1. The Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Newtown

Saturday night in Newtown 1889
Saturday night in Newtown 1889. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales, TN115, Illustrated Sydney News, 27 June 1889 p16-17
One of the key aspects of the Dictionary of Sydney is the way that it aggregates and shares information about places and suburbs. Newtown is an inner city suburb that is represented in the Dictionary in lots of of different ways. Its mentioned in the history of Enmore and the history of drag and cross-dressing. Newtown has connections to the Jewish community and brickmakers. Murrawina Aboriginal-run childcare originated as a breakfast program for Aboriginal kids in Newtown. And there are some groovy images. Check out: Playing croquet and archery on the lawn at Enmore House and The toll bar on King Street at Newtown Station c.1870s. One of my favourite images and quotes is about Saturday night in Newtown in 1889. The illustration shows a bustling retail strip with trams, horse drawn omnibuses and thronging crowds. The Illustrated Sydney News wrote:
King street Newtown is always more or less busy, but on Saturday night it is seen at its best and brightest. Fancy a double line, more than a mile long, of brilliantly lighted shops; and 'side-walks' so inconveniently crowded, that it is often a matter of some difficulty to push one's way through the throng of people on business and on pleasure bent.
That was in 1889, but it equally applies to 2014. This quote opens a little walking tour that the Dictionary of Sydney is invovled with. The Dictionary partnered with the City of Sydney to provide extra content in their new walking tour app: Sydney Culture Walks. There are six history walks - including Newtown - and six public art walks currently in the app. You can choose a curated walk and then see points of interest along the way. Each site has image and text and then has a link to the Dictionary of Sydney, where you can find more images and stories. On the Newtown walk you can discover the history of Newtown Railway Station, the Newtown Bridge and the Hub. There were once produce markets in Newtown, and of course there is the civic precinct with Newtown Town Hall, the courthouse, fire station and school of arts. And did you know, the grand department store Marcus Clark and Co first started in Newtown? It's all there waiting to be discovered. Sydney Culture Walks is a great app. The Dictionary of Sydney is very proud to have contributed to the content in the app and making your discovery of Sydney's history that extra bit special. It is the ideal companion for discovering the city on foot - you can discover hidden laneways and new neighbourhoods while learning about Sydney's fascinating history and the stories behind the city's most loved public artworks. So get out there and explore Sydney's history. Download the Sydney Culture Walk app from Google Play or the Apple Store or visit http://www.sydneyculturewalksapp.com/ --- If you missed Lisa this morning on 2SER breakfast you can catch up with the podcast here. Lisa and Mitch talk about Sydney history every Wednesday morning at 8:20am on 107.3. Tune in!
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Soccer in Sydney

