident, the RSPCA was called after one reveller wore as a headdress a bird’s nest with a live chicken strapped in!

From the 1950s, the Troc saw some of its more famous guests including Queen Elizabeth II who attended a luncheon held in her honour. The Queen Mother was also a guest in 1958, and later US President Lyndon B Johnson and Prince Charles. By the mid-1950s popular dances at the Troc were the quickstep, the foxtrot, the waltz and the tango. Eventually rock and roll made its mark, and many young revellers became more interested in other venues across the city.

The Troc closed its doors on 5 February 1971 and was demolished to make way for the new Hoyts theatre complex, now Event Cinemas. In the 35 years it operated, it is estimated over a million people danced at the Troc.

Listen now

If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wedensday morning at 8:20 am.

Violet McKenzie with wireless c1922. 1920 - 1926
Reproduced courtesy of the Ex-Wrans Association NSW.

March 8 is International Women's Day. And what better way to celebrate the day than to look back and acknowledge the extraordinary contribution women have made to Sydney as a community and a place. Here's my top ten of fabulous women that are featured in the Dictionary of Sydney and have made an extraordinary contribution to Sydney. How many have you heard of? Maria Lock (c.1805-1878) Educated at the Native Institution in Parramatta, Maria Lock was the first Aboriginal woman officially married to a British convict. They settled on land granted to her in Liverpool and she later successfully petitioned to have the land formerly granted to her brother Colebee in Blacktown transferred to her after his death. Descendants still live in the area. Harriet (1830-1907) and Helena Scott (1832-1910) Sisters and botanical illustrators who made a huge contribution to colonial natural science by collecting specimens and recording them meticulously. Harriet and Helena Scott were the foremost natural science painters in New South Wales in the second half of the nineteenth century. Their illustrations of native butterflies, moths, plants, reptiles, mammals, shells and flowers, many of which are held by the Australian Museum and Mitchell Library, were scientific and artistic masterpieces that illuminated important scientific publications, and earned them professional recognition in a field of study that was traditionally considered a gentleman's pursuit. Lucy Osburn (1835-1891) Trained under Florence Nightingale, Lucy Osburn became the first Lady Superintendent of Sydney Hospital in 1868, and despite controversy and ill health, began the process of remaking hospital care and professionalising nursing. Maybanke Anderson (1845-1927) Teacher, suffrage campaigner and writer who was described as 'one of Australia's noble and notable women'. A founder of Sydney's women's suffrage movement, Maybanke Anderson was also a writer and teacher, and a lifelong campaigner for the rights of women and children. She advocated for kindergartens, teacher training, adult education at the Worker's Educational Association (where Rosine Guiterman also taught) and she lobbied for children's playgrounds in the inner-city. Eadith Walker (1861-1937) Born into a privileged life of travel and culture, Eadith Walker became one of Sydney's foremost philanthropists and patrons of the arts, between 1886 (when she inherited her fortune) and her death in 1937.

Bulletin article on Louise Lightfoot's departure for Europe 1937. Contributed by Mary Lightfoot

Rosette Edmunds (d.1956) Pioneering woman architect and town planner. An early graduate in architecture, Rosette Edmunds became lead designer for Clement Glancey, and was involved in designing many Catholic churches and schools in Sydney. She wrote and illustrated a history of world architecture, before moving into town planning. Marie Byles (1900-1979) Pioneering woman lawyer, bushwalker and Buddhist. Sydney's first woman lawyer, Marie Byles overcame formal and informal obstacles in order to practise as a solicitor. She mentored other women in law, and became an advocate for women's rights in other fields, as well as an environmental activist and a writer about Buddhism. Violet McKenzie (1890-1982) Electrical engineer who taught thousands of women, and soldiers during WWII, to use radio for signalling. A pioneer in Australian radio and electrical engineering, she founded the Wireless Weekly. Violet McKenzie had a lifetime commitment to technical education and training, especially for women. Louise Lightfoot (1902-1979) A trained architect who became a dancer and teacher, Louise Lightfoot made major contributions to two forms of dance, classical ballet and Indian dance. She founded the First Australian Ballet, and later was an advocate, teacher and entrepreneur of Indian dance forms. Eva Buhrich (1915-1976) German-born architect and writer who was a champion of modernist design in Sydney. Arriving in Sydney in 1939, Eva Buhrich worked in architectural design until the poor pay rates for women architects drove her to writing. She became a well-known commentator on architecture and design, writing for magazines, industry journals and the Sydney Morning Herald. There are many other fabulous women whose histories come to life in the Dictionary of Sydney. Have a browse through our listing of people mentioned in the Dictionary to discover more.  Happy International Women's Day. If you missed Lisa's segment on 2SER this morning, you can catch up here. Listen in each Wednesday morning at 8:20 on 2SER for more Sydney history brought to you by the Dictionary of Sydney.

