This weekend the Sydney Opera House turns 40. It's hard to imagine a building of this magnitude being commissioned by a government today, yet there it stands - a monument to vision and creativity (not to mention engineering) that has been recognised not just with State heritage listing (2003) but World Heritage listing (interestingly, some five years earlier, in 1998). The chequered history of the building's construction is well known, as is Jørn Utzon's vow never to return to Australia following conflict with a newly elected Government concerned about escalating costs as engineers grappled to find solutions to Utzon's challenging design. The harbour site was one of 30 considered for Sydney's new Opera House. Joined by rubble in 1818 so that Fort Macquarie could be built there, Bennelong Point was a tidal island when Europeans first arrived. Named after Woollarawarre Bennelong, who lived there in the 1790s, the Opera House, like many Sydney buildings, is built on the remnants of shell middens. This weekend's fesitivities include a 40th anniversary concert, to be held on Sunday. Officially, the first production held at the Opera House was Prokofiev's War and Peace. Unofficially, it was a concert given to Opera House workers in 1960 by Paul Robeson - a fitting first concert by anyone's standard. You can read more about the Opera House in Laila Ellmoos's essay for the Dictionary here.

Earlier this year the Dictionary of Sydney teamed up with 2SER to present a regular live segment about Sydney' history on Breakfast with Tim Higgins. For the next two weeks 2SER are running their annual Supporter Drive. From the 14-26 October you can join up or make a donation to help keep their airwaves humming at support.2ser.com In honour of the fantastic opportunity we've enjoyed being part of community radio, I thought we'd take a look at some of Sydney's radio history on the blog this week. The first direct wireless message from England to Australia was transmitted to a suburban house in Sydney's lower north shore in 1918. It came to the house of Sir Ernest Fisk, Director of Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd (AWA). Almost immediately, amateur experimenters began transmitting and receiving messages. Clubs appeared across Sydney and manufacturers and retailers began selling radio sets and parts. By 1922, the Wireless Weekly had been established in Sydney, the same year that the British Broadcasting Corporation was founded. Not everyone had access to a radio. In 1934, Glebe Council built Wireless House in Foley Park allowing crowds to gather and enjoy daily radio programs. It operated from 10am until 10.15pm every day from February 1935 until the early 1950s. Radio brought the community new opportunities for education and entertainment. In the 1970s, the Government began offering community radio licences. 2SER - which stands for Sydney Educational Radio - made its first broadcast on October 1, 1979. You can read more about 2SER's history here and about Sydney's radio history here. If you'd like to share your favourite piece of radio history, you can join our discussion on Facebook.    

size-medium wp-image-5723Lucien Henry design for wall paper, 1915.http://trust.dictionaryofsydney.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/LucienHenry_wallpaperdesign_71693-197x300.pngLucien Henry design for wall paper, 1915. Contributed by Internet Archive [The Australian flora in applied art (1915)] (The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden)197300/>

Henry died in Paris in 1896. Not long afterwards, with the advent of Australian Federation, Australian native flora and fauna artistic motifs exploded in popularity. You can read more about Henry's contribution to Australian decorative arts here on the Dictionary. Next week Tim will be chatting to the Dictionary's Editorial Coordinator, Jacqueline Spedding. Tune in then at 8.20am on 2SER Breakfast 107.3FM for more great stories about Sydney’s past, courtesy of the Dictionary of Sydney.            

The International Naval Fleet Review starts tomorrow, so this morning on 2SER breakfast I thought it would be good to talk to Tim about HMAS Sydney. It is anticipated that approximately 40 warships and 16 tall ships will participate in the review. And it's all going to be centred on the harbour. The International Fleet Review commemorates the centenary of the first entry of the Royal Australian Navy's fleet into Sydney. On 4 October 1913, the flagship HMAS Australia led the new Australian Fleet Unit comprising HMA ships Melbourne, Sydney, Encounter, Warrego, Parramatta and Yarra into Sydney Harbour for the first time. Of particular interest is HMAS Sydney which is closely connected to the city of Sydney.* The first HMAS Sydney escorted ANZAC troop carriers during WWI, and engaged the German ship Emden in battle, sinking it. The Emden Gun in Hyde Park is a war trophy from this early wartime battle. HMAS Sydney II saw service during WWII and was sunk by the German ship Kormoron off the Western Australian coast. The wrecks were only discovered in 2008. The third HMAS Sydney was the first aircraft carrier of the Royal Australian Navy. The current HMAS Sydney was commissioned in 1983. It has been deployed in the Middle East, Iraq and also in East Timor.