Royal Australian Navy team plays soccer against the visiting German Navy cruiser Koln team, Lyne Park, Sydney, May 1933 by Sam Hood. Collection of the State Library of New South Wales on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/sets/72157623536806314/
With the football world cup started, let's get sporty and look at the history of soccer in Sydney (or football as it is known internationally). We don't have a specific article about soccer in the Dictionary, but we do have an excellent overview thematic essay by Richard Cashman all about the development of sport in Sydney. The first recorded match of soccer was played at Parramatta Common on Saturday 14 August 1880. The game was organised by John Walter Fletcher, who had been elected by an interested group within the community to form an 'Association Rules' football club. Fletcher's team was known as The Wanderers and they played a team made up of students from The Kings School First XV rugby club. The NSW English Football Association was subsequently established in 1882. In 1912, Sydney led the world by adopting the numbering of soccer players. This was introduced by all senior Sydney soccer clubs and was a world first. There were plans to form an Australian Soccer Association, but World War One intervened, and the idea was put on hold. International tours were popular in Sydney the 1920s. Chinese soccer teams toured Australia in 1923, when a Sydney Cricket Ground crowd of 47,500 watched Australia play, and again in 1927. English teams toured in 1925 and 1937. When the English team played at the Sydney Showground in 1925, a crowd of 49,500 spectators watched the action. For the record, Australia lost this match against England. Soccer really took off in the post war period. Immigrants began to make their mark on a number of sports and ethnically based soccer clubs emerged from the 1950s. Clubs linked to ethnic communities, such as APIA (Italian), Hakoah (Jewish) and Prague (Czech) became prominent in Sydney soccer competition by the late 1950s. Disgruntled by the treatment of ethnic clubs by the British-Australian officials, some clubs left to form the New South Wales Federation of Soccer Clubs in 1957. There was far greater commercialism and professionalism in Sydney sport after 1970 and privatisation and corporatisation appeared in many sports. Globalisation created both strains and new opportunities. The 1970s also marked the beginnings of the transformation of suburban competitions into national competitions - not only in soccer, but also rugby league, Australian football and basketball, in search of larger audiences. The National Soccer League was formed in 1977 and many other codes followed suit. Australian soccer created a new national competition in 2004/5, with eight teams based in the major cities and regional centres of Australia and one team from New Zealand. Sydney FC won the inaugural A-League championships in 2005/06 and, as a result, competed against Asian teams in the AFC Champions league in 2007. You can read more about the history of sport in Sydney here.  Soccer fans should take a look at the Migration Heritage Centre's exhibition from 2006 called The World Cup Dream: Sories of Australia's Soccer Mum's and Dad's  There is a timeline of the history of soccer in Australia and some oral history interviews, including one with Australia's best known football commentator and author, Les Murray. --- You can listen to Lisa's segment with Mitch on the history of sport in Sydney on 2SER here.
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The State Theatre

State Theatre and Newsreel Theatrette, Sydney 1946
State Theatre and Newsreel Theatrette, Sydney 1946. By Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales, hood_21618 / Home and Away 21618
The State Theatre captures the glamour of the 1920s picture palaces. It was built in 1929 by Union Theatres Ltd, at the peak of cinema's popularity in Australia. Going to 'the pictures' was a favourite leisure activity in the 1920s and 1930s, not only in the city but also in the suburbs. Matinees often drew women bent on combining a trip to 'the flicks' with shopping, and the Saturday serialised matinee was extremely popular with children, while evening programs attracted courting and married couples. Hollywood blockbusters of the 1930s were designed to be shown in lavish theatres, such as the State Theatre. The 'talkies' were introduced in 1927, radically transforming the experience of going to the cinema. Although built to screen talking films, the State Theatre incorporated orchestral facilities and a Wurlitzer organ. The Wurlitzer organ was used to accompany silent films and provide entertainment during other performances. During the 1930s the State Theatre's program included not just a feature film, but also vaudeville acts. We have a great photo of the State Theatre chorus girls performing on stage in the 1930s. The State Theatre was one of the largest cinemas in Sydney, able to accommodate about 2,500 patrons. It is a lavish mish-mash of styles, typical of the atmospheric cinemas designed by architect Henry Eli White. White also designed the Capitol Theatre. The exterior of the State Theatre is a Gothic skyscaper style. You enter through the foyer which is a Gothic entrance hall and ascend a curving marble staircase, passing art galleries in the auditorium, velvet lounges, and, in the theatre itself, Romanesque statues and a magnificently enormous chandelier. Even the toilets are over the top, with women having the butterfly room and the men's a baronial theme. As well as the main cinema, Union Theatre's built a theatrette in the basement which showed newsreels and there was a multi-storey office block that included offices, retail space, even a ball room. The State Theatre is a rare survivor. We have a great short interview with Stuart Green from Greater Union about the history of the theatre. It has seen through two restorations: one in the 1980s and a second is currently underway to improve backstage facilities. Today the State Theatre shows mainly live theatre: rock concerts, musicals and the like. The Sydney Film Festival is one of the few occasions that the State Theatre shows films these days. So put on your glad rags, go see a film and experience how the State Theatre was meant to be - transporting us to another world through cinema. It's a moment in Sydney's history. If you missed Lisa's segment this morning on 2SER, you can catch up with the podcast here.
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The Sydney Film Festival