Convict Barrack Sydney N.S. Wales c1819, attributed to GW Evans Credit: Mitchell LIbrary, State Library of NSW (a1120005 / PX*D 41, 5)

The State Library of NSW has just opened a new exhibition - Imagine a City: 200 Years of Public Architecture in NSW. In the Dictionary of Sydney, architects Philip Thalis and Peter John Cantrill detail how Sydney’s built environment developed from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and the establishment of the Government Architect’s office. I spoke about 200 years of Sydney's public architecture with Mitch on 2SER Breakfast radio. Thousands of years before the British established the colonial settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788, Sydney’s original inhabitants, the Eora people, traversed the Sydney basin and used it for its natural supply of food and water. There were various shell middens and rock engraving sites across Sydney’s foreshore demonstrating how Aboriginal people used the land. But the British saw these middens as one of the key ingredients to the construction of the new colony, burning the shells to produce lime for cement mortar. Governor Arthur Phillip produced two foundation town plans - one at the point of embarkation at Sydney Cove in 1788, the other inland at Parramatta in 1789. Initial plans for Sydney included a main street just under 61 metres wide, however, there was no coherent grid or town limits. During Lachlan Macquarie’s tenure as governor from 1810-21, he initiated a series of public buildings which gave Sydney its own distinctive form, elements of which exist today.

Francis Greenway Credit: Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a1528291 / ML 482)

The British government rejected Macquarie’s request to appoint a permanent government architect, insisting that this particular job be a temporary one. Yet when the architect and convicted forger Francis Greenway arrived in Sydney in 1814, he became the first of 23 NSW government architects, a role which would span the next 200 years. The role of the government architect was to manage the government’s public building projects across the colony of NSW. One of Greenway’s first buildings was the Government Stables, a gothic structure with turrets located near Government House. We now know it as the Sydney Conservatorium of Music building. Then came more public buildings, such as the Supreme Court on King Street, St James Church and one of the more iconic of Sydney’s older buildings, the World Heritage listed Hyde Park Barracks. Macquarie Lighthouse in Vaucluse was also designed by Greenway and opened in 1818 - the first and longest serving lighthouse site in Australia. Successive government architects played a major role in Sydney’s development over the 19th century. Mortimer Lewis, who served between 1835 and 1849, designed the Darlinghurst Courthouse, Australian Museum and Customs House. James Barnet designed other famous Sydney buildings like the General Post Office in Martin Place which was built using Pyrmont sandstone and the Department of Lands building on Bridge Street.

In 1899 Randwick Post Office was given as a fine example of 'the good taste of the present Government Architect [which] is being shown in the buildings erected for postal and other public services.' (The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 3 June 1899, p1287. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163690491) Pic: Randwick Post Office in 1899 Credit: State Records NSW (4346_a020_a020000005)

Walter Liberty Vernon was another famed government architect from 1890 to 1911. His notable contributions include the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW and Central Railway Station, he also designed public buildings for Sydney’s suburban areas, such as Newtown’s old post office building and Darlinghurst Police Station. In more recent times, the Government Architect's Office has seen a dramatic reduction in staff from 120 to four, and so the State Library of NSW’s exhibition is as much a marker of the end of an era for this historically significant government office as it is a celebration of Sydney’s most loved public buildings. For more information about Sydney’s public buildings, read the full article in the Dictionary of Sydney. Imagine a City: 200 Years of Public Architecture in Sydney runs from February 20 to May 8     Listen now If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wedensday morning at 8:20 am.