The Dictionary has a lot of content related to the navy. As well as HMAS Sydney, you can discover great images and stories about:

• Cockatoo Island, which was a dockyard for the Royal Australian Navy
• Garden Island, which is now a navy base
• you can learn about the challenges of defending Sydney Harbour in the 19th century, and
• there is even an entry on radar!

--- * Sydney is the name given over the last century to four warships in the Royal Australian Navy, whose home base is the port city of Sydney.  

This morning on 2SER with Tim Higgins, Tim and Lisa talked about the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, one of the few institutions to have survived intact from the earliest days of Australia's colonial past. The SMSA is celebrating 180 years and yesterday they launched the publication of their history, written by Dictionary author and historian, Garry Wotherspoon. The SMSA was established in 1833 and was the precursor to technical colleges and TAFE. Based on a British model, the school was all about educating the working classes, guided by the philosophy of the importance of education and its transformative powers, for society as a whole and for individuals. Many of Sydney's political and intellectual leaders participated in classes, gave lectures and contributed to the management of the SMSA such as Henry Parkes, (Premier NSW), Edmund Barton (Australia's first Prime Minister), Billy Hughes (Prime Minister), Louisa Lawson (suffragette), Ludwig Leichhardt (explorer), Henry Kendall (poet) and Norman Selfe (engineer). In one of Lisa's very first segments with Tim, she talked about the politician and murderer, Thomas 'Lemonade' Ley. He honed his rhetoric skills as a teenager in the SMSA's debating club! Over the years, the SMSA has held classes in mechanical drawing, science, debating, singing, art, mathematics, architecture, anatomy and even simple surgery. Their historic headquarters, built in 1836, are now the Arthouse hotel. Their new premises are one block further south in Pitt St where they have an excellent lending library and run a great events and talks series. The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts have been a strong supporter of the Dictionary of Sydney; many of our authors give lectures and talks at the SMSA and we are thrilled to join them in celebrating this important milestone in their history.

Join Tim and Lisa again next Wednesday at 8.20am on 2SER Breakfast 107.3FM for more great stories about Sydney’s past, courtesy of the Dictionary of Sydney.

Gamaragal - Aboriginal People of Manly and Northern Sydney 6 September 2013 - 20 April 2014 Manly Art Gallery & Museum

Long-time Dictionary author Keith Vincent Smith is guest curator of Gamaragal - Aboriginal People of Manly and Northern Sydney, now showing at Manly Art Gallery & Museum. The exhibition is part of the 2013 Manly Arts Festival and includes digital reproductions from collections and museums in London and St Petersburg including watercolours, drawings, artefacts and other objects dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Alongside the original engravings owned by the Manly Art Gallery and Museum, the exhibition poignantly captures the precolonial world of the Gamaragal and their first encounters with European settlers. The Gamaragal clan occupied the north shore of Port Jackson, from Karabilye (Kirribilli) opposite Warrane (Sydney Cove) to the cliffs of Garungal or Carangle (North Head) and the sandy bay of Kayyeemy (Manly Cove), reputedly the most densely populated part of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) at the time. Artefacts on loan from The Australian Museum include the 'Manly mogo', a stone axe given to a European girl in Manly in the 1830s and a four-pronged muting or fishing spear and two berá (fish-hooks) chipped from shells found at nearby Collins Cove. A small replica nawi or stringybark canoe, highly valued by the Gamaragal, has been loaned by David Payne, curator at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Keith Vincent Smith curated the 2010 exhibition Mari Nawi: Aboriginal Odysseys at the State Library of NSW and is author of the book of the same title. He has written many scholarly and engaging articles on Aboriginal Sydney for the Dictionary, including a recent essay on Woollarawarre Bennelong. Gamaragal - Aboriginal People of Manly and Northern Sydney is at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum and runs until 20 April 2014.  