Helen Twelvetrees with director Ken G Hall (c) and Frank Leighton on set of film 'Thouroughbred' at Cinesound Studios 1935-36. By Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales A301002 / PXE 789 v.56, 2 Mitchell Library
Helen Twelvetrees with director Ken G Hall (c) and Frank Leighton on set of film 'Thouroughbred' at Cinesound Studios 1935-36. By Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales A301002 / PXE 789 v.56, 2 Mitchell Library
The Sydney Film Festival opens this week, so it's timely to review its history. The festival started back in 1954 at a time when all you could see at the cinema was Hollywood hits. We've got a great article in the Dictionary on the history of Film in Sydney by Greg Dolgopolov and Ruth Balint. It includes an audio piece by one of the festival directors, Clare Stewart, who was responsible for the festival in 2009, talking about the origins of the film festival. The festival emerged out of the Sydney University Film Society. It was held at the University until 1967 when it shifted out to the Wintergarden at Rose Bay. The State Theatre became the home for the 21st festival in 1974. It could be considered a coming of age - literally and metaphorically. At this time the festival was under the leadership of David Stratton, and in fact he was the longest serving director, managing the film festival for 18 years. The picture palace is still the centre for the festival but in the 21st century it has grown to encompass a number of venues, as well as having a travelling film festival. The State Theatre is one of the grandest of all the picture palaces that were in Sydney in the 1930s, and a rare survivor. You enter through a Gothic entrance hall and ascend a curving marble staircase, passing art galleries in the auditorium, velvet lounges, and, in the theatre itself, Romanesque statues and a magnificently enormous chandelier. When the film festival started in the post war period there was no Arthouse cinema in Sydney. The film festival was one of the only opportunities to see foreign films. Artistic expression and censorship has created controversy at the film festival but that is all part of exploring the boundaries of film and one of the great things about the festival is that it continues to bring in international films that will never see a general release here in Australia. Now in its 61st, the film festival is one of the longest running film festivals in the world. It is very proud of its history and has published a fantastic ebook and archive on the web where you can explore the history of the festival. In their online archive you can see what films were shown on the program in any particular year. And there are essays on screen culture, the role of the film festival in Sydney's festival culture, censorship, award winners, film and graphic design, reflections by different directors....and more! If you missed Lisa's spot with Mitch on 2SER Breakfast this morning, you can catch up here. Lisa will be back in the chair again next week with more Sydney history so don't forget to tune in: 107.3 at 8:20am.  
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The City of Forking Paths