Elsie Women's Refuge, Glebe 1974. By Drusilla Modjeska. Contributed by National Library of Australia (nla.pic-vn3997705)

There has been a lot of discussion in the last 12 months about domestic violence and how it is everyone's responsibility to put an end to it. Sydney, and particularly the suburb of Glebe, was at the centre of a very important move in the 1970s to provide a safe haven for women suffering from domestic violence. Dr Catie Gilchrist reveals all in her article Forty years of the Elsie Refuge for Women and Children. In the early days of autumn 1974 an intrepid group of Sydney Women's Liberation members, including Anne Summers, Robyn Kemmis, Jennifer Dakers and Bessie Guthrie, broke into two adjoining vacant houses, 'Elsie' and 'Minnie', at 73 and 75 Westmoreland Street on the Glebe Estate. Armed only with broomsticks, shovels and energetic determination, they changed the locks to establish residency and claimed squatter's rights. On that day, 16 March, the women declared Elsie Women's Refuge Night Shelter open as Australia's first emergency safe haven for women and children subject to domestic violence. So began a remarkable and fearless social experiment, grounded in activism around feminism and housing campaigns, which would inspire services for women and children experiencing domestic violence across New South Wales and Australia. Glebe was a hot-house of the Women's Lib movement, with residents involved in collectives and anarchist approaches to social problems. The women behind Elsie saw the proliferation of empty houses as an opportunity to address the pressing need for abused women to be able to exercise agency and escape from violent family situations. Their action had profound consequences for hundreds of women in Sydney and was a precedent for a later nationwide movement. Elsie Refuge for Women and Children in Glebe was the first women's refuge to open in Australia. It inspired hundreds of similar refuges to open nationwide. Many of these refuges also adopted women's names for their services. For forty years, Elsie remained independently-run, providing care, support and anonymity to women and children fleeing domestic violence. Today the future trajectory of women's refuges in New South Wales, and across Australia, is uncertain. In August 2014, Elsie Women's Refuge was taken over by the St Vincent de Paul Society under the NSW Government's Going Home Staying Home policy. Elsie was not the only New South Wales refuge to suffer a change in management. A total of 44 shelters in New South Wales that catered specifically to women, the Indigenous population and young people were closed or placed in alternative management. St Vincent de Paul has provided assurances that Elsie will remain a women-and-children-only service. Elsie's important role in Glebe's history and the nation's history was recognised in 2012 when a walkway in Glebe beside the public school was named after the refuge: Elsie Walk. This commemorative naming was championed by Councillor Robyn Kemmis and the Glebe Community Action Group. They were proud of Glebe's role in supporting women and creating a better society. I was reminded again of the importance of Elsie when I attended the memorial service for Robyn Kemmis, held last week at Sydney Town Hall. Robyn was a councillor at the City of Sydney and was a great supporter of the Dictionary of Sydney. We are all saddened by her passing. She made a difference to the lives of Sydneysiders in subtle, humane ways. I encourage you to read our article on Elsie women's refuge. Elsie Walk, and the Women's Refuge Movement are just two of the legacies of Robyn's love and commitment to caring for our community. Listen now If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wedensday morning at 8:20 am.

Kim Hanna, former Executive Officer, Dictionary of Sydney

On Friday 29th January, the staff, volunteers and Board of the Dictionary of Sydney bid a fond farewell to our friend and colleague Kim Hanna. Kim has been at the helm of the Dictionary since January 2013. In the past three years under Kim's leadership the Dictionary has developed:

• teaching resources for secondary and primary teachers linked to the Australian history curriculum and NSW syllabus (freely downloadable from our website)
• a free mobile app with self-guided historical tours of Sydney and Parramatta
• partnerships with local radio 702, 2SER and 2RPH to present snapshots of Sydney's history
• partnerships with local councils, historical associations and community groups to develop online content for the Dictionary of Sydney on a wide range of topics.

