General

Many of us have heard of this bay, and seen it as we pass over the Harbour Bridge. The name Lavender Bay conjures up mental visions of a sweet-smelling flower; however, the naming of this bay was far from sweetness. In the later part of the 1780s a Royal Navy ship, the HM Bufallo, made…

THE Sydney Sun reports . . . . . . that the city council has placed a bubbling water fountain outside the main entrance to a large local brewery. Whether this is a hint on the part of the city council for the brewery employees to get on the ‘water- wagon’ is not known, but…

What do bloomers and bicycles have in common? While today’s models parade the catwalk in panties and other underwear, this would have been unthinkable in the 1800s. So too would the wearing of panties themselves. Today’s panties originated from the various “bifurcated” undergarments known popularly in the 19th century as bloomers, knickers, drawers, pantaloons and…

Captain John Hunter led the first British exploration of the Parramatta River in February 1788. On the 5th February, while having breakfast he made the first contact with local Aboriginals of the Wangal Clan. The location is referred to as Breakfast Point on the survey map of 1799. The Wangal called the area Booridiow-o-gule. The…

On our open days we are often asked what is the meaning of the latin on  the Walker crest – “Per Varios Casus”. An approximate translation would be “Through diverse (or various) opportunities”, which would appear to be an indication of how his wealth was acquired. It’s not known if this was an old crest or whether it came…

Edward Smith Hall was of those early pioneers whose great work in winning for us the freedom of the Australian Press has been obscured by the more widely known achievements of Wentworth. Bom in London in 1786, Hall came to Australia in 1812 armed with letters of introduction to Governor Macquarie. Failing to gain Macquarie’s favour, he joined Simeon Lord in forming…

I resume my friend’s chronology:- “Died September 18 Mr. Edward Smith-Hall in the 75th year of his age. This gentleman I think was the first secretary of the Bank of New South Wales when that institution opened for business in Macquarie Place in 1817; he was also, I think, connected with the “Monitor” newspaper and had a ‘row’ over his pew…

Professor Anderson, the Wizard of the North, was a well-known magician who travelled the world putting on performances. When he was in Sydney in 1859, performing at the Prince of Wales Theatre, he offered two prizes for the best conundrums from a lady and gentleman, to be determined on a fixed night. The Professor, of course, made it a condition that the winner…

A gentleman supplies me with some very interesting particulars as to Mr. Charles Hamilton Nichols, one of the proprietors of “Bell’s Life” at the time of Professor Anderson’s conundrum prize-drawing. Mr. Nichols was one of the sons of Isaac Nichols, first Postmaster of New South Wales, and another of whose sons was George Robert Nichols, solicitor and barrister. At least he had the privilege of…

On 21 July 1898 Sydney celebrated as Mayor Alderman Mathew Harris officially opened the Queen Victoria Markets Building. The Lady Mayoress, with a commemorative solid gold key, opened the druitt Street entrance. That evening the Town Hall was transformed for the 1400 guests at a ball celebratig the opening of these markets. Designed by George…

Have you ever looked at the date on the War Memorial in Burwood Park? It’s worth looking at carefully because it reveals an interesting fact . . the dates of the First World War are given as 1914-1919. This is in contrast to most modern sources which give the dates as 1914-1918. On researching the…

A favourite pastime of residents is to walk along the waterfront to enjoy the peaceful vista. Not many of us know that between the “green lights” opposite the cove is a monument to one of Australia’s greatest rowing athletes, Henry Ernest Searle. Little is known of his childhood except that he came to Sydney when…