Lower Fort Street, The Rocks 1867
Lower Fort Street, The Rocks 1867. By Samuel Elyard. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales A2086001 / DGD 15/vol.5/69
The Rocks is the historic neighbourhood on the western side of Sydney Cove. It was named The Rocks by convicts who made homes there from 1788 but has a much older name, Tallawoladah, given by the first owners of this country, the Cadigal people. One of the interesting things about The Rocks is the name. It is very evocative of the place - if you've ever tried to walk across or around through The Rocks - you might even have gone through the Argyle Cut - it's all about the topography. Tallawoladah, the rocky headland of Warrane (Sydney Cove), had massive outcrops of rugged sandstone and was covered with a forest of pink-trunked angophora, blackbutt, red bloodwood and Sydney peppermint. Archaeological evidence shows that the Cadigal lit cooking fires high on the slopes and shared meals of barbecued fish and shellfish. Perhaps they used the highest places for ceremonies and rituals. Down below, Cadigal women fished the waters of Warrane in bark canoes. After the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Tallawoladah became the convict side of the town. While the Governor and civil personnel lived on the more orderly eastern slopes of the Tank Stream, convict women and men appropriated land on the west. Over the nineteenth century, the area was home to people of widely divergent classes  – from the rich in their impressive houses on the ridges, through ship captains and shopkeepers, to labourers and the drifting poor. But after the 1870s, this profile began to change as the wealthy increasingly abandoned city neighbourhoods for homes in the new suburbs. As a place, The Rocks and Millers Point embody and reflect the history of Sydney's development as a city and the many pressures placed on communities by urban development. The Rocks has undergone many social and physical upheavals: gangs and 'pushes', the plague and resumption and more recently, redevelopment for high rise (which resulted in the green bans), and gentrification. The battle for the Rocks and Millers Point is on again with the latest sell off of public housing at Millers Point. While we all think we know the story of the Rocks and its physical embodiment of our convict past, the archaeological record has been rewriting the history of the Rocks. Archaeological digs at The Rocks have allowed a rare window into the living conditions of the people who lived there – coal lumpers, sailors, dressmakers, housewives, small shopkeepers, labourers, tradesmen and tradeswomen, and lots of children. Archaeologists have recovered tea sets and dinner sets, silver-plated cutlery, washbasins and ewers, jewellery and watch pieces, buttons, beads and buckles, children's toys, figurines and thousands of other things. Together they speak not of a filthy slum but of people who were of modest means, or poor, striving under often difficult circumstances for domestic comfort, a measure of cleanliness, personal care and appearance and the education and care of children. We all see the city with different eyes and we all experience it in different ways. There is a remarkable opportunity to rediscover the Rocks and Millers Point with an immersive video soundscape called The City of Forking Paths, which takes you on a journey through someone else's experience of the Rocks. It's an artwork in the Biennale by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller that has been acquired by the City of Sydney Council so you will be able to experience this piece beyond June. The City of Forking Paths will be permanently available through