We are extremely proud of Kim's contribution to the Dictionary (including writing a selection of entries he felt the Dictionary simply must have - a few more gems are coming!). We are committed to continuing Kim's legacy - and the legacy of all the people who have made a valuable contribution to the Dictionary since the beginning of this wonderful project. Kim has moved to a new position as Chief Operating Officer of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons. We wish Kim all the very best in his future endeavors and know that the Dictionary will always be special to him, as he is to us.  

'Mr W J Chidley will lecture to men and women on health, diet and clothing', Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales (a128079 / V/120)

Speakers’ Corner in Sydney’s Domain has become known as a place where individuals can share what’s on their mind. One famous eccentric campaigner, William Chidley, was a regular sight at the Domain from 1912, and became known for his thoughts on vegetarianism, fresh air, comfortable clothing and even ‘correct sex’. I spoke about this fascinating character from Sydney's past with Mitch on 2SER Breakfast this morning.

Dictionary of Sydney contributor Catie Gilchrist notes that Speakers’ Corner became a place where members of the public could share their thoughts in 1878. The area became lively and popular and one article published in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1888 noted people would: ‘preach, argue, and wrangle, a little noisily, perhaps, but with the greatest good humour….’

William James Chidley dressed in a simple tunic and sandals, and preached on a range of topics advocating dress reform and a raw vegetarian diet. But he also had opinions on sex. He claimed sex should only occur in the spring, outdoors in the sunshine and only between two lovers. Chidley believed his scheme would save the world 'from all its misery, disease, crime and ugliness’, and also that it would save women from the pain and violence they encountered during sex.

Chidley spread his ideas in the Domain, Royal Botanic Gardens and throughout the streets of Sydney, selling his pamphlet which was titled, The Answer. His ideas were quite radical for the time, and attracted the attention not just of the general public, but of law enforcement, which resulted in a series of police prosecutions, gaol sentences and asylum incarcerations. Chidley and those who sold his pamphlet were prosecuted on the grounds that there were sections of the book which would ‘tend to deprave and corrupt the morals of any person reading it’.

William Chidley, National Archives of Australia (A1861, 5461)

Although Chidley was arrested many times, sometimes for ‘offensive’ behaviour and other times simply for wearing his tunic, his many friends and supporters came forward to pay his fines. But in August 1912, medical authorities declared him insane and he was detained in the Callan Park Mental Hospital in Lilyfield. Meetings were held in protest of his detainment and the issue was raised in Parliamentary debates. After a packed meeting in Sydney Town Hall, Chidley was released in October 1912.

Chidley continued his crusade for the next four years, and was continuously arrested, incarcerated and released. This only made him more well-known, and very soon his message and brushes with the law were making headlines across the country. Yet despite the support and attention he garnered, Chidley was declared insane again in February 1916 and committed to Kenmore Mental Hospital in Goulburn. He appealed in vain to the Supreme Court and was later again committed to Callan Park Mental Hospital.

In October 1916 Chidley recovered from a suicide attempt but died suddenly of arteriosclerosis two months later. The original 1899 manuscript of his autobiography The Confessions of William James Chidley is now at the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW and was first published in 1977. His experience continues to be relevant today, as tensions and issues surrounding freedom of speech remain an ever-present reality.

Listen now If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wedensday morning at 8:20 am.

'Unionism in Excelsis - Soldiers on Strike', Liverpool 14 February 1916, Daily Telegraph, 15 February 1916, p 7

The soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force who fought in WW1 are usually remembered as heroic and patriotic. But they weren't always compliant to military rule and were prone to cause trouble, both here and overseas. Conditions in the recruitment camps at Liverpool and Casula were overcrowded and uncomfortable. In 1916, a year and a half into the war, the volunteers started agitating for better conditions, demanding more flexible leave arrangements and a canteen serving alcohol. When the recruits were told at morning parade on Monday 14 February 1916 that their weekly training regime would increase from 36 hours to 40 and a half hours a week, all hell broke loose. The soldiers declared they were going on strike and decamped without permission. News of the strike travelled fast among the soldiers and by late morning about 3,000 men marched from Casula into Liverpool where they joined up with the Liverpool recruits. They ran riot through the town. They packed into the hotels demanding drinks and distributing it out on the street in pots and pans, smashed and looted shops and overran the train at the railway station and headed into the city. Mrs Elsie Collimore, interviewed 30 years ago, remembers scenes from the 1916 soldiers riot in Liverpool, which happened when she was a little girl.  The euphoric and drunk soldiers reached Central station by about 11am and kept pouring into the city into the afternoon. Initially the protesting soldiers formed up and marched down George Street behind a placard protesting at their increased training load. But discipline soon disintegrated. For a few hours anarchy ruled the streets of Sydney. The police were powerless to control the mob. Hotels were raided for booze, fruit stalls overturned, shops at the Queen Victoria Building and Grace Brothers at Broadway were smashed. The drunk soldiers targeted businesses with German affiliations - such as Kleisdorff's tobacco shop in Hunter Street and the German Club in Phillip Street. In the end the police called other military recruits from the Sydney Showgrounds to assist in bringing the soldiers under control. They were gradually pushed back towards Central and sent back out to Liverpool. However a fiery remnant of protesters took a last stand at Central in the evening, throwing missiles at police. This provoked a response. In the melee shots rang out. When things calmed down, Ernest William Keefe, a 20 year old trainee in the Light Horse, lay on the ground dead, and 6 or 7 others in the crowd (including a civilian) were injured. The shooting sobered everyone up. It's hard to know exactly how many recruits participated in the riot. There were both military and civic trials. At least 279 trainees were discharged from the army. And over 30 men were charged in the civil courts with riotous behaviour, assaulting police, damaging property, indecent language and the like.

Liquor Referendum sign, urging citizens to vote fro 9pm closing and 8pm as their 2nd choice. Located on the corner of Riley Street and William Street looking SW towards Yurong Lane, 1910. (City of Sydney Archives NSCA CRS 51/1831)

The unintended consequence of the riot was much more lasting. One of the soldiers' gripes was that they wanted a canteen at the training camp serving alcohol. Well, they managed to spoil it for everyone, playing right into the hands of the temperance movement. An early-closing Referendum was scheduled for the 10th June on the liquor question. The temperance movement, supported by the conservative Sydney Morning Herald, demanded the closing of all bars until the war was over. The drunken behaviour of "Black Monday" was condemned as unpatriotic and made NSW "the shame of Australia". Four months after the riot, the citizens of Sydney voted to close all pubs at 6 o'clock. This law remained in place until 1955. So when you are having a beer at your local pub this Sunday on the 100th anniversary of the 1916 soldiers riot, spare a thought for the soldiers. While we might admire them for standing up for better conditions, their behaviour transformed pubs in Sydney forever. Listen now If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wedensday morning at 8:20 am.

