August Guest Speaker
SS Mortlake Bank
Just a reminder that Betty Candy will be the speaker at our museum on Saturday, 5th August at 2:00 pm sharp. She will share with us the story of the…
Ebb and Flow of Success: Samuel Lyons
Lyons Terrace (1849 water colour - State Library NSW)
In the 1840's the most select residences in Sydney were a row of five houses in Liverpool Street called Lyons Terrace, facing the south end of Hyde Park. Elegantly attractive,…
Regulations for Baking and Sale of Bread 1816
Having ascertained that many bakers had been supplying shortweight bread of inferior quality, His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor announced that production and sale of bread would be controlled. All persons who…
Henry Brewer – Concord Sailor-Builder
HMS Sirius, Frank Allen, marine artist.
Little is known about the early life of Henry Brewer, one of the first free settlers to receive a land grant in Concord. Born in 1739, he must have spent…
A Bucket of Rum & the Vauxhall Inn, Granville
The Vauxhall Inn at the corner of Parramatta & Woodville Roads, Granville in 1939 after it was rebuilt. Photo: Australian National University, Noel Butlin Archives.
An interesting souvenir of the opening of the first railway in New South Wales from Sydney to Parramatta Junction is a miniature bucket. When the railway was opened on September…
Maps Tell us Stories, not Facts
Historians use historical maps for several purposes: as useful tools for reconstructing the past, to the extent that maps provide records of features, landscapes, cities and places that may not…
Mortlake in the 1890s
AGL Gasometers. Manager's cottage in foreground.
Mortlake was originally 30 hectares of land granted to John Miller, John Robertson and Benjamin Butcher in July 1795. This land was subsequently acquired by John Ward and then by…
Rare 1890 Map of Concord
1890 Map of Concord
After moving to our new museum in Bent Street, Concord, you can imagine our surprise when, cataloguing our collection of rolled up maps and plans, we came across an large…