Customs House Library. The artwork is an unusual experiential piece where you become immersed in the video on the iPod Touch as you are guided around the laneways and byways of The Rocks, Dawes Point and Millers Point. Janet Cardiff experienced The Rocks at the same time of day but encountered different people. The soundscape is particularly effective. You take it in the evening, at dusk , and the combination of the light and video opens your eyes to the textures and heritage details to be found in this early part of Sydney. Call into Customs House at Circular Quay one evening and experience the sound and sights of the city in a new way. It's a free event and I highly recommend it. You can catch up on Lisa's segment with Mitch this morning here.
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Sydney crime fiction

Murder of a Nymph book cover 1951
Murder of a Nymph book cover 1951. By Marxchivist. Contributed by Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom1231/261904734
The Sydney Writers Festival is on this week. We have a great overview of the history of literature in Sydney on the Dctionary of Sydney, written by Elizabeth Webby, Emeritus Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney. Elizabeth's entry covers the whole gammut of novels and poetry. If you want a list of great novels that are set in Sydney this is the article for you! Today, I thought, we'd focus on Crime Fiction. We all love a bit of murder mystery set in Sydney. One of the earliest pieces of detective fiction dates from 1842 - the same year that Sydney was formed as a city -  was Legends of Australia by John Lang but it wasn't until the 20th century that the genre really took off. Two sisters who wrote as 'Margot Neville' set most of their crime novels (18 in total, beginning with Murder in Rockwater from 1945), in Sydney, as did Pat Flower, who also published crime fiction from the 1950s to the 1970s using Sydney as a setting. Particularly significant is the work of Peter Corris, whose Sydney detective Cliff Hardy first began tramping the mean streets of Glebe, Bondi, Palm Beach and all places in between in The Dying Trade (1980) and continues to do so. Marele Day's Claudia Valentine, introduced in The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender (1988), appears to have ceased detecting after four cases. But Jon Cleary's Scobie Malone, first introduced in The High Commissioner (1966), is also still going strong. Others who have written detective or crime series set in Sydney include Claire McNab, Jean Bedford, Jennifer Rowe, Gabrielle Lord, Susan Geason and Robert G Barrett. While Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher usually detects in Melbourne, she pays a visit to Sydney in Death Before Wicket (1999). More experimental, one-off works in this genre include Jennifer Maiden's Play with Knives (1990), Finola Moorhead's Still Murder (1991) and Dorothy Porter's verse novel, The Monkey's Mask (1995). PM Newton is a current writer of crime fiction set in western Sydney. She is speaking at the writers festival down at Walsh Bay. Catch her as part of a panel Keeping it Real: Crime as Social History this Friday at 1pm. It's free. And if you're into history, then don't miss the History Council's panel of premier's history award winners discussing Stranger than Fiction - Historical Memory and the Past. That's st 30m and it's free too. I'll be there soaking it all up. If you missed my chat with Mitch this morning, you can catch up on the 2SER Breakfast podcast here. More next week - same place, same time! That's 107.3  8:20am.
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RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

