The image, from a postcard dating to the first 10 years of the 20th century, is an evocative glimpse into a business that has long been linked to Martin Place (then Moore Street).
Martin Place had long been a bustling hive of activity, full of people going about their daily work. This bustling activity made it a perfect place for flower sellers to ply their trade, attracting passersby and many impulse sales. Yet most flower sellers did not start off in Martin Place at all, being forced off other, busier streets to make room for ever increasing traffic. Martin Place was the ideal place for flower sellers to congregate though, setting themselves up near the steps of the General Post Office and pouncing on people hurrying to mail their letters.
The earliest Martin Place flower sellers began to set up stalls in the 19th century, but it was during the 20th century that Sydney’s most iconic flower seller plied her trade. Rosie Shaw had once had high hopes of a career in opera, coming to Sydney from London in 1927 to seek fame and fortune in the land Dame Nellie Melba had called home. Rosie’s dreams never came to pass, but she grew to the status of a Sydney icon none the less. In 1931 she first set up shop on Martin Place, plying her customers not just with flowers, but with snatches of opera and tall tales of her history of a ballerina and singer. Rosie soon became very popular and increasingly influential, using her iconic status to act as one of the earliest defenders of gay men in Sydney. She sold flowers for 40 years, finally packing up her stall in 1971.
Doing their bit for the boys who did theirs. Within days of the declaration of war in August 1914 a vast civilian “army” of voluntary workers began to mobilise to support the war effort. The Australian Red Cross was first off the mark. Soon hundreds of local groups were established across Australia to support particular…
Along Drummoyne’s main thoroughfares there are signs attached to some of the street furniture. They are not advertising, as one might expect, but an apparent jumble of words suggesting what some of our senior citizens remember about the Drummoyne they knew as children. The word association triggers a compilation of images that reminds us of…
After more than four terrible years of war rumours of Germany’s wish for a peace treaty swept the world during October and early November 1918. An armistice – a truce pending an official treaty – was finally signed on Monday, 11 November, 1918 and the guns fell silent. Official notification of the armistice was received…
The original Palace Hotel was opened in 1886, the same year as the gasworks It was built on the river at the end of Tennyson Road, where the River Quays Marina now stands. The first licensee was John Stuart. The hotel, known as Mongomery’s Palace, was a distinctive building with verandas and a tower which…
In 1885, Paterson began submitting and having his poetry published in the Sydney edition of The Bulletin under the pseudonym of “The Banjo”, the name of a favourite horse. In 1890, as “The Banjo” he wrote “The Man from Snowy River”, a poem which caught the heart of the nation and, in 1895, had a…
Daisy May Bates was born Margaret May O’Dwyer, on 16 October 1859 at Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland. At the age of twenty-four she travelled on the Almora to Australia. She stayed at the home of the Bishop of North Queensland and later with several family friends who had migrated previously. Because of this she later said ‘Australia…
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