John Jenkins 1834. By John Gardiner Austin. Contributed by National Library

There is nothing like reading about a colourful historical figure to remind ourselves how rich and complicated our society actually is. This week I was struck by the story of Robert Wardell. The name might seem a little bit familiar to you. Wardell Road in Marrickville which leads from Petersham to Earlwood was named after him. Robert Wardell (1793-1834) is an interesting character in early Sydney. He was a barrister and a newspaper proprietor. Along with William Wentworth, Wardell founded The Australian newspaper in 1824. He was a prickly man and his newspaper editorials and articles could be ascerbic, arrogant, condescending - and heavily sarcastic. On two occasions, Wardell was provoked into a duel to settle scores. No one was hurt on either occasion. But it did put Wardell out of favour around society circles and particularly with the Governor. Governor Darling hated him. Wardell was also ruffling feathers due to his adulterous relationship with Sarah Rowe (nee Mills) the wife of Thomas Deane Rowe, a shyster lawyer (also from Yorkshire) who had been in the colony since 1821. Thomas and Sarah had apparently separated due to Thomas having an affair with Harriet Hanks. Wardell's entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography describes him as a bachelor, however John Edwards has investigated Wardell's private affairs and concluded that Sarah Rowe was Wardell's mistress. You can read all about it in Edward's article for the Dictionary. It is a good reminder of how complex society relations were in colonial Sydney. Affairs and de facto relationships were common, if not sanctioned. Wardell named his house on his large estate in Petersham Sarah Dell, after his mistress. And she was probably the mysterious Miss S Wardell listed in the household at the 1828 census. Wardell's colourful life came to an abrupt end in 1834 when he was murdered on his property by bushrangers. Three escaped convicts had set up a little humpy in a corner of Wardell's large property. When Wardell discovered and challenged them, their leader John Jenkins shot him. The three men - John Jenkins, Thomas Tattersdale and Emanuel Brace - were captured the following week. Brace turned witness, and Tattersdale and Jenkins were hung. Jenkins remained unrepentant and newspaper reported his defiant speech from the scaffold inciting others to shoot tyrants. One of the most mysterious things is that William Wardell died intestate, something unthinkable for a wealthy and accomplished lawyer such as Wardell. But knowledge of his affair with Sarah Rowe puts a new perspective on things.

Portrait of Robert Wardell, detail from marble tablet in St James church c1990. By John Edwards. Contributed by John Edwards

John Edwards explains:

The relationship between Robert and Sarah was undoubtedly a long one but was without legitimate issue. In an era before divorce, Wardell could neither marry Sarah nor include a woman whose husband was still very much alive in his will. Something that has always puzzled historians is why a lawyer like Wardell should die intestate – his mother had died in 1830 and a new will was never made – but this new insight into his domestic situation perhaps explains why he never remade his will.

Wardell is remembered in a marble tablet in St James Church, as well as in the naming of Wardell Road. Further reading John Edwards, Wardell, Robert, Dictionary of Sydney, 2013 CH Curry, Wardell, Robert (1793-1834), Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1967 THE CONVICT SYSTEM. Execution, The Sydney Herald, 13 November 1834, 2. Available  online http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28654392, viewed 2 February, 2016. LISTEN NOW If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wedensday morning at 8:20 am.  

Hydrofoil in Sydney Harbour, 1970. Pic: Mark Faviell / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/markfaviell/5601046844)

A couple of weeks ago when I was last in, I commented upon the hydrofoil footage in David Bowie's film clip China Girl and it transpired that some of our listeners weren't quite sure what a hydrofoil was. So today I thought we'd better rectify that. We have a lot about ferries on Sydney Harbour in the Dictionary, but admittedly not so much about the hydrofoils. Luckily they were introduced to Sydney Harbour at a time when there was lots of colour photographs and moving footage. So there is plenty of coverage.The City of Sydney Archives and the National Archives have some great images. So what is a hydrofoil? A hydrofoil was the fast ferry or jetcat of the 1960s. Boats that used hydrofoil technology were simply named after their engineering mechanism and called hydrofoils. The foil is a lifting surface that operates in water. The whole idea was that the hydrofoil would lift the boat's hull out of the water, thereby decreasing drag, and allowing the boat to go faster. The first hydrofoil was introduced on the Circular Quay to Manly route in 1965 and it was the first hydrofoil in Australia. The Port Jackson & Manly Steamship introduced the sleek modern transport to try to modernise the ferry route and boost patronage. The hydrofoil took half the time of the conventional big ferries (about 15 minutes compared to 35 minutes). They were fast yes, but tickets were also much more expensive for commuters. The first hydrofoil to ply Sydney Harbour was called the M.V. Manly III. The following year, in 1966, the larger 140-seat Fairlight was introduced.  This was followed by other hydrofoils. Like all our transport on Sydney Harbour, they had a suite of names. The hydrofoils were named after beaches. So there was Manly, Fairlight, Dee Why, Curl Curl, Long Reef, and Palm Beach. The wikipedia entry on Sydney hydrofoils has all the specifications. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y5XaLwFHqg[/embed]   Hydrofoils operated on the Circular Quay to Manly route throughout the 1970s and 1980s. I remember going on the hydrofoils as a kid. They were so exciting: the speed, the spray, those kooky hydrofoils that to me were magical. By the mid-1980s there were hydrofoils capable of transporting 235 passengers, much larger than the original Manly III which could carry just 75 passengers. The last hydrofoil on Sydney Harbour was decommissioned on 18 March 1991. They were replaced by the Jetcat catamarans, but they too were scrapped on the Manly route at the end of 2008. So now hydrofoils are just a part of Sydney Harbour history. Miss today’s segment? You can catch up via the 2SER website (update pending). Meanwhile, you can enjoy this video. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wedensday morning at 8:20 am. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx7NeJNXnWY&feature=youtu.be[/embed]  