Download our new units of study linked to the Australian history curriculum here.
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EDUCATION

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EDUCATION

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" background_layout="light" text_orientation="left" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" text_font_size="14"] The Dictionary of Sydney is a rich source of history for students and teachers and we are pleased to extend our resources to include units of study for primary and secondary students. We believe that an understanding of Australian history cultivates a rich foundation for school students to acquire an understanding of global perspectives and to honour our past and present heritage.   [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_3"][et_pb_divider admin_label="Divider" color="#ffffff" show_divider="off" height="20" divider_style="solid" divider_position="top" divider_weight="1" hide_on_mobile="on"] [/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" background_layout="light" text_orientation="left" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" text_font_size="14"]

PRIMARY

A key component of the general capabilities outlined in the Australian curriculum is promoting critical and creative thinking. Our primary units of study integrate key inquiry questions suggested in the syllabus and include teaching and learning experiences based on CREATE: Appreciation for Learning Theory . Developed by Christina Aloisio (MEdLead, BTeachLib, DipArts).

SECONDARY

Our secondary programs are based on Dictionary of Sydney articles. These programs include a PDF of the program outlining the activity and in some cases, as indicated, resources that have been developed to support the program. Each program outlines the links to both the Australian Curriculum and the current NSW Syllabus and includes key inquiry questions, an estimation of the time required to complete the activities, and appropriate hyperlinks to the Dictionary of Sydney. Developed by Prudence MacLeod for the Dictionary of Sydney with support from the Sydney Mechanic School of Arts.   [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_3"][et_pb_divider admin_label="Divider" color="#ffffff" show_divider="off" height="20" divider_style="solid" divider_position="top" divider_weight="1" hide_on_mobile="on"] [/et_pb_divider][et_pb_image admin_label="Image" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/slnsw.dxd.dc.prod.dos.prod.assets/home-dos-files/2015/10/SRNSW_15051_a047_001280.jpg" show_in_lightbox="off" url_new_window="off" animation="off" sticky="off" align="left" force_fullwidth="off" always_center_on_mobile="on" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" alt="PIc: Children in classroom at Blackfriars Public School c1913 Source: State Records New South Wales (15051_a047_001280.jpg)"] [/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" background_layout="light" text_orientation="left" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" text_font_size="10"] PIc: Children in classroom at Blackfriars Public School c1913 Source: State Records New South Wales 15051_a047_001280  http://dictionaryofsydney.org/organisation/blackfriars_public_school [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label="Row"][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_tabs admin_label="Tabs" use_border_color="off" border_color="#dd9933" border_style="dotted" active_tab_background_color="#f16524" inactive_tab_background_color="#f29d76" tab_font="|||on|" tab_text_color="#ffffff" disabled="off" disabled_on="off||"] [et_pb_tab title="Stage 5" tab_font_select="default" body_font_select="default" tab_font_size="16" tab_text_color="#ffffff" tab_font="||||" tab_font_size_tablet="16" tab_font_size_phone="16" body_font="||||" tab_line_height="2em" tab_line_height_tablet="2em" tab_line_height_phone="2em" body_line_height="2em" body_line_height_tablet="2em" body_line_height_phone="2em"]  
Depth Study Resources
Making A Better World - Movement of Peoples (1750-1901)
Life on board and Plotting the journey (ACDSEH083)
Lives are changed (ACDSEH084)
Impact (ACDSEH085)
Pemulwuy and Bennelong (ACDSEH085)
The many hats of early contact (ACDSEH085)
Australia and Asia - Making a Nation
Stolen Generations (ACDSEH020)
19th century Chinese migration (ACDSEH089)
World War I
Propaganda, conscription and treatment of Germans (ACDSEH096)
The ANZAC legend is born (ACDSEH097)
The impact of the war on returned soldiers/civilians (ACDSEH110)
World War II
Women's changing place (ACDSEH109)
The Globalising World - Migration experiences
Vietnamese migration (ACDSEH146)
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Depth Study Resources
Investigating the Ancient Past
Investigating Australia's Ancient Past (ACDSEH031)
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Year Level Resources
CREATE
 Critical and Creative Thinking Theory - outline Resource (PDF 278kb)
Foundation
 What is my history and how do I know? How can stories of the past be told and shared? Resource (PDF 215kb)
Year 1
 How can we show that the present is different from or similar to the past? Resource (PDF 213kb)
Year 2
 What aspects of the past can you see today? What do they tell us? Resource (PDF 220kb)
Year 3
 How has our community changed? What features have been lost and what features have been retained? Resource (PDF 225kb)
Year 4
 Why did the Europeans settle in Australia? Resource (PDF 232kb)
Year 5
 What were the significant events and who were the significant people that shaped Australia’s colonies? Resource (PDF 225kb)
Year 6
 Why and how did Australia become a nation? Resource (PDF 216kb)
[/et_pb_tab] [/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label="Row"][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_image admin_label="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" show_in_lightbox="off" url_new_window="off" animation="off" sticky="off" align="left" force_fullwidth="off" always_center_on_mobile="on" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label="Row"][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" background_layout="light" text_orientation="right" text_font_size="10" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" saved_tabs="all" global_module="11276"] 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 [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row global_module="9305" admin_label="row" make_fullwidth="on" use_custom_width="off" width_unit="on" use_custom_gutter="on" gutter_width="1" padding_mobile="off" allow_player_pause="off" parallax="off" parallax_method="off" make_equal="off" column_padding_mobile="on"][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" background_layout="light" text_orientation="left" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" custom_padding="20px|10px|20px|20px" text_text_color="#dd3333"]

Major sponsors                                                                      Community partnerships

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Sydney's old libraries and reading rooms

