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At one time the highest paid theatrical designer in the world, Phil W Goatcher created designs for JC Williamson Ltd that were masterpieces of illusion, painted on canvas drops.

Founded by young Aboriginal activists, National Black Theatre tried to tell the stories of Aboriginal life with political impact. From 1974 the group had some government funding and moved from street and sketch theatre to full productions of new plays by Aboriginal…

A meeting place for Tharawal, Gundungurra and Cubbitch-barta people, the area that later became Cawdor was part of John Macarthur's Camden Park estate by 1825. It was the first village in the Cowpastures, and developed as an agricultural township, based on dairying.…

The Lindt Café siege was a terrorist attack that took place in a restaurant in Martin Place over seventeen hours on 15–16 December 2014.

Aboriginal people who lived in this area left rock engravings along the coast and high points. The Jenkins family consolidated grants and purchases and in the 1880s Elizabeth Jenkins passed her land to the Salvation Army, delaying town development until the Salvation Army…

Australia's first female factory at Parramatta (known as the 'Factory Above the Gaol') was Governor King's attempt at finding a solution to the problem of accommodating the colony's abundance of unemployed convict women at the same time as protecting…

The roll of honour from the former Ultimo Presbyterian Church, now located in the Ultimo Community Centre, lists 36 men associated with the Ultimo community who served in the First Australian Imperial Forces in World War I. The board, instigated in 1916 shortly after the…

Wallumedegal country until the Europeans came, East Ryde was part of the Field of Mars common from 1804, until it was resumed in 1874 and sold in the 1880s. A tramline and a railway link, long promised, were never built, and the area remained undeveloped until the 1950s…

Ambleside and its garden were a refuge and an inspiration to photographer Harold Cazneaux, who lived there from 1915 until his death in 1953.

Long home to the Darug and Gundungurra people, the place that became Lawson was renamed for one of the first Europeans to cross the Blue Mountains. It subsequently became important as a stopping place on the road west, and a holiday destination for Sydneysiders.

Darwin's Walk starts from Wilson Park Wentworth Falls and runs across a boardwalk and bush track through open forest, shrub, and hanging swamps to the national park boundary. It was in the valley at the end of Jamison Creek that Charles Darwin stood in 1836, struggling for…

Biddy Giles was a Dharawal woman who lived her whole life on her people's country. With her husband Billy, she guided groups of travellers on shooting and fishing trips, telling stories and sharing her skills and knowledge of the river and its wildlife.

Dharug people were traditional owners of the area that became Studley Park, but it was granted to various settlers by Governor Macquarie in the 1810s. It changed hands many times in the nineteenth century, and one owner, William Payne, built a grand house called Studley Park…

Traditional country of the Cabrogal people, St Johns Park was first used by Europeans as part of the Orphan School land grant. By the end of the nineteenth century, agriculture was well established, with a sizeable Italian community already growing grapes.

Wangal country before the Europeans came, the area that became Silverwater was part of a grant made to John Blaxland in 1807, and stayed in the family until 1860. It was broken up into small farms, and later residential blocks, but dairies remained into the 1930s. Industrial…

At the request of Governor Macquarie, a new convict hospital was built at Parramatta and opened in 1818. Designed by John Watts, the building was based on a military hospital and proved grossly inadequate: only half the expected number of patients could be treated there, men…

Long inhabited by the Tharawal, Gundungurra and Cubbitch-barta people, the area that became Mount Hunter was later a prime dairying area with a thriving village community. The dairy farms are gone, but Mount Hunter retains its rural feel.

The third gaol built in Parramatta, Parramatta gaol's changes over the years reflected changing philosophies of correction.

Named for a police constable who killed a bushranger, Hornsby expanded rapidly with the construction of the north shore railway line in 1890.

After colonisation, Cromer, originally known as Dee Why West, developed slowly from farms and bush, remaining semi-rural until the 1960s. Industrial and residential development led to more services and community facilities, but some bushland remains.