The word was written in a perfect copperplate script. At first it was done in chalk, but later with more durable crayon. It appeared around Sydney streets overnight: in the city, in the inner suburbs. Always the same, just one word: Eternity. For over 30 years the word Eternity regularly appeared on the footpaths in inner Sydney. On 2SER this morning with Tim Higgins, we talked about the mysterious chalker who from 1932 hoped to inspire generations of Sydneysiders. The identity of the pavement evangelist remained a mystery for years. It has been estimated the word was inscribed about half a million times. Newspaper writers speculated, and occasionally someone was outed or gave a false confession, which fuelled the story further. Finally, in 1956 a religious minister from the Burton Street Baptist Tabernacle, Lisle Thompson, espied the culprit who had remained anonymous for so long. Thompson caught the man in the act of inscription; it was Arthur Stace - the tabernacle's very own janitor, a reformed drunk turned footpath evangelist. Arthur Stace's story is one of poverty, war, and redemption - and you can read all about it in the Dictionary of Sydney, including where he got his inspiration for writing Eternity on the pavement. Lisle Thompson wrote up the story in a short religious tract. Then the Sunday Telegraph got hold of the story and exposed Arthur Stace's identity on 21 June 1956. With time, the copperplate rendition of the word has seeped into popular culture. It has featured in the artistic works of Martin Sharp, memorialised in Sydney Square, and blazoned across the Sydney Harbour Bridge for New Year's Eve. And it is now the name of the new theatre housed in the Burton Street Baptist Tabernacle in Darlinghurst. The Burton Street Tabernacle is officially re-opening as the Eternity Playhouse this Sunday, 22 September 2013. You can visit the historic building between 11am and 1pm. The City of Sydney Council purchased the tabernacle in 2004 and after extensive restoration and renovations has transformed the building into a modern 200-seat theatre and creative arts centre with a bar and cafe. Don't miss this opportunity to see the building that is intimately connected with one of Sydney's inspiring stories. Please join Tim and I again next Wednesday at 8.20am on 2SER Breakfast 107.3FM for more great stories about Sydney’s past, courtesy of the Dictionary of Sydney.

The theme of History Week 2013 has been Picture This, and for our final History Week blog post this year, the Dictionary of Sydney staff members have all selected one picture each from the vast array  on the site. It's been a difficult choice, and an interesting insight into the team...  For a serendipitous tour of the Dictionary, click on the pics below to see them on the site and see where they take you. Got a favourite of your own already? You can also use the Multimedia Browse to find one. Remember too to make the most of the last days of History Week and to check the program for events this weekend.

A universal staff favourite, this image of women with cameras at Middle Harbour  was chosen by Garry Wotherspoon, Dictionary volunteer writer & reviewer   The choice of Neil Radford, our intrepid volunteer thesaurus expert

  One of the favourites of our inspirational Chair, Lisa Murray

                                                         Steven Hayes, our valiant technical officer & navigator, selected this peaceful view

  Our fearless leader Kim Hanna's selection  

  The choice of Jacqueline Spedding, tireless Dictionary of Sydney editor

                                                And finally:

