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.
Following the death of Dame Eadith Walker in 1937 the Perpetual Trustee Company, the executors of Thomas Walker’s will, requested Lawson’s Auctioneers to offer the entire contents of Yaralla House and grounds for sale. It was deemed to have been the biggest auction ever held, taking 8 days to complete. The auction did not include…
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 exist anymore or that exist in dramatically transformed form; and as a representation of the “worldview” of the mapmaking culture, and how that culture saw…
I think I’d be pretty right in saying that as far as Australian history that is taught in schools pretty much covers the convicts, the explorers, and the wars. And while each is fascinating in its own right, I have found other bits of Australian history that also deserve to be known. Now I can’t…
The Australian Gas Light Company (AGL) was formed in Sydney in 1837 to produce town gas for street lighting. The original works at Darling Harbour with its outstations at Woolloomooloo and Haymarket were supplemented with smaller works at Balmain and Five Dock. As Sydney expanded, the use of gas for domestic and industrial purposes became…
At the time of European settlement the Canada Bay area was part of the traditional lands of the Wangal clan of Aboriginal people. The Wangal were a clan of the larger Darug language group or Aboriginal nation. Their lives were strongly focussed on the harbour and its foreshores, especially in food gathering. Aboriginal people also…
Despite what people tend to think, an Illuminated Address is not something you switch on and off like a light bulb. These were once important components of a celebration of achievement. They were generally very ornate and often included elements of the person’s history in the medley of images. Today the art of the illuminated…
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