Laboratory and ladies' reading room in the Sydney School of Arts June 1879
Laboratory and ladies' reading room in the Sydney School of Arts June 1879. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales. TN115. Illustrated Sydney News 14 June 1879 p4
Historians are inveterate users and readers of books, and massive consumers of information. So we love libraries.  We have three libraries in Sydney that are still operating today and  can date their foundation back to the 1820s and 1830s. Who would have thought? Sydney's first major library was the Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room. It opened in Sydney on 1 December 1827, with 1,000 volumes. In 1869 this was bought by the colonial government and became the first Free Public Library of Sydney. It has since evolved into two separate libraries. The Public Lending Library Branch was transferred by the state government to the Sydney Municipal Council in 1909 and became the Sydney Municipal Public Library, and the Reference Branch was retained and became the State Library of New South Wales. The other really old library in Sydney is the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts Library. The school of arts movement swept across the English speaking world in the mid 19th century. It was all about the education of working men.The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts was established in Sydney in 1833. It established classes and lectures for the working men, as well as a library. The School proved popular in the 1830s. Two hundred and fifty lectures were given in the first 10 years on subjects ranging from chemistry, electricity and steam, to how to choose a horse, phrenology and vulgarities in conversation. Aided by philanthropists, the SMSA built its own premises at 275 Pitt Street, which opened in 1837.  Of course it had a library and a reading room. And women got their own reading room in 1879. The SMSA operated in this building until 1988. This site is now the Arthouse hotel, and you can still enjoy the history and heritage of the building. The SMSA just moved down the road to new premises. It is the oldest continuous lending library in Australia, and with over 32,000 books, mostly fiction, it holds one of the largest fiction libraries in Sydney. There is actually an artwork in the Sydney Biennale which is inspired by the SMSA library. Meriç Algün Ringborg's work 'The Library of Unborrowed Books' brings together books that have never been borrowed from the SMSA collection. It's an amazing work, and I'm going to be reflecting on its meanings at a talk at the Art Gallery of NSW as part of their Art After Hours talk. The talk kicks off at 6.30pm, and I'd love to see some 2ser listeners down there. *apologies to Lisa and to our readers - with an office move and some technical problems we weren't able to get Lisa's post online in time to put a call out for you to join her for what was a terrific talk. We'll hopefully bring you some of it next week. If you missed Lisa's chat with Mitch on 2SER breakfast, you can catch up here. Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday morning to 107.3 at 8:20am to hear more of Sydney's history.
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Katoomba and coal

Katoomba coal mine 1886
Katoomba coal mine 1886 . By Samuel Calvert. Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria IAN16/10/86/172
First up, I'd like to do a shout out to our marvelous multi-talented multi-tasking editor Jacqueline Spedding whose beautiful artwork work 'Transcend' has been awarded the 2014 Scenic World Acquisitive Award, up in the Blue Mountains. It's part of the Sculpture at Scenic World exhibition, the Blue Mountains answer to Sculpture by the Sea. We're very proud of her! If you're visiting Katoomba make sure you take a trip down the Scenic Railway to have a look at the exhibition. It's on until the 18th May. And of course there is another Dictionary of Sydney connection. The Dictionary of Sydney embraces greater Sydney and the Blue Mountains has been integral to Sydney's industry and community. We have a piece about Katoomba by John Merriman and another on the Katoomba Coal Tramway by Matti Keentok. Many people may not be aware that the Scenic Railway was part of a large industrial railway developed to support shale and coal mining at Katoomba. So if you ride on the Scenic Railway your experiencing part of Sydney's industrial history and heritage, as well as tourism history. John Britty North opened a coal mine at the base of the cliffs near Katoomba Falls in 1878. Within a year the high quality of his coal was winning prizes at the Sydney International Exhibition and the small settlement of Katoomba was gaining a reputation as an important mining centre. Later in the 1920s the coal trade was localised to Katoomba, - to the Katoomba Electric Power House, and small amounts to the hotels, guesthouses and local residents. There were also shale mining activities at the Ruined Castle and Glen Shale mines in the Megalong Valley. Shale was essential to the creation of Kerosene. Shale mining in Katoomba declined in the late 19th century and ceased by 1903. Although shale mining continued further west at Hartley. The steep tramway system was used to haul coal and shale up the cliffs and then on to the Great Western Railway at Katoomba. So the Scenic Railway was part of a much larger tramway system which extended to the Shale Mines and back to the main rail road. As the fortunes of Katoomba Colliery Ltd waned in 1920s and 1930s, the mining company supplemented its declining income by integrating the coal haulage system into the booming Katoomba tourist industry. The 'Mountain Devil' enjoyed by tourists in the 1930s eventually became, somewhat modified, the Scenic Railway of today. --- If you missed Lisa's chat with Mitch on 2SER Breakfast this morning, you can catch up here and don't forget to tune in again next Wednesday morning for more fascinating Sydney history on 107.3 at 8:20am.
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