It often comes as a surprise to modern audiences that a 'photoshopped' photograph is nothing new, but photographers have been using 'cut and paste' as a way to enhance their images or to tell a different story to the one immediately before the lens for as long as they've been taking photographs. Unlike some composite photos that are often mistaken for 'truth', (check out the State Library of NSW's History Week exhibition Behind the Truth for some examples) this image obviously falls into the popular Victorian 'trick photography' category. Of all the images on the Dictionary blog and website, this photo has been shared, linked to and liked the most often  - the combination of vintage trick photography and gruesome subject has been of particular appeal across the internet. The image shows A McManus by Henry William Burgin II. It is just one of a collection of studio portraits of residents of Parramatta by Burgin in the State Library of New South Wales and when we posted it on the blog in 2011, we were keen to know the story behind it.  As it turned out, there are several stories to tell and thanks to researcher and Dictionary blog reader, John W S Moore, we now know rather more about the possible background story of the photograph than it simply being a fine Australian example of Victorian trick photography. It seems likely that the photograph shows Alfred and/or Arthur McManus re-enacting a family tragedy from 1829. A sad tale, it involves a host of notable characters, many of whom grace the Dictionary's pages, and unfolds as follows: On the evening of 4 October 1829, James Macmanus took an axe and murdered the bell-ringer of St John's Church in Parramatta, Edward 'Neddy' Vales. The alarm was raised by George Savage, coachman of Samuel Marsden, who heard Macmanus wandering the church yard. The coroner's inquest the next day was reported in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser on 8 October 1829. A dramatic exchange between James Macmanus and George Savage after the murder was related at the trial in the Criminal Court on 12 October, only 8 days after the event, and reported in the The Australian on 16  October 1829:

...on getting nearer the door, the maniac was heard to cry, "I'll wash my hands, and wash them clean;" as he turned to wash his hands, Savage ran up to the door, and pulled it to - then opened it a little, and peeped, when the maniac flung water in his face, saying, "thou art saved;" Savage said, "Jem, come along with me, and I'll take you home to your brother's;"  Macmanus replied, "Ah, do you know me, I have conquered the devil"; on looking round the room Savage beheld a dead body stretched along the ground, the neck, and face of which were desperately lacerated, an axe lying hear it appeared to be covered with blood ; Savage exclaimed to the constable outside, he's killed old Neddy...

Macmanus was defended in court by Dr Robert Wardell, who 'urged that the man was unsound in his mind at the time of committing the murder'. The defence of insanity was accepted and Macmanus was committed to the Parramatta Asylum, where he took his own life on 9 July 1839. Brothers Arthur & Alfred McManus (if it is indeed one of them who is posing in the photograph) were nephews of James Macmanus and residents of Parramatta while Burgin had his studio there, while our source, John W S Moore, is his great great great grandson. Our thanks go again to John for his help with this.   Picture This is the theme of History Week in New South Wales this year. If you are haven’t joined in the fun yet there is plenty to enjoy. You can have a look at the program of events here.

nla.pic-an23478249 Hurley, Frank, 1885-1962. [Very large print of Over the Top, a composite shot of World War I battle in Ypres, signed Frank Hurley 1917, propped against a house]http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an23478249target="_blank">

 

This morning on 2SER Breakfast with Tim Higgins, Dictionary Chair Lisa Murray talked about History Week, an event organised by the History Council of NSW that has been running for some 13 years. If you've been reading along this week you would know the theme for History Week this year is Picture This. Tonight Lisa will be speaking on a panel at the Australian National Maritime Museum called From Glass Plate to Cyber Space. The panel will be discussing how cultural institutions are using digital communities to share photographic collections and unlock the past. Through our community partnerships and readers, the Dictionary has access to a wealth of stunning images from Sydney’s past. Every so often, one of these strikes a chord with our readers and the conversations that follow are fascinating and revealing. Tomorrow we will revisit one of those images and the stories that emerged after our post. --- From Glass Plate to Cyber Space 6-8pm Wed 11 September Book tickets online @ANMMuseum #picturethis Tonight's panel includes: Paula Bray, Manager of the Visual and Digitisation Services department at the Powerhouse Museum, Geoff Hinchcliffe, Director of Digital Library Services and CIO at the State Library of New South Wales, Lisa Murray, City Historian at the City of Sydney, Bernard de Broglio, Web Manager at the City of Sydney and Mitchell Whitelaw, Associate Professor leading the Master of Digital Design in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Canberra. --