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Prior to European settlement, the waterway we now call the Parramatta River was a shared food source, a highway and a territorial boundary for the Wangal, Wallemudegal, Gammeraygal and Burramattagal peoples. Colonisation dramatically reshaped the ecology of the river; the…

Sydney-born, James Oatley made his money as a publican, and then devoted himself to public affairs, as an alderman, mayor and parliamentarian.

The Free Public Library - which we now know as the State Library of NSW - arose from the ashes of the Australian Library and Literary Institution and its immediate predecessor, the Australian Subscription Library.

Known as Kutti to the Cadigal people, Watsons Bay became crucial to the early colony's maritime life, with the signal station, pilot station and lighthouses nearby. Fishing was important too. At the same time, grand houses, hotels and public buildings were built for the upper…

Cammeraygal country until the Europeans came, Kurraba Point is a small locality in Neutral Bay. Part of the Thrupps estate, it was not subdivided until the 1850s, though a quarry was working there in the 1840s. A soap factory, and a ferry depot and engineering works were…

Wangal country for thousands of years, land in the area that became known as Liberty Plains was granted to settlers from 1793. The area included land that has since become the suburbs of Lidcombe, Auburn, Newington and Homebush Bay. Population grew slowly, and in the 1830s,…

As middle-class suburbs burgeoned after World War I, so did the number of golf clubs, which functioned as vehicles for social agency, class formation and community stabilisation.

The Empress Hotel in Redfern was an important meeting place for the Aboriginal community and a central place to socialise. It was also the site of heavy-handed police action and the focus of racial persecution.

One of several 'little theatres' formed as a reaction to the dominance of commercial mainstream interests, the Turret espoused cultural interests in the current fashion for literary theatre during its short life on the lower North Shore.

Once a convenient stopping place for bullock carts, the Haymarket traditionally attracted cheap housing and entertainment to service its many markets. Many such elements remain in a modern guise as the theatre district and Chinatown have expanded into the area.

Glenhurst was built on the Glenhurst Estate in Darling Point. It was demolished in 1959 or 1960 and replaced by Glenhurst Gardens apartment building.

Hessian-born soldier and surveyor Augustus Alt is commemorated by Alt Street, Ashfield, and buried in Parramatta.

Camp Cove and the freshwater pond behind it were traditional camping and fishing sites for the Cadigal traditional owners. The Europeans made first landfall there on 21 January 1788, while exploring Port Jackson, but Aboriginal people lived there until the 1840s. The cove…

River flats that became Crosslands Reserve when it was occupied by timber-cutter Burton Crossland in the 1850s.  Later a picnic spot, the reserve is managed by Hornsby Council.

Built in 1844, the Hero was linked to tales of smuggling and press-ganging in Millers Point's maritime past, but its history is more commercial than criminal.