Bennelong Point c1804, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a1528483 / V1/1810/1)

The Dictionary of Sydney has launched a new tour! Following on from Convict Parramatta, we can now explore Sydney’s harbour islands on our mobile devices, from the Royal Australian Navy base we know as Garden Island in the east, to the prison-turned-dockyard, Cockatoo Island, in the west. I spoke with Mitch about it on 2SER Breakfast this morning. I am excited to introduce this new tour in the Dictionary of Sydney’s app. I enjoyed writing the content for each of the 13 islands, drawing from the work of several writers and discovering some quirky facts about these wonderful land masses in our picturesque harbour. For example, did you know that there were originally 14 islands, but two were joined together to form Spectacle Island? And in 1904, scavenger boats retrieved a range of dead animals around Goat Island including 2,189 dogs, 1,033 cats, 29 pigs, nine goats and one monkey! One of my favourite stops is Bennelong Island. Every day, hordes of people walk across Circular Quay to take photographs of one of Australia’s most famous landmarks - the Sydney Opera House. But I’m guessing few people might stop to ponder what was there before it was built. Before the British arrived in 1788, the area was a tidal island separated from the mainland where Cadigal women gathered and collected oysters. After the British arrived, convict women burned discarded oyster shells to make lime for cement mortar. The island became known as Bennelong Island in the 1790s, after Governor Arthur Phillip built a brick hut there for the Wangal man, Bennelong.

Cadet Ron Whelan from the Snapper Island sea training depot, State Library of Victoria (Accession no. H98.105/2225)

But there were other, perhaps even lesser known, discoveries to be made around our harbour. Snapper Island, for example, which is the smallest island in Sydney Harbour and is located at the mouth of the Parramatta River, was once nicknamed Flea, Rat or Mosquito Island. It was declared a public reserve in 1879. But in 1891, the Sydney Morning Herald described it as a ‘small, rocky, barren islet, whose only office is to supply standing room for sea fowl - some place where they can meet and deliberate’. It wasn’t until 1921, when it was converted into a place for navy cadet training that its reputation changed. The island was actually reshaped to resemble a ship’s plan and layout, and today is a heritage listed site. One stop I’m sure we’ve all heard of is Cockatoo Island. An amazing site, which though today forms the centre of various cultural activities including the Biennale, it was also once a prison. It’s the largest of the harbour islands and it is thought the Wangal people used the island to fish from and use its trees to construct nawi or canoes. A prison was built on the island in 1839, and between 1847 and 1857 convicts excavated a dry dock on the island for ship repairs. In 1871, it became a school for orphans and neglected girls as well as a reformatory for girls who had been convicted of crimes. But in the same year it was also a training base for 500 homeless and orphaned boys aboard the ship Vernon, which caused many problems for the school's administrators, with one claiming:

...three girls came down abreast of the ship in a semi nude state, throwing stones at the windows of workshops - blaspheming dreadfully and conducting themselves more like fiends than human beings, I was compelled to send all our boys onto the lower deck to prevent them viewing such a contaminatory exhibition.

There’s so much more to discover in the tour with the other 10 islands, so you can download the Dictionary of Sydney app for free on the App Store and Google Play. Enjoy! Miss today’s segment? You can catch up at the 2SER website. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:20 am.